The Ordway new era., 1914-10-23
ospysssAs, ma ~ Leuls JosspA vs.es

louis Jossph vaAos
cred with waist-dseD brush and car
peted with leaf-mold. grew swiftly
more declivitous. . mossy hillside. A.
steep as q roof. bare OF underbrush.
and sparely sown with small cedars
whose ranks cool blue water
twinkled far below.
The shelving moss-beds afforded
treacherous footing: Alan wss glad
now and then Of the support Of &C.
dar, but these grew ever smaller. and
more widely spaced and were not al
ways convenient to his hand. He
came abruptly and at headlong pace
within sight Of the caves of Cliff
and precisely then the hillside seemed
to slip from under him.
His heels hourished in the air. his
back thumped . bed Of pebbles thinly
overxrown with moss. The stones
gave, the moss-skin broke. he began to
slide-grasped at random . youngish
cedar which stayed him impsrceptihly.
coming away With all it, puny roots
caught at another. no more substan.
tial-and amid . shower Of loose stone
shot out over the edge and down .
drop Of more than thirty fssk
He vss instantansously aware q
the sun, molten ball wheeling mad
" 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 tho watsrs near at hand
something vaguely resembling Q
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 nsid
Of his consciousness was stricken with
confusion.
Within . stroke Of an outstretched
paddle. be nung up . hand and went
down again. 81 2
Instantly one occupant Of the
canoe. . young and very beautiful wo-
man in . mans hunting clothes. spoke
. sharp word OF command and. ~
her guide steadied the vessel with his
paddle, rose in her place 80 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 than he knew; more than
even . weathered woodsman could
have borne without suffering. Forty
eight hours of such heavy woods.
walking as he had put In to escape
the forest FIRE, would have served to
PROSTATE almost any man: add to this
Ignoring . dozen other mental. nerv'
Gus and physical strains) merely the
fact that he had been half.drowned.
He experienced little fever, q little
delirium, then blank slumbers OF ex-
He awoke in dark of night. wholly
unaware that thirty-six hours had
passed since his fall. This last. how
ever. and events that had gone before,
he recalled with tolerable clearness--
for the sluggishness of q
drbwsy mind. Other memories, more
vague, of gentle ministering hands. OF
. face by turns an angels. flowers.
q fiend's, and q dear woman's, trou-
bled him even less materially. He
was already sane enough to allow he
had probably been q bit out Of his
head, and since 1t seemed he had been
saved and cared for. he found no rea-
son to quarrel with present circum.
stances.
Still. he would have been grateful
for some explanation of certain phe-
nomena which still haunted him-such
as q faint, elusive scent of roses with
q vague but importunate sense OF
woman's presence In that darkened
manifestly absurd
With some difficulty. from dry
throat. he spoke. or rather whis.
pered: "Wateri"
In response he heard someone move
over a creaking floor. A sulphur
match spluttered infamously. A can.
die caught fire. silhouetting-illusion.
of course!-the agure of q 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. It suffered him without re-
sistance. The hallucination even
went 30 far as to say. in a woman's
soft accents:
'You are better. Alan?"
He sighed incredulously: "Rose!"
The voice responded "Yes!" Then
the perfume of roses grew still more
strong. seeming to fan his cheek like
a woman's warm breath. And a mir