The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1881-12-02

hunt is up"
"Well," said Bresford, "then so it
must be. We can at least reach home,
for the river is our trail. Storm or no
storm, however, we must rest"
And so saying, he stretched himself
upon the ground between the fire and
the rock wall, and, weary and worn, he
was soon slumbering soundly, And, as
he slept, the night grew colder and the
storm fell. Wild and fierce without the
canyon, even there it siftcd the drifting
snow in great white clouds, and the an
CRY wind shrieked and moaued, and
shook the cliff trees with mighty and
invisible hand.
How long he slept, Bresford never
knew but he was awakened roughly,
and striving to rise he fell again, and
found himself bound hand and foot A
terrible chill ran through his blood, and
hand seemed grasping his throat he
struggled for utterance, and cried aloud /:
Desmond T.
A laugh, half demonical and altogeth-
er horrible, rang low in his ear, and the
reply:
II am here |"
lie turned his head. Desmond sat at
his side, contemplating him with an ex
preston of fiendish JOY, his eyes wild
and glaring, his face lit by the Pickering,
flaming fire with an unearhly light
II am here Oh, you fool You are
mine now See, / have marked your
death-spot over your heart !" And he
touched Bresford's hunting jacket, where,
with dead coa', the man had drawn a
black circle upon the buckskin.l "Within
that ring shall send my bullet Poor
fool Did you think Carl Desmond
would lose the game so easily Why,
boy, I've killed men for lesser women
than Bessie Larkin and should | let a
STRIPPING like you carry off the only girl
| ever loved for | do love her. Never!
But let me tell you. | drove the elk all
this way two days ago, so that / might
entice you to follow the trail to this spot.
sought this gorge, because here the
water is deep and swift, and when you
are dead shall cast you, rifle and all,
down yonder air hole, and you will never
be seen again Listen The grave is
calling for You "
He raised his hand. The hollow
sound of the rushing water struck chill
upon the young mans ear He shud-
dered.
| "Come," cried the other. IL meant to
| let you sleep until later, but the storm
has broken and | must hasten. ! will
tell them we were lost, and separated in
the snow. | reach home-you do not.
| marry Bessie. See
The murderer smiled horribly. lie
seized Brestord and propped him against
the wall of rock behind the fire in such a
position that he could easily aim at him,
then retired some four rods through the
whirlng snow, and raised his heavy rifle
to his face.
"Pray, fool ! III give you while l
count twenty"
The fire leaped and its light fell upon
the face of Bresford as upon the feat
ures of a corpse. The wild wind swept
shrieking through the canyon and the
mighty pine overhead wrthed and
groaned.
''Tme's up. Good-by! But wait
Another chance. Will you give the girl
up? Go back to Denver and never re
turn Leave her forever, if / let you
live ?"
Bresford's eyes gathered fire ; the chill
blood leaped to his cheeks
"No =
And the wind shrieked even more
desPairingly =.
The desperado's arm was already
raised his face was against his rifle
stock, his deadly eye along its barrel
when there ragged through the gorge the
most terrible stormburst which the nigh
had yet known, bringing with it a dense
white cloud of snow, and even as i
swept about the camp fire sudden sharl
cracking and rending sound was heard
followed by dull and ominous roar, ant
with a power immeasurabie the grea
pine overhead was torn from its root
and hurled deafening thunder into tn
the canyon beneath.
And when the storm lightened, Bre>
,, ford still leaned against the rock wall
the campfire still blazed and tlickere
. before him but beyond il lay. tn
mighty mass Of the fallen tree, splinters
and torn, and Desmond was gone.
Slowly ard with much pain the boun
man writhed toward the embers of I'll
fire, and rolling this way and that, SUI
ceeded in burning the withes that COZ
. fined him, so that he broke them frol
e his limbs.
Then he crouched all night before ii
- still furious storm, and in half-deliriu
:, awaited the morning.
. When it came, pale and trembling
=, yet filled with strange delight, as
borne into new world, Brestord hu
, riedly quilted the scene of the night
! horror, followed the winding course
- the river to the plain, and so northwar
, until he reached home again, just as {
=, expedition was about to start out, ,head'
- by old Tom, to search for the two mel
" Three weeks later he was married. B
=, there was one lacking among the weddiI
20 guests, and the neighbors said, "Po
a Desmond" for they supposed him lc
e in the snow.
70 But the groom knew where, crush
~ and buried beneath mighty pine,
lv enemy lay, aud in his heart he ga
w thanks for the great tree which h
~ stricken down the murderers hand n
" saved his life in the midnight and
il storm.