Gunnison news-champion., 1915-07-02
CHAPTER KIN.
Open Mutiny.

CHAPTER KIN.
Open Mutiny.
Though she had been schooled to hola
the very name of Law In loathing un-
Epeakable and to think Of Alan as a
mortal enemy and as one whose death
alone could properly requite the cruel
injury that had been done her father
and though the man himself had
laughed to scorn her first involuntary
c0nfession of that love for him which
satiable fires, she swallowed her
Chagrin and followed him with the
solicitude of one whose love can recog
nize no wrong in its object. Through
all the remainder of that day of terror
she was never far from his side
With the meekness of the strong
she made herself his shadow And
she was now the stronger, for she had
had more than an hours rest besid p
the waterhole which he had missed
on the way of that rocky windbreak
sooner or later his strength must fail
him and he would need her: till then
she was content to bide her hour
II befell presently in startling fash
ion; she was not a yard behind hia
hen he vanished abruptly
But the next moment lud'th hers
as trembling or -. blua orr
Il an arroyo OF depth and
ieterminabls H ODE 5bs,si.. o..
tstolm. p1au 10. .,a..I..l
Alan had fallen in hts dizzy blindness.
She found him insensible. lying with
an arm bent under him in a pose
iTightfuily suggestive of dislocation
Yet when she turned him on his back
and released the arm he made no
sign to indicate that the movement
had caused him the slightest pain.
There was slight cut upon his
brow. bruise about his left temple
She tore linen from her bosom, be
meath her coarse flannel shirt. and with
sparing aid from the eanteen. washed
the cut clean and bandaged it.
Then seeing that the storm held
with fury unabated, she rose. recon
noitered and returned to exert all her
strength and drag the unconscious
man across the dry bed of that ancient
water-course and under the lee of its
farther bank.
There, sitting. she pillowed his
head upon her lap, and bending over
him made her body an additional shell
ter to him from the ewirling clouds
of dust
And for hours on end Judith nurseG
him there. scarce daring to move
save to minister to his needs. bathing
his fevered brow and moistening his
parched lips and throat.
In the course of the first hour she
was once startled by the spectral Wis
ion through the driving sheets of dust
OF a horse that plodded up the arroyo.
bearing two riders on its back
Weary with the weight of its double
burden. it went slowly and passed so
near to Judith that she was able to
recognize the features of her sister
and Tom Barcus.
Be sure she made never a sign TO
catch their attention.
Within the next succeeding hour
the coppery light lost something of
its hot briilance. took on a darker
shade, and then one darker still Twi-
light stole athwart the desert. turning
its heat to chill, its light to violet
Growing more intense. the cold
eventually reused the sleeping man.
And hardly had his eyes Enclosed
and looked up into the eyes Of Judith
bending over him than he started up
and out Of her embrace. got unstead-
nv upon his feet and after . moment
Of pauee. watching her rise in turn.
strobe away-or. rather. staggered
with the gesture of exorcism-
Cncomplaining. husging her new
Hprn humility TO her with the ecstasy
Of tie anchoffte his horse-hair shirt,
JvHftA followed him patiently, 1t .
ffts9s aistance-
Not far from where he had rested
.AeRv vas Q breAk IN the overhaAGiAs
van a the arroyo Through this he
se1nbled painfully. reaching the level