Omaha daily bee., 1902-02-15

''Yes-yes-look-it is a signal-he Is
calling to us for help-there-ones two.
three, four-(the lights of the town flashed
UP and down as she counted)-that Is H.
There goes the single hash-that is z.
There-see that long-drawn-out Hash
that is L, and there, hve quick flashes
that Is P. oh, he is calling for help. He
has been calling for days and l never
guessed It; Oh, l never guessed"
The faces of the men remained blank,
and even the sheriff did not quite grasp her
meaning who is calling. Miss Coyne?" he
said. You do not mean"
"Yes-yes-from the mountain. 1t is the
Morse code-I taught him. you know-he
has been flashing those lights up and down
and calling to us for help all these nights
and no one has needed it. See-H-E-L-P-
there. do you believe 1t now? Oh. dear,
what shall we do-what shall we do?"
Her condition verged upon hysteria. 1t
affected the men variously. Lem effort
g%rinned, as weak men sometimes do in
serious emergencies. One of the men said.
"oh. pshaw!" In a doubling tone, but 1t
was easy to see that he believed all he had
heard. Another ran of down the main
street oil the town, telling the news to all
whom he met. The sheriff was dumb
founded. The girl looked from one light to
another, reading the message as It flashed
and telling herself again and again that It
was her fault-all her faultl"
Your fault. Miss Coyne?" said the
sherini at last. "Just so-but how?"
"Because-becsuse-I should have known,
l should have seen-because-o, they are
up together and something dreadful has
happened-O. can you not do something
Must you all stand around helpless wheu
perhaps-see, you can read 1t for your
s~elvesi"
She turned and ran into the booth anC
began a wild search for her code book
1t did not occur to anyone that her agita.
tion was out of proportion to the degree O
interest which she might be supposed or
dinariiy to feel for the men in the canyon
They were all too startled by the revelation
OF the lights to think OF that.
She came out turning over the pages o
the book and tearing some OF them in he
excitement. She held up the alphabe
where all might see and the thickeninI
; crowd followed her finger as. she pointed
! spelled out the meaning OF the flashes 10
! themselves. Many spelled aloud like chill
{ dren learning a lesson, and the effect O
; the voices ringing in unison at every mas,
! was strange indeed. But 1t was strange
still and awesome when a new wor
came forth-a word which opened wit
: the letters M-A-D-and then terminate
suddenly, leaving the crowd which ha
been spelling sturdily and the tow
; In darkness. The women took upo
themselves something of the girl
a hysterla when this happened and the me
went about asking one another what tn
e trouble could be and urging the neeessit
OF doing something.
u What the something might be was nc
o readily apparent. 1t was ten miles to N
a canyon and the way over the foothills va
e up and up. The mountain itself was
: hard climb In summer and no one had eve
s attempted II in winter. for drifts hlled n
passes and landslides often blocked n
a trail. Yet they we're not a people TO ste
d short OF imposEibilities. They built a gree
FIRE on a nelghboring hill in the hope thI
n Il might be seen by the men on the moul
tain and give them courage TO hold Of
e until help arrived. Then they organized
relief party and before midnight a doz'
men. led by Sherih Black. we're half vi
h TO the mountains foot.
. Thsy followed the wires strsisht aero