The Washington herald., 1909-05-23

the long-range shot. Then the panic OF
the morning seized him again None
/ fears & weapon so much as be who IS the
master Of It. He leaped TO his feet and
fed at the top OF his speed down dry
gulch guttered with the foods OF an
cient, Iong-forgotten rains. The sun was
half way down the sky when Fallen
stopped and stared about him again HIS
/ feet were bleeding, his back burned in
the biistering light: and he was thirsty
Taunting, feverish visions OF an over
/ flowing tin cup flashed through his brain,
bringing with them a vague sense Of
sorrow half remembered
/ He searchef the waste about him FOR a
4 spot OF green that should proclaim a
spring. Gray cliffs, ashen slopes, Knocked
/ him. The idea of thirst filed his brain
He was no longer conscious Of the bis
tering pains AZ his back, the thrObbig
OF his Iacerated feet. He proceeded At a
halting trot. expectantly scanning the
waste about him for a spring, and ever
and anon stopped, straining his ear
drums in the desert silence for the fam.
tinkie Of a stream.
Tie sun sweItered down the sky. and a
llengthening blue strip Of shade went be-
fore the man The far summit Of peak
took flame and scintiIlated with the drop
ping sun. Then. suddenly. a shadow Ike
vast cereclOth fell upon the dead land.
And IL was evening.
Fallon pushed on into the twilight of
the waste Suddenly be saw, far up
against a gray slope. a green splOtch OF
vegetation. II was Ike shout IN silence
He stopped and stared. doubling his
- -
thin tinkle OF falling waters There was
a steep declivity TO be climbed He made
for Il with a cry OF joy
He had scrambled half way Up the rub
ble-strewn slope when the report OF a
rife doomed down the guleh and set the
echoes leaping in the hills he felt the
wind OF the ball. and the smitten surface
Of the slope foot above his head spewed
pebbles over him.
Fallon forgot the water. He relaxed
his grip On the rocks and. rolling over
and over 20 the base Of the slope. fed
eastward among the grotesque hills
grown ghastly with the deepening gloom
| It seemed more than a man-this noise
/ less. tireless. pitiless invisible thing that
hunted him through the wilderness. He
thought Of his pursuer vaguely. as one
might think OF fate-fata with the bolt
I OF death IN its hand 10 deliver or with
I hold One may thirst and live. But 70
die-to be Ike Jensen-to be ike Jensen,
Into the east fed FaIlon. unconscious
of fatigue and thirst To him his flight
/ seemed rather a dream OF speed than a
running
Al length. stumbling over a heap Of
stones. he feli headlOng. sprawling IN the
/ pebbles Sitting up unsteadily. he was
aware for the first time that the night
/ had fallen; and a new terror seized him
I The darkness was filed with Jensens,
standing tall and quiet-oh. so quiet
with tin cups on their heads. be closed
/ his eyes. and still the things were there
I tail patient things that stood so quiet.
so uneldurably quiet
/ He flung himself upon his face ald
/ pressed his naked arms about his head g
shut them out He sUOo8ed into the
/ sleep Of fatigue Huge tin cups. over
/ flowing with cool waters and borne upon
/ the heads Of tall, funereSl figures. passed
before him in endless procession
He awakened, choking and burning with
thirst.
The spring,
he would so back 20 the spring, He
would dare all the rifles and al the
ghosts in the world 10 keep him from Il,
Getting Unsteadily 10 MS feet. he start
ed He went on stumbling through the
black defiles. his wheeling breath films
the darkness with sibilant echoes Where
was the spring? Which way had II
come?
He cast his fevered eyes upward and
searched for q landmark outlined sgains,
the sky. Il was al strange.
After age-IOng hours OF wandering he
gave up and hurled sobbing. childish
curses at the stars Then he curled uT
under a bowIder and swoOned into q
I 6ream-haunted world, peOpled with tai
cup-bearing figures. unendurably quiet.
A dull roar grew I'D in the dream world
and shattered it. The night lifted Ike a
smoke
i FaTon sat up and stared about him
A red blur clung about the eastern sum
miJs and the air was chill. From a niche
in a elf 70 westward a blue spIotch OF
smoke fiosted upward in the quiet air
Fallon stared az II, searching about
in his dazed brain for its meaning
As he stared, a blue spurt OF
smoke issued from the niche. followed
/ BY roar and the r-T-r-r-spat-pinE II 4
rife bali that whisked past him in a pun
OF wind II was voice OF command to
be obeyed-
He scrambled to his feet and Imped
eastward into the June dawn-a dawn
without o bird note-a June without a
sprig Of green
He proceeded with IIstless, dragging
step. It seemed to him that he had be4z
fleeing an age. It was no longer PAM,
fear that drove him. some irresistible
4
the east-intO the east; il was a fixed
idea
In the burning afternoon, weakened
with the choke OF thirst and the guawine
OF hunger. he lay down under q cliff that
cast no shade He was discouraged. i
all seemed a hideous nightmare Ht
/ would lie very still and perhaps would
/ waken in camp with Jensen and Little
Jean snoring peacefully and the pacR
mules snOTting and paving out n the
| darkness. He would lie very still an
| perhaps II would all pass away
! A voice from the cliff above startled
him from the dizzy swo0n Of exhaustion
''weil?'
He lifted his fevered eyes and stared
upward he saw a face ieering dowr
upon him X was the face Of Little Jean
How DO you ike itZ-' said the face
Jean. Jeanr' gasped FaIlon. Amt ]
had enough? You know I'm sorry and
I'll do anything you say but this. Il
amt the day that hurts most; its the
night. Jean; for Gods sake. don't make
me go through with il again.
"Bellyache over facts. Ell. Mike2r said
the Ieering face. It's a fScl, amt IL
Sort Of brutal; but it's fact. amt IT.
Here. Mike. a bit thirsty. amt you2-
a tin cup tumbled down the clin and
fell within aTm-Teach OF Fallon. Hs
grasped AZ Il gTeedily, put il 10 his lips
then dropped 1t and grOaned, hiding his
race in his arms
"0h. its empty all right jeered the
voice above It's empty, Jensen spilled
it. you. know. Last drop Of drink in al
the woodland Jensen went and spilled