News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1890-11-20
Won't ye put up and stay with

us all night?"
NO, Mr.. StOner; | must 90 dow
to Kestral to see my friends there
1t is onl " an hours ride"
That settles it," thought Stoner
Plenty of stout fellows to use a
sheriff's deputies there. He has prob
ably stumbled on traces and is goin!
for help. He sat and smoked, ant
slipped his hand back under his coat
Easy to shoot the fellow" he saiC
to himself.
Well, good-by, Stoner." saiC
Warren, suddenly; Il suppose tn,
beach road is as good as ever?'
Perfectly safe: only when yor
cross Tory creek keep on the sand
bar. 1t is as hard as iron. IcrosseC
there to-day"
Thank you Adios.''
Simple, smilingspeech, those words
of StOner's, and yet they were intend
ed 70 send Warren to his death morG
pistol or pellet of secret poison.
Stoner took an extra swig of bran
dy and went to his rest. Warner
rode down the rugged hill to the bot
tom OF the ravine, then turned sea
ward, and at last the wide gulcl
opened broadly to the shore of the
Pacific
The cliffs were from so to 300 feet
high and full of wave-worn caves,
Warren drew rein on the beach and
for fully ten minutes watched the
ocean sway and rise. His thoughts
thrObbed with dreams of Tessa. He
would take her away from her mar
row and hurtful surroundings. He
would lift her into happier and better
surroundings. He would force the
consent of Stoner, marry her, and
make her happy.
He rode rapidly south, and in half
an hour the mouth of the Toro ap-
peared in the midst of sand-dunes,
breakers rolling in and the steady
river rolling out. Here was the LONG
sand-bar, ten feet wide, and stretch
ing across hardly inch higher than
the water surface.
Warren was beginning to have
some suspicious OF Stoner, but not
such as to lead him to doubt the
simple directions he had received.
The sand-bar looked safe, but with
In a few days the sea, as Stoner
knew. had swept it NIGHTLY, torn
out the long cOmpacted bar, and
placed instead quivering mass of
qucksand, so treacherous that not
even a light-footed rabbit could cross
without being swallowed up and
dragged bodily down. Warren rode
swiftly forward; he had crossed sand
bars hundreds of times. Some
horses would have been wiser, but
the animal he rode had been bred in
the valley.
The approach to the bar was hard
tor a few rods, and he galloped on.
Suddenly, in one heart-breaking,
breathless descent, noiseless, but un-
utterably dreadful, Tom Warren's
horse went down, down, and the soft,
shiny sand came up to his name. He
shrleked out that ghastly cry of ap-
peal and agony that a desperate
dying horse will sometimes utter.
Tom knew the peril. He haC
thrown his feet nom the Stlrrnps anC
drawn them up at the first down
ward throb, but the sand began to
grab him also. Hethrew himself fiat
on his breast and tore himself loose
from the poor animal, over whose
back the mingled sand and water
was running, as it rolled from side
to side in etfectual struggles to es-
cape.
Tom spread himself out over as
much surface as possible, but slowly,
resistlessly the mighty force drew
him downward. The hard beach
was only ten feet distant, but prac-
tically the chasm was impossible.
He felt his horse sink out of sight;
the sand gripped his own knees and
arms, his thighs and shoulders. Two
inches more and the end by suffoca-
ton was inevitable. Up to this time
he had not shouted; only his horses
wild death scream had told of the
tragedy. What was the use? Who
would be passing along that lonely
road? Then he thought of Tessa and
of life. He raised his voice in a clear,
strong shout for help, again and
again repeated.
Far along the deep ravine there
came cry in response and a horses
hurrying feet, and hope awoke in his
heart. The margin of his life was five
minutes now-not longer. Faster,
faster, O fearless rider!
Tom, where are you?"
" Here, Tessa; don't come too
near"
But the mountain girl knew the
danger. Creeping downstairs for a
drink of water she had heard her
fathers words to Warren, had
thrown a shawl about her shoulders
and run to the pasture. Then she
caught her pet horse, sprang upon
his unsaddled back, seized a RATA as
she passed the stable and galloped
at the utmost speed down the ra-
vine, hoping against hope, for many
minutes had necessarily elapsed since
Warren started.
She sprang to the ground and
tossed the rawhide rope to the one
arm he held above the sand. She
folded her shawl and put it over her
horses shoulders, and tied the RATA
round like collar. Then she slowly
led him away from the quicksands,
and Warren thought his arm would
break; but slowly, reluctantly, pain
fully, the sand gave up it's prey.
"Your father told me to take this
road, Tessa, said the young sheriff.
Eyes, | know that, and | heard
one of the men tell him to-day that
the bar was swept out.
There was a long silence between
them.
"Tessa, go with me to San Luis, y
said Warren, land let us get mar
ried."
And Tessa went.
Old StOner heard the news few
days later. Within an hour he had
"retired from business" The camp
was broken up, the hunters disap
peared, mysterious lights flashed al
intervals all night from the points o
the cliff, and the next day old StoneI
himself disappeared, leaving his fam
lily, the ranch and live stock. 1t was
said that he made the best of his way
to Mexico and finally to South Amer
lea. The world is large, as yet, and
men who have money can ramble
over q good deal of it without finding
a past they wish to escape from. But
| Tessa lives in her San Luis OblspC
cottage, with orange trees over il
and La Marque roses on the porch
and she thinks herself the happles'
woman in California.-[Charles How
ard Shinn in Belford's Magazine.
A st. Louis genius has invented &
rubber billy for policeman, which mas
| wit IN