San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-02-15

before US, grand ana terrible. Some giant
force had clutched the mountains and
riven them narrowly apart. The wild
defile gaped and then wound away and
closed, lost between its mighty walls,
thousand feet high, and bearing two
brother pyramids of purple cliffs aloft
far above the snow line. A fearful portal
into scene of the throes and agonies of
earth! anG my excited eyes seemed to
read, gilded over its entrance, in the dead
gold of that hazy October sunshine, words
from Dante's inscription:
Per me 81 va ira la perduta genie;
Lasciate ogni speranza vol, CHI entrate!
'Here we are" said Brent, speaking
hardly above his breath. "This is Lug
gernel alley, at last, thank God! In an
hour, if the horses hold out, we shall be
at the springs, that is if we can go
through this breakneck gorge at the
same pace. My horse began to finch
little before the water. Perhaps that will
set him up How are yours?"
"Fulano asserts that he has not begun
to show himself yet. l may have to
carry you en- croupe before we are done.'
Armstrong said nothing, but pointed
impatiently down the defile. The gaunt
white horse moved on quicker at this
gesture. He seemed tireless machine,
not flesh and blood-a being like his
master living and acting by the force Of
purpose alone.
Our chief led the way into the canyon.
Terrible riding it was! A pavement
of slippery, sheeny rock; great beds of
loose stones; barbados of mighty bowl
ders, where cliff had fallen an con ago,
before the days of the roadmaker race;
crevices where an unwary foot might
catch; wide riffs where shaky horse
might fall, or timid horseman drag
him down.
An arroyo, the channel of dry tor.
rent, followed the pass. 1t had made its
way as water does, not straightway, but
by that potent feminine method of pass
ing under the frowning front of an OBJ
stacle, and leaving the dull rock staring
there, while the wild creature it would
have held is gliding away down the val
ley. This zigzag channel baffled us; we
must leap it without check wherever it
crossed our path. Every second now
was worth a century. Here was the
Sign of horses, passed but now. We
could not choose ground. We must take
our leaps on that cruel rock wherever
they offered.
Poor Pumps! jd
He had carried his master 80 noblyi
T,t,ax<, xxva~o ca f~xxy i1ao t< dot IL had
chased so we'll; he merited to be in at
the death.
Brent lifted him at leap across the
arroyo.
Poor Pumps!
His hind feet slipped on the time
smoothed rock. He fell short. He
plunged down a dozen feet among the
rough powders of the torrent bed.
Brent was ont of the saddle almost be-
fore he struck, raising him. uH
No, he would never rise again. Both
his forelegs were broken at the knee.
He rested there, kneeling on the rocks
where he fell.
Brent groaned. The horse screamed
horribly, horribly-there is no more
agonized southland the scream went
echoing high up the cliffs where the red
sunlight rested.
1t costs loving master much to
butcher his brave and trusty horse, the
half Of his knightly self; but it costs
him more to hear him shrek in such
misery. Brent drew his pistol to put
DOOR Pumps out of pain. ~
Armstrong sprang down and caught
his hand.
"Stopr he said in his hoarse whisper.
He had hardly spoken since we started.
MY nerves were so strained that this
mere ghost Of a sound rang through me
like death yell. a grisly cry Of merci-
less and exultant vengeance. I seemed
to hear its echoes, rising up and SWELL
ing in food of thick uproar, until they
burst over the summit of the pass and
were wasted in the crannies of the
towering mountain tanks above.
''Stop!" whispered Armstrong. "Na
shootingl They'll hear, The knifer'
He held out his knife to my friend.
Brent hesitated one heart beat. Could
he stain his hand with his faithful sery-
ants blood?
Pumps screamed again.
Armstrong snatched the knife and
drew it across the throat of the crippled
horse.
Poor Pumps! He sank and died with
out moan. Noble martyr in the old,
heroic cause.
caught the knife from Armstrong. !
cut the thong of my girth. The heavy
California saddle, with its macheers and
roll of blankets, fell to the ground. Icut