Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1896-05-28
HEART OF THE WORLD.
BY H. RIDER HAGGARD.
A Strange Story, Taken From a. Manuscript Be-
qaeathed by IN Old Mexican Indian to His
Friend and Comrade, an English
man Named Jones.
Copyrighted. 1894, by H Rider Haggard
CHAPTER Iv.-CoNrINUED.

CHAPTER lV.-CONTINUED
s'F1y, senior, 1 am safe, and do but stay
tolight a candle. will follow YOU"
"YOu are lying to me-" he answered;
i''your voice comes from the level of the
floor And as he spoke I heard the
scratching sound of match.
So soon as he fonnd his candle and
lit it, he knelt down and looked at me.
Then he looked at the roof above, and
following his glance with difficulty 1
saw that next to the hole whence the
bowlder had fallen hung huge block
of stone, that trernbled like a leaf
whenever he moved or spoke, sur
rounded by great cracks from which
water dropped.
''Fors the love of God, flyr'' whis-
rpered. ''In a few hours it will be over
with me, and you cannot help me, am
dead man; do not stop here to share
my fate"
then his courage came back to him, and
he answered hOarSely:
eve entered this place together,
friend, and we will go out together, or
not at all. You must be fixed by the
rock and not crushed, or you would
not speak of living for hours. Let me
look and he lay upon his breast and
examined the fallen rock by the light
of the candle. ''Thank God! there is
hope" he said at last, 1.-The bowlder
stone against which 1 struck my leg,
for only one point of it is fixed in your
back. Do you think that anything is
broken. Ignatio?"
Il cannot say, senior, my pain is great
and / am being slowly crushed to death;
but l believe tina. as yet my bones are
whole. Fly, senior, beg of you"
81 will not" he answered, sullenly.
81 am going to roll this rock off you.''
Then, lifting with all his great
strength, he strove to move the stone,
but without avail, for it was beyond
the power of mortal man to stir it, and
all the while the black mass trembled
above his head.
Il must go for help" he said pres
emily
Yes, yes, senor," I answered.; ''go
for help;'' for knew well that before
he could return with any, more of
the roof would have fallen shutting me
in to perish by inches, or perhaps crush
ing the life out of me in mercy. Then
j remembered, and added:
Stay a moment before you go; you
are noble. will give you something.
Feel here round my neck, there is a
1ittlo chain-now draw it over my
head-so. You see token hangs to it.
IF ever you are in trouble with the In
dams, take their chief man apart and
show him this, and he will die for you
if need be.
''Englishman, by this gift I have
made you heir to the empire of the Az
tees in the heart of every Indian, and
the master of the great brotherhood of
Mexico. Molas. the messenger, will
tell you all and bring you to those who
can initiate you. Bid him to lead you
whittier he would have led me. Fare
well, and God go with you. Tell the
Indians how 1 died, that they may not
think that you have murdered me-"
To these words of mine the senior
made no answer. but thrust the token
into his pocket without looking at it,
like one who dreams. Then, taking
the candle with him, he crept forward
down the tunnel and vanished, and my
heart sank as saw him go, leaving me
to my dreadful fate without a word of
farewell. 49,
Doubtless he is too frightened to
speak" thought, land it is right that
he should fly as quickly as possible to
save his life.''
Now, as I was soon to learn. I was
doing the senior bitter wrong in my
mind, seeing that he never dreamed Of