The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1891-05-02

plant a cabin and vineyard upon the
most sheltered and fertile portion of
the plateau.
At the base of the mountain nearest
the station are the stone quarries. A
number of men were at work in them
cutting paving stone from the foot of
the great bowlder. 1t occurred to me
as noticed them that james Hardy,
my Atlanta friend, was interested in
the quarries.
AS our circuitous walk brought us
into view Of the most precipitous side
of the mountain, my companion passed
the glass to me and said:
''Now for the cave"
eyes; now for the caveI'' repeated,
lifting the glass to my eyes.
We were no small distance from the
foot of the mountain, and perhaps a
mile from the nearest place of ascent
at the quarries. But the glass was a
powerful one and brought out every
feature of the mountain as clearly as
though close at hand. After watching
the graceful fight of pair of buzzards,
soaring about the middle girth of the
mountain, scanned its beetling brows
''Nice secluded place for lovers
stroll up th-Wen, look at those reck-
less foolsp' l exclaimed, catching sight
of a man and woman threading the
narrow path upon the side of the lofty
| decline, which dropped few feet be-
low them sheer to the plain, more than
two thousand feet down. It was as
! though they were walking a cleat
across some gigantic Gothic roof. A
false step would send them tumbling
down its steep descent and dash them
off its dizzy eaves-down-down--! The
thought sickened me.
My companion had small spy glass,
| which somewhat facilitated his vision.
"The fools The fools! he cried,
clinching my arm with his unoccupied
hand.
was too frozen by the spectacle for
utterance.
"God God! There they go!' he ex-
claimed.
The woman slipped and as she fell
she caught her companions feet, pulling
him after her down the decline.
A faint uncertain cry reached us from
the upper air like bodyless voice of the
| prairie ''lxill deer" The hand holding
my glass dropped from my eyes and 1
| became faint almost to unconscious
ness.
"Look! Look"
The words aroused me. Again l
raised the glass. Terrible spectaclel
The man had clutched both hands over
the sharp edge of rock that formed
kind of trough or lip on the very verge
of the perpendicular precipice. The
woman still retained her grasp upon his
feet, and they hung, like bats, fiat
against the bare face of the cliff.
Stone mountain is mica rock and
the face of that cliff sparkled and
glistened like a front of diamonds
under the brilliant sun. A background
of light that showed every line of their
contour with fearful distinctness
"See! some one above has sighted
them and gone for help"
True! But how long could he hold on
supporting the woman's weight in ad-
dition to his own? Only few seconds
at the longest! o, for time! Time and
strength
At first it seemed that he could not
possibly cling until the rescuers should
return. But as moment after moment
passed, and still they clung, the agony
of witnessing the spectacle was in
creased by the feeble hope, that by
some miracle of strength he might yet
endure unto deliverance. The seconds
seemed to lengthen into minutes Still
no help!
I felt that the supreme moment had
Gomez that he could not keep his hold
for another fraction of time if it were
to bring certain safety.
Just as murmur of JOY escaped my
companions lips at the sight of the
rescuers, the human mass upon the
mountains brow grew suddenly less.
The woman had released her grasp and
shot down the precipice-visible only
as dark streak, sable flash, against
the glittering surface of the rock!
The idling buzzards careened away in
frightened haste and lifted my glance
to the man again. One moment more