The Washington times., 1910-11-11
CHAPTER XIII.
The Die Is Cast.

T HAVE set down the soregoing scene
badly. without mercy to myself,
nor with a hint OF extenuation
Think Of me as you viii any
may judge my behavior abOminable, so
q, l myself. I tell the tale as Il hap
pened, noC as 1 could have wished it TO
happen. But he who has loved and
been cruelty misjudged will, I think,
GndCJ stand.
My brain afre, 1 strobe back toward
the camp, threading my way, with
blind heedlessness, along the labyrin-
thine path that wound between the
high bouIders
The pocket-opening of my loose rid
ing-coat caught on the spikes of a
thOrn-bush. 1 jerked it free, scarce no
Ticing what I did But the instant's S
pause required for the trivial action
meant all the difference between life
and death to me.
For even as halted, momentarily. to
iree myself, mass Of rock, weighing
perhaps ninety pounds, was loosed from
the low cliff under which I was passing
and crashed noisly TO the pebble-strewn
ground at my very feet. 1t had missed
my head by a bare handbreadth. The
dust II drove upward at It's impact al
most choked me: for the time my signt
was blurred by the sand particles hurl-
ed into my eyes
Through all my hopeless, mad mis-
cry, was suddenly brought to reason
by the narrowness Of my escape from
the appalling fate. But for that chance
pause my brains would have been DASH
ed out
Duly 1 looked down at the rock at
my IeeJ. then UP at the cliff ten feet
aDONe my mead. As 1 diG so. l noted
iIIsJ unconSclOUsly, then with startled
heehhess-a certain discrepancy which
my undergraduate geological studies
thrust upon my attention.
Ine cliff WCS soft limestone The
rock that had fallen from its sum.nit
was a Jagged quartz. Now, even the
EeIleSI amateur in mineralogy knows
III cll"S qudrtz rock Is never found IN or
on limestone formations.
me rock that had fallen from the
CllH haQ never belonged there How
theh, came IL there2 Who could have
rugged ninety pounds Of quartz 10 the
TOP OF a limestone preCipice2
AnOtner detail, now that my attain
tloh rs drawn To lt-the Cliff-crpst
was not cut nor crumbling as is tie
case where landslide has swept snc6
surfaces. The quartz. however placed
there, had not been dislodged bv ac-
cideut but by design.
AAelN DttH meant Tor me. NOffliu q
nut my sudden nalt-Which the maj
above could not have foreseen-had
marred the clever calculations OF dis
Jances and saved me from instant
death. - ~
With a bound I was calling the cliff
SIDE. This was mere Of HadZ's work
knew II as well as though 7 had
seen him launch the projectile. He. or
an agent Of his, had done this. and IL
! were in time / might ayenge the
deed now, and in my own way. The
thought OF actual fighting was as
tonic TO my broken spirits.
In moment ! had reached the crest
careless Of the chance that I might
readily be struck down from above
while climbing. But, from the summit
not soul was in sight The assa ssin3
-Haiiz or his tOOl-had been too swift for
me Again death had struck AT me and
had left no discriminating evidence.
But HahZ had by this act done him
self the worst turn possible, for he rad
aroused every drop OF fighting blood in
my sorely OvertaXed nature. He had
declared war 10 the death? Very good
War 20 the death Il should be He
sought 70 remove me from the rovaI
succession. Then I would claim tha.
succession and battle for my hereditary
rights. against all odds My course lay
clear before me.
Hope Keyes had stripped me Of nv