Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1896-06-18
Copyrighted. 1894. BY Il Rider Haggard
CHAPTER IV.-CoNTINUED

CHAPTER IV.-CoNTINUED
ely, senior, am safe, and do but
stay to light candle. / will follow
| you"
You are lying to me-" he answered;
''yorr voice comes from the level of the
floor" And as he spoke I heard the
scratching sound of a match.
So soon as he fonnd his candle and
| lit it, he knelt down and looked at me.
Then he c:oked at the roof above, and
| following his glance with difficulty /
| saw that next to the hole whence the
bowlder had fallen hung a huge block
of stone, that trenbled like a leaf
whenever he moved or spoke, sur
rounded by great cracks from which
water dropped.
For the love of God. fy!" whis-
pered. I'm few hours it viii be over
with me, and you cannot help me. L am
a dead man; do not stop here to share
my fate"
For moment he seemed to hesitate;
then his courage came back to him, and
he answered hoarsely:
"We 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. ''ThanL God! there is
| hope" he said at last, ''the bowlder
| rests upon the ground and upon the
| stone against which l struck my leg,
| for only one point of it is fixed in your
back. Do you think that anything is
broken, Ignatio?"
II cannot say, senior. my pain is great
and am being slowly crushed to death;
but / believe thai as yet my bones are
whole Elv T Of
II will not" he answered, sullenly.
Il 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
entity.
'Yes, yes, senor," l answered; ''go
for helps" 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
l remembered, and added:
stay a moment before you go; you
are noble. ] will give you something.
little chain-now draw it over my
head-so. You see a token hangs to it.
If ever you are in trouble with the In
diaEs, 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
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 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,
ike one who dreams. Then, taking
the candle with him, he crept forward
down the tunnel and vanished, and my
heart sank as l saw him go, leaving me
to my dreadful fate without a word of
farewell.
Doubtless he is too frightened to
speak" thought, land it is right that
ne should fly as quickly as possible to
save his life
Now, as was soon to learn, was
doing the senior Il bitter wrong in my
mind, seeing that he never dreamed of
deserving me, but went to find a means
OF rescue. AS he told me afterwards,
when he reached the mouth of the tun-
mel he could think of no way by which
l might be saved, since these noun
tains were uninhabited and it would
take several hours to bring men from
Cumarvo.
Outside the mine he sat himself down
to consider what could be done, but no
thought came, for it was impossible to
use the strength of the horses in that
narrow place. Then he sprung up and
looked round him in despair. Close to
him was q little ravine followed by
water, and on its very edge grew a
small Inimosa thorn of which the long
roots had been washed almost bare by
Il Hood. lie saw it and an inspiration
entered into him.
Springing at the little tree, that
being SO tough a wood was the best
possible FOR his purpose, he tore it
from aslch rcothold as remained to it.
4 few st~ci,es with his heavy hunting
knife trimmed of the branches and
fibers. and soon he was creeping care
fully up the tunnel. dragging the trunk
after him. When he had gone some
twenty PAGES he heard another frag-
,ncnt o. the root fall. and SO he said in
his story, was minded to ily.
1T IS l, Ignatio. and | have brought
\ lever. Now when lift, struggle for.
ward ii you can"
Then he placed the trunk of the thorn
tree il what seemed to him the best
position. and put all his strength upon
it. Il was in vain; even SO he could
not stir the rock.
Try n little more to the right"
said, family; there is better hold"
lie shifted the lever and dragged at
il till his muscles cracked, and | felt the
stone trcsnblc as its bulk began to rise
If you can help ever SO little, it will
come" he gasped.
Then il my despair, though the an
gHish OF it nearly killed me. set my
palms upon the ground, and contract
ing myself like Il snake that is held
with forl1ed stick. thrust upwards
with my back, till the point OF the stone
was raised to the height of eight or
ten inches from the ground.
For moment. and one only, it hung
there; next instant the lever slipped,
and down it came again. But had
taken my chance, Cor, clinging to the
floor with my fingers. SO soon as my
back was free, with 4 quick movement
l dragged myself foot or more for
ward. Then the point of rock that had
been lifted from my back fell again,
but this time it struck the ground be-
tween my thighs.
Now he seized me by the arms and.
tore me free though 1 left one of my
long boots beneath the stone. / strove
to rise, but could not because of the
hurt to my back.
You must carry me, senor," said.
He glanced at the mass that trenbled
above US, then, giving me the candle,