The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1915-08-06

SOot LuS 90Sk IN ~
would be complete. So.
Now prayers m sometimes an,
swered when the boon craved is gooo
for the soul. L.
Slowly and painfully these out
toiled along an obscure trail That 1oi''
lowed the windings of the little river,
until q branch struck into the man
stream and so discovered to them yet
another trail leading into the west
ward canyon.
Then again slowly and painfully
they plodded on following blindly an
other trail blazed by Fates as blind AZ
they.
Above them, on the road they q
abandoned, the crimson racer dooDleo
back to the point where it had passed
Judith and Barcus; it's occupants de-
scended, explored, and came present
ly upon the trail of the fugitives.
Bloodhounds could not have set
tied down upon a scent with more
good will and eagerness than Mr.. Mar
rophat and his faithful aide.
The sun was high and blazing above
the canyon when the pursuit came
within rifle shot of the chase
A spiteful shot reused the quar-
tet from a pause of lethargic dismay
due to tardy appreciation of the fact
that they had penetrated witlessly al
most to the end of a blind alley.
A hasty council of war armed Alan
with Judith's revolver and posted him
behind a bowlder commanding the ap-
proaches to the chasm. The weapon,
q 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 a length of stout hempen rope.
With the aid of q rusty shovel he
had hacked this into two equal lengths.
One of these lengths he proceeded to
make fast around his own waist. then
dIOuuU IIOSCS s.. xA0 OIAOA AO ASAS y
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
sibility 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 IN 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
evidence of observation and belief, he
was convinced that the pursuit had
turned back-perhaps for want of am
munition. perhaps to execute some
LEGS 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.
Twothirds Of the climb had been
accomplished, and Rose and Barcus
had arrived in safety at the top, be-
fore the temptation to look down
proved irresistible.
Immediately beneath his heels the
face of the cliff was deeply followed
out. leaving a drop Of so feet to q
shelving ledge Of shale as steep as q
roof, whose eaves-perhaps another
fifty feet below-jutted out over an.
other fall of a hundred feet.
Alan shuddered and swallowed hard
before resuming the ascent.
Another 20 feet brought him to
q ledge quite six feet wide, offering q
broad and easy path to the summit.
He gained this with a prayer Of heart.
felt relief and was on the point Of
rising to his feet when a cry Of horror
from Barcus 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 Q
knob of rock before Judith's weight
tautened the rope between them and
jerked Alan's legs from under him.
His feet and legs kicked the empty
air beyond the lip of the LEDGE. he
lay face downward, clutching desper-
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
Judith's body was frightful. He could
feel her swinging like a pendulum at
the end of its 80 feet. and could
imagine but too wildly what would
happen If the rope should prove
faulty.
The fall Of 20 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!