The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1907-1921, 1908-08-29

reading. And yet, that chance
Once more | turned away from
the haunting glimmeF; onc more
| faced the dim square OF window,
which was ever and mon rendered
more distinct by flashes Of distant
lightning.
Idly, my mind reverted to the
scene Of the evening; the log room,
Its great windows open to catch any
lingering breeze in the center. the
table under It's huge hanging lamp.
Eager faces all around ibid
Whitmore's look paler than the rest ?
Accounted for surely by his norm
ing's fstiguing drive into camp.
Eager hands shutting cards-did
Whitmore's tremble more than the
othersI Surely, the result Of an eI-
tended row that afternoon. How
stands my Garfield score? One hun
dred more, and out Of debt-a black
ten now, and q red seven-With q
start, | sat up in bed; irresistibly,
my eyes turned in the direction Of
the door. The light still shone. How
long had | slept? Some time, GER
tainly, for the lightning now shone
in at the window with greater fire.
quency and now, through the heavy
air, came the distant, continuous
rumble Of an approaching storm.
And still Whitmore read on, Or
oh, the chance, the awful possibility
And nc one knew Of il but /.
The breeze came more strongly
through the window, lifting the
light curtain gently, blowing it
softly into the room. | hate a cur
tain blowing that way at night;
there is always the suggestion that
a white hand is pushing it in; al
ways the feeling that . face may
appear at the opening. Once, years
before, nearly saw them-almost ;
almost could fancy that q hand did
come through, where no human
hand could reach q face peer in
where no human face could be. |
never have had curtains at my win
dows since that night; they suggest
too much.
Certain words had for some time
been sounding vaguely in my brain,
passin4 through my sub-conscious-
ness, an unnoticed undercurrent to
my other thoughts. They yielded to
q concentration Of attention. and
ranged themselves in view, together
with the surroundings in which
they yer spoken. A trout stream,
babbling owe lite rounded stones,
running noisily through he forest.
Four men, including myself, are
fishing with long timber rods. One
utters the words that are haunting
me:
"Whitmore coming into camp next
week? So that heart Of his hasn't
bowled him over yet! II NAV, YOU
know, at any minute, his doctor told
him. May live for years, sturdy as
an oak en- the other hand, perhaps
no external cause, or it may be a
shock-and he 10 gone-snutred out
suddenly, like one Of these candles
We use here in the wilds."
Then rapidly through my mind
passed in review unheeded incidents
in my slight acquaintance with
Whitmore, with now a new meaning,
a bearing on the present situation,
Whitmore never ran TO catch q train.
Whitmore never touched wine. Whit
more never added TO his swimming
accomplishments the sensational
n Of diving.
AT any minute" Good God,
this was the chance. Like q great
tidal wave, sweeping houses and
men before II, the certainty that that
vas true which | had dreaded 90
shrinkingly, rushed over me, aud
swept away all my lingering doubts.
Ii was true he had decided there
in the next room. while | lay weak
ly afraid. Overwhelmed by this
appalling thought, ! leaped out OF
bed, stood for a second trembling
in the soft breeze, then staggered
to the door, and flung it open.
At the farther end Of the room,
on a shelf over the rough bed,
burned a candle. On the bed itself
was stretched a motionless form;
one pale hand hung over the side,
and below II on the floor was an
open book. And on the pillow, a
white face.
In one moment, all the wild
thoughts Of the night eliminated In
me in a frenzy. | rushed forward.
and grasped the inanimate form by