Putnam patriot., 1911-09-29

kss.ssEeJ ish, gleaming thing that
 brought life back into him with a
 thrill of horror, was Howland's first
 vision of returning consciousness. It
 was dead in front of him, on a level
 with his face-a ball of yellow fire
 that seemed to burn into his very
 soul He tried to cry out. but no
 sound fell from his lips. He strove
 to move. to fight himself away. but
 there was no power of movement in
 his limbs The eye grew larger He
 saw that 1t was so bright it cast
 halo. and the halo widened before
 his own staring eyes until the dense
 gloom about 1t seemed to be melting
 away. Then he knew. It was a lan-
 tern in front of him. not more than ten feet away. Consciousness flooded him, and he made another effort to cry
 out. to free his arms from an invisi-
 ble clutch that held him powerless.
 At first he thought this was the clutch
 of human hands. Then as the lantern light revealed more clearly the things about him and the outlines of his own figure he saw that it was a rope, and he knew that he was unable to cry out because of something tight and suffocating about his mouth.
 The truth came to him swiftly. He had come up to the coyote on sledge. Some one had struck him. He re- membered that men had half dragged him over the rocks, and these men had bound and gagged him and left him here with the lantern staring him in the face But where was he? He shifted his eyes. straining to pene- trate the gloom. Ahead of him just | beyond the light there was a black wall He could not move his head. but he saw where that same wall closed in on the left. He turned his gaze upward. and it ended with that same imprisoning barrier of rock. | Then he looked down. and the cry of | horror that rose in his throat died in n muffied groan. The light fell dimly on sack-two of them-three-a tightly packed wall of them.
 He knew now what had happened. | He was imprisoned In the coyote. and l the sacks about him were filled with | powder He was sitting on something | hard-a box-ffty pounds of dynamite. | The cold sweat stood out in beads on | his face. glistening in the lantern glow. | From between his feet thin. white. l ghostly line ran out until II lost itself | in the blackness under the lantern. It was the fuse leading to the box of dy- namite on which he was sitting.
 Madly he struggled at the thongs that bound him until he sank exhaust | ed against the row of powder sacks at | his back Like words of fire the last
 warning of Meleese burned in his | brain. You must go tomorrow-tomor-
 row-or they will kill your And this
 was the way in which he was to die. | There famed before his eyes the terri ble spectacle which he had witnessed few hours before-the holocaust of fire ard smoke and thunder that had dis | rupted a mountain. chaos of writh- | ing. twisting fury. and in that moment l his heart seemed to cease it's beating | He closed his eyes and tried to calm | himself. Was it possible that there 1 lived men so fiendish as to condemn | him to this sort of death? Why had | not his enemies killed him out among | the rocks? That would have been easier. quicker. less troublesome. Why | did they wish to torture him? What | terrible thing had he done? Was he | mad. mad, and this all a terrible night | mare. a raving and unreal contortion 1 of things in his brain? In this hour of death question after question raced l through his head, and he answered no | one of them He sat still for time ! scarcely breathing There was no l sound save the beating of his own