was a-cold;
The hare limped, trembling, through the frozen grass;
And drowsy was the flock in woolly fold_.
ST. AGNES' EVE

Edmond did not have to wait long. Sounding faint and far off came the
silvery ring of sleigh-bells, gradually swelling in volume until, with a
measured crunch! crunch! of hoofs on packed snow, a smart Police cutter,
drawn by a splendid bay team, swung around a bend of the trail and pulled
up at the platform. Redmond regarded with a little awe the huge,
bear-like, uniformed figure of the teamster, whom he identified at once
from barrack gossip.

"Sergeant Slavin?" he enquired respectfully, eyeing the bronzed,
clean-shaven face, half hidden by fur cap and turned-up collar.

"Meself, lad!" came a rich soft brogue, "I was afther gettin' a wire from
th' O.C., tellin' me he was thransfering me another man. Yer name's
Ridmond, ain't it?---Whoa, now! T an' B!--lively wid thim kit-bags,
son!--team's pretty fresh an' will not shtand."

They swung off at a spanking trot. George surveyed the white-washed
cattle-corrals and few scattered shacks which seemed to comprise the
hamlet of Davidsburg.

"Not a very big place, Sergeant?" he remarked, "how far's the detachment
from here?"

"On'y 'bout a mile" grunted the individual, squirting a stream of
tobacco-juice to leeward, "up on the high ground beyant. Nay! 'tis just
a jumpin' off place an' shippin' point for th' ranches hereabouts.
Business is mostly done at Cow Run--East. Ye passed ut, comin'. Great
doin's there--whin th' cowpunchers blow in. Some burg!"

"Sure looked it!" Redmond agreed absently, thinking of the casual glimpse
he had got of the dreary main street.

They were climbing a slight grade. The sun-glare on the snow was
intense; the cutter's steel runners no longer screeched, and the team's
hoofs began to clog up with soft snow.

"They're 'balling-up' pretty bad, Sergeant!" remarked Redmond. And, as
he spoke the "off" horse suddenly slipped and fell, and, plunging to its
feet again, a leg slid over the cutter's tongue.

"Whoa, now! whoa!" barked Slavin, with an oath, as the mettled,
high-strung animal began to kick affrightedly. Slipping again it sank
down in the snow and remained still for some tense moments.

Like a flash Redmond sprang from the cutter, and rapidly and warily he
unhooked the team's traces. This done he crept to their heads and
slipped the end of the tongue o