Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1904-05-28


somethin'."
Like wrath Darrell turned and
glided away. A grim humor filed him
'@rhey believe IN dead" he thought
Let them think so; it's the safest way
out OF this trouble, for me-"
He was bruised in body and limb.
but life was at stake and he counted
his small injuries as nothing. Through
The hills that bordered the trail he
took his course, keeping steadily west
ward.
At last, completely tagged, he
dropped down on rock to rest. He
had not had a mouthful of food since
escaping from Sandy Bar and the ex-
ertions called forth by his flight had
left him weak and nerveless.
What was he to do now? he inter-
rogated himself? To don disguise
and get out Of the country would be
comparatively easy, but he had no
desire to get out of the country.
There was still that unsettled score
with Murgatroyd. He was doggedly
determined that nothing should come
between him and that.
But that must be secondary, now.
His first work, IL he could devise q
way, must be to prove his innocence
of the murder of Sturgis.
In his secret heart he had persuaded
himself that Murgatroyd had slain
Sturgis, and with the deliberate inten-
ton OF involving him-Darrel. 1t was
a fearful suspicion to hold against a
man, but none knew Murgatroyds Sc
cretEeness, cunning and desperate
methods better than Darrell.
Now, il ever, was barrels time to
take his fate In his hands and make of
it what he would. The very audacity
Of the measure appealed to the fugi-
tive.
AS he sat there and rested a puzzling
thought came to him. 1t had to do
with the explosion of the giant pow
der.
Just what had set off the explosive?
1t could not have been the shock caused
by the collision of the front wheels of
the wagon with the boulder, for the
effect would then have been instanta-
neous.
The bronchos had dragged him by
the bits out of harms way between the
moment of the collision and the mo-
ment of the explosion. The time re-
quired had been brief indeed, yet long
enough to convince him that some
thing aside from the wrecking of the
wagon had set off the powder.
1t was not until some time afterward
that he learned the truth. Gryce was
hauling to the mine giant powder that
had long been in storage-so long that
1t had become crystalized. And every
miner knows how ''freaky" crystalized
giant powder is. 1t will sullenly sub
NIT to the toughest handling or will
incontinently explode for the slightest
of reasons, or for no reason at all.
The sun was low when Darrell got
up and staggered on. He must have
food and had hopes that he could Sc
cure it in some covert way at the War
Eagle mine.
Still pushing from covert to covert
through the rough country that paral.
leled the trail, he kept persistently
westward. The sun went down and
darkness began to fall but, although
his head swan for WEAKNESS and his
limbs almost refused to support him,
the fugitive continued to struggle on.
Just as he felt that he must sink to
the ground and lie there for the rest
of the night, the whinnying of a horse
reached his ears. The sound did not
come from the trail, but from some
point on his left.
Turning in that direction he made
his way painfully through a small
coulee whose steep banks flung
heavy shadow about him. The pas
sage was short and he came out
abruptly into a cleared space lying full
in the moonlight
Before him stood a horse secured by
stake-pin and a length of rope Be-
hind the horse was an old, ruinous log
hut-evidently relic barking back to
earliest pioneer days.
Darrell advanced closer to the horse,
which whinnied again and tramped i'm
patiently. A shock of surprise passed
through him when he came near
enough to see that it was the "calico
cayuse" ridden by the man in cordu-
roys.
What was there about the easterner
that kept him constantly in barrels
mind? Was it the subtle working of
destiny?
On approaching Gryce in the War
Eagle trail Darrell had taken note of
the dull suspicion in the foreman's
mind. and the man in corduroys was
first to occur to the fugitive as a foil.
Now, standing beside the peculiarly
marked horse, a weird sensation
thrilled through barrels nerves.
After brief pause he passed to the
hut. The door was closed and he halted
and listened.
No sound came from within. The
silence was intense and even the deep
breathing of a sleeper might have been
heard.
Pushing open the door Darrell