The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-02-07
SUNDAY FEBRUARY I, 892-TWEIvE PAGES

ride he begailad Redwood from the track.
icst him IN inierminable forest sOl-tudes,
watched him through the lingering egOnies
Of thirst and hunger. and cursed him tri-
umphantlv IN bis dying hour Ard the
eauty OF J. ali was that there was no
safety p ss-b.e. a here was no relentlns IN
the theme. 40 slowing down 10 the pulse Of
bis hates fever.
He rode on until noon, the bush growing
denser aud more dense as lie Travelled he
was brought suddenly 20 a halt by prOdigi-
Ous noise Of rendlDg and tearing not far IN
front, and whilst ne checked his horse In
wonderment and terror at the unexpected
sound, il grew in volume and intensity, w
til with a terrific crash giant tree fell across
the track, swapping other trees Of six or
eight feet IN girth as il they had bssn
withe3. When he had partially recovered
from the shook the uproar had given to his
nerves. he rode up TO the fallen monarch
and regarded il with amaZement. The vast
trunk lay prone upon the ground, but
standing in his stirrups hs found his head q
yard below its upper rim. Possibly when
I the Bastard led the Norman hosts to Eng
land this ancient of the bush, SO newly
fallen from it's place Of pride. had already
| hourished fair and broad. Through long
centuries it had reached its prime. and
through long centuries had rottsd at the
root until ar lass, on a day OF calm and
MINDLESS splendor, IL had fallen, with the
| for its requiem.
There was no climbing over the recumb-
| ent body Of tho dead mouach, even If the
traveller bad besn on foot, and there was
obviously nothing for him but TO make a de-
| tour. Nothing doubling that the tree
would guide him back to the track, Hether-
| idge plunged into the virgin bush. The
mere underground there made q roof thirty
| feet IN hight. and before he had gone twenty
! ards he found himself involved in a SUBJ
| dued twilight. A sudden terror of the 81
lence, the loneliness, the dimness of the
place. got hold Of him, and but for the dread
OF ridicue, he would have ridden back
/ again.
Common sense came to his aid moment
later, and lie asked himself derisively what
ne had 10 fear. The huge trunk offered him
| 80 plain a guidance that blind man iced
| hardly have lost it. But there were tangled
! creepers everywhere at his feet, ana huge
| l,anas reached from tree to tree like the dis
| torted cOrdage OF some Brobdignadlan YES
sci. and in very little while he found him
self compelled TO alight and to lead his
| morse. Many diverRences from the straight
| line were forced upon him, and once or
twice an icy spasm of fear passed through
him at the thought that he had lost the
| guiding line of the fallen trunk. He came
back to it each time with a muffied heart,
his body bathed in perspiration from head
70 foot. The difficulties of the passage
| through the dense underground, and the
| alternate shocks Of fear and safety seemed
30 to exaggerate the distance he had
traversed, that though he recognized the
monstrosity OF the fancy, he would have
| been halt-prepared to swear that the tree
was mile in length.
For fourth or a fifth time the guiding
| line OF the tree was lost, and as he struggled
tercely back to it his foot tripped and be
fell among tangled roots and creepers. He
was on his feet again in an instant but had
no conception OF the direction in which he
had been moving. In the thick twilight
every brief vista looked like every other,
and his heart knocked at his ribs with a
| INTERPRETATIONS terror of the place. He
covered his horses rein mechanically, and
sat down resolute to master his fears.
| Surely they were futile and absurd De-
spite his tancies he knew that he could not
| yet have strsyed hundred feet from the
track. That he should be unable to repair
80 very slight a misadventure was paIpably
ridiculous. Once again, what was there to
be afraid Off The very posture of the pa
tient horse without doubt indicated the di-
rection he had pursued at the moment of his
fall. He had but TO follow that for half
a score OF yards at the outside to find his
| guide again. He mopped his streaming
| face with the sleeve of his flannel shirt aud
| argued himself back into self-possession.
though The gloom and silence were menac-
ing beyond the power Of words to say. Ris-
ing to his feet. he pushed on again with the
rein thrown loosely over his left arm. The
passage seemed a little easier. and he was
suddenly hopeful. he made ten, twenty.
thirty yards. but no giant fallen tree trunk
came in sight. Whilst he was yet bruised
by his fall, the horse must have moved, and
80 have led him to take false direction, Ina
sudden frenzy OF wrath he kicked the hap
less beast and punched it savagely about the
] hnuA xu-HAh I-kL
against the snattie and one of the buckles of
the headstall. Then, still dragging the
frightened and now reluctant beast, he
strove to retrace his steps,
In and out, up and down in a growing
agony and horror, he struggled for an hour,
and at last, with his shirt torn to tatters and
his body bruised in every limb he sat down
upon a gnarled tree root to the appalling
consciousness that he was lost On this con-
clusion he fell into q horrld stupor in which
| every faculty of mind and body seemed
benumbed. And when his terrors prioked
| him anew so deeply as to overmaster this
| offspring OF their own, he shouted on the
| vague of-chance of some traveller being
| within earshot of him, until his voice failed
| him altogether. The overshadowing forest
strangled and stiiled his cries, shrek as
| loudly as he would. His voice seemed to
hls own ears scarcely to penetrate the sur
rounding bush at all, and yet a hundred
times before MS voice gave way, bis strain
ing ears seemed to catch a far off answer to
! his call.
He had with him, strapped to the swag
at the back of his saddle, a great flannel
clothed tin bottle Of water. and tin case
containing bread and meat. Packed in the
swaR itself was a travelling flask of brandy.
holding perhaps half a pint. In the midst
of his despair, be resolved to hoard these
slight provisions. He mixed little brandy
and water now, and made sparing meal.
astonlshed to find that his mental anguish
eft him the power to eat at all. By the
time he had finished his sparse Iun cheon aud
packed his provisions up again, his wits be-
gan to work little and he suddenly be-
thought him of the toy compass he carried
ON his watch chain. That would at least
guide him in one direction, and if he could
be sure Of keeping a straight liue be might
by careful outstanding his strength and
resources--hght his way out of this Internal
solitude and get back to life again The
thought was like very ray of sunlight to
his soul, and his hand went mechanically to
the pocket, in whicn he kept his watch. but
the watch was gone, and with it the COM
pass which had depended from its chain.
Nothing was left but the bar and three or
four inches of the chain ending at the
broken link he had noticed almost at the
beginning Of his journey. He laughed inn
moderately at this terrible discovery, and
when the dry and mirthless spasm was over,
dropped his head into both hands and went
] w nhQ oh Il 10