The Washington times., 1911-08-01

nad Deen told to do SO mac
not the faintest conception. l listened
Tor Gwynne but there was no sound
Of approaching footsteps; neither did he
answer when l called.
The place where l had stopped was
the lower opening of the gorge, the
trail dipping beneath into vistas of ter
rible grandeur, still family lighted by
the glow of parting day. Great CHATS
loomed in the distance, beneath and be-
yond me. P1nnacles of awful height
and splendor still shed a rosy lusteI
from their stony tops, while from down
the valley lights and tinkhng bells
crept upward. The picture was sub
lime. Doubtless when the earth was
made, the glut of matter had been
dumped upon IT here.
My pony was browsing quietly from
the end Of his tether, upon the opposite
side Of the road. did not notice that
he had gradually dragged the rope into
the fire. which was directly in the middle
of the path. Jumping up suddenly to
pull 1t out, 1 frightened the animal so
that he started and broke 1t In two
easily done, as it was nearly burned
through.
went forward to catch him, but the
ed and ran after him, but 1t was use
less-the faster l ran, the faster ran
the pony. Besides. the path was rough
and dangerous. and quite too dark to
make sure of my footing.
At last l stopped, and, retracing my
steps, walked back to the fire, Realizing
my helplessness without a horse, and
our utter destitution without the yaks,
.Gwynne, hoping each minute to meet
him From time to time 1 stopped and
listened-I called and waited again
but there was no response. Then l
thing had happened. 1t was upgrade,
and the gorge darker than ever. 1t
was natural split in the rock, a gulch,
a canyon, that l was following Abovs
and below 1t was lighter. though from
the stars alone.
The back tramp was much longer.
True had been riding before, and
there were still some remnants of day.
1t was hard to cling to the footing. as
It was almost impossible to see There
came at latt the faint glow of the fire
where we had cooked and eaten our
supper together, but no Gwynne. l
shouted, and had 4 sickening feeling
when there came no word in reply.
l approached the fire with a strange
sense of awe. and kicked over the Goals
for better light. ! stared about me, and
called again. Gwynne WAS not there,
though the horse remained.
Alone and lost in the Himalaya noun
tains is not cheering. I sat down by
the dying embers. while the horror of
the situation grew upon rle. II grew
until l felt as if my brain would burst
with the terror Of it. 1 half believed
those awful peaks would fall and crush
me-a friendly act If they did so. Where
was Gwynne? Gone! But, why had he
left me? How could he have escaped
SO completely without my knowing it?
Had he not told me. to wait at the low
er station until he arrived? He could
not have passed me-that was impos-
sible. There was no other trail.
There were indications that fresh fuel
had been heaped upon the fire shortly
before ! came. as there was also evil
dence that the luggage had been tam
pered with. This gave me another turn
Of horror, and l shuttered lest GwynRe
be murdered. / examined the ground
for marks of 3. struggle, but could fini
none. Neither was there a scrap Of
clothing, fiuttering rag. or paper, to
indicate the route he had followed.
There was no way of telling what
had been taken from the packages, not
knowing their contents. 1t did not seem
that they had been rified to any great
extent, and l thought that after all it
might merely have been some extra
wrap or blanket the fellow was look
ing for. 1t was impossible to delve
into the dreadful places that surrounded
Ing. It was almost impossible to move
without risk TO life or limb~1 might
say both-and so 1 sat down to think.
Again 1 called, but got no reply. A
thousand Kanchanjangas seemed ready
to topple over and crush, me. The
world was built upon edge, and l was
clinging to 1t. The wind swept up the
gorge and chilled me. The securing
storms of the chang through untold
cons had guttered, splintered. and rip
ped asunder the great rock masses Of
those awful sol'tudes till they could no
more be lkened to the world I knew.
The great plain-the chang Itself-had
been lifted heavenward, while the vast
Gordon Of peaks that held and rose
above It guarded secrets that through
the eternal ages man could never hope
to read.
the home of fiends. ghouls, and fairies
embodied me in its iron grip, and the
knowledge of this filled me and surged
through every atom of my being, as
the tide fills and surges through some
rotting hulk.
Oppressed with lndescribable dread
lest Gwynne had come to grief, l look
ed up. Upon the opposite side Of the
fire, and directly, before me, stood the
snake-charmer-the man we had met at
Rom-te, and who offered TO be or
Ruide. He had come up so silently
that I was startled, and stepped back,
ready to defend myself, but in another
fellow had once been to- Calcutta.
and had a spattering of English,
He had on a sheepskin coat and trou-
sers, while his feet were swathed and
we'll padded with lambswoOl, which ac-
counted for his nOiseless tread.
asked him what he wanted. He an
swered that he should still like to be
my guide l explained as well as pos
sible that one of his countrtymen had
just betrayed us, and that l was not
inclined to trust any of them.
Me goodn he said, tapping himself
upon the forehead and bending toward
me.
/ asked If he knew what had become
Of Gwynne. At first he did not seem to
understand. Then his face grew bright
as with sudden intelligence. hneellng
before tAe fire, he began searching for
something in the folds of his upper gar
ment. Presently he found 1t, and drew
forth a queer roll that appeared TO be
very aged and dirty sheepskin, covered
with strange symbols and caballstic de-
signs done in red. He shook this out to
its full length and held It before me.
At the top was a rough outline of a
around IT was a series of jagged pin
naCleS, representing mountains. Below
this were some figures which seemed
meant for letters, but could not under |
stand them. Below all was a circle |
around the circumference of which was
the picture of snake with a spotted
body In the center was a feather |
that revolved upon a pivot.
Presently the man got up and began |
droning in n low, monotonous voice. |
waving the sheepskin gently to and fro
as he did So and keeping time by q
slow swaying Of the body from side 10
SIDE and forward and backward-some-
times swinging his head in a circle.
AS he did this, his hair fell loose from
AA N,,rH rH,y onA h1rr1