the Montreal express comes through. Heard the stock cars
passed Brandon by daylight--they'll be in Winnipeg now."

"You have one move left," said Heysham. "Hire a special! Comes high, of
course, but it's cheaper than losing your cattle. They can't sell before
to-morrow; and you won't be hard on a plundered man, agent? That
locomotive ought to take us through."

"Can't cut schedule prices," was the answer, after I had explained. "I
haven't a single car, but I was saving Number Forty to haul in wheat, and
if she doesn't strike a snow-block, and old Robertson's in the humor,
she'll land you in Winnipeg before daylight to-morrow. It's cutting things
fine, however."

We put our horses in the hotel stable, managed as a special favor to
obtain some food in a basket, and then climbed into the locomotive cab,
where the Ontario mechanic stood rubbing his hands with waste while a
grimy subordinate flung fuel into the roaring furnace.

"She's the best machine for a hard run on this road," he said, as he
clutched the lever with professional pride. "All you have to do is to sit
tight, and I'll bring you in on time."

Then, panting heavily, Number Forty rolled out from the station on to the
lonely waste, and when, as we jolted over the switches, the lights died
out behind, Robertson became intent as he shoved the lever home. For a
moment the big drivers whirred on the snow-greased line, then the
wheel-treads bit the metals, and the plates commenced to tremble beneath
our feet. Staring out through a quivering glass I could see a white haze
rising and falling ahead as the wild gusts came down, driving an icy
coldness through the vibrating cab, while, when these passed, there was
only the glare of the huge head-lamp flickering like a comet down the
straight-ruled track.

Robertson nodded to his fireman, for Heysham had told him the story, and
presently the vibration grew yet sharper. The gaunt telegraph-posts no
longer swept past in endless files, but reeled toward us under the
fan-shaped blaze huddled all together in a fantastic dance, while willow
bluffs leaped up out of the whiteness and vanished again as by magic into
the dim prairie. The snow from above had ceased temporarily. Then a
screaming blast struck the engine, wrapping it about in a dense white
cloud that glittered before the lamp, the glasses rattled, and an
impalpable powder, that seemed to burn the skin, drove in through every
opening. Robertson glanced at his pres