Perth Amboy evening news., 1911-07-29
THE SKY
PIRATE
II
BY GARRETT P. SERVISS
~
Copyright by Frank A. Munsey
Company
(Continued.)

Dtu bAe COfbIOu ut1 eyes, duu j
saw tears trickling down her hands,
I would not have changed places with
the president Of the United States. ]
felt proud, gratifed, heroic, romantic,
brave as a lion, capable as q general,
ready to do anything and everything
to serve her who had shown this inter
est in me.
In short, I knew now that I was in
love to the tops of my ears, and l felt
that l might hope for a response to
this mighty affection which was over
mastering me. l assured Miss Gray
man that for her sake 1 would be
more careful, and the gladness in her
eyes made me forget everything else
everything except the necessity of de
Tending her. This thought sent me
back in haste to our rampant.
We watched and watched, but not a
living thing did we see except a few
| birds and some small animals lodging
about among the rocks. Thus the aft
rnoon passed, and the sun sank low
In the northwest.
We suffered from lack of water more
than from that of food, and l resolved
that as o as it grew dark enough !
would creep down to the edge Of the
brush, where / had noticed a small
stream, and fill my helmet with wa
ter. But l did not tell Miss Grayman
of my design, feeling sure that she
would oppose it. Her suffering, how
ever. was so painfully evident that !
would have ventured anything in Or
der to relieve her.
By this time, although I could hard
ly credit so gratifying a suggestion, l
began to think that Payton had stolen
away in despair of being able to cap
ture or kill US and fearful Of the ar
rival of our friends.
"He cannot hope now to get the
ransom" l argued, "and why, then,
should he further risk his life and lib
erty?"
AS / continued to ruminate upon
| this I became so convinced that l had
hit upon the real explanation of the
cessation of his efforts that I spoke
| about it to Miss GraYman and told her
of ny plan fof getting water.
At nrsr she vigorously pposeu me,
but I presented the matter so clearly
| that finally she gave in to my opinion.
The time seemed endless before the
day became sufficiently dark to render
my attempt safe against possible de-
lection. / crawled down the rocks,
keeping in the darkest places, and then
wound my way over the open ground
until | reached the place where Payton
took his tumble. From this l followed
the dry rivulet already spoken of un-
til I attained the brush. This rlvuIet
was a tributary of a larger stream
which ran over a pebbly bottom, the
cold water collecting in little pools. l
took a long drink and filled my helmet.
Although more and more convinced
that l had nothing to fear from Turk
ing enemies, / did not relax my eau
ton, thinking of the stake l had In
the security of Miss Grayman, and
once more l got down on my knees to
cross the open space.
L had not progressed more than a
dozen yards from the edge of the
brush when a scream broke the still
ness. 1t came from the summit Of the
rocks.
My pulse stopped beating, but instan-
~taneously l sprang to my feet, drop
ped my helmet, drew my pistol and,
shouting l knew not what, ran with all
my speed toward the rocks. l heard
another scream, muffled and cut short,
and madly as l ran, without aim or
object, l fred my pistol three or four
times.
Helen! Felen!' | shouted.
I There was no reply, of course. l
could heal a scrambling, however, on
the other side Of the huge pile, and it
| occurred to me that l could make
swifter progress by skirting the steep
rocks. Accordingly I ran round them,
but when I arrived on the opposite
side there was not a sound or a NOV
ing thing In sight.
| had In my pocket a small electric
lamp Of my own c~ontriyahte, which
I always carried and which had a
mirror throwing a bright shaft of light
to a considerable distance. I now
UIOuSul ILLS 4AlO ltquLSlllOA ohu NlIu
it carefully swept round on all sides.
Nothing was to be seen except the
rocks, the ground and the distant
brush.
"They may still be on the summit"
1 thought, and hastily l began to
mount. / had made but a few upward
steps when an arm stole swiftly and
silently round my neck, and in an In
stant I was throttled In the grasp of
q man whose strength. combined with
the advantage of his position, made
my struggles ~unavailing.
A knee was pressed remorselessly
against the small Of my back, and In
less time than 1t takes to tell 1t l was
lying prone on the rocks, rendered
powerless by the cruel pressure on my
throat and back.
1 had always been something of an
athlete, but I could do nothing now.
MISS SELMA PETERSEN. Hair