The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1906-05-30
V y Y Y Y y v U y Y Y Y v Y y Y
WHEN THE LIGHT CAME
THE PASSING OF A STAINED SOUL.
BY MABEL CROOKS BROWN,
/ a n 4 q q q q q q q q


the man. He was gone.
A noise of horror-stricken voices in
the street fell on his ear-of voices and
of running feet-fel, and grew louder
With the light of murder in his eyes
the joy of kllling-he strobe from the
room, and flung himself upon his horse,
as crowd of men raced toward him.
Straight at their midst he dashed, but
with no sign of waverlng they came
on. and horse and men met, with a
shock that nearly unseated the rider.
Maddened by the spurs, the horse
shook off the clutching hands-the
man, with the frenzied light still in
his eyes, turned in his saddle, and
laughing gayly emptied his revolver
into the crowd.
There was a shrek, a groan, a scurry
of hoofs, and then silence-for a space.
Beyond the town the desert stretched
away-a level reach of sand and alkali
baking under the pitiless sun.
The man, on a jaded horse, spurred
desperately toward the line Of Jagged
rocks at the northern side, that rose
cut against the cloudless sky.
He looked often over his shoulder as
he went. and cursed, under his breath,
the gasping animal on which he rode.
The lust of murder was gone, and only
| the instinct of the hunted remained.
| A mile from the rocks, where COM
parative safety lay. the horse stumbled
| nj 60 o,,fn
himself free as the animal went down,
and stood moment watching it. 1t lay
still. with a stiffness he had seen be-
| fore Suddenly woman's face came
between him and the dying beast-her
| face, with the great cash on the temple
and the awful fear in the eyes. Curse
her If he had only had time to square
his account with the man, too! He
laughed grimly at the memory of the
disfigured face that was not an object
for anyone's kisses now Again he
looked behind him, and stood rigid as
he saw, far in the distance, line of
dots creeping nearer.
"The possew His hand went to his
belt-it was gone! In n flash he re-
membered that the strap had given
away in their last desperate struggle,
and she held it now, no doubt, clenched
in her stiffening fingers-she held his
life in her hands until the end! His
revolver he had emptied into the crowd
as he fed
With the eyes of trapped animal,
he looked about him. A mile away
were the shelterlng rocks-a mile in
this heat! A mile through the blister
ing sand. Behind were the relentless
men. There was no choice. He
clenched his hands, and then gave the
horse savage kick. With faint
moan of pain the dying brute struggled
to rise, fell forward, and lay still
quite still-even under the blows and
kicks the maddened man rained upon
it.
He ceased, finally, from exhaustion
and after a moments breath started
forward over the yielding sand. The
sun had nearly set, but the heat was
stlfllng, his breath came in gasps, and
his eyes were blinded by the water
dripping from his forehead; but ht
stumbled on, and fell, as the horse hat
fallen. under the shadow of the frs
great bowlder, at the foot of the rocks
For moment he lay helpless ther
; slowly raised his head and looked
back with an evil chuckle. They were
: out in that heat and glare, while III
lay sin the shadow of a great rock il
! weary land''-when had he hearC
? some one say that?
"A weary landw God knows, it wa
, that! The few cactus plants shriveleC
and grew grayer in the heat, whlcl
Q had a weight to it-a weight unde
7 which no living thing could stanC
erect. Even the coming of twlligh
brought no relief. Oh, If he had
: drink; a cup of cold water. He ha'
t heard some one say something abou
g that, too-somewhere. What was it
Who was it? His mother? He mus
r go on, higher up among the rocks
L where safety lay. He turned weakl
! on his elbow, but stopped half way
d as sharp, omiIious sound pierced tn
heat-a sound that somehow SCENE
t the lntensification Of cold-a cold tina
= flashed through his fevered brow an
g froze him into statue as he lay.
g 1t was the warning of a rattler. b
a side him, coiled, ready to strike. wit
d Its head on level with his eyes, la
d a snake as thick as his wrist.
7, His brain whirled for moment, an
d then suddenly grew strangely clear.
], Was there nothing which could fac
# this heat? Here was one thing II
Arizona sun could shrlvel-one thin
e the fires of the hereafter could nj
J. warm!
10 Its head was proudly erect as tn
a rattler and his human prototype locke
II into each others eyes. The eyes {
ID the snake We're cold and still, and
moment the eyes of the man gre
g dreamy, and then--then the eyes of IL
y. snake began to glow with a fire whic
re crept through the mans veins Ill
'e wine.
lg Was he exhausted? No, that was h
II, body. Now, he had no body-he WI
re a soul-the preachers said he had
soul-this must be It, before him {
err the sand. A. soul from out whose ey,