The Sentinel=record., 1914-11-29

and again demanded that he show | Judith or seem a boor, was enough l to cloud the countenance of Alan l betrothed
 Nor indeed. was Rose altogether l destitute of plausible excuse for this 1 feeling IL was undeuiable that be- l tween Alan and Judith bond of sym pathy had grown out of the trials and hardshps they had of late suffered ] in common. It was undeniable-but even in his most private thoughts Alan denied it fercely. Judith. on l the other hand not only acknowledged it freely to herself but secretly de | rived strangely sweet and poignant | pleasure from the knowledge that she l loved so madly and hopelessly
 That her love was hopeless she knew but too well. Even though Alan might not be altogether indifferent to her, after all that had passed between ! them. his loyalty to Rose was un- shakable And not for worlds would | Roses rival have had it otherwise She could not have loved him as she did had he not been so unmovably true As it was, since she could not 1 hope her love might be returned, she was content to love and to promise herself that, If opportunity ever of fered. she would not prove unready to sacrifice herself for her love.
 And at times she caught herself praying that such opportunity would be accorded her, and quickly, and that the sacrifice 1t should demand would be complete.
 Now prayers are sometimes an swered when the boon crayed is good for the soul
 Slowly and painfully these four toiled along an obscure trail that fol- lowed the windings of the little river, until branch struck into the main stream and so discovered to them yet another trail leading into the west ward canyon
 Then again slowly and painfully they plodded on following blindly an other trail blazed by Fates as blind as they
 Above them on the road they had abandoned. the crimson racer doubled back to the point where it had passed Judith and Barcus; it's occupants de scended, explored and came present. ly upon the trail of the fugitives. Bloodhounds could not have set tied down upon scent with more good will and eagerness than MT, Mar rophat and his faithful aide.
 The sun was high and blazing above the canyon when the pursuit came within rife shot of the chase.
 A spiteful shot reused the quar- tet from a pause of lethargic dismay due to tardy appreciation of the fact that they had penetrated witlessly al most to the end of blind alley. , nasty council of war armed Alan I with Judth's revolver and posted him behind powder commanding the ap- breaches to the chasm. The weapon, powerful 45 had a range sufficient to numb the impetuosity of the as , sassns and keep them under cover and out of sight of the desperate es- says the fugitives were making to compass an escape.
 For in the shed behind an abandoned log cabin-souvenir, no doubt, of some forgotten rospector-Barcus had un- earthed a length of stout hempen rope.
 With the aid of a rusty shovel he had hacked this into two equal lengths One of these lengths he proceeded to make fast around his own waist, then around Roses. The other he left to be similarly employed by Alan and Judith. For it was agreed that they must climb and while the cliff offered no problem to daunt a mountain climb CT of any pretensions, it was consid- cred best that the fugtives should be hitched up in pairs against any pos siblity of slip. The pairing had been determined by the fact that Barcus boasted some slight experience in mountaineering. while Rose was plainly the most exhausted of the two women, the least able to help herself in an emergency.
 lie had worked his cautious way, with the girl in tow, to point mid way up the face of the cliff, following a long diagonal that provided the eas- jest climbing, when Alan stole back to Judith and reported that. on the evidence of observation and belief, he was convinced that the pursuit had turned back-perhaps for want of ann munition, perhaps to execute some less hazardous attempt upon the lives of the fugitiVes.
 Without delay. then, he made the free end of the rope fast around his own waist, and, following the way Bar GUS had chosen, began the ascent
 Two-thirds of the climb had been accomplished. and Rose and Barcus had arrived in safety at the top, be- fore the temptation to look down proved irresistible.
 Immediately beneath his heels the face of the cliff was deeply hollowed out. leaving a drop of 50 feet to shelving ledge of shale as steep as roof. whose eaves-perhaps another fifty feet below-jutted out over an other fall of a hundred feet