Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-08-09

might make his way back to the SHAFT,
aud there await for what God sent him
death or relief. Or he could attempt TO
clear a path through the fall that barred
his path.
Which course should he pursue? If he
failed to effect his escape before the last
candle expired he would indeed be lost.
without light he could not hope to
make his WAY back to the pit, and COM
nonsense prompted him to return whhe
he had the means at his command.
When he had half made up his mind to
retrace his steps he noticed two things.
The fame of the candle was still DETECTED
onward, therefore the current OF air
must be passing over the fall. recog-
milton OF the fact cheered him little,
for it proved that the heap Of debris was
not very extensive.
But the other thing he noticed was OF
a still greater significance. The fall OF
roof beside which he was seated was not
composed of rock; it was hard clayey
soil interspersed with long roots, and as
he bent forward TO examine the debris
more closely, he discovered a green sod.
nClay! roots grass!' he cried with
bosrse sob. s'My God / must be near
the surface!'
He sank down at the foot of the fall
quite overwhelmed with the joy this
great discovery brought him, and then
heartfelt prayer arose from his stirred
soul and quivering lips.
Then he sprang to his feet, new cour-
age running riot in his pulses, a new
strength suddenly awakened in his arms.
He lit the other candle and placed it Sc
curely between two stones; then like
madman he attacked the heap of soil to
! pierce his way like prisoned rabbit to
| liberty.
| CHAPTER LI.-UNDER ARREST FOR MUIR
DER.
A death-like silence pervaded the
| humble dwelling under the shade" OF
Warringham Parish church, which old
Bob Cubby called his home, but in one
of the low ceilinged and sparsely gar
| nished rooms on the ground noor
| bright light was burning.
Upon a small bed in this chamber Mark
Eliot lay still as death, and almost the
color of one whose life had flown. The
| sufferers only compensation was his old
sweetheart.
There beside the little plain bedstead
she was seated her face almost as wan
as that of the man she watched so care
fully, so tenderly.
Two hours ago she and Nancy came
ttither in obedience to OLD Bob s request. .
| They had found Mark in the very height
| of delirium-in the fearful grip of the
dread fever, which was consuming him
body and mind.
When they arrived the doctor was pres
ent, and he had stated that the next
two hours would witness either h pa
tient' end, or the first step towards his
recovery.
Sor1owing, awe stricken, Nellie had
| stood beside the couch of her fever
racked lover, and listened to bis wild ut
terances. With breaking heart, pain
distorted face and swimming eyes, she
stood there catching every word that lief!
the wandering one g burning lips.
She heard him babble of his passionate
love for herself; heard him speak of the
terrible troubles he had gone through-oi
the great fraud Dan Ashton and May he"
had concocted-of meeting the former
and killing him.
She noticed the looks of amaze and teal
that fitted across the faces of the doctor
and her foster mother when the frenziec
man spoke of the violent manner IL
which he had dealt out justice to the
landlord OF the Star.
1t was absolute torture to Nellie tc
hear Mark incriminate himself, ano
being powerless to shield him from the
guilt his own ravIngs was uxing upor
him, she prayed to God to close his lips
In an hour or SO the fury of the deliri-
um abated, and soon afterwards the all
ing man sank into a comatose slumber
so deep, profound and deathlike that l
was only little less terrible than his
frenzy had been.
Then the doctor slipped away, saying
| that the worst was over; and little
later Nancy went back to the Star.
But Nellie decided to remain at MARI
Eliot's side, aud neither Nancy nor ole
Bob Cubby urged her TO go away. They
felt in their own rough fashion that NJ
common tie bound the sick man and TIT
girl together; that the girls place wat
at her old lovers side; that he haC
claims upon her, she upon him also
which could not be forgotten or over
looked at a supreme moment like thu
present.
So there she stayed, and in a lIttl'
while Nellie and the slumbering mar
we're left together in the room alone
Bob having stolen away to the Kitchen Il
snatch few winks of sleep.
And when the door closed behind hin
the sad-eyed watcher bent over the little
white bed, looked long, closely, low
lngly on the unconscious slumberer' >
face, and touched his heated brow ten
DERBY with her red lips, while the no
tears falling from her eyes fell upon hi
white cheeks.
, Never, it seemed to her, until nov
, had she fully realized how deeply sh
loved Mark. And now she was anoth
I er's wife-and he, through the pressure
of terrible wrong, had stained hi
hands with the blood of a fellow crsa.
ture.
But that mad act Of violence only tes
tilted to the depth of his affection 70
herself. Had he loved her SIS he woull
never have visited such q terrible pun
ishment upon one of the villains who hat
/ torn them apart-would not have beel
lying there now helpless.
And loving her so passionately, how
} strong and noble he had proved himsel
! to be in resisting the great temptatio
( she had offered him. Rather than tax
] her away to share with him life @
| shame-although it would have been
life of love as well-he had elected {
stay and face q worse dishonor-perhap
death.
= In dumb, voiceless pain she sat there
-