Tensas gazette., 1912-09-06

tnat IL Oversnad0Wed the storm brew
ing above Her way was easier than
his and he had fallen some distance
behind when suddenly there rushed
upon him the fact that a frightful and
unlocked for. cloudburst was about to
occur above their heads. A lightning
fash and a thunder clap at last ar
rested his attention. Then, but not
until then, he flung everything to the
winds and amid the sullen and almost
continuous peals Of thunder he sent
cry after cry toward her which were
lost in the tremendous diapason of
sound that echoed and re-echoed
through the riffs of the mountains.
wait" he cried again and again.
Come up higher. Get out of the
canon. You'll be drowned
But he had waited too bng The
storm had developed too rapidly; she
was too far ahead of and beneath him
She heard nothing but the sound Of
voice, shrill. menacing. fraught with
terror for her, not word distinguish
able; scarcely to her disturbed soul
even q NOlCCs ~ bCCAuCu lihc
the wierd cry of some wild spirit of
the storm. 1t sounded to her over
wrought nerves so utterly inhuman
that she only ran the faster.
The canon swerved and then dou-
bled back. but he knew its direction.
Losing sight of her for the moment he
plunged straight ahead through the
trees, cutting OF the bend, leaping
with superhuman agility and strength
over rocks and logs until he reached
a point where the rift narrowed be-
tween two walls and ran deeply. There
and then the heavens opened and the
floods came and beat into the open
NAV of that vast crevice and filled 1t
in an instant.
AS the deluge came roaring down,
bearing onward the sweepings and
scourings of the mountains. he caught
a glimpse of her white desperate face
rising. falling. now disappearing. now
coming into view again, in the foamy
midst Of the torrent He ran to the
cliff bank and throwing aside his gun
he scrambled down the wall to a GER
tain shelf of the rock over which the
rising water broke thinly. Ordinarily
| II was twenty feet above the creek
bed. Bracing himself against jagged
| projection he waited praying. The
canon was here so narrow that he
could have leaped to the other side
and yet 1t was too narrow for him to
reach her If the water did not sweep
her toward his feet. 1t was all done in
a second Fortunately a projection on
the other side threw the force of the
torrent toward him and with It came
the woman
She was almost spent. She had
been struck by log upheayed by
some mighty wave. her hands were
moving feebIy, her eyes were closed
she was drowning, dying, but indomit
ably battling on. He stopped down
and as a surge lifted her. he threw
his arm around her waist and then be
braced himself against the rock te
sustain the full thrust of the mighty
flood. AS he seized her she gave way
suddenly, as If after having done al
that she could there was now nothint
left but to trust herself to his hant
and Gods. She hung dead weigh
on his arm in the ravening watel
which dragged and tore at her madly
He was a man Of giant strength
but the struggle bade fair to be to'
much even for him. It seemed as |
the mountain behind him was givini
way. He set his teeth, he tried des
perately. to hold on, be thrust out hii
right hand, holding her with the 9th
er one, and clawed at the dripping
rock In vain. In a moment the tor
rent mastered him and when It did 81
It seized him with fury and threw hin
like a stone from q sling into tn
seething vortex OF the mid-stream
But in all this he did not. or woul'
not, release her.
Such was the swiftness Of the me-
ton with which they were swep
downward that he had little need {
swim his only effort was to keep hi
head above water and to keep fror
|, being dashed against the logs ths
tumbled end over end or whirle
sideways, or were jammed into clul
: ters only to burst out on every hans
!. He struggled furiously 70 keep hin
4 ,ote fro,,, hofn0 ovarwhalmad in III