Gunnison news-champion., 1908-02-07

that crawling. creeping. twisting
worming. insinuating-near and
nearer. so near now that II beat upon
her-unseen presence. She pressed
her finger to the trigger to shoot at
the tangible shadows and dispel that
enveloping choking. blanket horror,
when God knows what stayed the
action Of her fingers. Call IL instinct,
what you will. her hand was stayed
even before her physical eye was
caught and held by 4 blot darker stifi
than the night. over to her right, farth-
est from the spring. II lay perfectly
still. II came to her, the willy plaza.
with startling clearness. The blot
was waiting for her TO fire futilely at
grinning shadows among the trees
and. under cover OF her engrossed At
tention insinuate its treacherous body
the farther forward. Then the play
would go merrily on till-the end She
turned the barrel Of her rife slowly
and deliberately away from the NOV
ting shapes among the cottonwood
clump. sighted truly the motionless
blur to her right and fred, once, twice,
three times.
The completeness Of the surprise
seemed to inspire the attackers with
Q hellish fury. They returned the fire
rapidly and at will. remaining under
cover th~ wNslo cN~'-'-'-~ ,ov NJ
her window. her eyes glued On the stir
black mass out yonder. Mary wonder
- II It were dead. She prayed pas
siOnately that it might be. and yet
II II . dreadful thing to kill. Once
more the wild firing ceased. Mary re-
sponded once or twice just to keep the
deadly chill from returning-if that
were possible.
Under cover Of the desperadoes'
flre, at obtuse angles with tho FIRST
attempt, q second blot began its tor
tuous twisting. It accomplished .
space, stopped; pulled itself its length,
stopped. waited, watchful eyes on the
window whence came Mary's scatter
They had drawn her close regard at
last Would it hold out! Forward
again, crawling nat on the ground.
ever advancing. slowly, very slowly.
but also very surely. creeping. creep
ing. creeping. now stopping, now
creeping. stopping. creeping.
All at once the gun play began
again. sharp, quick, from the spring.
from the sheds. The blot lay perfect
ly still for a moment-waiting. watch
ing. The plucky little rife was silent
But 30 1t had been before. Quarter
length, half. whole length, cautiously
with frequent stops. eyes 30 steely, SO
intent-could it be possible that this
gun was really silenced-out Of the
race? 1t would not do to trust too
much. The blot waited, scarcely
breathed. crept forward again.
A sudden bright light flashed up
through the darkness under the unpro-
tected wall to Mary's left. Almost
simultaneously a kindred light sprang
into being from the region of the cat
tle-sheds. The men down there had
been waiting for this signal. II
meant that for some reason the secoAd
effort to creep up unobserved to fire
the house had been successful The
fare grew and spread. II became .
glare
when the whole cabin seemed to be
IN flames save the Aoor-the Ary. rude
boarding had caught and burned ike
papr-whsa the heat haA become IN
beafable. WfIIistoa held ct his hand
10 Ais aa1gAtef. silesefy. A. sile.tiy
- Dse hee hA0l. ~ Deft haAl. in
~: - ~ Wunsesa ast3os that II
- ~ ~. - ~ n0oiy hH rfgAt
60 b0O - - ~. - - Geare