The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1882-07-06

tuft elematis wreathed its graceful arms about
him, and died in his embrace. A thousand
mad spirits danced under the stunted elders,
and shot over the tangled blackberry vines.
Wild creatures looked about with started eyes
and then fled in dismay before the hot on
coming blast The cracking deepened to a
roar. Hugh volumes Of smoke arose and
drifted away, to lie in dun-colored bars against
the mountain-side and still the fire rushed on,
licking up the dry leaves among the powders,
shriveling the tall ferns in its hot, ~exultant
breath, leaping in delirious frenzy to the top
most boughs of the sycamores, and holding out
its hot, clamorous hands to the mountain-top.
Janey Delmar stood in the door and shaded
her eyes with her hand.
''The fires got into the canon, an the tim
ber's burnin' up; father'n be mad"
A great loud of smoke rolled up and shut
out the sun The girls irresolute face quick
ened with a sudden terrifying thought.
"He hain't come put / been a watchin'. I
hain't seen him! Eff he's up at he falls he can't
git out; father pulled the ladder up after i'm,
Sunday"
She ran across the clearing and ooked down
into the black, smoking ravine. Even at that
height she could feel the scorching heat. The
soft, gray ashes settled in her hair and chung
to her coarse dress.
''The fires goin' fastl Father said-but he
didn't know it'll can't do i'll can't have him
stay up therel"
The fire in the canon below painted and ragged
and ran its mad race with her. The narrow
H"Oh dAobS "hIOh III lCN Ndo sllChh III
smoking cinders. Half burt twigs fell hiss
ing into the flame beside her, and focks of lin
nets darted hither and thither in the smoky
air. Rabbits sprang from the sage, half dazed
with fright, and stared at her with their soft,
expressionless eyes. On she went, swifter than
the flame itself. Leaving the path, at last, and
clinging to the rough mountain side, swinging
from gnarled roots that loosened under her
weight, bruising her arms against the sharp
~bayonets of the yucca; down, down, through
banks Of dead leaves, and tall dry stalks of
sage, breathless with haste and terror, until
her feet touched the ferns growing in the
little stream above the falls. She could lo,k
below her now and see him standing there,
walled in by The pitiless rocks; man wi h a
white, hopeless, baffied face-a face that she
remembered always
She lifted one end of the ladder, and dragged
it through the lodges. Was it strange that
even then the sight of it brought sickening
memories of her fathers threat! She had
helped him make it, one day, and he had cursed
her for being slow.
The prisoner turned his smitten face toward
her. Poor Janeyi No man before or ever
since thought her an angel. She thrust the
ladder through the gap in the rocks and stead
led it against the slippery ledge. Neither of
them spoke. She only knew that he stood
beside her, with q strangely TRANSPORTED face;
that a strong hand had put away the brambles
and helpedher up the steep ascent. She could
hear his firm step behind her as she hurried
along the narrow path beside the ditch. Out
on the clearing the numb agony OF fear settled
down OH her again.
81 reckon you kin find the way now; down
there's the road"
She turned away awkwardly conscious, all
at once, of something new and strange. He
seized both her hands eagerly. o white
and shapely his own werel Janey remembered
that ot-even to the pattern of the ring on
his finger.
'Won't you let me thank you, my good
girl? Won't you tell me your name! Do you
know what you have done."
She shivered and drew herself away ner-
vously.
spin Jauey Delmar. Ye won't tell fatherl
He said 1 mustn't speak to YOU. He didn't
know how it 'u'd be. Eff you go down by the
path, We won't see i'm
The man walked away a little, glancing
toward the rude house on the clearing. Then
he came back to where she stood,
ado you know who | am?n
She raised her dull, patient eyes.
81 dunno yer name. Father said yeu was
comin' He thinks the spring is his'n. Maybe
they ain't-I dunno"
The man looked down at the black desola-
ton below them; on up the canon he could
hear the roar of the FIRE and the crash of fall
'sYour father is right" he said, sthe
springs are his. l am going ava now; good
bye"
She put out her hand, glancing anxiously
coward the house. hen she stood still, watch
ing him as he went down the path. Once he
turned, and looked curiously at the strange,
listless figure standing motionless where he had
left her. There was some hing uncanny in the
brown, smoky light. Down in the valley the
sun was shining. He lifted his hat to her, and
went rapidly down the walk, and out Of sight
The canon was full of gaunt, blacken4,
stems. Luke Delmar glanced at them some
times with q look of sudden, restless terror
but he had not crossed the ravine since the day
OF the fire. Janey wai'ed in mute agony Of
dread fer him to question her about her visi
soc, but she had almost ceased to expect il
now. Perhaps he had forgotten it,
She wondered a little that he did not e
down into the village. He was out of tobacco
she knew. 1t might be that that made hin
start and tremble, and then turn upon her witt
terrible oaths.
An early rain came on and a faint whitisl
green sprang up under the scared stalks in tn,
canon. The soft, loose soil on the mess bIok,
into tiny hillocks with the struggling growth
Janev pushed them aside with her foot, andl lie
the little bowed prisoners out into the sun.
light. The California spring was in the air
The girl wondered if the canon would ever b.
green again. She went down there one day
and gathered a handful of microphylla, CLEAN
ingin spots of vivid red among the scorche(
underbrush. They were lying on the tabl
when her father came in. She saw him star
back, and then stride across the room to wher
she stood.
Where ye beena Where did We git theml'
hO ooAAS hOoicOiJ WIN a lOWy lCdllul OdIU
She shrank back in her old stupefed terror.
"Down in the canon-they're thick low
there, along the rocks, llke-like drops o
blood"
He sprang towards her, with a fierce ques
tiOning siare.
What dye mean2 Answer mel Curse Y.
She could feel his hot breath on her face
She shut her eyes, and waited for him to strik
her, When she opened Them he staggere
l hack tn the 1nnr Thitn and frarnI1tnr ~,
was holding on by the easement.
ibid l scare We, simpletonl Throw 'em GU
o. the winner; ! hate the smell O. them.''
He turned with a coarse, unrneaning laugh
and sat down on the doorstep wiping tn
heavy drops from his forehead.
The girl was vaguely conscious that som
new misery had settled down upon he
life. Perhaps it was the trouble about tn
springs; she struggled With the problem
little while, hopelessly, AMI then let it laps
into the inevitable. Very likely, with her dir
intelligence, she could have compreherde
even II she had known the naIieless horro
that logged her fathers footsteps, that sa
with him at meat, and stared at him fror
every clump OF sage on the mountain side
the dread, overshadowing terror that inVeSte
the canon with a loathesome fascination, an
made him leave the sunlight, and grow wea
and terror-stricken as night came OH. Jane
knew that he was changeds that he d d nc
work and wandered aimlessly in the mountain
~ hAS uOS dlu gun. EDC ucdlu IT'LL SLdi
and mutter in his sleep, and learned to drea
the eager restlessness of his eyes even NOR
than his curses. He had never been kind. bu
he used to jest with her roughly sometime
and smoke his pipe at the kitchen door in
sort of rugged comfort while she went abou
her evening work. There was little to d
now. The store of provisions in the rude cuT
board was growing very small. She met hiI
at the door one night, with a blank, helples
face.
81 can't make any Dread; there amt no MOI
hour.n
Her voice had borrowed a more helples
monotone from uncertainty. She never knee
now whether he would turn upon her in a SUI
den outburst of rage, or listen in sullen, angl
silence. She watched him auxiously as b
walked across the floor to a box in the Co
|, ner.
eff you want anything at the store WI
don't you go am git it?' he said, sullenl
+ keeping his back toward her; 'there ain
) nothing to bender; ye kin go tomorrow"
, He laid some money on the table and WEI
: u Janey gazed after him in a half stupc
of amazement.
Could he mean for her to go Town and fat
the people in the valley alone? She had bee
j there sometimes, sitting in the wagon viii
the horses were shod, or her father made b
'