Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1901-04-17
he candle, held high in Macintosh

$NSS N~~N~~~
eight snakes-some coiled some mov-
ing, some raising evil heads, some
wrfthing away into the gloom beyond.
do you mean to say you don't see
those?D His hand swept an unsteady
circle.
Macintosh steeled himself, and said
that he only saw the floor.
The other stared at him wildly for
moment, then gave howl of terror
that froze the blood in MacIntosh's
tempes and made him wish that he had
left Barclay to go mad in his own
chosen way. Horrible thoughts began
Ito come to him of what would happen
If the; fellow were to go insane here
in the midst Of the desert, in for
sakena settlement with only hundreds
upon shundreds of rattlesnakes every
where around.
Get me out of this-oh. get me out
.ofs sfalis!" pleaded Barclay, starting for
the5door and stopping short with
I hiss Of fright as snake shot up its
head and ratified. Then, in a patch OF
Light which fell on the wall. cent?
Ipede, big and fat and long, began to
crawl, slowly at first and more swiftly.
His eyes fixed themselves upon it,
CLASSY; and he stood perfectly still, his
breath coming in sobs and gulps.
When the crawling thing had disap-
IpeaFed into a crack he turned deliber-
lately about. His face showed liyid
| ana aged and lined con your word of
shonpf, Macintosh" he said. with pain
lsful quiet, "are none Of those things
l.heTe?e
What things?" said Macintosh. He
Hooked forward over the seven or eight
1fhonrs of darkess yet to come. and
wondered whether he or Barclay would
Ego mad first, or, if not that, then which
lswould first be stung. But there was no
way out of it now, no way but to make
an eternal enemy. a fool of himself,
landga fzzle Of the whole attempt, not
TO speak of losing his bet. Besides, ne
| wassd ding good act.
IS SO he got Barclay up on top OF the
sbas5 and he lit one candle as another
lburhed out, and all through the night
lshe tkept alternately poking up the
snakes and insisting that there were
mo snakes there. tine while he laid
fquiestng hands on the trembling form
and ffooked about him to see that no
1cenflpede or scorpions should come
nsaf: He could have given Dante and
fsMiIton points.
Bit when morning approached he
Fled Barclay, a broken, quiverng man,
/ out into the empty street, and caught
! the horses and saddled them, while
BaTclay sat huddled on the ground.
i AS the day began to break he turned
Tim. .,sWould you like to go back,
|snows thatit's lighter, and see for your
self that there was nothing in there"
shes asked. If Barclay were to accept,
/ I3iittswauld spoil the whole thing probably,
lsbnt sshat had to be chanced.
said Barclay, and smiled wan
Il II take your rord for it. Only
N.siS !: sef me- home 80
lsby the road they had come for 1t had
got beyond all question of Barclays
handling gun. AS the sun rose, how
ever, his courage rose also. inch by
Inch. And at last he spoke in quite
normal way, SO that Macintosh drew
long breath of relief. "See here, Mac
Intosh, ,"'is:he said. "I'll make bargain
with you. If you'll never tell this on
me, I'll never take drink again"
And he kept his word. and Macln-
/ tosh won the hundred. and everybody
was happy all around. Barclay and
Miss cunningham were married and
lived happily evermore. But Barclay
ascribed his reformation to his own
power of will, Miss Cunningham to her
Influence over him, and the others
were divided between these two views.
land Macintosh got no credit from
anybody-as is usually the case with
reformers-and it IVES probably just
what he deserved.--San FRANCISCO
ArgonaUt.