The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1915-04-14
The Trey o. Hearts
By Louis Joseph Vance

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 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
around Roses. The other he left to
be similarly employed by Alan and
Judith. For 1t was agreed that they
must climb, and while the cliff offered
no problem to daunt q mountain climb
or Of any pretensions. it was consid-
cred best that the fugitives should be
hitched up in pairs against any pos
sibility Of . slip. The pairing had
been determined by the fact that
Barcus boosted 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 point mid
way up the face OF the cliff, following
. 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
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.
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 a
shelving ledge of shale as steep as a
roof, whose eaves-perhaps another
fifty feet below-jutted out over an.
other fall of hundred feet.
Alan shuddered and swallowed hard
before resuming the ascent.
Another 20 feet brought him to
. ledge quite six feet wide. offering a
broad and easy path to the summit.
He gained this with prayer Of heart
felt relief and was on the point Of
rising to his feet when 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
1erked Alan's legs from under him.
His feet and legs kicked the empty
cir beyond the lip of the ledge, he
lay face downward, clutching desper.
ately the knob Of rock. praying that 1t
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 q pendulum at
the end of its 30 feet. and could
imagine but too wildly what would
happen II 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, 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 q 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
q 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 landslide
gathering momentum.
Barcus. at length arrived. assisted
him to a place of security. Spent
and faint and sick with horror, be lay
prone and shuddering.
Only the assurance Of Barcus that
Judith had somehow escaped being
precipitated over the caves Of the
shale roof reused him and gave him
nerve enough to resume the climb.
1t was true. when he found courage
to look and see for himself; she lay
within three yards Of the brink su.
pine. her face uplifted to the sun, un.
stirring; she dared not stir; single