The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1890-09-10
CHAPTER X.-Continued.


may have aided his reluctance to leave
so hard fought field. He could not bear
10 give it up. A pertinacious obstinacy
and lingering hope kept continually
springing to life even now.
"What if go to one of the larger cit
les, even as far as Mexico" he said, "get
new supply and better blasting mate
RIAL return, and try again? This dyna-
mite, of which they talk so much lately,
would, no doubt, suit my purpose here
With plenty of good explosives I will
shatter every stone in the place, if neces
sary, till I come to the Yellow Snake
And then can look for the lost deposit,
too, without hurting any other interest"
So ran his final decision. Every day
until now he had sent the message of his
safety to Amy by the spring. With what
suffering the dumb current would have
pulsed could it have conveyed his own
feelings, in these latter days, to her! But
for while the signal must be abandoned.
The third period set for the exchange of
letters had also come round. He deter
mined, therefore, to stop on his way at
Las Deiicias, both on account of the let
tiers and to reassure Amy as to the cessa-
ton of the signal and the beginning Of
his wanderings.
'Was she well?' At first thought it
seemed almost absurd to fancy anything
could happen to one so tenderly cared
for in he midstof every luxury; all dan
gers, rather, were reserved for his own
lot. But he knew that pale death, with
sickness and calamity as we'll, knocks
equally at regal palaces and at the novels
of the poor, and no small anxiety about
her was added to the sum of all the
others. His letter to her breathed, even
though he tried to guard against it,
sense of his encouragement fatigue and
uncertainty about the future. He hest
tated much as to whether he should put
in the confession he had prepared for
her, but decided in the affirmative. Was
there not now all the more reason for it,
since the prospect of success had grown
SO remote?
All was made ready for departure; he
left his belongings in as wild q state as
possible, and began to climb the craggy
wooded path. Here, as once before, he
Lieu WILL OIL dOO1OC11U" II A1ASO oUOA0
rolled from it's place under his touch and
bore him down. 1t pinned him to the
earth, yet was stopped by several small
OBSTACLES from crushing him with it's
full weight. He managed to extricate
himself, but was in great pain and unfit
ted to proceed.
Aforlorn, wounded creature, he dragged
himself back to his hut, and, his hurts
stiffening and taking an even more ag-
gregated form before they got better,
he lay there for many days capable only
of the efforts necessary to secure such
rood and drink as would maintain life.
He seemed abandoned by heaven and
earth; his lonely unbefriended condition
made a scornful !ccckery of the golden
dreams in which he had so lately in
dulged. Nevertheless, no bones were
broken, nor was any lasting injury
wrought, and, though the torment of
mental activity retarded his recovery,
he slowly regained sufficient of his
forces to be about again.
Then he went back to look at the To-
cality of the Yellow Snake, beset by the
secret hope that in this long interval it
must have come forth again. But there
lay the scene made desolate by his i'm
prudent labors, as still and devoid of
any trace of it as ever, and so once more
he set out for the upper world in a state
of great depression.