The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-08-11

see desperation in each face. It needed no handwriting on the wall to tell me that the spy would be wiped of the face of the earth without com junction if discovery threatened, Burton beckoned to me, made a signal to the others which they understood, and we climbed up the rugged face of a rock, ran for a quarter of a mile over broken ground which was we'll wood- ed, and then suddenly halted at a spot overlooking the second path and high above it. Burton made me & sign as he crouched down beside large rock, and cautiously approaching I looked down into the rayine and saw A soli- tary man-the spy. He was coming up the path. If he passed the spot where we were stationed his scent alone would locate the still.
 "Click! Clickw
 "Good heavens but you are not go- ing to shoot him." I whispered to Burton as he cooked his rife.
 He half-turned to look at me. His face was as hard set as iron.
 "For the sake of earning a few dol lars he would see us starve !" he re- piled. "He knows his danger. Let him pass this rock and I will shoot himw
 l dared say no more. Burton was desperate aud determined.
 We looked down at an angle of for ty-five degrees on the spy. You could have told that he was spy by his &C., tions. He had the gait of an Indian bent on a surprise. He looked about him like one who expected the whis- tie of bullet at any moment. He came slowly on.
 Could l signal him2
 No! He was not looking up, but around him.
 Coming-coming-coming-advan- cling at steady pace towards death. Would Burton shoot? He already had the man covered.
 Trump! thump! thump!
 It was my heart pounding away like pile driver. It would be murder. l would be accessory. If I dared to shout-to-w
 Thank God! Was 1t the fall of a fragment of rock up on the mountain side, or the hoarse call of tho great buzzard poised above us which made the spy halt in his tracks2 Ten feet more and finger will press the trig- ger. He peers this way and that-he looks up and around-he starts to ad- vance but halts again. Is some one praying for him-has he guardian angel who whispers warning?
 It is two minutes - two minutes which tick away so slowly that they seem to be hours in length. I lean against the great rock, almost gasping for breath, while Burton has his eye at the sights and his finger ready to pull. It is tableau on the threshold of death. It is a pantomime at the edge of grave.
 "Go back! Go back!" I entreat in mind to the spy.
 He removes his hat, wipes his brow, and is evidently anxious.
 of you value your life go back !" l would fain say.
 He looks around him like one who feels danger in the very air.
 "You will be shot if you advance Hear and heed the warningw
 The warning reached him by that mysterious channel which the human mind has not fathomed. saw him start in fear, and then, seeming entire- ly against his will, he turned short about and almost ran as he hurried up the path and out of sight.
 "H'm! He'un has got of this time, shure," said Burton as he rose up and let the hammer of his rifle down.
 "You would have killed him?" asked.
 "Dead as this rock"
 "It would have been murder"
 "Then let he'un keep away from we're ."-Detr0I Free Press.