The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1915-03-18

betrothed.
Nor, indeed, was Rose altogether
destitute OF plausible excuse for this
feeling. 1t was undeniable that be-
tween Alan and Judith a bond of SYM
pathy had grown out Of the trials and
hardships they had Of late suffered
in common. 1t was undeniable-but
even in his most private thoughts
Alan denied 1t fiercely. Judith, on
the other hand, not only acknowledged
1t freely to herself, but secretly de-
rived a strangely sweet and poignant
pleasure from the knowledge that she
loved so madly and hopelessly.
That her love was hopeless she
knew but too well. Even though Alan
might not be altogether Indifferent to
her. after all that had passed between
them, his loyalty to Rose was I'M
shakable. And not for worlds would
Roses rival have had it otherwise.
She could not have loved him as she
did had he not been so %unmovably
true. AS II was. since she could not
hope her love might be returned, she
was content to love and to promise
herself that, II opportunity ever Of
fered, she would not prove unready to
sacrifice herself for her love.
And at times she caught herself
praying that such opportunity would
be accorded her, and quickly, and
that the sacrifice it should demand
would be complete.
hynus nxvA 80 ,4-nAHAo ~
swered when the boon craved is good
for the soul.
Slowly and painfully these four
toiled along an obscure trail tha' FOL
lowed the windings Of the little river,
until a branch struck into the main
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 as
they.
Above them, on the road they had
abandoned, the crimson racer doubled
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.
B~loodhounds 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 rife 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 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,
a powerful AS, had a range sufficient
to numb the impetuosity of thu 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 a rusty shovel he
had hacked this into w 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
err OF any ~pretensions, 1t was consid-
cred best that the fugitives should be
hitched up in pairs against any pos
sibility Of q 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 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
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 h 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 a hundred feet.
Alan shuddered and swallowed hard
haforo resuminp the ascent