The Raymer enterprise., 1914-04-16
CHAPTER XII.
The Ascent.

The Ascent.
Rising for three hundred feet as
straight up as the side Of one of the
loftiest skyscrapers built by man the
cliffs arose, split from the mountain
top by the wedges Of the lightnings
and guarding the summit by walls of
almost absolute perpendicularity. In
that hunt of the past he had seen
sheep upon the summit. and therefore
knew that there must be trail lead
ing to the top despite the fact that 1t
was classed as inaccessible to human
foot. Determined, therefore, that he
should be the first human to trod Its
top, for miles he had worked his way
about It with keenly searching eyes as
he sought for the place where the first
step must be made II he would at
tempt the ascent, found 1t at last, des-
perate and scanty to the extreme yet
barely possible to one Of much activ-
ity and steadness. And with little
regard for probable consequences he
had undertaken 1t. 1t had been a su-
preme test of nerves and poise. but he
had conquered 1t at last, reached the
desolate, boulder haunted plateau and
killed his sheep, and then had sat for
hours upon the sheer edge as he
nerved himself for what seemed de-
scent impossible to human being ex.
cept at the expense Of life or splln-
tered bones. Yet having come up he
must go down, and down he eventual.
ly and safely arrived-though great
good fortune attended him-and at
last had stood beside the broken body
Of his kill which he had been obliged
to tumble bodily from the height. That
awful ascent and descent had ever
since haunted him as an evil dream, a
thing not to be attempted again for all
the wealth Of the world, but now with
the woman he loved borne there in the
loathsome embrace of that arch enemy
OF all mankind he sought for the sui
cidal path again with straining eager
ness. OF March lying inert back there
upon the rocks where his bullet had
felled him he gave scarcely thought.
Obsessed by the idea that he alone
could save the woman he sought, he
would have regardlessly slain any
thing. man or beast. that he imagined
might in any way impede his progress.
Before him there lay narrow shelf
leading upward for a score OF feet,
broken. insecure and seeming to end
In nothing but the blank wall itself,
but he recognized 1t instantly and
stepped upon It. Arms extended, fiat
tening himself against the rock as
leech clings, he felt his way upward
with infinite caution. his fingers grip
ping each tiny crevass with the tena-
city Of the tentacles Of squd. He
reached the end of the narrow shelf
and there balanced precariously upon
six inches of outcropping. cast his
glance cautiously upward and about.
Several feet to the right was another
foothold equally insecure, but leading
upward again, and with the care with
which enc treads taut wire he placed
his foot upon 1t. found a shallow fin.
ger hold In the cliff and raised himself.
For fifty feet more he climbed as fly
scales wall, periled his life upon the
Two inch support of jutting point,
mounted again with the superhuman
cunning and strength of the insane
and at the end of half hours well
nigh miraculous effort found for the
first time during the ascent a shelf
large enough to rest upon. He was
half way up now. and with hundred
and fifty feet Of beetling cliff above
and as much empty space below he
sat down for a moments heavy breath.
ing.
Through his disordered mind there
ran riot strange medley OF the real
and the unreal. Well enough he knew
that he was scaling this height to
save the woman whom he loved vet
he now conceived the Flying Man to
be of the supernatural, winged mon.
ster OF the inaccessible cliffs, dragon
OF the noisome cayerns that lay be-
meath the gorges. and that he was the
knight chosen from all others because
OF his superior strength and valor to
90 forth and slay him at the portals of
his rock bound domain. Well, slay
him he would beyond the shadow of
doubt, but already the sun was getting
low, the climb was still long and des-
perate and he must be on his way lest
night and certain death should over
take him nattened against the blank
wall Of the dragons castle. Once more