The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1913-10-10
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had decided that the woman must be
taken back to the settlements some
way at all hazards.
The wit Of old kirkby had effected
solution Of the problem, using
means certainly as old as Napoleon
and the passage of his cannon over
the Great ST. Bernard-and perhaps as
Old as Hannibal. They had made a
rude sled from the trunk of pine
which they beloved out and provided
with back and runners. There was
no lack OF fur robes and blankets for
her comfort.
Wherever it was practicable the
three men hitched themselves to the
Sled with ropes and dragged 1t and
Enid over the snow. OF course for
miles down the canon it was impossi-
Bile to use the sled. When the way
was comparatively easy the woman,
supported by the two men, Newbold
and Maitland, made shift to get along
| afoot. When it became too difficult
+, for her, AeWbold picked her up as he
had done before and assisted by Matt
land, carried her bodily to the next
| resting place. AT these times Kirkby
| looked after the Sled.
They had managed to reach the tenn
porary hut in the old camp the first
| night and rested there. They gath
cred up their sleeping bags and tents
and resumed their Journey in the
| morning. They were strong men, and
save for old Kirby, young. 1t was a
desperate endeayor but they carried it
through.
When they hit the open trails the
shedding was easy and they made
great progress. After a week Of ter
rife going, they struck the railroad,
and the next day found them all safe
In Maitland's house in Denver.
To Mr. Stephen Maitland his daugh-
ter was as one who had risen from
the dead. And indeed. when he first
saw her, she looked like death Itself.
No one had known how terrible that
journey had been to the woman Her
three faithful attendants had surmised
something, but in spite Of all even
they did not realize that in these last
days she had been sustained only by
the most violent effort of her will She
had no sooner reached the house,
greeted her father, her aunt and the
children, then she collapsed utterly.
The wonder was, said the physician,
not that she did it then but that she
had not done it before. For a short
time 1t appeared as il her illness might
be serious. but youth, yigor, a strong
body and good constitution, heart
now free from care and apprehension
and a great desire TO live and love
and be loved, worked wonders.
Newbold had enjoyed no opportunity
for private conversation with the wo-
man he loved, which was perhaps just
as well. He had the task of readjust-
ing himself to changed conditions; not
only to different environment, but to
strange and unusual departures from
his long cherished view points.
He could no longer doubt Arm.
strong's final testimony to the purity
of his wife although he had burned
the letters unread, and by the same
token he could no longer cherish the
dream that she had loved him and him
alone. Those words that had pre-
coded that pistol shot had made 1t
nossible for him to take Enid Matt
land as his wife without doing violence
to his sense OF honor or his self-re-
spect Armstrong had made that
much PREPARATION And Newbold could
not doubt that the other had known
what would be the result Of his speech
and had chosen his words deliberately;
score that last action to his credit. he
was a sensitive man, however; he
realized the brutal and beast-like part
he and Armstrong had both played be-
fore this woman they both loved, how
they had battled like savage animals
and how but for lucky interposition
he would have added murder to his
other disabilities.
He was honest enough to say to him.
self that he would have done the same
thing over under the same circum.
stances. but that did not absolve his
conscience. He did not know how the
woman looked at the transaction or
looked at him, and he had not enjoyed
one moment alone with her. In all
that had transpired since that morn
ing in the hut, the four had naturally
and inevitably remained inseparably
together.
They had buried Armstrong In the
snow Robert Maitland saying over
him a brief but feryent petition in
which even Newbold joined. Enid
Maitland herself had repeated elo-
ouently to her uncle and old Kirkby
that night before the fire the story OF
her rescue from the food By this man,
how he had carried her in the storm
IN the hut and how he had treated her |
since: and Maitland had afterwards
- 10 f,r a