ly sharpened by the pressure of the air
on either cheek as it clove through it; but his lips were bravely set,
and his eyes were fastened without winking on the big stump ahead,
toward which they were rushing.

It was at this point that Wild Bill vindicated his ability as a
steersman, and at the same time barely escaped shipwreck. At the
proper moment he swept his foot to the left, and the sled, in
obedience to the pressure, swooped in that direction. But in his
anxiety to give the stump a wide berth, Bill overdid the pressure that
was needed a trifle; for in calculating the curve required he had
failed to allow for the sidewise motion of the sled, and, instead of
hitting one stump, it looked for an instant as if he would be
precipitated among a dozen.

"Heave her starn up, Wild Bill! up with her starn, I say," yelled the
Trapper, "or there won't be a stump left in the clearin'."

With a quickness and courage that would have done credit to
any steersman,--for the speed at which they were going was
terrific,--Bill swept his foot to the right, leaning his body well
over at the same instant. The Trapper instinctively seconded his
endeavors, and with hands that gripped either side of the sled he hung
over that side which was upon the point of going into the air. For
several rods the sled glided along on a single runner, and then,
righting itself with a lurch, jumped the summit of the last dip, and
raced away, like a swallow in full flight, toward the lake.

Now, at the edge of the clearing that bounded the shore was a bank of
considerable size. Shrubs and stunted bushes fringed the crest of it.
These had been buried beneath the snow, and the crust had formed
smoothly over them; and as it was upheld by no stronger support than
such as the hidden shrubbery furnished, it was incapable of sustaining
any considerable pressure.

Certainly no sled was ever moving faster than was Wild Bill's when it
came to this point; and certainly no sled ever stopped quicker, for
the treacherous crust dropped suddenly under it, and the sled was left
with nothing but the hind part of one of the runners sticking up in
sight. But though the sled was suddenly checked in its career, the
Trapper and Wild Bill continued their flight. The former slid from the
sled without meeting any obstruction, and with the same velocity with
which he had been moving. Indeed, so little was his position changed,
that one might almost fancy that no accident had ha