The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1891-12-19
learns one leason-t0 patiently bide bis

The last words of the leader of the
party kept constantly recurring to him.
| 1t was with no religious sentiment that
he thought of possible deliverance, but
with the conviction that he deserved
better than death like this.
Seemingly in sympathy with his situa-
ton and his mood, the twilight hours
now fast approaching brought warning
of a storm. He noticed this with pleas
ure, for both hunger and thirst had as
serted themselves. He awaited the soft.
cooling rain which he saw approaching
up over the mountains with feeling of
relief. The leaves had fallen off the
tree, winter was so near at hand, and he
turned his face to the sky to catch the
fast falling drops upon his face and
tongue. The moisture refreshed him,
and he felt his courage revive and hope
once more spring up within his breast.
The long roll of distant thunder and the
vivid bursts of lightning did not even
awe him. It seemed like great battle.
and he pictured himself in the thick of
the fight. If he only had that chancei
How welcome it would be, and how
happily he could await the bullet that
would send him into the great unknown,
and the news be flashed home by the
wires, 'fVictoA Elliott died hero's death
at his post on the field of battle"
The center of the storm approached
nearer. The gusts of wind blew more
frequently and the rain poured down
upon him until he was wet to the skin.
Without warning, there came a short
quick hash-he saw blaze of light about
him and all was changed. He seemed
falling, falling into endless space, and
then, mounting upward, he rode on the
wings of light. Impatiently he seemed
blinking his eyes, so that he might see
more plainly this wondrous, beautiful
scene. Sparks of fire seemed to obliter-
ate his sight and burn into his brain.
He tried to speak, to cry aloud. His
heart seemed bursting with an ecstatic
joy, but he could not make a sound.
Then all was a blank.
After a long, long time he seemed to
feel the chill that comes over one when
the bed clothing is not warm enough in
the night. He thought that was what
allied him, and started to reach down his
hand and put it up over him. The move
ment brought consciousness. How was
this? Where was he? His mind recalled
the events of the day and the evening
storm. How could this be? Here he
was sitting upright on the wet ground.
his hands tied behind him, aching in
every limb. Assuredly still in the land
of the living. He looked up over his
head.
1t was not a delusion; it was reality.
The rope was still about his neck. and
there by his side on the ground, with
the other, end tied to it, was the limb of
a tree. The blaze of light that had
seemed SO near him a few minutes be
fore was in reality flash of lightning
occurring hours ago, for it was now
broad daylight. 1t had struck that
identical tree and freed him. There it
stood splintered and broken
He heard familiar sound near at
hand. Could he believe his eyes? There
was his mare contentedly grazing near
by. He whistled to her and she came
tlotting to him, dragging at the end of
a lariat the iron picket to which her cap
tors had tied her the night before. 1t
was too much for his feelings, and he
broke down and cried like child when
he felt her soft nose on his face expect
ing the caress he usually gave her.
Heaven had not only vindicated his in
nocence, but had returned his useful pet
to him in his great need of her.
Benumbed and sore, it took him near
ly an hour to free himself from the cruel
ropes, but at last succeeding, he found
his oil skin bag over near the adobe house |
and ate heartily. The spring quenched
his thirst, and he felt like man born
anew
1t was with heart full of happiness
and gratitude to Almighty God for his
miraculous escape that he mounted the |
lN(N1s
had proved SO full of incident to him. |
III be a better husband to Mollie than
before, bless her heart, for coming out i
here to be with me, expecting to give up
the comforts of city life,' said he. as |
he rode along the way that was rapidly |
bringing him to her. 'sThose drafts that |
sent to the bank in Denver last week
will come in handy now. We will go i
over the range to Frisco, and start life
over again. Some day I'll come back
here and find out who did kill Hank
Green. His wife has that dust. She is
welcome to the use of it. Maybe it's
just as well to get away from that life
after all, and he rode on content.
A wagon train sent over to the railroad
town from Bluffville the next week
brought back the news of Elliott's es-
cape, of his meeting with his wife and
their departure to place unknown. The
rough mining camp had too much else
to attend to to think long over the
strange events of the week gone by.
Some years afterward it was recalled to T
them in an unexpected manners Victor
Elliott had come back. His means and
position acquired in his new home pro-
tected him from rough treatment, es-s
pecially SO when the townspeople learned
that he was going over incident after in
c1dent, questioning man after man