Los Angeles herald., 1907-11-03
Mhen Earth Was Young g CYRUS TOWNSEND 81 BRADY
CYRUS TOWNSEND BRADY

backed up against the cliff where it fell away into
sheer nothingness for thousand feet below He got
down his hands and knees by the narrow door and
listened At that instant the full the
other side and fell through the trees into the
room.
deep breathing indicated slumber. He, like all the
others in the village, tired out from their foray
against neighborng community had gone TO sleep
try at the pass.
Quietly Dylon thrust his obsidian knife into the
hoop in his girdle. He oosened the stone lifted It,
and drove 1t with sharp quick blow fairly into
the head Of the sleeper The man was killed in
stantly.
Dylon stepped within the hut. Bound with leathern
thongs in the corner farthest from the door lay a
woman. She awake and watching Her eyes
gttered in the moonlight, but she made sound
To cut her bonds was the work OF a moment. She
been captured the day before and had lain bound
for hours. Her hands and feet numb and use
less. BY her side stood small pot with some fiery
and skilfu hands he chafed her hands and feet and
limbs until she could stand upright and walk. Like
him, she was clad only in shirt of skin.
He said word, but held out his hand to her, and
together they stepped across the threshold. All
still. The moon had risen higher now and the face
Of the cliff was flooded with pale light. They ran
rapidly along the way toward the descending trail
Their bodies cast black shadows across the
sve doorways Someone awoke within There was
wild cry in the night.
They were almost at the end Of the ledge when
man stepped from door and. barred the way. Dylon
struck him down with the stone The force OF the
blow twisted the weapon from his hand, and 1t went
twirling into the darkness beneath The man strug-
gled and followed into the abyss but the ledge
filed with people now.
Shouts and cries rent the air. An arrow whixzed
by his ear. The woman was in no condition for
long flight Capture appeared inevitable. He thought
quickly.
&C.," he said, and in a language strange to his
ears yet whose significance he knew thoroughly, I
the tribe the hills to the right. You win be
Free
They had reached the narrowest part Of the ledge
the jutting rock. He would hold it against thou
sand-for her. The woman threw herself upon him.
She did not kiss him. Kisses for later days and
other times, he dmly realized. She strained him to
her breast and then was gone without word.
Quick thought he unslung his bow. He fitted an
arrow into it. and drove 1t into the throng Of little
men swarming along the trail The confguraton of the
pass good for his purpose 1t had been for
defence against advancing foe. He shot and shot
Shrisks and groans in the half light told him that his
arrows went home. But the enemy were not idle
Clamberng like monkeys up the side Of the cliff they
reached places whence they could overlook him. Ar
rows grazed him. Stones fell upon him. Axes and
clubs whzzed by his ear.
The desperate blood lust of the at bay pos
sessed him. He gradually to his feet and stood
the way. but half protected by the jagged rock The
mountain swan before his vision. The path rocked
and reeled beneath his feet. The moonlight ap-
peared blood red before him. His arrows were spent
now. Jagged stone ranked In his left shoulder.
His brain was racked from great cash cut by
club which he had barely lodged. But he stood un-
daunted still. Strange cries burst from his lips
He lifted up great rock from the trail and sprang
forward, determined that If he must die it would be
by no mans hand He stopped suddenly he made
his leap.
woman's cry, wild and shrill, rose above the
great volume of rumbling sound. The mountain
above his head seemed to be trembling A great bulk
of rock heaved itself into the half light and
crushing upon the pass moment of silence super
vened, broken by the walls of angushed, dying
He understood in moment. To make defence more
sure huge boulders. lightly balanced had been placed
at convenient places the brink of the above
the trail. One of these had fallen just as he was
about to die, and effectualy barred the way pre-
venting the men of the village from getting at him
What had caused its fall? He looked up. On the
dizzy verge thrown into relief by the moonlight stood
woman, the woman he had rescued She had not
fed like a craven. She had crept up the cliff and by
superhuman effort of her vigorous young arms had
dislodged the rock Of defence, Love had saved him.
Dragging the arrow from his shoulder he scrambled
up the trail growing fainter and fainter as he pro
gressed The last few feet sheer and precipous
He stopped, sprang up and caught the ledge, and
found further effort beyond him. He hung desperate.
brown hand reached down and caught his wrist.
The woman who had moved mountains for her lover
was not willing that their efforts should fail
The wall surmounted He fell prone at her feet
upon the soft grass of the plateau.
voice came family to his ear The sunlight
swept the mists away He was standing in his
Before him the splendid face of the woman he loved,
and she--she was in his arms She held him tightly
he held her. and he kissed her with the kisses
of another century and another day
'You will never go away?" he whispered.
Never" she replied cinging to him. "It was all
so real, you know, and"
There was rap at the door. 1t opened Entered
the General and his wife, "Genevieve" exclaimed
Mrs Forsyth, scandalized What does this attitude
mean?"
The girl made faint effort to disengage herself
from his He relaxed the pressureSby which
he held her sufficiently to enable her turn around
but he did not entirely loosen his hold He had won
her by force of arms, and intended to release
her again.
Il love your daughter" he cried swiftly.
'What?" roared the General aghast
And 1t means that she loves me-" he continued I'm.
perturbably.
'Genevieve!" cried the mother.
'It is quite true said the girl. "I have loved him
for thousands of years" She flashed look up at him
that evidenced the truth OF her assertion.
That picture" cried the General.