The Delta independent., 1914-12-11
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 pause of lethargic dismay
due to tardy appreciation of the fact
that they had penetrated witlessly al
most to the end of blind alley.
A hasty council of war armed Alan
with Judith's revolver ana posted him
behind bowlder commanding the ap-
proaches to the chasm. The weapon,
a powerful As, had a range sufficient
to numb the impetuosity of the as
sassins 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 prospector-Barcus had un-
earthed 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
er of any pretensions, it was consid-
cred best that the fugitives should be
hitched up in pairs against any pos
sibilty of a 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.
He had worked his cautious way,
with the girl in tow, to a point mid
way up the face of the cliff following
a long diagonal that provided the cas-
lest climbing, when Alan stole back
to Judith and reported that. on the
Z evidence of observation and belief. he
was convinced that the pursuit had
turned back-perhaps for want of am
muni;ion. perhaps TO execute some
Z 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 iu safety az the top. be
fore the temptation to look down
proved irresistible
Immediately beneath his heels the
race Of the clin was deeply followed
out, leaving a drop OF 80 feet to
shelving ledge Of shale as steep as
roof. whose eaves-perhaps another
nifty feet below-iutted out over an
other fall of a hundred feet
Alan shuddered and swallowed hard
before resuming the ascent
Another 90 feet brought him to
a ledge quite six feet wide. Offering
I broad and easy path 20 :he summit.
7 He gained this with prayer of heart
I felt relief and was on the point OF
rising to his feet when cry of horror
! from Barcus and scream of terror
from Rose. watching over the upper
Z edge. warned him barely in time to
} enable him to snatch at and grasp
( knob of rock before Judith's weight
I tauteneS the rope between them and
/ jerked Alan's legs from under him.
His feet and legs kicked the empty
I air beyond the lip of the ledge. he
I lay IdCt hNsftA
ately the knob of rock. praying that it
might not come away in his grasp.
that his grasp might hold, that Barcus
might arrive in time to save them
both. The rope was cutting into his
waist like a dull knife. The drag OF
ludith's body was frightful. He could
feel her swinging like a pendulum at
the end of its 80 feet, and could
imagine but too vividly what would
happen If the rope should prove
faulty.
The fall of 90 feet TO the shale
roof was nothing. What would fol
low would. however, spell death. The
impact of her body would set the
shale in motion, like an avalanche
and beyond the caves was only empti-
ness and the bowlder-strewn bed of
the chasm. a hundred feet below
The sweat poured from his face like
rain. His eyes started in their sock
cts, the blood drummed in his ears
with a roar resembling distant thun-
der. His fingers grew numb. his throat
dry.
He felt that he could not hold on
another instant when. abruptly, that
torture was no more. The rope had
been relieved of its burden. He heard
n scream from below echoed by one
from above. then the thump of Judith's
hody falling on the shale, then the
slithering rumble of the landslide
gathering momentum.
Barcus, at length arrived. assisted
him to place of security. Spent
and faint and sick with horror, he lay
prone and shuddering
Only the assurance of Barcus that
Jud1tn had somehow escaped being