The San Francisco call., 1904-11-27

swollen into one-theSe were the SOUND
throbs which crashed their way
through the giant head lying there by
the blooded stone. The fevered brain
trembled under the shock of the mad
dened pulses that galloped through its
membranes.
Now the roaring gave place to
tense ringing, high pitched, incessant-
wall of metal under stress. To the
strident screech there was added a
minor rumble, growing louder, louder
until it was engulfng. With an agon-
ized heave the prone body was raised
upon an elbow and the racked and
bleeding head turned over a shoulder.
To the fevered eyes there came a fash
and then the spectacle of a great ball
of molten stuff bearing down upon
them from the cavern of darkness
with a sway and a fitting. Behind the
incandescent mass there streamed a
fiery gauze, fitfully illumined rolling
in billowy masses. The roar cut like a
dull blade
Scarcely could the vagabond shield
his eyes with an uplifted arm. when
a flashing vision OF steel, glowing red
In flame light, swirled within two feet
Of him. A Whit Of punge-t steam, a
grinding of steel on steel, then a black
fash followed by block after block of
shadow, slit by streaks of light-all
this with the speed of a meteor.
From beneath those shadow blocks
came a noise, rhythmical, compelling;
a metallic drumming. a jingling,
clanking beat-beat-beat ground into
the sick brain. All, those chains. those
chains-would they never cease din
ming!
The giant buried his face in the
gravel and tightly bound his great
arms about his ears; the fingers cut
deep into the flesh Of the interlocked
wrists. The vision passed, and silence
again settled upon the interminable
vault of snowsheds.
For some moments lay the strad-
ding figure, face downward, in the
gravel; then slowly, with halting
movements. it arose; first to its knees
and then to its feet, swaying dizzily
Staggering to a great square stanch-
ion, the vagabond braced his back
against the timbers. To the right and
left he turned his head-gloom every
where. pierced by the four dull gleam-
ing metal lines that bridged the OBJ
livion at their ends. Above, around.
were the shadowy outlines of massive
timbers. showing here and there
dashes of ghostly gray where the all
pervading snow had forced an en-
trance.
With faltering step he began to
make his way along the track side,
leaning heavily upon the massive
stanchions for support; before him the
gloom-behind him the gloom-light-
ed only by the splashes Of ghostly
gray. Was he. walking through the
endless gallery of some mine in the
earth's bowels-or the alley of a
prison?
At last upon rounding a bend, a
broader streak Of gray half light flick
cred through the darkness ahead. As
he drew closer he saw that crevice
in the boards. larger than the rest.
admitted the light and the drifted
snow. He stopped and peered, blink
ing through the Jagged oriice.
White dripping down into shadow
ed depths; white leaping aloft to
touch the bellying clouds; white
stretching away and away in rounded
domes and Jagged pinnacles to bound
the gray horizon-it was the cloud
haven OF a dead world he looked upon.
Not a film OF smoke betokened the
presence Of man in this unbounded
waste; not a sound broke the silence.
There lay desolation, oblivion; behind
were the four cleaning lines Of
metal
Down upon his knees dropped the
vagabond: he crawled through the
crevice, then turned and blocked up
the passage with snow. This done, he
slowly arose and turned to face the
white world with teeth clenched and
head thrown back.
Directly below him the snowy drift
dropped down into a narrow, darkly
shadowed canyon; its sinuous length
serrated by the bristling tops OF black
pines. In places gray rocks broke
through the mantle Of white and even
the skeleton hands of shrubs reached
forth. There would be roots at least;
the belly within him brought decision
TO the mind. He started to wallow
downward through the drifts. AS he
lifted first one Strengthened leg and
then the other, the fellow grasped his
garments at his middle and lifted
them up, as if he was supporting some
impending weight.
Falling. rising again, sinking out of
sight in the smother of snow and
cleaving his way to freedom, like a