Mower County transcript., 1907-08-21

strained ears of the fugitives heard
the crashing of bodies through the
thick shrubbery, and then even this
noise died away in the distance. Yet
neither ventured to stir or speak. 1t
may be that the girl slept fitfully,
worn out by long vigil and intense
strain; but the man proved less for
tunate, his eyes staring out continual
ly into the black void, his thoughts
upon other days. His features were
drawn and haggard when the first
gray dawn found CHASTITY reflection
along the opposite rock summit, and
with blurred eyes he watched the faint
tinge of returning light steal down.
ward into the canyon. At last 1t
swept aside thase lower clinging mists,
as though some invisible hand had
drawn back the night curtains, and
he peered over the edge of his narrow
resting place, gazing directly down
upon the scene of massacre. With a
quick gasp of unspeakable horror he
shrank so sharply back as to cause
the suddenly awakened girl to start
and glance into his face.
What is it," she questioned, with
quick catching of breath, reading that
which she could not clearly interpret
In his shocked expression.
Nothing OF consequence" and he
family endeavored to smile. II sup
pose l must have been dreaming also,
and most unpleasantly. No; please do
not look down; it would only cause
your head to reel, and our upward
climb is not yet completed. Do you
feel strong enough now to make an
other attempt to reach the top?"
Can we?' she questioned helplessly.
1--WE can, simply because we must"
and his white teeth shut together firm
ly. There Is no possibility of retrac-
ing our steps downward, but with the
help of this daylight we surely ought
to be able to discover some path lead:
ing up" T. ~ I 8: T.
He rose cautiously to his feet, press
ing her more closely against the face
of the cliff, thus holding: her in com
parative safety while preventing her
from glancing back into the dizzy
ohasm. The most difficult portion of
their journey was apparently just be-
fore them. More than once they tot
tered on the very brink, held to safety
merely by desperate clutchings at rock
or shrub, yet never once did the man
loosen his guarding grasp of his COM
panion. Pressed tightly against the
smooth rock, feeling for every crevice,
every slightest irregularity of surface,
making use of creeping tendril or
dead branch daring death along every
inch of the way, these two creepers
at last attained the opening to little
gulley, and sank down, faint and trem-
bling. The girl glanced furtively at
him, the long lashes shadowing the
expression of her lowered eyes. In
spite of deep prejudice she felt i'm
PEELED to like this man; he accom-
plished things, and he didn't talk
1t was nothing more serious than a
hard and toilsome climb after that, a
continuous struggle testing every mus
Gle, strafning every sinew, causing
both to sink down again and again,
painting and exhausted, no longer stim-
ulated by imminent peril. The narrow
cleft they followed led somewhere
away from the exposed front of the
precipice, yet arose steep and jagged
before them. 1t was bridged finally by
cedar trunk, which Hampton
wrenched from out it's rocky foothold,
and the two crept cautiously forward,
to emerge where the sunlight rested
golden at the summit. They sank face
downward in the short grass, barely
conscious that they had finally won
their desperate passage.
Slowly Hampton succeeded in up
lifting his tired body and his reeling
head, until he could sit partially up
right and gaze unsteadily about. The
girl yet remained motionless at his
feet, her thick hair, mass of red gold
In the sunshine, completely concealing
her face, her slender figure quivering
to sobs of utter exhaustion. Before
them stretched the barren plain,
brown, desslate, drear, Offering in all
it's wide expanse no hopeful promise
of rescue. With hand partially shad-
ing his aching eyes from the binding
glare, the man studied it's every ex-
posed feature; his face hardening
again into lines of stern determina-
ton. The girl stirred from her posi-.
tion, flinging back her heavy hair
with one hand, and looking up into his
face with eyes that read at once his
disappointment.
"Have-have you any water left?"
she asked at last, her lips parched and
burning as II from fever.
He shook the canteen dangling for
gotten at his side. "There may be a
few Drops" he said, handing it to her,
although scarcely removing his fixed
gaze from of that dreary plain. I'VE
shall be Obliged to make those trees
yonder; there ought to be water there
in plenty, and possibly we may strike
trail"
There was nothing more said be-
tween them. Like two automatons,
they started of across the parched
grass, the heat waves rising and fall
ing as they stumbled forward. Neither