The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1889-02-17
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utterance of any sort.
CHAPTER XII.
A STRAND OF IFE-oR DEATH.
Once more the girl arose and walked about
her narrow home in the air. This time she
walked fast and resolute; as if it had en-
tered her mind to end the tragedy in one
way or another at once.
Perhaps she thought of her fathers com
ing and determined to have lone with the
dreadful situation before he came to suffer
from the contemplation of her awful po-
sition.
She made the round of observation and
threw up her arms in despair as she came
back to where she had sat with folded
hands. But this time she did not sit down
in that same spot. She walked far out on
the Lions Head: far out! So far that her
ledge and ten thousand people caughttheir
breath in the boats below!
Here she sat down; undid the cord about
her body; tied it tightly about a sharp little
uplifted point of rock, tied 1T tight and
tried it by pulling hard and strong.
And then her hands began to work and
to weave as if they had been a spiders
hands. Her strong, heavy dress, already in
shreds above the knee, was shredded and
wv lntOC OIud III UclOIc lue UtODl6
below realized her desperate resolution.
But when they did discover her purpose
Q moment later what a shout of cheer! of
hope, of heart!
And now she lifted her knife to the glOri-
Gus stream of black hair!
She woye her hair into her costly, rich
adder with such dexterity and speed that
in a little time her shapely head was en-
tirely shorn.
Garment after garment disappeared.
The last garment, the last shred was gone!
The girl arose and stood there a moment
as God had made her.
Her long. thin cord was coiled in her
right hand; And there was but one
thought and prayer among men. Was it
strong9 and was it longs Would the rope
the sea lions belowf Had ner fingers been
adroit and cunning at their work, and
would the rope endure her weight?
Ships of war of all nations sent their best
boats n crews to see if by some good
fortune they might be of possible service
to the brave girl. Gallant Stuart Taylor,
cisco. was there. In brief all San Francisco
was there, at least in heart and desire to
help.
Tall as an Indian, straight as an arrow,
the girl stood for a second above the
trembling sea and roaring sea lions and
fOam-white rocks, and seemed at last to
hesitate in her desperate purpose. sud-
denly, as If her heart had impelled her she
turned her head away. toward the sombre
SUBMITS of Redwood Park and Mount
DiablO. She shaded her eyes with her
lifted hand and looked long and earnestly.
What was she thinking of now. Her
days OF happy .childhOodf The family
group gathered about the door waiting her
returns! Her strong, silent, daring and en-
during father, SO much like herself? What
could have been her thOughtss
Then after a time her eyes fell down.
ward a little and fingered about the Golden
mt Shn ~-1
more in her right and the long, coiled
cord.
What could have startled her and nerved
her so suddenly to her desperate task
There was a little sail plunging down
from out the Golden Gate at all speed; as if
the huge man at the helm half guessed
that this gathering of ships was a signal
of trouble to him or his.
No; she would not let him suffer; not
while she lived. She would end it all now
and at once.
Tightening, testing the cord once more
and for the last time, taking care that no
sharp rock should come in contact with its
precious threads and fbres she grasped it
tightly in both hands and hastily let her
self down over the beetling ledge.
Would it hold herf Land her safely in
the surf and surge below? was it long,
enough, and was it surely strong enoughi
hearted men stood to their oars Every
PROV was turned pointing to the Lions
Head ready to leap forward to rescue.
Down! down.! down! Every man held his
breath! Down! down! down! Forty feet!
Fifty! One hundred! One hundred. and
fifty feet. Only fifty feet more and the
foamy troubled rocks and sea lions below
will receive her!
But what is the matteri Why pause
there suspended in the air by that thin and
invisible cordl An empty. hand reaches
out helplessly in the air in sign that all is
over. The rope is exhausted. Men stand
as if stunned and struck dumb.
The girl makes the sign OF the cross, and
now. Those that would disdaln to pray
for their own lives are praying for this poor
girl. Tears are In every eye n in every
utterance.
hard, to the cord, as if she breads to die.
Her bosom heaves heavily; her feet are
locked close together. Oh, if the water
was but water beneath her, instead o~fstone,
Oh, but to be able to drop down into the
sea twenty, thirty feet out from the base
of the precipice!
Suddenly it seems rs if the tall, slim
form hanging so helpless up there in the
air begins toeinOve; to sway, to swing, first
q little; as if the sea winds had come up
wondering from the sea and had begun to
buffet her about.
But no! 1t is not the clustering and in
substantial wind that is slowly moving her
W dIAA Nv y aA0 LAOs w ~ AAOs " wall
to sea.
Her long, 1.-THE limbs are alive, s%inuous,
eloquent with action!
To and fro! to and fro! Faster! faster!
Ten feet out tOward the open sea!
Fifteen! Twenty! Thirty. And away!
like a beautiful rainbow falling out of
heaven from its own splendor, the graceful
and audacious girl, with a divine audacity,
leaves the rope behind her. and, as if com
ing down to us on the arms of a rainbow,
darts feet first into the open sea where a
yellow sail with the swiftest keel and the
stoutest heart in all the land or on all the
seas is waiting to receive her.
There was a dealthly silence for long: so
long it seemed. But when at last O. giant
form leaned Int gathered a slim and ex-
hausted form from the folds of the sea and
wrapped his daughter round with love and
embraces as with a mantle; such a shout!
The great ships Numbered their satisfac-
ton, and told the anxious city that the
girl was safe at last in her fathers arms.
CONCLUDED MEX sUNDAY.l
Points for DIR. Mary Walker.
Minneapolis Tribune.