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With a shriek the wind tore at them, beat the breath from their bodies, cut them with stinging needle-points and threw them aside. Dan reached back to make sure of Hillas who fumbled through the darkness for the stranger. Slowly they struggled ahead, the cold growing more intense; two steps, four, and the mounting fury of the blizzard reached its zenith.
"I've told Hillas I'll put money in your way to mine the coal. Then the railroad will come." Dan's voice rasped with tension. "We'll get out the coal. Are you going to see that the road's built?" Unconsciously the traveler held up his right hand, "I am!" Dan searched his face sharply. Smith nodded, "I'm making my bet on the people friend!"
"Dan, you blind old mole, can you see the headlight of the Overland Freight blazing and thundering down that draw over the Great Missouri and Eastern?" Dan stared. "I knew you couldn't!" Hillas thumped him with furry fist. "Dan," the wind might easily have drowned the unsteady voice, "I've told Mr. Smith about the coal for freight.
The horses swerved before the punishing blows, bunched, backed, tangled. Dan stood up shouting his orders of menacing appeal above the storm. Again a breathing space before the next deadly impact. As it came Hillas shouted, "I see it there, Dan! It's a red light. She's in trouble."
It's all I can do to stay here." Smith regarded him irritably. "Why should any sane man ever have chosen this frozen wilderness?" Hillas closed his eyes wearily. "We came in the Spring." "I see!" The edged voice snapped, "Visionaries!" Hillas's eyes opened again, wide, and then the boy was looking beyond the man with the far-seeing eyes of the plainsman.
As they watched, the low song died away, her shoulder rubbed heavily against the boarding, her eyelids dropped and she stood sound asleep. The next hard-drawn breath of the baby roused her and she stumbled on, crooning a lullaby. Smith clutched the younger man's shoulder. "God, Hillas, look where she's marked the wall rubbing against it!
He looked down at the boy and thrust out a masterful jaw. There was a ring of sincerity no one could mistake when he spoke again. "This country's a desert now, but I'd back the Sahara peopled with your kind. This is on the square, Hillas, don't tell me you won't believe I'm American enough to trust?" The boy tried to speak. With stiffened body and clenched hands he struggled for self-control.
They tiptoed out and closed the door behind them softly. The wind had swept every cloud from the sky and the light of the Northern stars etched a dazzling world. Dan was checking up the leaders as Hillas caught him by the shoulder and shook him like a clumsy bear.
"I've told Hillas I'll put money in your way to mine the coal. Then the railroad will come." Dan's voice rasped with tension. "We'll get out the coal. Are you going to see that the road is built?" Unconsciously the traveller held up his right hand. "I am!" Dan searched his face sharply. Smith nodded. "I'm making my bet on the people friend!"
The stage-driver recovered first, pulled off his mittens, examined his fingers and felt quickly of nose, ears, and chin. He looked sharply at Hillas and nodded. Unceremoniously they stripped off the stranger's gloves, reached for a pan, opened the door, dipped it into the drift and plunged Smith's fingers down in the snow. "Your nose is white, too. Thaw it out."
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