The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1914-12-30
Copyright, it, by Louis Josera vaaos

more widely spaced ana We're not al
ways convenient to his hand. He
came abruptly and at headlong pace
within sight of the caves of a cliff
and precisely then the hillside seemed
to slip from under him.
His heels fourisbed in the air, his
back thumped a bed of pebbles thinly
overgrown with moss. The stones
gave, the mess-skin broke, he began 10
slide-grasped at random a youngish
cedar which stayed him imperceptibly,
coming away with all it's puny roots
caught at another, no more substan-
tial-and amid shower Of loose stone
shot out over the edge and down a
drop OF more than thirty feet.
He was instantaneously aware Of
tie sun, molten II wheeling mad
ly in the cup Of the turquoise sky.
Then dark waters closed over him.
He came up struggling and gasping,
and struck out for something dark
that rode the waters near at hand
something vaguely resembling a
canoe
But his strength was largely spent,
his breath had been driven out of him
by the force of the fall, and he had
swallowed much water-while the field
of his consciousness was stricken with
confusion.
Within a stroke of an outstretched
paddle, he flung up a hand and went
down again.
Instantly one occupant of the
canoe, a young and very beautiful wo-
man in mans hunting clothes, spoke
a sharp word Of command and, as
her guide steadied the vessel with his
paddle, rose in her place SO surely
that she scarcely disturbed the nice
balance Of the little craft, and curved
her 1.-the body over the bow, head.
foremost into the pool.
Mr. Law had, in point Of fact, en-.
dured more tlan he knew; more than
even a weaLheTtd Woodsman could
have borne without suffering. Forty.
eight hours Of such heavy woods.
walking as he had put in to escape
the forest fire, woId have served to
PROSTATE almost any man; add to this
ignoring a dozen other mental, nerv-
Gus and physical strainsJ merely the
fact that he had been half-drowned
He experienced little fever, little
delirium, then blank slumbers of ex-
haustion.
He awoke in dark of night wholly
unaware that thirty-six hours had
passed since his fail This last, how.
ever, and events that had gone before,
he recalled with tolerable clearness-
allowing for the sluggishness of
drowsy mind. Other memories, more
vague, of gentle ministering hands, of
a face by turns an angels, a flowers,
a tiend's, and a dear woman's, trou-
bled him even less materially. He
was already sane enough 10 allow he
had probably been a bit out of his
head, and since it seemed he had been
saved and cared for, he found no rea-
son to quarrel with present ciroum-
stances.
Still, he would have been grateful
for some explanation of certain phe-
as a faint, elusive scent of roses with
a vague but importunate sense of
woman's presence in that darkened
room-things manifestly absurd
With some difficulty, from dry
throat, he spoke, or rather wins
pered: "Water!"
In response he heard someone move
over ereaking floor A sulphur
match spluttered UNANIMOUSLY. A can.
die caught fire, silhouetting Illusion,
of Course!-the figure OF woman in
hunting shirt and skirt. Water
splashed noisily. Alan became aware
of someone who stood at his side, one
hand offering glass to his lips, the
other gently raising his head that he
might drink with ease.
Draining the glass, he breathed his
thanks and sank back, retaining his
grasp on the wrist of that unreal
hand. 1t suffered him without re-
sistance. The hallucination even
went so far as to say, in a woman's
soft accents:
You are better. Alan?
He sighed incredulously: "RoseI"
The voice responded "Yesi" Then
the perfume of roses grew still more
strong, seeming to fan his cheek like
a womans warm breath. And a mir. |
acle came to pass; for Mr.. Law, who
realized poignantly that all this was
sheer, downright nonsense. distinct |
~ felt lips like velvet caress his fore (
head.
He closed his eyes, frightened his |
grasp on that hand of phantasy, and |
muttered rather inarticulately.
The voice asked: What is it, /
dear?'
He responded: Delirium II
But like it Let me rayel"
Then again he slept.