The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1914-02-18
nnearing amid fathomless depths far

/ below.
The pursuing cotene reached the
edge of the ravine. They peered down
in awed silence. Only Dale WOODS
said to himself, with thought OF Mel
| lie Vance:
THAT ends the man who came De-
tween me and my love!"
1t was hours afterwards, when
limping form with tattered and DIS
ordered attire emerged from remote
passageway between two walls OF rock
leading from the ravine.
It was Hector Waith He had es'
capped after terrible experience.
The horse had gone to the bottom OF
! the gully. He had sunk few roos
down into a nest Of dense enveloplns
vines.
Waith had chung to these, safely
sheltered from the view OF his pur'
suers until they had left the spot
He could not climb up, the grade was
too precipitous, but foot by foot ne
let himself down until he reached the
bottom of the ravine. This progress
had been accompanied by dangerous
falls and contact with sharp-pointed
rocks
The moon was up when he emerged
from the ravine. He was at sea as to
distance or direction. His only
thought now was to get out Of the
district before being overtaken. Mel
lie would come to him at some point
of safety when he wrote to her later
explaining everything.
It was in the early hours OF the
morning. The moon was just sink
ing, when lying in the road before
him he made out human form. II
was that Of an old woman. She had
apparently been making her way from
one point to another Of the desolate
district when she had sunk from ex.
haustion She was insensible and
Waith could not arouse her.
What shall l do?" he questioned
himself. 1T is dangerous for me to
delay, but I cannot leave this helpless
old woman to die"
Like the true man he was, Waith
thought only of the unconscious
charge on his hands and the hours
passed on. He discovered deserted
hut at little distance. He carried
the old woman thither, gathered up
dry grass for a bed and made her as
comfortable as he could. She revived
somewhat, but was still incoherent
From her wanderings Waith decided
that she had started to visit a rela-
tive and had got lost and old age and
exhaustion had brought her to the
ebbing state Of vitality.
For two days Waith gathered Der.
ries, nuts, whatever he could find to
give sustenance to his charge. She
was gradually rallying her strength.
Even at the risk Of coming across
any Of the Woods band, l must get
word to others to care for her, as
cannot" he decided.
He had not gone half mile from
the old hut in search of some other
habitation, when turning a ledge Of
rocks he faced a leveled revolver
Dale Woods behind it.
"So Won ocoopodou bo b;,coJ a,,l
What luck! Scarcely for another,
have found you. March,"
Wait demurred Waith "An old
woman whom found two days ago
lies very i'll in hut near here. Try
and do something for her. | will 90
where you will, then"
my mother" were the first words
of Woods as he gazed upon the face
of the old woman
1t was after Woods knew what ne
owed to the man he had sought to
destroy, that he handed a note he had
written TO Waith.
Il shall remove with my mother to
some otner part OF the country" he
said. You have acted the man
more than that-for the sake of that
dear old woman. Take that letter to
the Vances. have confessed all nv
cowardly treachery. Goodbye"
And it was thus that Hector
Waith's great nobleness of soul won
Nellie.
lCOpYrisht 1911 by w g Ghnn,.n.