People's voice., 1899-09-14
II.
TIE EAR OF TIE MOUNTAIN.

Ringbrand began the new DAY with
drink of water scooped up by hand
fuls from the pool in the crevice, and
then walked the length of the cavern to
get glimpse of the sky. just beneath
the well-like opening he stumbled upon
Il small package wrapped in piece of
dirty paper. Opening it eagerly, as
message from the outer world, he felt
like shouting upon finding that it con-
tained substantial meal OF corn poncs
and fried bacon. F.--~r~ l-rovs no
ceremony. and, SO i,..- slarD enough,
has little regard for the quality and no
curiosity as TO the source O. that which
appeasas its cravings H.Egbrand ate
Iayenously and with the Eccn relish of
one Who has laborcd fasting, but he was
thoughtful enough to save q portion Of
the bread and meat for greater necessi-
ties, wrapping it carefully in the paper
and concealing it in niche IN he rock.
Goodness knows where that came
from" he said, "ard goodness knows
when til get any more; therefore it
BELTS ire TO hoard it. TIL never be
afraid of making thir~s 700 onnortune
in story after this; nothing short Of
Il miracle could have teen more timely
than this unaccountahle breakfast
And it asks for more guessing. Who
brought it? Who knows Tn here?
Clearly, no one but these lnurderous
Bynums, And why should they feed
lead man? Al, | have it, it's the won.
'an--she knows Tn in here, and she
doesn't know the rest. And if that's
the explanation, must have been
wrong in my reckoning; the hammer
ing yesterday was in the McNabb tun-
mel, and that crack is the place where I
lost the pick; I'll take another look
and see if l can't find it."
Looking" for the implement in ques-
lion was a mere figure of speech, since
the critical search was prosecuted
wholly through the sense of touch, pro-
jected into the end of divining rod
made of bits of twigs spliced together
by threads taken from the rope. 1t
was trial of patience, but patience
was rewarded in the end, as it usually
is; and when he had succeeded in lecat-
ing the coveted object he set about de-
gising some means of securing it. The
rope solved this problem, but no wild
horse Of the prairies was ever harder
TO lasso than was the inanimate COM
bination of wood and steel lying quietly
at the bottom of the fissure. AS in the
former case, however, patient effort
finally conquered, though the after.
noon shadows were filling the cavern
with warnings of the approach of night
before Ringbrand had added the pick
to his available resources. He had
thought of no definite plan for using il
in the struggle for freedom, but the
first suggestion was that he might now
be able to cut series of steps up the
wall like those in the adjoining cham
her. A short half hour of arduous toi
convinced him of the futility of thi:
nope, and he stopped to rest his weary
arms.
''That's no 60" he said, examining
She rude notch hewn out with such in
finite labor; I'm not stonecutter
whatever else / may be; and dull pici
isn't mallet and chisel, by long odds
II that's the best / can do with goot
{oothold and both hands to work with
1t says itself that couldn't dig out o
here In week. wonder If / couldn'
tie the rope to the pick and fling 1t u
through that holeP"
There was still daylight enough TO