Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1897-12-07
HEART Of THE WORLD.
by Fl. RIDER HAGGARD.
Strange Story, Taken Manuscript Bequeatied BY an oil
Mexican Indian to His Friend and comrade
Engishman Named
Copyrighted, 1894, BY H Rider Haraard,


| ing blankets and serapes over him till
! at length the perspiration ceased, all
the fluid in his body having evaporated,
taking the venom with 1t.
| For an hour or more he slept, then
awolxe and asked for water in q faint
voice. We, who were watching, looked
ut him in dismay, for we had not sin
| gle drop to give, and this we were
obliged to tell him. He groaned and
was silent for awhile, and then said:
1t would have been kinder to let.me
die of the poison, for this torment Of
thirst is more than can bear"
"Can we try the cueva?" faltered
Maya.
ut is impossible" answered her
father. "We should all be killed"
"Yes, yes" repeated the senior, sit is
| impossible. Better that one should die
than all four"
Fear not" said to the senior, "it is
the poison that has dried you up, but
thirst will not kill you SO soon, and
presently you will feel it less. Oil
that we had medicine here to make YOU
sleep!''
He lay silent for awhile, making no
answer, but from the workings Of his
hands and face we could see that he
suffered much.
Maya" he said at length, s'can you
find me cool stone to put in my
mouth?"
She searched and found pebble,
which he sucked, but after time it fell
from his lips, and we saw that it was as
dry as when it entered them. Then his
brain gave way, and he began to rave
huskily in many languages.
'Are you devil?" he asked, s'that YOU
suffer me to die in torment for the want
of a drink of water? Why do you stand
there and mock me? Oh, have pity and
| give me water"
For awhile we bore it, though per-
haps, our agonies were greater than his
own-then Maya rose and looked at his
face. 1t was sunlsen as though with q
heavy illness, thick black rings had ap-
peared beneath his blue eyes, and his
| lips were hecked with blood.
81 can endure this no more," she said
in dry voice. Watch your friend,
Don Ignatio."
"You are right" l answered; '.this il
no place for q woman. Go and sleep
| yonder, so that can wake you if there
u need"
She looked at me reproachfully, but
went without answering and sat down
behind bush about thirty yards away.
Here, it seems-for all this story she
told me afterward, and for the most
part do but repeat her words-she be-
gan to think.
Only one thing could save him
water. In the depths of yonder hill,
within few PAGES Of her, doubtless it
lay in plenty, but who would dare to
seek it there? And yet the descent of
the cueva must be possible, since the
ancients used it daily, and why could
4 a n do ,of hol
she would try it'll When once she had
made up her mind, Maya set about the
task swiftly.
She provided herself with flint, steel,
timber, rope, and small water-skin
of untanned hide, which she strapped
upon her shoulder. In another minute
she was running across the desert like
deer. At the entrance to the cueva
she paused to gather up the aloe torches
which had been thrown down there,
and also to look for one moment at the
familiar face of night-the night that
she might never see again. Then she
lit torch and crept through the narrow
1 opening.
The place had been awful in the
evening when she visited it in the COM
pany of the rest of u.s. Now, alone
and at night, it appalled, her.
She halted on the brink to strip her.
self SO that there might be as little as
possible to impede her movements in
4 climbing the stair, and twisted her
hair into knot. Next she tied the
cord about her middle and the water
skin, to which she fastened the flint
and steel, upon her shoulders Light
ing two of the largest torches she fixed
them slantingwise in crevices of the
rock, SO that their flames .shone over
4
threw, first a bundle of unlit torches,
not go out, as she had expected that it
would, for presently looking down the
pit she saw a spark of light shining
one hundred and fifty feet or moro be-
meath her.
Now all her preparations We're COM
plete, and nothing remained to be done
except to descend and search for the
water.
i BY the time that she was third of
the way down the shaft her courage re-
turned to her, and the only fear she
felt was lest some of the inches should
be broken. Fortunately this was not
the case, although one of them was so
much worn that her toes slipped out of
her hands, Recovering herself, she
went on from step to step till at length
she stood at the bottom of the shaft.
After a few minutes pause to get her
breath, Maya found one of the dry aloe
stems and lit it at the embers of the
torch, which she had thrown down the
pit. Then she looked round her to find
herself in large natural cavern of no
great height, which sloped gently
j downward furthe: than she could see.
Turning her eyes to the floor she
searched for and found the path that
lad been followed out by the feet of
the ancients, but now was half hidden
in sand and dust
, followed it for fifty PAGES or more,
holding the light in one hand and
J some spare torches under her arm.
, Suddenly the passage took a turn,
and there in the center of a wonderful
, place, such as she had never seen be-
fore, CLEANED the water which she had
, risked her life to reach.
This water, though clear as crystal,
was not still, for once in every two sec.
, onds a great bubble rose in the center OF
the pool to burst on it's surface and send
a ring of ripples to the rocky sides. Sc
beautiful was this bubble, and so regu.
; lar its appearance, that for some min,
utes Maya watched it, then, remember.
, ing that she had no time to spare, set
herself to get to the water, only to find
that she was confronted by new diff,
J Guilty, and one that but for her fore.
sight might have proved insuperable
!, The rock bank Of the pool was SO smooth
and sloped SO steeply to the water that
it was quite impossible for anyone te
keep a footing On it.
, The ancient had overcome the
/ trouble by means Of a wooden stair
case, as was evident from the places
: followed in the rock to receive the up