The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1906-02-02

oeon Comfort.
gan. Tho match burned his fingers. He
spoke her name and the sound CT 1t flIe9
him with nameless terror. On the iAut
mined wall the shadow vas carved, MOI
tionless, distinct.
His body would not rise, and yet the
characters OF the profile demanded him!
His hands CROPPED forward to the groun6
and thus he made his way to the door,
Her lips, her brow, her hair az she was
wont to arrange tall these were before
him. His own hunched figure blotted ouT
the other below the bust.
He entered on his knees and crawleQ
about the room. cropping as 9 bin mar
would, his fingers scraping the wall, N
q frenzy to grasp thef flesh and blood sud-
stance from which the shadow came
Huddled In a far. dark corner OF the shack
he called her name again in 8 low tone
OF agony. It would seem that the passion
OF the mans voice must reviv1fy the Ehad%
Iodw. endow with life the gracious ana,
youthful contour shouted pon the starl4
white wall,
He murmured broken sentence OF the.5
wooing, hallowed fragments OF the olde
days and the old, sweet story, as the shadl
ow moved toward the door. In the pallidlb
bar Of moonlight. floating away o per-
TUNED breeze. Tichnor followed. callin8
upon the name Of the woman.
Up the rocky wall he climbed. his face
to the white peaks shimmering In the.
moonlight far above. Sometimes upon o
background OF rock or upon the curving
trunk OF some great pine, the shadow
wavered before him. Once. farther up. In
a dense clump OF underground into which
no moonlight larger than 2 crushed handJ
kerchief could penetrate. he screamed
aloud at the clinging touch Of something
upon his arm /. /. hat was the last
Alone, i'll, exhausted, dimly conscious that
his guide was gone and the the spell Wa
broken, he struggled forward beseechin1
for the return Of the shadow. How many
moments passed he never knew. but In
primary silence n darkness after the
touch upon his arm, he fell fainting from
fright, when q long dark body crashed!
past him through the underbrush.
He slept. The next morning he foun9
one of the golden teeth Of the 6ierras.
did not seem unnatural. In the light al
the unspeakable events of the night beforQ
the find appeared at first no so4
quence. He had awakened with the morn4
ing sun shining nor upon his face. He Ian
beside . giant pine which in falling had
made a huge scar across the face OF =
honeycombed cliff before him. In the,
scar he saw signs of gold. With q hinty
stone he pecked At the cl.ff. deepinin1
the scar. He laughed aloud. h discoy-
cry was not q mere surface tissue. but .
true. deep lode. It was HIS victory.
SkSSA' NAAA0 NA0AA k"O ~
his treasure, he recalled fully tke night.
fore-the beloved shadow which had
guided him from the cabin to the claim
of riches. the kissing beast. a mountaip
lion, probably. which had crashed ~ him.
and finally the lapse OF consciousness.
Then with stunning suddenness q visitA@
ton OF terror overwhelmed him. A series
OF ghastly thoughts brought It about. b
bride had come to i'll In the desert-in h o
white-hot gehenna. Dying or dead, her
spirit had appeared unto him. making
good the promise of the letter to lead HIM
to the spot where the treasure lay. He
started running for the cabin. He couldl
think only of q presentiment in connection.
with the events of the night before. within
out the girl, the finding of the claim was q.
devilish irony. His thoughts closed about
him like murderers. In the shack h0t
paused only long enough to seize a baa
of hard bread and a few strips of dried.
beef--then strobe downward on the trat&
to the valley.
Ten days later. at Sacramento City. the.
heart of the colorado. the we ary i1nrnt-s
grants Of a freshly arrived caravan stared,
wo'deIingiy. rityingly at a mad-eyed
stranger with wasted face who demandedd
tidises from wagon to v; .cn OF a woman.
from Michigan, and They asked each osher,
What the craged creature. rea:s TO do az.
he started eastward ai..le--bac,5 on tho
overland trail.
A week later stti. cercss the valley i'm.
tho foothills. a wagon-hoss riding ahead
of his train, came uron u salf-deaa wan
derer whose !accEeuent Tnua,bltpgs ahout
mountains cf gold We've .n:erpolgsed with,
the name Of a woman. The wagon boss
lifted the wanderer to his saddle, bore him.
back to the caravan and administered res
stcratives. The gold seekers caught Al
meaning at last in the rame w:lich thG
~wanderer mun1bled repeatedly, and they
carried him to a wagon in which a fever
convaiescent lay-a young woman who,
one night III the desert about three wee 81
before had passed through the crisis OF her
illness and had surprised and gladdered
the whole train by opening her eyes to the
dawnfrg at snatch!nE at a wisp CT lifes
The train was now astonished to sec this.
young woman greet the half dead wanderl-
or with kisses and tears of joy.
And in the lays which followed as they
crossed the new land Of Canaan ananearetH
the city of their dreanls, at the joining OF
the rivers, the immigrants watched the
frail woman bloom into fresh radiance as
she loved and nursed the stranger back e
strength.