Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1912-02-07

"Great God!" He Cried. "Where Is
Enid?"
the old mans skill and address to
keep himself and companion from los
ing their footing and falling down into
the seething tumult below.
The tents went down in an instant.
Where there had been pleasant bit
of meadow land was now a muddy,
tossing lake of black water. Some of
the horses and most of the burros
which Pete had been unable to do any
thing with were engulfed in a mo-
ment. The two on the mountain side
could see them swimming for dear life
as they swept down the canon. Pete
himself, with a few of the animals,
was already scrambling up to safety.
Speech was impossible between the
noise Of the falling rain and the in
cessant peals Of thunder, but by per.
sistent gesture, old Kirkby urged the
terrified, trembling woman up the
trail until they finally reached tho
top of the hog back, where under the
poor shelter of. the stunted pines they
joined Pete with such of the horses as
he had been able to drive up. Kirkby,
taking a thought for the morrow, not
ed that there were four Of them,
enough to pull the wagon if they
could get back to it.
After the first awful deluge of the
cloudburst it moderated slightly, but
the hard rain came down steadily, the
wind rose as well, and in spite of
their oilskins they were soon wet and
cold. It was impossible to make a
fire, there was no place for them to
go, nothing to be done. They could
only remain where they were and
wait. After a half hour Of exposure
to the merciless fury of the storm, a
thought came suddenly to Mrs. Matt
land. She leaned over and caught the
frontiersman by his wet sleeve. See
ing that she wished to speak to him,
he bent his head toward her lips.
Enid" she cried, pointing down the
canon. She had not thought before of
the position of the girl.
Kirkby, who had not forgotten her,
but who had instantly realized that he
could do nothing for her, shook his
head, lifted his eyes and solemnly
pointed his finger up to the gray
skies. He had said nothing to Mrs.
Maitland before. What was the use
of troubling her.
God only kin help her." he cried.
"She's beyond the help of man."
All, indeed, old trapper, whence
came the confident assurance of that
dogmatic statement? For as it chanc-
ed, at that very moment the woman
for whose peril your heart was wrung
was being lifted out Of the torrent by
mans hand! And, yet, who shall
say that the old hunter was not right,
and that the man himself, as men Of
old have been, was sent from God?
cit can't be- began Mrs. Maitland
in great anguish for the girl she had
grown to love.
EFF she seed the storm an realized
what it was, an had sense enough to
climb up the canon WALL" answered
the other, "she won't be no worse
offn we are; eff not
Mrs. Maitland had only to look
down into the seething cauldron to
understand the possibility of that "if. .
"Oh," she cried, '1et us pray for her
that she sought the hills
'I've been doin' it," said the old
man gruffiy.
He had deep vein of piety in him,
but, like other rich ores, it had to be
mined for in the depths before it was
apparent.
By slow degrees the water subsid-
ed, and after a long while the rain
ceased, heavy mist lay on the noun
tains and the night approached with
out any further appearance of the
yelled sun. Toward evening Robert
Maitland, with the three men and the
three children. joined the wretched
trio above the camp. Maitland, wild
with excitement and apprehension,
had pressed on ahead Of the rest. It
was a glad-faced man indeed who ran
the last few steps of the rough way
and clasped his wife in his arms, but
as he did so he noticed that one was
missing.
"Great God" he cried, releasing his
wife, where is Enid?"
"She went down the canon early
this mornin' intendin' to stay all day."
slowly and reluctantly answered old
Kirkby, "an'-'
He paused there. It wasn't neces-
sary for him to say anything more.
Maitland walked to the edge of the
trail and looked down into the valley.
1t had been swept clean of the camp.
Rocks had been rolled over upon the
meadow land, trunks of trees torn
up by the roots had lodged against
them. 1t was scene of desolate and
miserable confusion and disaster.
ooh, Robert, don't you think she