Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1909-03-24

the men endeavored to stay him; the
boy can climb like a squirrel Let
him take the lantern, Barbara, that
he may see where to plant his foot
and what to hold. Then he took the
blanket rope from her hand, raised
the light, and slowly lowered it again
beside the descending boy.
/ Watt went down nimbly yet eau
| tiously, clinging to ivy and tufts OF
| grass, feeling every projection, and
trying with his foot before trusting
his weight to it. He did not hurry
himself He did not regard those who
watched his advance. His descent
was in zigzags. He crept along ledger,
found a cleft or step of stone, or a
tuft of heather, or a stem of ivy. All
at once he grasped the lantern.
/ 7 see something! Oh, Jasper,
what can it be!' gasped Barbara.
BE careful he said, do not over
balance YOURSELF
/
only her-not him.
God be praised whispered Bar
bara
Is she alive?'
do not know, do not care. Mar
| tin is not here.
Now said Jasper come on, you
men-that is, all but one. We must
go below; not over the cliff, but round
through the coppice. We can find
our way to the lantern. The boy must
be at the bottom. She has fallen he
addressed Barbara now, she has
fallen, trust among bushes of oak
which have broken the force of the
fall. Do not be discouraged. Trust in
God. Stay here and pray
oh, Jasper, cannot! must go
with you
You cannot. You must not. The
coppice and brambles would tear your
clothes and hands and face. The
scramble is difficult by day and dam
gerous by night. You must remain
here by your father. Trust me- I
will do all in my power for poor Eve
We cannot bring her UP the way we
deGcend. We must force our way lat
orally into a path. You remain by
your father, and let a man run for
another or two more lanterns
Then Jasper went down by way of
| the wood with the men scrambling
falling, brushing through the brakes
some cursing when slashed across the
face by an oak bough or torn through
cloth and skin by braid of bramble
They We're quite invisible to Barbara,
and to each other. They went down.
ward fast they could not go, fearing
at every moment to fall over face of
rock; cropping, struggling as with
snakes, in the coils of wood; slipping,
failing, scrambling to their feet again,
calling each other, becoming bewil-
dered, losing their direction. The
lantern that Watt held was quite in
visible to them, buried above their
heads in the densest growth. The
only man of them who came unhurt
out of the coppice was Joseph, who,
fearing for his face and hands and
uniform unwilling that he should ap-
pear lacerated and disfigured before
Jane, instead of finding his way down
through the brush, descended leisure
ly by the path or road that made
long circuit to the waters edge, and
then ascended by the same road again
to the place whence he had started.
Jasper, who had more intelligence
than the rest had taken his bearings,
before starting, by the red star on the
side of Kingston Hill, that shone out
of miners hut window This he was
able always to see, and by it to steer
his course; so that eventually he
reached the spot where was Watt
with the lantern.
Where is she? What are you do
ing? he asked breathlessly. His
hands were torn and bleeding, his
face bruised.
oh, do not know. I left her. I
want to find Martin-he cannot be far
off,
The boy was scrambling of slope
of fallen rubble.
I insist, Watt: tell me. Give me
the lantern at once
I will not. She IS UP there. You
can make out the ledge against the
sky, and by the light of the fire above
but Martin-whither is he gomez
Then away farther down went the
boy with his lantern Instead of fol-
lowing him, Jasper climbed up the
rubble slope to the ledge. His eyes
had become accustomed to the dark.
He distinguished the fluttering end of