, 1912-07-18
this double disappearance
began to trouble me. At last

\ II i cOui0 enuure the uncertain
ty no longer. and. clambering
down the northern face of the rocks,
! nfound the man | had shot there.
dead. but no race OF the others. They
had evidently got clean away
The fact that ! was nor disturbed
In this reconnaissance encouraged me
to try another on the southern side.
crept cautiously down to the spot
where Payton had fallen. found the
depression into which>he had rolled and
saw that It was the dry bed of a
brook. by following which he could
have crawled away to the brush IN
| noticed.
Was he preparing a second bomb
o. had he some other resource of which
I knew nothing?
7 climbed painfully up the rocks
tagain. for now my ankle, the injury to
which had forgotten in the excite
ment of the defense. began to trouble
me.
As I dropped upon a stone In the
middle of the incIosure Miss Grayman
hrst noticed that i had been hurt. b
turned pale and again showed a con-
Germ on my account that l could not
attribute solely to the fear that h
might be deprived Of her only defend
er. she insisted that I should take on
my shoe and stocking and. calling
Susan. who had recovered from her
shock. aided me with the utmost ten
derness to bind up a deep cut made by
d fragment of the bomb or of rock. 'hH
When she had finished she said TO
me. with a pleading look: please.
1,Lieutenant Allan, don't Expose your
self as you have been doing. l was in
agony when I saw you venturing down
the rocks What should we do-what
'should l do-if you were seriously hurt
or killedT"
Then she covered her eyes, and /
saw tears trickling down her hands.
! would not have changed places with
the president Of the United States. /
felt proud. gratifed. heroic. romantic.
brave as a lion. capable as a general.
ready to 'do anything and everything
to serve her who had shown this inter.
est in me.
In short, I knew now that l was in
love to the tops Of my ears. and | felt
that + mighr hope for d response to
this mighty affection which was over-
mastering me. l assured Miss Gray
man that for her sake l would be
more careful, and the gladness II 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 no a
living thing did we see except a few
birds and some small animals lodging
about among the rocks. Thus the aft
ernoon passed. and the sun sank low
in the northwest.
We suffered from lack of water more
than from that Of food, and I resolved
that as soon as II grew dark enough l
would creep down to the edge of the
brush. where l had noticed a small
stream. and Ill my helmet with wa
ter. But l did not tell Miss Grayman
of my design. feeling sure that she
would oppose 1t. Her suffering. how
ever. was 50 painfully evident that l
would have ventured anything in or
der to relieve her. ssl
By this time. although l could hard
~ credit SO gratifying a suggestion, Il
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, land why. then.
should he further risk his life and lib
ertyr
Az r continued to ruminate upon
this fbecame so convinced that had
hit upon the real explanation of the
cessation Of his efforts that l spoke
about 1t to Miss Grayman and told her
Of my plan for getting water.
At nrst she vigorously opposed me.
but l 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-
Election. 1 crawled down the rocks.
keeping In the darkest places. and then
wound my way over the open ground
until l reached the place where Payton
took bis tumble. From this | followed
the dry rivuIet already spoken of I'M
ii attained the brush. This rivulet
was a tributary of a larger stream
which ran over d pebbIy bottom, the
cold water collecting in little pools. /
took a long drink and filed my helmet.
Although more and more convinced
that had nothing TO fear from TURK
ing enemies, l did not relax my eau.
don. thinking Of the stake had In
the security Of Miss Grayman. and
| once more \ unf dowp nm my knaas 80
cross the open space.
had mot progressed more thar 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 instsn