Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-04-04

with MS D;tCk against T0Ck, i can I MAKE II
,lthcr old man. I'll stay with you. and we II
night IT out together.
THE Others We're examining the treetrunk
eagerly. The Frenchman was usually a
quiet, self contained fellow, but now he turned
to the girl with bit of swagger intended to
give her courage, fancy. OF perhaps it was SIM
ply natural instinct breaking through the crust
of acquired reserve in the moment OF supreme
trial. Making her very polite and graceful
bow he SAID smilingly. 'Io1ld, maddmC let us
cross. | go to show the way, and he started
forward
- Lefevre.' screamed, take off your boots
FIRST But he merely smiled back at me, wav-
ing hand in salutation as if in farewell indeed,
and went out boldly on the tree He went
steadily and without hesitation but had not
got third of the way when his foot slipped, he
lost his balance, and fell, legs and arms thresh-
ing out wildly as he went down head foremost,
with horrid screech which shook me badly.
He was brave and cool man. l suppose it
may have been some involuntary muscular con-
traction. but that cry rings in my ears yet
Bickerdvke was breathing heavily but never
moved. the Russian stood as If turned to
stone. In the silence that followed bird in a
tree behind us poured out strain of hmpid
music, something like our wood robin l never
hear a bird song now without seeing that
CHASTITY chasm
In a moment the Russian recovered him
self and. saying to the girl 1t is easier than to
die here. Come, let us try 1t, went stohdly for
u,
He did not get very far, when he went over side
WISE almost as if he had thrown himself down,
falling into the depths with thump that we
could hear plainly. The girl stood motionless
as If frozen with horror
AT the sound of that sickening thump Bick-
erdyke, already shaken by the fall from his
horse. collapsed His head had been hurt,
think and he pulled out his pistol from the hol
ster on his belt, clapped it to his temple and
fired.
Again Jennison paused, and then went on.
The girl turned at the shot, glaring with
CHASTITY eyes, her lips drawn tight across to the
corners of her mouth, showing cleaning teeth:
then, throwing up her arms, she ran across the
tree as If it had been bridge ten feet wide!
I'VE seen men die before, lots of them; but
somehow the sudden and tragic end Of my
comrades shook hard with horror that
even now it is difficult to understand. Perhaps
it was the loneliness of the place, which looked
indescribably desolate IN the last rays OF the
sinking sun just going down behind tall noun
tain off to the west; perhaps the thought OF
those ravening wolves coming over the plain
back there had something to do with it. The
little bird whistling melody from a stunted pine
Jared me horribly,-the only living thing on
that side the ChaSm with me and BiCkerdvke'S
gruesome facet 1T was not the first time had
faced death, nor the second. Never before had
it really shaken me: but this time the coward
that hes hidden away within every man would
not keep down.
after the girl had fitted across the ravine
could neither stay there with Bickerdyke and
that singing bird, turn back and face the
bandits like a man, seek the death that had
come to Lefevre and the Russian | had not
even courage to do as Bickerdyke had done. 1t
scares me now to think of the tbject funk that
came over me while stood there hestating. 1t
was impossible to walk across that slim tree
trunk, but presently, when the girl called to
me from the other side, actually crawled on it
hands and knees, grasped it with legs and
arms and began to bunch my way over.
THE log shook with every effort; but I'd
got nearly across when the farther end slipped
and fell perhaps ten twelve feet, where it
caught again on the rocks and held fast, the end
! was much lower than the other. The jar
slid me forward nearly to the cliff and almost
shook me off; but sheer fright, think, made
me hold on somehow. little scream came
from up above, and looked up sidewise to see
the girl peering over the edge of the chasm. She
shouted down something | couldn't catch,
waved her hand with little feminine GESTURE
of encouragement, doubt,-and disappeared.
Women are queer things. The girl had seen her
companion, the Russian, go to his death and
never made a sound; when she saw stranger
slipping to the same fate her voice came to her
and she screamed" Jennison stopped with
slight intake of the breath, looking at nobody;
then gulped down little water and spoke up
again.
HOW long was there don't know; at the
- time it seemed week. The cliff in front
was bare and smooth except for the CrcViCe