El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-08-24
THE ASCENT
tBy Adrian selmo.)

TIE lay unconscious on the very
| the waves crashed down upon
| - > margin of the single, where
| him-a forlorn figure flung up on
| the land he had come to invade HIS
clothes were heavy with sea- water,
and chung about his limbs. There was
a deep cash in his forehead, but 1t
did not bleed.
His helmet and his gorget and
breastplate were of fine Spanish steel,
inlaid with gold. There was no other
such suit Of armor in all this irish
land But helmet and arnor were OF
little dse to MIN now
He lay very still, and visions of
sunlit hills and the far country from
which he came fitted across his
dreams.
And behind him mass of spars
drifting upon the boiling surface OF
the sea showed where the great gal
leon had plunged into the depths
He alone had reached the land.
He lay face downward, his arms
outstretched, his forehead pressed
into the single.
At last his fingers stirred: one con-
vu1sive movement, and they were
buried deep IN the sand
It was his first sign of life. and
for ten minutes he gave no other.
Inc waves QdQ EeCeQeo d llIJl6s anu
no longer p1ucked at him TO drag
was still in his ears. He was too
spent to care.
He found it in his heart to wish
that he had never awakened. Had he
gone down into the green waters he
might have been dreaming still. Now
It was cold-bitterly cold.
He was wet through, and the wind
him to the bone. He wondered &ow
long he could endure it and yet lie
still.
1t was the agony of thousand years
concentrated into moment to move
muscle. Yet he did it. Slowly, inch
by inch. he raised himself into a sit
ting posture and looked about him.
His eye travelled onward and upward
to the cliff itself, worn and hard and
black, carved into columns and great
buttresses like some. monster fortifi-
cation piled by giant hands in the for
gotten days of the world The sea
nists chung about it. hiding the sum-
nit. Only now and again the wind
tore a funnel through their white
curtains and he had a glimpse Of q
ragged sky line and dazzle of light
above 1t where the clouds had thinned
for moment to allow a pale CLINT of
sun.
Fear was behind him-fear of the
sea, Of the waste Of hungry waters
which had swallowed his companions
and still painted after him. Up there,
and only up there, would he find rest
and peace.
Trembling, he staggered to his feet.
Gradually he became less stiff,
though even more weary, and he
moved a little more quickly and came
to the base of the cliff itself and fun
b1ed over the rock surface like a blind
man. seeking way to go up.
It was hard-hard to find. But at
last he discovered crevice leading up
wards. and he followed 1t, clinging
desperately to rock and weed and
tuffted grass.
He went on and on.
A rnomentary difficulty in his path
brought him to a stop, and he chung
to pinnacle of rock, considering it
Yet at last he found a way out. BY
wriggling continuously to the right he
found the path again. and went on and
up-always up-to the place where
light and warmth and safety awaited
him.
There was no sun to tell him the
hour but from the wan light in the
sky he Judged it to be the late after
noon. The day was dying, the night
was coming on. He must not be left
on that cruel face of rock in the dark
ness.
humping within his breast, and caused