The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-05-23
TIE SHADOW OF MT. MARCY.

I
&C By the steam launch: the open shack
OF the hardy hunter has been replaced
! by the summer hotel; the pack once car
ried on sturdy shoulders over windfalls
| and through tangled forest mazes has be-
come the luggage" OF the express car.
/ Twenty-Five years since q primitive peo-
pie few in number. dweit in the then
wild northern woods. They were as pic
turesque in their way as the mountaineers
q novelist may find in the place and peo-
PIE as they then were the material Tor
a story that shall live.
Giles Blossom was guide, as had been
his father before him He was born with
/ il sight Of the towering peak OF forest
clad Marcy. Blossom was a rugged fel-
! low. The saying is homeiy and old, but
Of this man eninently true. his heart was
| in the right place. He was > years old,
I and had been guide through the whole
hcrthern woods since he was a boy OF %.
Susan Hale was the daughter OF 4 guide
J who lived On the other slope OF the noun
| tain. Sometimes Giles met her. There
/ as not too much society in the wilder
ness From the breaking up of the ice
If the spring until the deer season closed
in the fall. there was occupation and
some companionship for the woodsmen-
/ il came from the outside world and was
made up wholly Of men who. though city
! bred. loved the woods for the woods sake
and for the wild sport which they at
forded.
From the time that some few revolu-
| tionary soldiers and their wives had en-
/ tered the wilderness and made their
! homes there had been marrying and Civ
/ ing in marriage in the scattered families
! OF these people who lived so close to na-
/ lures heart. Giles Blossom loved 5 san
Hale and her father smiled on the sutton.
As for the girl herself she was trained
I 70 obedience. L Ike you. Giles she
/ said. You are different from some Of
| the others. Jim Crawford wants to
marry me, too. He cuts the threats Of
the deer when they break through the
crust in winter. I heard you say once
that was murder, ana that every creature
should be given u chance for his life
/ Giles, I think a man who would Kill the
deer that way would beat his wife. It's
in him"
1t isn't a long story this, the story Of
the shadow of Mount Marcy. II was
fixed that Giles and Susan were to go over
10 the Saranac TO the little Episcopal
Mission, and there TO be married when the
snow was melting from the crest OF
Marcy.
This was at the time of the beginning
Of the end Of the wilderness Of the north
woods. The spur Of railroad had been
E
sion. The woOdsmen al first hailed the
advent of the road with joy. 1T viii
bring Us more parties 10 guide and more
money FOR our purses, they said. There
were some few thinking ones among
them. however. who said: 1.-The railroad
means that soon we will have no woods
into which a blind man could not find
MS way"
The railroad came Traffic had not yet
I Cd f,,rs
the private palace car of one OF the roads
directors on TO a siding at the end of
Z the spur track. The director with some
friends had come on tour of inspec-
ton OF the road and was TO spend some
time in hunting and fishing. The direc-
tors son was with the party. He went
on a hunting trip alone, taking Susan
Hales father for a guide. He stayed for
several days at the Hale's woodland
home The city bred man found that
there was other game in the woods be-
sides deer
In Susan Hale's eyes this newcomer
vas not as other men were. II was done
III and done quickly. Susan Hale disap-
peared. All that could be found out was
that the directors son had secured per-
mission to have the locomotive take the
car back to the nearest main line connec-
ton. then to return without him.
one year later Giles Blossom threaded
a trail down the side of Marcy and came
70 an opening from which he could see
the roof of old George Hale's log house.
This opening had been his trysting place
with Susan. How many times he had
been there during the year that was gone
Blossom himself alone knew. The sun
was touching Marcys tops with its last
rays. A hermit thrush was singing its
vesper hymn. There were lines in the
guides face. he looked down toward the
spot where through a break in the fence
about the Hale clearing Susan had been
accustomed TO appear. He saw some
thing that made his heart beat. He look
ca again. Susan Hale was coming across
the opening through the woods. She saw
him and came toward him. She had
steeled herself for the task.
Giles. she said, 4 am here again.
The guide looked al her. Where is he.
your husband?" he said.
The girls face went scarlet Il went
away with him. Giles. she said, but
wasn't taken in marriage. I want you to
kill me. / want 10 die
Where is he?"
The girl looked into the guides eyes.
DO You wish to see him, Giles2'
See him and kin him, yes"
Something strange came into the girls
eyes. AT dusk tomorrow he viii walk
alone along the trail that the railroad
men have blszed below Beaver Creek
You wouldn't XIII him. would you. Giles
XIII him. yes. but not murder him.
I'll meet him and We u fight il out
n carries a pistol" said the girl
At dusk the next evening Giles Blossom
stood by a tree II the side OF the blazed
railroad trail. The second growth Of
timber had already sprung 70 the height
o. q mans waist. The guide heard a
sound. N0t forty yards away with his
body partly concealed by the under
growth a man was coming toward him
The oncomer wore a white flannel outing
shirt and his cap was pulled well over
his eyes Blossom stood in the center
OF the train IT'S the man." he said 70
himself Then he spoke aloud. II
you're armed. defend yourself. for / am
going to shoot The stranger stopped
short. raised q hand holding pistol and
fred.
There was another shot. this time from
the guides weapon. The stranger totter-
81 and fell.
Holding his pistol in his hand. Blossom
went forward slowly. There vas no
movement re reached tho side az his
fallen adversary. The cap had fallen
t1ck. Oh. the horror of IT, Giles Bios
srta saw. looking az at him through she
dusk. the face ~ susan Hale. III. cloth
ing near the heart WIS stained Blossom
realized The girl had 1urposo.y aacri-
ICED herself
An5lhcr shot broke the silence u the
twilight woods. Giles Blossom died by
Sis oan hand
They found them there together. The
v-oodsueH guessed the story,
The native charm n the Adirondack
wocdsmen has largely gone. The deer ara
vanishing The trout are dyiag IT, the