Omaha daily bee., 1914-11-01

pursuit had turned back-perhaps for want OF
munition perhaps to execute some less hazardous
attempt upon the lives of the fugitives.
Without delay. then, he made the free end of the
rope fast round his waist and, following the
way Barcus had chosen began the ascent.
Twothirds Of the climb had been accomplished,
and Rose and Barcus had arrived in safety at the
top, before the temptation to look down proved
irresistible
Alan shuddered and swallowed hard before re-
Stunning the ascent.
Another twenty feet, however brought him to a
ledge quite six feet wide Offering a broad and
easy path to the summit He gained this with a
prayer OF heartfelt relief and was on the point Of
rising to his feet when cry OF horror from Bar
Gus and a scream of terror from Rose, watching
over the upper edge, warned him barely in time to
enable him to snatch at and grasp a knob OF rock
before Judths weight suddenly tautened the rope
between them and jerked Alan's legs from under
him.
His feet and legs kicking the empty air beyond
the lip OF the ledge, he lay face downward, clutch.
ing desperately the knob of rock, praying that II
might not come away in his grasp.
The fall Of twenty feet to the shale roof was
nothing. What would follow would however, spell
death. The impact of her body would set the shale
in motion, like northumberland beyond the caves
only emptiness 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 sockets. The blood drummed
In his ears with roar resembling distant thunder.
He fe that he could not hold or another in
slant when, abruptly, that torture was no more.
The rope had been relieved OF its burden. He
heard a scream from below echoed by one from
above, then the thump OF Judith's body falling on
the shale then the slithering rumble of the land
slide gathering momentum -.
Barcus, at length arrived, assisted him to q place
OF security. Spent and faint and sick with horror,
he lay prone. shudderng.
Only the assurance Of Barcus that Judith had
somehow eSCaned being ate al he
OF the shale roof reused him and gave him nerve
enough to resume the climb
II was true, when he found courage to look and
see for himself: she lay within three yards Of the
brink, supne. her face upturned to the sum- un-
stirrng-she dared not stir: a single movement
was calculated to set the shale bed again in mo-
ton.
Painfully he realized that IT, as Barcus asserted,
she had deliberately cut the rope herself judith
had offered up her life to spare his own.
Iv-RETRIBUTIoN
And yet The very consciousness OF the girls dan
ger was all the stmulant that Alan needed 70
recall him to himself
Once arrived with Barcus at the top OF the cliff
he lost no time in setting about preparations to
effect her rescue.
In this business. Fortune smiled upon him, as It
were, by predispositon.
broad roadway ran along the top OF the preci.
pice, turning off, at little distance TO the right
to descend the mounainsde And Just beyond this
turning Providence had chosen to locate the camp
OF hydraulic mining outfit
Alan's appearance at the ton in fact was coin
cident with the arrival that point Of half dozen
excited miners and he had no more than voiced
his demands than three of their number were
fastening back to the camp to procure rope and
more hands.
Within FIVE minutes Alan, against the protests
OF Rose and Barcus was being lowered over the
edge and down to the shale roof on which he land
ed at spot far to one side of Judith to escape all
danger Of sending second landslide down upon
her.
Picking his way carefully down to the very brink
Alan edged along this, more than once saved a
fall to death only by the rope until he stood i'm
medately below Judith.
Then pausing, he instructed her carefully tossed
the end Of the rope into her hands, and when she
had wound 1t twice round her arms, crept up to
her side and helped her make it fast about her
body.
His signal to the miners that all was well educed
prompt response. There was a giddy interval in
which the two swung perously between heaven
and earth. Then they stood once more in safety
Supported by sympathetic hands, the quartet
staggered into camp their story, condensed by
Barcus and breathlessy confirmed by Alan, already
winning them enthusiastic champions
And this was very we'll for them. For they had
no more than seated themselves and begun to an
preciate what perils they had just escaped when
the rumble OF motor car sounded beyond the
shoulder of the hill.
Startled by this alarm once more into full com.
mand Of his tagging faculties. Alan rose and
stumbled out into the roadway, taking quick cog
nizance OF such facilities for defense as the camp
afforded and issuing instructions with a voice vi.
brant with fear, not for his safety but for the
safety or those whom he loved.
Not far from the point where the road swung
from the cln to thread the camp the hydraulic noE-
zle was In action, its terrific force of water melt
ing the mountainside away ton by ton.
Toward this Barcus ran at top speed, gaining the
man IN charge OF the nozzle Just as the car swung
round the bend
Paustng only long enough TO make certain that
there could be no mistake-and having this Ger.
tainty made doubly sure by Jimmy's action in ris.
Ing from his seat and firing over the windshield
poinbank at Alan this last stood waiting in the
roadway-Barcus and the miner swung the nozzle
round until 1t bore directly on the car.
The power Of its stream such that the car
was checked instantly In its tracks and before the
water could have been shut on or the stream di.
verified, the machine was driven back to the very
lip OF the clin and over 1t completely, taking with
II those twain upon whose efforts all the hopes o.
TIL "a la -