The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1913-06-05

and farther along . foot slipped on .
treaeAssoss stsaa. bst the slight noise
died unnoticsA In the night It vas
farther to the gully than he had sup
posed: his heart vas IN his throat
fearing he had missed II, half believing
the depression failed to extend = the
base of the blu6. Thea his foot. ex-
plorins blindly. touched ths edge Of
the bank Carefully hs laid his bur
den down. placing his hattsrsA cam
paign hat beneath her hsaA He beat
over her again. assuring himseN that
she breatheA regularly. and tAea cfept
down alone into the shallow Fsvine.
His nerves were Nike staal nov. hia
hand steady. his hsaFt bsatiAs With
out an acoellersts6 thrsA- He k1sv
the work. and retoaos1 In It. This vaa
why he was . sosAisr. eilsatly. svift.
ly. he unbueklsd his bslt. rsfSstsnins
it across The straps % a. to hold can
teen and haveraaek noiselsas. and
then. revolver In hanA, bagaA creep
ing down under cover OF The lov
banks. He must explore the path nrst
before attempting 70 bear her along
In his arms: must b sure the passage
was unguas6sA. After It sverved TO
the right thers would be little danger.
but while II ran straight, some eau.
tious savage might havs chosen It to
skulk In. To deal With such - nsed-
ed to be aloos. and fres.
He must have csavIsd thus for thir.
ty yards. hands and knees aching hor.
ribiy. his eyes evsf peesing over the
edge OF the hank. his ears tingiing to
the slightest aoise. The tiny glow Of
the nrs far away to the left was alone
visible In the intsnse blaeknsss: the
wind brought to hin 10 sound Of
movement. Ths stiffness vas pro
found. almost uncanny: - he pauses
and listened he could distinguish the
throb OF his heart. He was across
the trail at last, for hs felt and traced
the ruts Of wheels. and where the
banks had been worked down almost
to level with the prairie. He crossed
this opening like . snake. and then
arose to his knees beyond. where the
gully deepened. He remained poised.
motionless. scarcely daring to breathe
Surely that was something slse-that
shapeless blotch Of shadow. barely
topping the line Of bank! Was 1t ten
feet away? Or i've! He could not
tell. He stared; there was NO move
ment. and yet his eyes began to dis
cern dimly the outlines-the head and
shoulders of q man! The Sergeant
crept forward-an inch. two inches.
foot. The figure did not stir. Now
he was sure the fellows head vas
lying nat ON the turf. oddly distorted
by . feathered war bonnet. The
strange posture. the utter lack Of
movement, seemed proof that the
tired warrior had fallen asleep on
watch. Like . cat Hamlin crept up
slowly toward him. poised for . spring.
Some sense Of the wild must have
stirred the savage into semi-conscious-
ness. Suddenly he sat up. gripping the
gun in his hands. Yet even a. his
opening eyes saw dimly the sergeants
menacing shadow. before he could
scream his alarm. or spring upright,
the revolver butt struck with dull
thud, and he went tumbling backward
into the ditch, his cry Of alarm ending
in hoarse croak. From somewhere,
out of the dense darkness in front a
voice called. sharp and cultural. as If
its owner had been startled by the
mysterious sound Of the blow. 1t was
the language of the Arapahoes, and
out of his vague memory OF the
tongue, spurred to recollection by the
swift emergency, Hamlin growled
hoarse answer. hanging breathlessly
above the motionless badly until the
"ugh!" of the fellows response proved
him without suspicion. He waited.
counting the seconds. every muscle
strained with expectancy, listening.
He had a feeling that some one was
crawling over the short grass, wig
Cling along like snake, but the faint
sound, II sound 1t was, grew less dis.
tinct. Finally he lifted his head above
the edge of the bank, but saw moth
ing, not even a dim shadow.
"They are closing in, l reckon" he
thought soberly. "and 1t isn't likely
there will be any more of these gentry
as far back as tkis; looks as though
this gully turned west Just beyond
Anyhow I've got to risk it,"
He returned more rapidly, knowing
the passage, yet with no less caution.
finding the unconscious girl lying ex-
actly as he had left her. As he clasped
her form in his arms. her lips uttered
some incoherent words. but otherwise
she gave no sign of life.
Yes, yes" he whispered close to
her ear. hoping thus to hold her silent
"It Is all right now: only keep still
tTo BE CoNTINUED.)
Queen Elizabeth Opened IT,
In connection with Granville Bar