The La Jara chronicle. (La Jara, Conejos County, Colo.) 1896-19??, 1906-06-15
By. WALTER. BURR =.

we come ter the Burnin' His. Peers as
There! Look yonder!''
They were now on an eminence command.
ing good view OF the lower hills, and as
they looked down into the darkness they
could see distinctly long lines OF glowing
red, streaking the earth like the trails of
thing OF life, and as 1t did so the very
ground about seemed to heave up and down.
Then suddenly all was. darkness again;
Yer see" she continued, Il may be q
coward. an all tibet. Mebbe SO. 1t may. a
bin all ghost story. too. But there it is,
an We got ter cross tibet place.
The brave young man was getting really
scared He had never before been out in
the mountains in the night time; and the
unpleasant sounds peculiar to the mountain
country, awed and frightened him. His
teeth were fairly chatterins;
he managed to say. "l-I-had no idea
"Yer might had purity good idea," she
faster"
BY, this time they were nearing the
forward her foot to take a step. she realized
instinctively that II was not finding a solid
footing as soon as 1t should. A sudden and
uncommon warmth came upward. and In
another instant the faint glow was seen,
showing her chasm. with the further
she called to her companion, mind yer
syeH' They had changed places-she was
now the master and he the slave so
place Just then he took the fatal step,
and felt himself falling. But the girl was
srasped him by the hand and fairly drag
ged him across the chasm.
well, ] neverl" he exclaimed in fright.
say are there many more like thntf''
Come on. an quit yer talkin'," was the
pre-emptory order.
But | say. 1wo-bits, 1t Isn't safe, is iti"
Il f ART a fer she answered; "lf yon
are e why st stay where you are, or go back
BLAST the little imp" he muttered. 81
i Wonder If shes going to go away and
would serve me right for ,I suppose It's ali ii
there was any truth in what she said
leave ne: pSq nd t1sr snd
his throat something very like sob
t., Look out there he heard her call: and
ahead Of him. Don't try to walk thar, or
yerli fall In, sure. It's wide, l tell yer,
can't stay here all night
but only Yer eeRa Jump She Tss dd
child was beginning to see that the young
man would need every Incentive she could
forts. She had no doubt of her own ability
to clear all the chasms, but she was quite
sure that her companion was not accus-
toned to such tricks. Now he stood like
scared child on the opposite side OF the
ditch. If the situation had not been so
serious. 1t would have been comlcal.
Well. yer comlnf' she asked, i'm
patiently.
He stepped back for a run. but when he
came to the edge again he stopped short
and looked ruefully at the red glow beneath
him. He held out his hand and drew 1t
hack suddenly. as he felt the intense heat
Then what little courage he possessed for
sook him, and he began to whimpcr.
II just can't make IL, Two-bits. Whatever
shall doE'
Nv ALL" drnwled the matter-of-fact girl,
81 s'pose / could go ahead an git some of
the fcllers from town ter come out an help
yer across: They'll make no end of fun of
yer, though"
.sBast the funi' he cried. Hurry up
and get me out of this. most anyway"
"All right. Stay where you are. and I'll
be back after while;" and she bounded
away like a deer, leaving George Casey
sitting there in the night alone.
Minutes dragged like hours, and the dark
ness seemed to grow thicker every moment,
except when it was penetrated by that un-
canny glow from down below. Then, as lie