Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1899-12-13
CHAPTER III.
A WILD MAN HUNT.

| CHAPTER III.
| A WILD MAN HUNT.
with savage shout, us the huge
mountaineer escaped him, Reginald
Mason sprang down the ravine after
him. He could not doubt that this
was the very man of whom he was in
search, the man who could give him, II
he chose, some news of Granville's
fate. That this information would have
to be wruns out of him by the ungen-
tlest means, and that, when obtained.
1t would amour: to little more than q
tissue Of lies he felt sure.
In the wild eyes and blanched cheeks
Of Coch Tai Reginald had read tbs
| signs Of an AFFECT, sick terror, which
warned him Of what he already guess
| ed, that his brothers fate had been 8
tragic one and that this rough, uncoutt
creature, whom he had taken for his
guide, was cognizant, to say the Least
Of the details Of it.
| As he stumbled down the mountain
side in hot pursuit, indeed, Reginald
felt not doubt but that he was chas
ing his brothers murderer. Everything
that he had heard and seen seemed to
confirm this impression, which stamp
ed itself each moment more firmly In
/, his mind.
There flashed through his brain, even
as he ran, stumbling, leaping, sinking
in the snow ut every other step, those
words of the waiter at the inn, telling
him that Coch Tai had been Ill since
the beginning Of last month-the time
Of Granville's disappearance; that he
had been seen less in the town since
that date; that he had seemed, since
then, "a changed man."
These circumstances, trifipg In them.
selves, became important when taken
in conjunction with the mans horror
at the sound of Reginald's voice. He
felt that 1t was the resemblance be-
tween his voice and his brothers
which had struck such terror into the
! mind Of the peasant-terror which had
become more acute when he heard his
own nickname pronounced by the lips
| of man whom he had never seen be.
fore.
And while these thoughts, stimulat.
ed by the fierce passion which possess.
ed him, chased each other through
Reginald's mind, his feet flew from
point to point of the rough way with
ever increasing rapidity, 1t seemed
as II the exaltation of his mind had
communicated new powers to his body
l 60 I,~ q~l1 NIL
ease, more security, than before. and
rounding the hill at great pace when
he reached the foot of 1t, he found
himself only little way behind the
object of his pursuit.
The peasant heard him, gave one
look round, and uttering once more
the cultural exclamation, like the cry
Of wild bird. which had chilled Regi
maids blood when they first came face
to face, he went on his way at g
swifter pace than ever.
On they went again, pursuer and
pursued, with the snow and the wind
driving at their backs filling up the
creyices and the ruts In the rough foot
tracks and swirling into drifts to righ,
| anu lert OF tnem.
Up the rough side of mountain
which looked as they approached II
like the stone wall Of u huge fortress
or prison; up, up, up. tearing his hands
on the crags Of rugged graystone
which jutted like pin points out of the
snowdrifts, went Reginald his teett
set and his heart beating like ham
mer in his breast.
The mountaineer could beat him O,
this work; could climb like cat where
his pursuer could only crawl. And the
distance between the two began rapid
ly to increase. The peasant was ou
of sight when Reginald reached thu
top.
There We're now only the footprint.
In the snow to guide him, but even n.
he took the first step forward in til,
track Coch Tai had made gust o.
wind, which he felt with redouble.
force on this bleak hilltop, whirlel
the snowtlakes round him In a blind
Ing storm, forcing him to turn and tt
shelter his face. When for some sec
onds the blast had howled and whis
tied and roared in his deafened ear.
and the drifts had swept up from TIL,
ground in binding sheets of stinginI
spray, there was sudden lull, mo
mentary calm, and us the wind liet
the snow fell less heavily.
Reginald raised his head, shook him
self clear from the thick white coat
inss of hard, dry snow and looked
around him for the traces of the peas
ants footsteps.
They We're gone, all trace of then
swept away under the smooth white
sheet.
He shivered us he looked about him
down into the dark waters of til,
black tarn below him on his left hand
at the barren hills, on the sides Of
which great perpendicular slabs OF
cold gray rock relieved the white mas.
and disclosed the stony baroness Of
the soil; at the lowering clouds above
which seemed to be descending on hi.
head; at the never ending prospect Of
hills, bare and cold and white an(
melting into forlorn gray distances OF
every side
! Look which way he would he coult
see no sign of human habitation. Chill
ed to the marrow with something
which was worse than cold, worse al
most than fear, he recognized the des
perate situation in which he was plac
ed and knew that the chances of his
getting back to Trecoed alive were
enthusiastically small.
Although he had left the inn befor.
noon, with the day before him, he saw
by his watch that 1t was already 1
o'clock and the, gray. Of the wintel