Mansfield mirror. (Mansfield, Wright County, Mo.) 1908-1957, 1914-03-19

his head. closed his eyes, then looked
again. The forms had vanished. and
uncertain whether he had really seen
this grewsome thing or had been the
victim Of an apish trick Of his imagi'
nation he once more plunged onward.
He came to the narrow trail which
led around the shoulder Of the noun.
tain and where with a blank wall
upon one side and a sheer descent of
hundreds of feet upon the other he
had involuntarily closed his eyes
when he had traversed it hours before
in the pursuit, guiding himself along
1t now solely by the sense Of touch.
The darkness was deep here and he
was more thankful for It than other
wise, since it concealed and rendered
less unnerving the death which he
knew must come from a false step
aside. Over the d~elicately poised
slide Of shale he crept on hands and
knees, feeling his way with his fingers,
testing each rock before putting his
faith upon 1t, until reaching Its fur.
Their side and finding the going fairly
good and the light sufficient. for a
short space he broke into a stumbling
run. Interminably, seemingly through
ages, he struggled or with all sense
Of time lost and all distance but a
dream. Yet gradually and despite his
efforts to ignore 1t the consciousness
was forced harder and more insist
emily upon him that he was reaching
the limit of human endurance. His
strength was leaving him as water
rushes through a gap, draining the
reservoir Of his endurance to Its dregs,
and more than once he was awakened
by the shock Of a fall to find himself
lying PROSTATE after his legs had CIV
en- out beneath him and he had
tumbled with no recollection Of the
mishap remaining. But before him
black and serrated against the sky,
loomed the summit of the great chain
that arose abruptly from the plain,
and there he would find the head Of
the canyon that led to the level
ground and the city beyond with its
horde Of brother men who upon his
tale would leap to the chase Of the
monster of the table mountain as
hounds run down a mortal and natu-
rel enemy. Somehow he must make
those miles, and somehow he would.
He struggled on with the choking des-
peration of a drowning nan who floun-
ders towards a life line.
In his exhaustion both mind and
body worked mechanically and he pur-
sued his way as thoughtlessly, yet as
u%nerringly as the needle points the
magnetic pole. He seemed to have
been travelling forever. Perspective
both of time and space was lost and
he was wandering in an endless dream
through wastes of rock that lowered
about him to incalculable heights,
hanging over him suspended by a hair
and threatening to crush him at every
step. He. no longer wondered that
Tolliver with his latent streak of mad
hess had at last succumbed beneath
the fearful strain upon body and mind.
! Tolliver! He felt not the least ami
mostly towards him despite that rak.
ing wound across his skull made with
murderous intent-in fact, he mumbled
a prayer for his safety-yet who else
could It have been that he had seen
whirling downward in that awful fall?
During some moments he doubted
whether he himself really lived. as
with slow desperation he forced his
way along steep inclines, sought the
bottoms of gulches and dragged him
self again from the darkness below
into the misty light of another sum-
NIT. An hour more and he had reached
the crest that rising abruptly from the
plain contained the canyon from which
he had started In the chase the morn
ing before. He had been travelling for
twelve hours now almost without a
pause, his brain was exhausted and
the driving power Of his will, which
had for so long forced him on, was
no longer dominant. 1t was miles yet
to the city, and with the realization
that It would be impossible for him
to traverse 1t without a respite he
sank upon the ground with his face
buried in his arms. He would rest for
an hour, then pursue his way. sum
mon North and his comrades and then
neither rest nor sleep until they had
hunted down their quarry. saved Doris
and rid the world Of a creature not
intended for It.
Irresistibly the stupor of exhaustion
embodied him. His head swan, his
form relaxed, darkness engulfed him.
He slept.