Middletown transcript., 1912-03-23


then he lurched side ways and feI
forward, fighting the air madly for 1
moment, and lay still.
With staring eyes that missed NJ
detail, she saw that the brute haC
been shot in the head and shoulder
three times and that he was appar
emily dead. The reVulsion that came
over her was bewlldering; she swayed
again, this time not from the thrus
of the water, but with sick faintness
The tension suddenly taken on, I'm
strung, the loose bow Of her spirit
'quivered helplessly; the arrow Of heI
life almost fell into the stream.
And then a new and more appalling
terror swept over her. Some man had
fired that shot. Actaeon had spied
upon Diana. With this sudden revela
ltion Of her shame, the red blood beat
to the white surface in spite Of the
chill water. The anguish Of that mo
ment was greater than before. She
could be killed, torn to pieces, de
.voured, that was a small thing, but
that she should be so outraged in heI
.modesty was uncomfortable. She wished
the hunter had not come. She sunk
lower In the water for q moment fam
ito hide in fits crystal clarity and real
lied as she did how frightfully cold
she was. Yet, although she froze
where she was and perished with cold
she could not go out on the bank to
dress, and it would avail her little,
she saw swiftly, since the huge mon
ster had fallen 3 dead heap on her
clothes.
Now all this, although 1t takes min
utes to tell, had happened In but q
few seconds. Seconds sometimes in
clude hours, even a lifetime, in their
brief composition. She thought It
would be just as well for her to sink
down and die in the water, when q
sudden splashing below her caused
her to look down the stream.
She was SO agitated that she could
make out little except that there was
a man crossing below her and making
.
He was q tall black bearded man, she
saw he carried a rife, he looked neith-
.er to the right nor to the left, he did
not bestow q glance upon her. She
could have cried aloud in thanksgiving
for his apparent oblivioUsness to her
as she crouched now neck deep in the
'benumbing cold. The man stepped on
the bank, shook himself like a great
dog might have done and marched
over to the bear. He uprooted a small
nearby pine, with the ease Of a Her
cules-and she had time to mark and
marvel at it in spite Of everything
and then with that as lever he I'M
,concernedly and easily heaved the
body Of the monster from of her
clothing. She was to learn later what
feat of strength 1t was to move that
inert carcass weighing much more
than half ton.
Thereafter he dropped the pine tree
by the side Of the dead grizzly and
without backward look tramped
swiftly and steadily up the canon
through the trees, turning at the point
Of 1t and was instantly lost to sight.
His gentle and generous purpose were
obvious even to the frightened, agi-
tated, excited girl.
The woman watched him until he
disappeared, a few seconds longer,
and then she hurled herself through
the water and stepped out upon the
shore. Her sweater which the bear
had dragged forward in its advance,
lay on top Of the rest Of her clothes,
covered with blood. She threw 1t aside
and with nervous, frantic energy, wet,
cold, though she was, she jerked on
in some fashion enough clothes to
cover her nakedness and then with
more leisurely order and with neces-
sary care she got the rest Of her ap-
parel in its accustomed place upon her
body, and then when 1t was all over
she sank down prone and PROSTATE
upon the grass by the carcass Of the
now harmless monster which had so
nearly caused her undoing, and shiv-
cred, cried and sobbed as If her heart
would break.
She was chilled to the bone by her
motionless soIourn, albeit 1t had been
for scarcely more than a minute in
that icy water, and yet the blood
rushed to her brow and face, to every
hidden part OF her In waves as she
thought Of 1t. It was q good thing
that she cried; she was not q weep
ing woman, her tears came slowly as
q rule and then came hard. She rath-
or prided herself upon her stoicism,
but in this instance the great depths
OF her nature had been undermined
and the fountains thereof we're fam
to break forth.
How long she lay there, warmth
coming gradually to her under the d.
rect rays Of the sun, she did not know,
and 1t was a strange thing that
caused her to arise. It grew suddenly
dark over her head. She looked up
and q rim Of frightful black, dense
clouds had suddenly blotted out the
sun. The clouds were lined with gold
and silver and the long rays shot
from behind the somber blind over
the yet uncovered portions Of the
heaven, but the clouds moved with
the irresistible swiftness and stead.
ness Of great deluge. The wall Of
them lowered above her head while
they extended steadily and rapidly
across the sky toward the other side
Of the canon and the mountain wall.
A storm was brewing such as she
had never seen, such as she had no
to enable her to realize its
malign possibilities. Nay, It was now
at hand. She had no clew, however,
Of what was toward, how terrible a
danger overshadowed her. Frightened
but unconscious Of all the menace Of
the hour, her thoughts few down the
canon to the camp. She must hasten
there. She looked for her watch
which she had lifted from the grass
and which she had not yet put on.
The grizzly had stepped upon 1t, It
was irretrievably ruined. She judged ,
from her last glimpse Of the sun that
1t must now be early afternoon. She
rose to her feet and staggered with |
she had eaten nothing
since morning, and the nervous shock |
and afrafn through which she had |