Gunnison news-champion., 1915-07-02
auasc Or a. ear
c-2srEa XII
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doHn The CANYON western Nah. eee<
seopsd upon Itself and vanished. sus-
ting In the san 70 make tue place .
pr of torment and of burning
Refreshed from sesf and e<hilarated
b. this grateful GOODNESS. his horse
sospondsd willingly 10 the arsf Iixhf
touch OF Alans spar In a tWiuklilx
the overnight camp dropped from vtew
behind the rounded shoulder Of hin
side. mesauite.cloaked.
Then from ita FRS; spirited fight
the horse settled down to steady go
ing longfhened Us stride. and ran for
leagues with the hong aPpareutly ef-
FORTRESS and tircisss hope 81 the plains
bred broucho. veutre-a-tCrrc
Alans departure from camp had an
ticipafed By a round quarter hour the
appearance on the upper trail of
friends Of the slain bandit. TO the
number OF four or fve. Who had both
discovered and recovered his body,
called his death murder and pledged
themselves to its aveagement-layine
responsibility for the putafive crime
at the door OF the man aud woman
" " rttA it4 Ailf DAta HtaHArtIis ttI}
below the scene OF hopi Jim's fall
Between the moment when discov-
cry Of the men on the ridge trail in
terrupted their simple and hurried
breakfast and that which found Rose
and Bsrcus mounted on the back OF
their own horse and making the best
of their way down the canyon in pur-
suit of Alan, but little time had
elapsed.
And even with its double burden.
their horse made better time upon
the broad lower level than those who
followed the ridge trail ny mid morn
ing. when they approached the foot
hills that ran down to the desert. the
pursuit was more than a mile In the
rear and shut on to boot by mono
lthic hill while Alan was many
weary mile In advance.
He sat upon his horse just then. ct
standstill upon the summit of a round
ed knoll. the Painted hills lifting up
behind him, the desert before unf0laL
ing like q map-but like a map all
blurred.
Only In the near foreground ives
anything definite to be DISTINGUISHED
in the aspect of that sunbitten waste
bleached earth patterned in almost OF.
derly arrangement by sagebrueh and
gnarled cacti At the distance Of ham
q mile all blended into one vast plain
of glaring gray that stretched over
the round Of the world to q broken
wall OF purple hills that reeled drunk
enly In the haze-veiled southwest.
Was Judith out there, somewhere.
lost, defenseless, forlorn, impotent to
lift hand to shield her face from the
blast of that savage sun?
Staring beneath Q shading hand. he
eiscerned nothing that moved upon
the surface of the desert but its
myriad heat-devils jigging monoto-
nously their Internal danse macabre.
Or-as seemed more probable-was
she back there among the Painted
hills. lying still and lifeless, crushed
beneath the weight of that fallen
horse?
No rest for Alan till he knew
Descending the knoll he refined his
tagging mount back into the trail, fol
lowing its winding course through the
foothills and round the base of that
monolthic mountain toward the june.
tion with the ridge trail. miles away.
1t approached the hour of noon be
fore he gained the point where the
two trails Joined and struck out across
the desert. And here he discovered
what he thought indsputable indica-
ton that the fright of Judiths horse
had persisted
Abandoning Immediately all notion
of returning through the hills by the
ridge-trail, he turned and swung away
at the best pace he could spur from
his broncho. delivering himself into
the pitiless embrace of that implaoa-
Bile wilderness of sun and sand.
At long intervals he would check
the broncho and. reeling in his saddle.
endeavor to sweep the desert with his
binoculars.
And toward the middle OF the after
noon he fancied that something re-
warded one such effors: something
for an instant swan athwart the field
of the glasses: something that seemed
to move like a weary horse with a
human figure bound to its back
But now the phenomena were dis
cernible which. had he been more des-
ert wise, would have made him pause
and think before he ventured farther
from those hills, already beyond
reach as they were
His first appreciated warning came
when the surface OF the desert seemed
10 MT and snake like the top of a
canvas tent in gale. At the same
time a mighty gust of wind swept
arhvart the waste. hot as a furnace
blast In a trice dust enveloped man
and horse. a sitting cloud OF super
heated particles that stgng the flesh
Ike a myriad needles. And then dark
ness fell. the twilight of hades. a COP
per-colored pail. Nothing remained
visible beyond arms length.
a.