If a crossing could be made at all it was only between Malley 's spring-hole and the old ice road . Lady Jane swerved at the bank and whickered . `` On , old girl , '' said Bruce , in a tense voice . Unwillingly she advanced , picking her steps with cat-like sagacity . Once her foot went through , Bruce pulled her up with hands that did not tremble . The next moment she was scrambling up the opposite bank . Glancing back , Bruce saw the ice parting in her footprints and the black water gurgling up . But the race was not yet decided . By crossing the creek he had won no more than an equal chance with Eben King . And the field road before him was much worse than the main road . There was little snow on it and some bad sloughs . But Lady Jane was good for it . For once she should not be spared . Just as the red ball of the sun touched the wooded hills of the valley , Mrs. Theodora , looking from the cowstable door , saw two sleighs approaching , the horses of which were going at a gallop . One was trundling down the main road , headlong through old drifts and slumpy snow , where a false step might send the horse floundering to the bottom . The other was coming up from the direction of the creek , full tilt through Tony Mack 's stump land , where not a vestige of snow coated the huge roots over which the runners bumped . For a moment Mrs. Theodora stood at a gaze . Then she recognized both drivers . She dropped her milking pail and ran to the house , thinking as she ran . She knew that Judith was alone in the kitchen .
If Eben XXXXX got there first , well and good , but if Bruce Marshall won the race he must encounter her , Mrs. Theodora .
Bruce Jane Judith King Mack Theodora footprints sagacity sloughs spring-hole