Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1888-05-25


that consuming fire.
Let those who would blame them paus,
whilA Why not. They had kept the faith
They had denied themselves and run straightly
down the path Of duty. But the compacts Of
Life end with life. No man may bargain fol
the beyond. Even the marriage servic,
shrinks from it. And now Eat hope hat
gone and life was at its EXTREMIST ebb, why
should they not take their happiness befor,
0ey passed 70 the ianu wnere, perchance, al
things will be forgotteni So it seemed K
them; If indeed they were any longer capabl.
Of reason.
he looked into her eyes and she laid hel
head upon his heart in that mute abandon
ment OF worship which is sometimes to b.
met with in this world. and is redeemed from
vulgar passion by an indefinable quality Of
III own. He looked into her eyes and wa.
glad to have lived, ay, even to have reached
this hour Of death. And she. lost in thu
depths OF her own nature, sobbed out bel
passion laden heart upon his breast, ant
called him her own. her own, her very own!
And 30 the long hours passed. till at last 6
new born freshness II the air told them tina,
they were waiting for had not yet come. Il
must now be very near at hand.
"John," she whispered in his car, "do yor
think that they will shoot us!"
Eyes" he said, hoarsely; Athey must 70,
their own safety"
u wish it were over" she said.
Suddenly she started back from his arm.
with little CT, causing the cart to rock VIC
lently.
II forgot, she said-"you can swim, though
l cannot. Why cannot you swim to the
bank and get of under cover of the darkness
1t IS not more than fifty yards, and the cur
rent is not so very swiftr'
The idea Of escaping without jess had never
occurred to him, and now that she suggested
1t, 1t struck him as SO absurd that he actually
broke into ghost Of a laugh
Don't talk nonsense, jess" he said.
"Yes, yes, will Go! You must 90! 1,
docs not matter about me now. l know you
love me and can die happy. will wait fol-
you. Oh, John! wherever 1 am, il have any
life and any remembrance, will wait fol-
you. Never forget that all your life How.
ever far may seem away, if live at all, ]
shall be waiting for you And now 90: YOU
shall go, say! No, will not he disobeyed
Ii you will not go will throw myself into
the water. Oh, the cart is turning overm
"Hold on for Gods saley' shouted John.
"The traces have broken"
He was right; the tough leather was at
length worn through by the constant rub
bing against the rock and the strain and
swaying of the cart on the one side and the
dead horses on the other Round it spun,
broadside on the current, and immediately
began to heave over till at last the angle wa.
20 sharp that the dead body Of poor Mou,i
slid out with splash and vanished into th,
darkness. This relieved the cart, and it
righted for moment, but now no longer held
up by the bodies of the horses, or by the sus
tanning power Of tho wind, it began to I'll.
and sink, and at the same time to revolve
round and round. John realized that it was
all up, and that to stop in the cart would
only mean certain death, because they would
be held under water by the canvas tent So
with . devout aspiration for assistance be
seized jess round the waist with one arm and
sprang of into the water. As he did so the
cart filed and sank
"Lie still for Heavens sakei" he shouted. as
they rose to the surface
In the dim light Of the dawn, which was
now creeping over the earth, be could make
out the line Of the left bank of the Vaal, til,
same from which they had started into tn,
river on the previous night It appeared I.
be about forty yards away, but the current
was running quite six knots. and lie realized
that, burdened As he was, it would be quite
impracticable for him to try and reach it
The only thing to do was to keep afioat
Luckily the water was warm end he was 1,
strong swimmer. In a minute or SO he mad,
out that about fifty PAGES ahead some rock
jutted out twenty yards into the bed Of The
stream. Then, catching jess by the hAi
with his left hand, he made his effort, and
desperate ono it was The broken water
boiled furiously round the rocks. Present.,
he was In it. and. better still, his feet touche.
the ground. Next second he was swept OF
them and rolled over anil over ct tho bottom
OF tho river, getting snily knocked aboui
against the powders. Somehow he struggle.
to his legs, still retaining his hold of jess
Twice he fell. and twice he struggled u,
again One more effort-so. The water wa
only up to his thighs now, and lie was oblipe,'
to half carry his companion. As he lifted
her he felt a deadly sickness come over him.
but still he struggled on like man, till at
last they both fell Of heap upon big fla.
rock, and for q while he remembered No
more.
When he came to himself again it was to
lind jess, who had recovered sooner than b.
had, standing over him ard chatting his hands.
Indeed, as the sun was up, lie guessed that b.
must have lost his senses for some time. H.
rose with some difficulty and shook himself.
Except for some bruises he was sound enough.
"Are you hurt" hss asked of jess, who.
pale and faint and bruised, her hat gone. her
dress torn by bullets and the rocks, and, drip
ping water at every step, looked an exceed
ingly forlorn object.
.No," she said, feAbly; mot very much.n
He sat down on the rock in tho sun. 10,
they were both shivering with cold. "What
is to be doner he asked
"Die." she said, fiercely; II meant to die
why did you not let LIE diet Ours is a posi
ton that only death can set straight"
Don't be alarmed" he said, "your desir
will soon be gratiied; those numbering vii
lains will hunt US up presently"
| The bed and banks of the river were
clothed with thin layers Of mist, but as the
sun gathered power these lifted. Tho spo;
where they had gone ashore was about 800
yards below that where the two Beers and
their horses had boon destroyed by the light.
ming on the previous night. Seeing the mist
lift, John insisted upon Jess crouching with
him behind . rock, 50 that they could look
up and down the river without being seen
themselves Presently he made out tb,
forms Of two horses grazing about 200 yard.
away.
AAh." be said, II thought SO; the devil.
have on saddled there. Thank heaven. Ihavt
still got my revolver and the cartridges mr..
water tight. mean to sell our lives As dearly
as can"
@Why, John" cried jess, following the line
Of his outstretched hand, "those arc not the
boeT horses; they are our two leaders that
broke loose In the water. Look, their collars
are still OIL"
"By Jovs! 20 they are. Now, il only we
CAN catch them without being caught our.
selves, We have a chance Of getting out OF
this"
"Well. there Is no cover about, and can.
SEQ any signs OF Beers. They must hav.
been sure of having killed Is and gone away
John looked round. and for the first time
elise Oh nope Des,an TO creep into MS nearr.
Perhaps they would survive, after all
Lets COUP and see. 1t is no good stopping
here; We must get some food somewhere. /
feel a. weak g . cat"
She rose without q word. and, taking his
hand. they advanced together along the
hank. They had not gone twenty yards b.
fore John gave an exclamation of low and
rushed at something white that had stuck in
some reeds. 1t was the basket Of food which
hal becn siven &c them by the innkcepers
vile at Heidelberg. 1t had been washed out
OF the cart. and, a. the iii was fastened,
nothing had been lost out Of it. He urd;i it.
There was the bottle Of three star brandy un-
touched, also most Of the eggs, meat and
oread, which last was, of course, sodden and
worthless. 1t did not take long to get the
cork out, and then John filed broken wlne-
glass there was in the basket half full Of
winter and hnif Of brandy ccd ,,,..,o To-.