The Huttig news., 1911-09-09

work of boards and timbers, none of which seemed to the wary eye any too sound. Amber selected the most sol d. looking of the lot and gingerly ad- vanced a pace or two along It. With soft cracking a eortion ef the tim i ber crumbled to duet beneath his feet. He retreated hastily 10 tfs ,ausewey, and swore. and noticed that the Eye was watching him with inalevolent in terest, and swore some more En- tirely on impulse he heaved a bit of rock possibly twenty pounds in weight. to the middle of the structure There followed splintering crash and the coutraption dissolved like a magie-lantern effect, leaving a solitary beam about foot in width and six or eight inches thick, spanning q flight of twenty and drop Of sixty feet. The river received the rubbish with several successive splashes dis tinctly disconcerting, and Amber sat down on boulder to think it over Clever invention" he musci; "one'd think that. after taking all tfis trouble to get me here. they'd chang d their minds about wanting me. I've a notion to change mine"
 There seemed to be no possibility 1 of turning back at that stage. how ever Kuttarpur was rather far away, and, moreover, he doubted if he would be permitted to return Having come thus far. he must go on Moreover, Sophia Farrell was on the other side of that Swordwide bridge and such being the case, cross 1t he wou d | though he were to find the next world at it's end. Finally he considered that he was presently to undergo an ordeal of some unknown nature. probably ex- tremely unpleasant, and that this mat ter of the vanishing bridge mus. hase been arranged in order to put him n properly subdued and tractable frame of mind.
 He got up and tested the reraini~g z g;rder with circumspection and in- credulity; but It semed firm enough. solidly embedded in the stonework of the causeway and immovable at the city end So he straddled it and. ayerting his eyes from the scenery be- heath him, hitched inglorieusly across. collecting splinters and a very dis. tnct impression that, as vocation. knight .errantry was not without its drawbacks
 When again he stood on his feet he ELS in the shadow Of the outer gate way, the curtain of the second wall confronting him
 Casting about, he discovered the sec end gateway at some distance to the left and started toward it. forcing way through a tangle of scrubby un oergrowth, weeds and thorny acacia, but had taken few steps ere heavy splash in the river below brought him IT, standing, with a humping heart. After an irresolute moment he turned bsck to see for himself, and found his apprehension only too well grounded; the swordwide bridge was gone, dis l placed by an agency which had been prompt to seek cover--though he con fessed himself unable to suggest where that cover had been found.
 He gave 1t up, considering that 1t were futile to badger his wits for the how and the wherefore The impor tant fact remained that he was a pris oner in dead Kathiapur. his retreat cut of. and Here he made sec ond discovery, infinitely more shock ing: his pistol was gone
 Turning back at length. he made his way to the second gateway and from 1t to the third under the lesdly scuptured arch of which he stopped and gasped. fors citing IS for the first time Kathiapur the Fallen was re- vealed to him in the awful beauty Of it's naked desolation.
 A wide and stately avenue stretched away from the portals. between rows of dwellings. palaces of marble and stone. tombstones and mausoleums with meaner houses of sun-dried brick and rubble, roofiess all and disinte- grating in the slow, terrible process of the years.
 As Amber moved forward small, alert ghosts rose from the under growth and scurried silently thence; circumstance which made him very unhappy.
 The way was difficult and Amber tired. After a while, having seen nothing but the jackals. an owl or two, several thousand bats and crawling thing which had lurched along in the shadow of wall some distance away. giving an admirable imitation of badly wounded man pulling himself over the ground. and making strange guttural noises-Am- Der concluded to wait for the guide Naraini had promised him. He turned aside and seated himself upon the edge of a broken sandstone tomb. The silence was appalling and for relief he took refuge in cheap irreverence. Home" he observed, aloud. never was like this
 heartrending sigh from the tomb behind him was followed by rattle of dislodged rubbish. Amber found himself unexpectedly in the middle of the street, and, without stopping to de bate the method of hts getting there with such unprecedented rapidity, 4