Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1892-02-04

, drop ina clepsydra, and each drop as
it fell changed itself and tinkled in the
basin a priceless pearl.
1T worries me. this delay" | said to
Brent.
''They lost as much-more time than
we,p he said.
And he crowded on, more desperately,
as a man rides for dearer than life-as a
lover rides for love-
We tore along, breaking through and
over the sage bushes, each man where
best he could. Fulano began to show
me what leaps were in him. gave him
his head. No bride would have held
him. kept my mastery by the voice,
or rather by the perfect Identification of
his will with mine. Our minds acted
together. Save strength" )" still warned
him, save strength, my friend, for the
mountains and the last leapsl'
A little pathway in the sage bushes
suddenly opened before me, as lane
riffs in the press of hurryiEg legions
mid the crush Of city thoroughfare.
| dashed on hundred yards in advance
of my comrades.
What was this2 The bushes trampled
and broken down, just as we in our
passage We're trampling and breaking
them What:
Hoof marks in the dust!
"The trailr' cried, '.the trail!"
They sprang toward me. Brent fol.
lowed the line with his eye. He galloped
forward, with look Of triumph.
Suddenly saw him fling himself hall
out of his saddle and clutch at some OBJ
ject. Still going at speed, and holding
on by one leg alone, after the Indian
fashion for sport or shelter against an
arrow or shot, he picked up something
from the bushes, regained his seat and
waved his treasure to us. We ranged uT
and rode beside him over a gap in the
sage.
A lady's glove!-that was what he hac
stopped to recover. An old buckskiI
riding gauntlet, neatly stitched about
the wrist and pinked on the wristlet. a
pretty glove, strangely, almost tragical
ly, feminine in this desolation. A wei
worn glove that had seen better days
like its mistress, but never any day SC
good as this, when it proved to us that
we were on the sure path Of rescue.
II take up the gauntlet" said Brent
Scare a qui le toucher
We said nothing more; for this uncon
scious token, this silent cry for help
made the danger seem more closely i'm
minent We pressed on. No finchiDa
in any of the horses. Where we could
we were going at speed. Where they
could the horses kept side by side, nerv
ing each other. Companionship sus
tained them in that terrible ride.
And now in front the purple Sierra
was growing brown and rising up dis
tinct wall, cleft visibly with dell, gully
rayine and canyon. The sawteeth oI
the ridge defined themselves sharply into
peak and pinnacle. Broad fields of COO
snow CLEANED upon the SUBMITS.
We were ascending now all the time
into the subalpine regions. We crossed
great sloping savannas, deep in dry
rustling grass, where nation of cattle
might pasture. We plunged through
broad wastes Of hot sand We huns
ourselves down and up the red sides b
water worn gullies. We took brealEnecl
leaps across dry quebradas in the clay
We clattered across stony arroyos, long
ing thirstily for the gush Of water thai
had flowed there not many months be
fore.
The trail was everywhere PLAIN. NJ
prairie craft was needed to trace it
Here the chase had gone, but few hourE
ago; here, across grassy slopes, traInplins
the grass as if mower had passed thai
way; here, plowing wearily through the
sand; here, treading the red, crumblina
clay; here, breaking dowtrthe side of !
bank; here, leaving the sharp hoof tracl
IN the dry mud of a fed torrent. Every
where straight path, pointing for thai
deepening gap in the Sierra, Luggernei
alley, the only gate Of escape.
Brent's unerring Judgment had di
vined the course Alright. On he led
charging along the trail as if he wer,
trampling already ON the carcasses O
the pursued. On he led, and we fol
lowed, drawing nearer, nearer to oul
goal.
Our horses suffered bitterly for water
Some five hours we had ridden withou
Il pause. Not one drop or sign OF watel
in all that arid waste. The torrents hat
poured along the dry watercourses too
hastily to let the scanty alders and vii
lows along their line treasure up any
sap Of growth. The wild sage bushes
had plainly never tasted fluid mort
plenteous than seldom dewdrops dolet
ont ON certain rare festal days, enough
to keep their Ineager foliage u dusty
gray. Nopleasant streamlet lurked any
where under the long dry grass Of the
savannas. The arroyos were parcheG
and hot as riffs in lava.
1t became agonizing to listen to tht
painting and gasping of our horses
Their eyes grew staring and bloodshot
We suffered ourselves hardly less thar
they. 1t was cruel to press on. But W,
must hinder crueller cruelty. Lovs
against Time-Vengeance against Time
We must not finch for any weak hu
manity to the noble allies that struggled
on with us without one token of resist
ance.
Fulano suffered least. He turned hi:
brave eye back, aud beckoned me witt
his ear to listen, while he seemed to say
''See, this smy endurancel | hold my
power ready still to show"
And he curved his proud neck, shool
bis name Ike banner. and galloped the
grandest of all.
We came to a broad strip of sand, the
dry bed of mountain torrent. The
trail followed up this disappointing
path. Heavy blowing for the tired
horsesl How would they bear the rough
work down the ravine yet to come?
Suddenly our leader pulled up and
sprang from the saddle.
s'Look.r he cried, chow those fellows
spent their time and saved ours. Thanh
heaven for thisl We shall save her.
surely, now.
1t was waterl No need to 20 back tc
Pindar to know that it was ''the best"
They had dug pit deep in the thirsty
sand and fouRd lurking river buried
there. Nature never questioned what
manner of men they were that sought
Murderers flying from vengeance and
planning now another villain outrage
still impartial Nature did not change
her laws for thein Sr ~hlue. air, water,
life--these boons of gave them
freely. That hight de- .th, ii