The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1912-08-14

wen Or had been Elien lke,rple Ras
written. he rejoiced that Il he had not
heen1wept away With tho acod o. inst
she bad not'beeui lot IL ths msnntaiha
and forced TO wand eF pn finally to
etarye and freeze ma die, M one mo
msnt ,heT nearness caused his heart to
throb With Joyful anticipation. The
certaiHty that at the Arst fluah Of day;
he should seek her again sent the
warm blood to his eheskb. But those
thoughts would be succeeded By the
knowledge that she was with his en-.
efny. Was this man 20 rob him Of the
latest love as he had robbed him OF
the firsts PerhRps tho hardest task
that was ever laid upon =Armstropg
was toallesquietly inthls aleeping bag
and walt until the morning.
50 soon as the flrst Indication Of
dawn showed over the crack or the
door. he slipped quietly out Of his
sleeping bag land without dlstufbIng
the others drew on his booth. ilbut on
his heavy fllrgcoat and cap and gloves,
slrng his Winchester and he snow
shoes oserShis, sbouldsrt and without
stopping for aibiteytni eat, softly open.
edSthe d9or, stepped out and closed it
after him. u was quite dark, Ia, the
bottom. of the canon, although a few
pale CLEANS overhead Indicated the
near approach. OF day. 1t was quite
atill. TOO: There were clouds on the
mountain top heavy with threat of
wind and snow. I; d ,sEIai s. n,
The way was not diticult, the dlrec.
ton Oft, that Is. Nor was the going
very dificult ut first; the snow wds
frozen and the crust was strong enough
tp bear him. He did not need his
snow shoes. and, indeed, yohld have
had little chance to use them in the
narrow, broken, rocky pass. He had
slipped away from the others because
he;wanted to be first to, see the man
and the woman. He didnot want any
Witnesses to- that meetlng.. They
would thaye come on later, Of course;
butt hehwanted an houf. or two III fpIri.:
svate with Eaid and Newbold without
any Interruption, His conscience was
NOT; clear. Nor could he settle upon d
course oftactien. ~
How much .Newbold knew! otdhIu
former attempt to win away his wife.
how much Of what,-he kneY, he had
told Enid Maitland, Armstrong; could
not surmiseas Putting. himself, i into
NfWbold's place and, imagining that
the engineer had possessed entire in.
formation. he decided that he must
have told everything to Enid Malt.
land as soon. as he had found out tho
quasi relation between her and Z Arm,
strong. And Armstrong did not believe
the woman he loved could be In any.
body's presence aimonth without tell.
ing, something about him. still,tit was
possible that Newbold knew nothing,
and that he told nothing therefore.
The situation was paralyzing to. a
man Of Armstrong; decided, datermin.,
ed temperament. Gu He Could not decide
upon the line Of conduct he should
pursue. His course III this, the most
critical emergency. he had ever faced,
must be determined BY circumstances
Of which he felt with savage resent.
tnent he was In some measure the
sport sHea.wouId have to leave TO-
chance what ought to be subject to his,
Will or only one thing he.was sure
he would stop at nothing, murder, iy-
ing: nothing, to win the woman. and,
tolsettle bis score witt that man. I. e,
There was really only One thing he
could do, and that was to press on
upfthel canona i5He hadrno fdea how
far dt ,mightebe or how long. a tourney
be- would have ito make before! he
reached that shelf on the high hill
where stood that hut In which she
dvelt. AS the crow files. 1t could not
be a great distance, but the canon
ziszagged through the mountains With
as many curves and angles as a light.
ming flash. He plodded on, therefore,
with furious haste, recklessly speed.
ing over places where, ,misstep In
the snow or a slip, on the icy, rocks
would have meant death or disaster to
him. y s..
He had gone about an hour, and had
perhaps tmade four miles from the
camp 'whenythe storm.bprst upon .hlms
TWAS now. broad day but the, slky Ras
filed with clouds and the .air,: with
driving snow The wind wEisned down
The canon with terrific force. It was with
difficulty that he made any fieadway at
all against it!&It.wasa a. local storm.
u the could have looked through. the
snow he would have discovered calm
ness on the top ot4the peaks. 1t was
one Of those sudden squalls OF wind
and snow which rage with terrific
force while they last. but whose rage
was limited, and whose violent iura.
ton would be, short ~ ". u. 30
e A. fesss determined man than. he
would have bowed ito the, inevitable
and sought some shelter, behind d
ROCK until the fury OF the tempest.
was spent, but there was no, storm
that blew that could stop this man
SO long as he had strength to, drive
against 1t. 40 he bent hishhead to, tho