The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1910-08-12

ed the ignoble part Of a spy to lit
| tie purpose; he had discovered moth
| ing of importance, but simply heard
| Ronald Desborough's confession of
an ordinary, commonplace, and some
what vulgar scrape He could not
| at the moment see Of what value
/ his knowledge of the affair could
be to him. but every word he had
heard was impressed upon his mem.
ory, which was a marvellous one.
and he stored it up for future use,
il any there should be. At any rate.
he. and probably he alone, knew
that Ronald Desborough had come
down to Thorden secretly that Eve
| lyn Desborough had stolen ont of
the house TO meet her brother. and
the knowledge might not prove al
together yalueless.
Ronald Desborough left the wood
and climbed the hill, which ed to
the moor The night was fine, the
air of early summer was fragrant
with the multitudinDus scents of
the countryside; he was young and
in perfect health. and in suGu cor
ditions trouble weighs very Lightly
upon the mind or heart--indced
Ronald had almost forgotten all
about his. at any rate for the lime,
and hec limbed the hill wish the
ease Of a man who is untroubcd hy
nerves, and almost incapable Of ia.
tigue
Presently he reached the top of
the rise, and his foot trod the heath
er of the moor, which stretched be-
fore him, wide, unbroken eXpanse.
He glanced round him for a mo-
ment, fully sensible of the exqui-
site beauty of the scene which lay
below him, then he took his bear
ings and walked on in the direction
of the little market town at which
he intended to catch train.
He had got mile or two across
the moor when suddenly a breath |
of cold air swept across the night,
and, as he buttoned his loose over
coat, he looked up at the sky ques
it had foretold came creeping up
to him; it was one of the msts |
for which the moors are famous
those mists which seem to rise in |
moment, which envelop the wild |
plains in a vapor dense and inn
penetrable, blotting out the whole |
world and rendering the man who |
is unlucky enough to be caught in |
them a lost and helpless being.
Ronald ought to have stopped and |
waited i'm the hope that the mist |
would not last long; but he had no |
time to lose, and he went on, though !
more slowly The mist grew thick
er, he began to feel more than
doubtful of his way and at last
he was forced to pull Up. He seated |
himself on one of the messy ex-
crescences which rose from the face
of the moor filled his pipe, and
took out his matchbox; it was
empty!
This was bad business, and with
shrug of the shoulders he pulled
up the collar of his coat and CON
soled himself as best he could. with
the unlit pipe. He could not see his
watch, and he did not know how
long he had been sitting there before
the mist began to lift slightly; he
was too impatient to wait for it to
clear completely, and he sprang up
and walked on
1t was a dangerous and foolish
thing to do, but Ronald Desborough |
was just the man to do it; he knew
that any moment he might find
himself in a bog and be lost in it |
forever; but the knowledge Of his .
peril did not deter him; he trusted
to mis- luck, as usual, and his luck .
did not betray him; for presently .
the mist cleared away, almost as
swiftly as 1t had come, and he could .
see where he was going.
He could also see that he was off |
the path if path it could be called,
and that he was on a part of the !
moor which was strange to him: in |