The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1902-02-27

l.
mine; and if Setter had carried his
rifeas he did not-he should have
gone unfolloWed by me. Once more
my hand was on the gate-latch, and
once more the warning wind brought
the click of horseshoes on the hard
surface of the road. Looking east
ward could make out the figure of
a horseman rising and falling in a
rapid gallop up the gentle ascent
from the schoolhouse. Some vague
premonition drove me to the shadow
of my tree again, and I saw the
horseman as he cantered past; saw
his face and caught a glimpse of the
short repeating rifle of the cowboys
unslung and lying across the saddle.
It was Macpherson; and Mans long
absence was explained as clearly as
need be. It was to the young stock
man that she had carried the proof
of Wykamp's villainy, though to what
end no man might guess. But the re-
suit was before me. Macpherson had
forgotten his promise to Winifred;
forgotten that vengeance belongs to
God and not to man; and was on his
way to call the engineer to his ac-
counting.
I was in no doubt as to the out
come. I knew Macpherson we'll
enough to be sure that he would give
his antagonist a fair chance to de-
fend his life-and no more. AS I
have said, I saw his face as he rode
past me. There was no passion in
the fixed stare of the eyes or in the
out-thrust jaw. 1t was rather the
cold, and unflinching determination of
a mlld-mannered man goaded past
endurance, and it was terrible to be-
hold.
At the moment was sure of moth
ing but that the tragedy must be
prevented at any cost, and I set out
to run after him as fast as sick
man might. With presence of mind
which was entirely mechanical, Il
forsook the road at the point where
Setter had left it, running up the
dry bed of the ditch which traversed
the small inner valley beyond the
"hogback" on higher level than
that followed by the rough wagon
road. AS it CHANGED, the choice of
the ditch saved my life, though when
I had wallowed a painting quarter of
a mile in, the dry sand of the chan
mel 1 was fain to curse the i'm pulse
which had made me forsake the trail.
A hundred yards below the dam
workings my ditch crossed the trail
below and the stream by box-fume
bridge; crazy structure on spind-
ling stills that weaved and racked
under me as I ran. did not dare to
look down or aside until I had won
across; and then I saw that was
too late, and that I was on the
wrong side of the stream. The
wooden coffer-dam was built out
from the other side of the canyon;
and the engineer, leaving his horse
where I had once left mine, had
climbed to the top of the timbering
tolook down into the seething flood
hammering at it's upper side and
sweeping foam-fecked past it's outer
extremity. And on the trail below,
with his horse neighboring playful
ly with Wykamp's, was Macpherson,
waiting quietly until the engineer
should finish his inspection and come
down.
My end of the fume was in the
shadow of the canyon wall, and I
knew that neither of them could see
me; but I stood up and waved nv
arms and shouted to them. NV
tongue clave to my teeth, and
whether my cries were louder than
whispers, I know not. It mattered
little; the thunder of the torrent
was deafening, and no warning shout
of mine could dominate it. With
shaking knees I climbed little
higher on the canyon wall to lay hold
OF gnarled tree growing from a
cleft in the rock. When I looked
again, the engineer had turned to
creep back over the dollhouse tim
bering of the coffer-dam. In the bal
anclng instant I saw worm-like
thread of fire eating it's way up into
the black shadows on the down.
stream side of the timbering; saw it,
and saw that Macpherson had seen
1T. He was urging his horse up the
TRAIL and his ringing shout came to
me above the din and turmoil of the
waters. Then the thread of fire dis
appeared and rumbling crash shook
the mountain like the shock of an
earthquake. I heard the grinding
crunch of shattered timbers, and
when looked again the coffer-dam
| had become mere log-jam in the
seething whirlpool, and the released
torrent was breast-high on the trail
where Macpherson had halted. But
for the sight of him sending his
horse zigzag up the steep ACTIVITY
opposite, I should have tainted and
fallen. AS it was, my brain reeled
and horrible nausea seized me. For
at that moment Macpherson flung
himself from the back of the scram-
| bling bronco and ran out on the
wreck of the timbering to look
down into the surging maelstrom
roaring through the gap. I looked.