The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1909-09-02

gan. Tho match burned his fingers. He
spoke her name inc the sound of 1t filled
him with nameless terror. On the illu.
mined wall the shadow was carved. mo,
tionless. distinct.
His body would not rise, and yet tho
characters Of the profile demanded him.
and thus he made his way to the door.
Her lips, her brow. her hair as h was
wont to arrange it-all these were before
him. His own hunched figure blotted out
the other below the bust.
He entered on his knees and crawled
about the room, cropping as a Din man
would, his fingers sctaping the wall, IN
a frenzy to grasp the flesh and blood sub
stance from which the shadow came.
.Huddled in a far. dark corner Of the shack
he called her name again III a ow tone
of agony. It would seem that the passion
of the mans voice must revivtfy the shad-
odw, endow with life the gracious and
youthful contour shouted upon the stark
white wall,
He murmured broken sentence OF Their
wooing, hallowed fragments Of the old
days and the old, sweet story, as the shad-
ow moved toward the door. In the pallid
bar of moonlight, floating away like a per-
fumed breeze. Tichnor followed, calling
upon the name Of the woman.
Up the rocky wall he climbed, his face
to the white peaks shimmertng in The
moonlight far above. Sometimes upon a
background of rock or upon the curving
runk of some great pine, the shadow
wavered before him. Once. farther up, in
a dense clump Of underground into which
no moonlight larger han a crushed hand
kerchief could penetrate. he screamed
aloud at the clinging touch of something
upon his arm hat was the last.
Alone. Ill, exhausted. dimly conscious that
his guide was gone and the the spell was
broken. he struggled forward be%seeching
for the return of the shadow. How many
passed he never knew. but in
primary silence and darkness after the
touch upon his arm, he fell fainting from
fright, when a long dark body crashed
past him through the underbrush.
He slept. The next morning he found
n of the golden teeth Of the Sierras. 1t
did not seem unnatural. In the light OF
the u~nspeakable events OF the night before
the find appeared at first no uncommon se-
quence. He had awakened with the morn
ing sun shining NOT upon his face. He lay
beside a giant pine which in falling had
made a huge scar across the face of a
honeycombed cliff before him. In the
scar he saw signs of gold. With a flinty
stone he pecked at the cliff. deepining
the scar. He laughed aloud. The discov-
SAJ V@0 az - NASeNOb - -
true, deep lode. 1t was his victory.
Specializing joyously upon the extent of
his treasure, he recalled fully the night
fore-the beloved shadow which had
guided him from the cabin to the claim
OF riches. the Kissing beast, a mountain
lion, probably, which had crashed by him.
and finally the lapse of consciousness.
Then with stunning suddenness a vista
ton of terror overwhelmed him.. A series
of CHASTITY thoughts brought 1t about. The
bride had come to i'll in the desert-in that
white-hot gehenna. Dying or dead. her
spirit had appeared unto him, making
the promise OF the letter to lead him
to the spot where the treasure lay. He
started running for the cabin. He could
think only of a ~presentiment i'll connection
with the events Of the night before. With
the girl, the finding of the claim was a
irony. His thoughts closed about
him like murderers. In the shack he
paused only long enough to seize a bag
OF hard bread and. a few strips Of dried
beef-then strobe downward on the trail
to the valley.
Ten days later, at Sacramento City. the
heart of the colorado. the weary immi-
grants of a freshly arrived caravan stared
wonderingly, %pityingly at a mad-eyed
stranger with wasted face who demanded
tidings from wagon to WACO of a woman
from Michigan. INC they asked each other
WNdL Cne CraZeu creature meant TO 90 as
he Started eastward ~alone-back on the
overland trail.
A week later still across the valley In
the foothills. a ~wagon-boss riding ahead
of his train, came upon a half-dead wan
derer whose incoherent mumblings about
mountains Of gold were interpolated with
the name OF a woman. The wagon boss
lifted the %wanderer to his saddle, bore him
back to the a and administered re-
storatives. The gold seekers caught a
meaning at last in the name which the
wanderer mumbled repeatedly. and they
carried him to a wagon in which a fever
convalescent lay-a young woman who,
one night In the desert about three weeks
before had passed through the crisis Of her
illness and had surprised and %gladdened
the whole train by opening her eyes to the
dawning at s%natching at a wisp Of life.
The train was now %astonished to see this
young woman greet the half dead wander
er with kisses and tears OF joy.
And in the days which followed as they
crossed the new land of Canaan and neared
the city Of their dreams, at the Joining Of
the rivers, the immigrants watched the
frail woman bloom into fresh radiance as
she loved and nursed the stranger back to
strength.