San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-09-15

| TEX 1t up ter MIN terday Wnlle III
frush. +"
He met with lively reception at the
falls. Old Gilliad was known to be the
best informed man along the river
about the dangerous undercurrent, and
the deep caverns, and the sunken rocks
When his boat came up that morning,
it was met by many others, and the en-
tire little settlement had turned out in
the distressing search for drowned
woman. One of the lady guests at the
hotel had been ont boating and had
been thrown out under the roaring falls.
''Thar's Gilli'd Moon" said man
upon seeing him. "Ef he KANT find
her, nobuddy kim"
So to Gilliad Moon the heartbroken
husband fed.
Air yer willin ter gin anything"
asked the old man, while his keen eyes
glistened at the prospect of a big re-
ward.
Fifty dollars.
"I'll git her-ef ther dern mud kets
dom eat her up" said Gilliad as he
turned his boat around and rowed down
stream again.
He returned to his cabin and hunted
up his many different grasp hooks. He
put new ropes where the knotty old
ones were rotten, and with his long
trusty pole-the same with which he
prodded the engineers swollen face
he set out in his boat to hunt for the
lost woman. Along the bank the su-
mac bushes blazed with autumn beauty
and nodded over the turbulent stream.
Night came. Lights glimmered from
the skiffs of the searchers, but they
were all above Gilliad. An occasional
shout from one of them caused an oath
from Gilliad when he thought some one
had found the body. But the night
search was vain.
The next day it ra:ned, but Gilliad
went out in the dense fog and padded
about.
After awhile Thaddeus Green came
down ON raft Of logs which he was
taking to market and stopped for a chat
with Gilliad.
"How's Laney?" he bashfully in
quired as he started.
II hain't seen her sence We taken her
father night ter Their shindig," Gilliad
replied, feeling very mean over his
quarrel with her.
why, she sed she were a-comin by
herself in the boat" said Thaddeus.
Some O. Their boys got booty, an me an
Isaac Mooley he'd ter fetch 'em home,
an Laney sed she wasn't goin ter stay
thar in Their fuss, an she'd come home
in ther dugout | hope nothin's hap
pened ter her?''
"Oh, reckin nothin's a-happened, "
said Gilliad. He felt guilty and mean
for telling her to Light OUT from his
home. II reckin she hes stopped over
ct ther falls. She's greet hankerin
arter them city folks ct Their hotel "
when she do KEN home, said
Thaddeus, III be down ter see her.
hain't nuvver axed We, but Uncle Gil
l'ed-but air a-goin ter marry Laney."
- Gilliad Moon only gave grunt of
consent, and the raft careened and then
went floating down the stream with the
lank young fellow standing upon it. 1t
was two days later that Gilliad came
upon the object of his search. 1t was
yet dark, and the cold winds, reeking
with frosts, had soaked his clothes and
driven him off the river He was about
to land, when, there, almost at his
door, partly hidden in the sand, weeds
and Jagged rocks of the shoals, he dis
covered the body of a woman 1t had
evidently risen in the night, inflated
with gas, from some deep cavern under
the muddy water Reaching down, he
grasped it by the foot and tried to lift
it up.
Fifty dollar air not 50 much es
haight fur Their work | hev did, said
he to himself, IAN l amt no min ter
tex less then a hundred fur it, now l
got it. -
He did not examine the body, for it
was growing light, and he did not wish
to be discovered. Hardened and avari.
ciccs IS he was, he dared not look at
the dead face. There was always some
thing in the face of the dead that re-
preached Gilliad Moon to his callous
heart He never voluntarily looked upon
the dead.
Not far from his cabin snail creek
had cut its way through the mountain
under rocks and now flowed with quite
an ostentatious volume into the river.
Gilliad Moon slipped loop of rope
about the waist of the woman, and,
getting into his boat, towed it up stream
to the mouth of the creek He sprang
out upon a shelf of rock when he had
towed his CHASTITY burden about 100
yards of the creek, and, leaning over, he