The Washington times., 1915-08-17

her lesitimately. and by him she could
have many wonderful and beautiful sons
and daughters.
That was what might have been. In.
stead. behold him, sitting in pitch dark
ness. his shelter burning behind him,
as q call for that help which might new.
er come. How long. oh, Lord, how long!
Suddenly through his right hand.
sharp ss Of Sn paine he ss hanoi
upward with an oath. 1t flashed through
his mind that he had been stung by .
ground hornet As matter of fact. .
little creeping tongue of flame had
Professor stilleters fire was spread
inG. Crevices In the rock in which were
nchens and dried moses. carried little
were only too eager to find and set firo
to something worth while.
The main fire made such q cracking
and roaring now that Professor Stilleter
1t made in spreading. 1t was some mo-
nents before he realized that he had
not been stung, but burnt. 1t was Q
smell OF burning cloth that made this
caught fire. He moved further away
until there seemed to be nothing about
him but unburnable rock. He found the
place In his coat which was burning and
He sat down once more. He was in
the midst Of one Of those great open
splashes Of granite on the mountain
side. As matter Of fact. he was near
the edge Of one Of these masses. Within
reach Of his hand was a dense tangie
dead wood.
Suddenly. this shrubbery caught and
fessor stilleter staggered Backward from
! the Intense heat. and realized present.
mat ne was backing into another AREA
| OF heat equally intense.
On his hands and knees he made of
| In . direction that took him winding be-
tween the two; he went quite a long
way. In his breast was the first touch
Now for the second. Directly in his
pain there arose a steady, a vibrant q
horrid and incessant clashing; of ali the
| sounds In this world. The coolest blood
| ed and the most menacing and sinister.
The fire urged him forward. The rat
| to come on.
He rose to his feet, shivering and In
an agony OF fear and dread. suddeniy
my Cod My God, What hav. 1
done to deserve this?"
Only the fire answered him and the
rattesnake Presently it became neces-
to death where he stood. " - "0fh
| He went forward with slow. hiAl
steps, figure at once tragic and sS-
uncomfortable in the increasing heat,
sssgus snS e. But the .sn snake to- had grown
balan ncing and drawing back Of his head.
the jaws wide open as II to strike.
| Seven high arched steps Prof Stilleter
took. before ne dared once more to put
was as well. One more step would have
taken him over q little precipice.
| Wherever he went the fire found him
out and drove him on. A strong wind
II "a 40 xn,t,,
their way down the mountain side and
across they found more and larger stun
Prof. stilliter got heart every now
lacerated. his face had some hard
knocks. His blind eyes smarted with
smoke: and the air which he breathed
| half choked him.
He came at last to the forest and the
nre followed him and drove him Some
times II would seem to him that II had
taken different direction. and that he
ways ended. however. by finding out
and driving him forward. For a while
he could keep his distance easily; then
for a while he would have to hurry
worst hurts. But his natural strength
and stamina coupled with the furious
desire to live. kept him going. Once de-
spair OF saving his life seized him. and
there came into his head the desire to
way. II will stand here" he said.
until ! burn" And ne stood and
1 squared his shoulders and held his bat
| tered and bleeding head high and erect.
But when the heat became so Intense
that his clothes began to give out
| smoke. he turned once more and ned.
To man with average sight 1t would
eluded that fire. It had descended the
Prof stiluter's miefortune that he had
been unable to sidestep 1t. BY taking
up hts original stand at the back Of
the hut, instead of at the front, he need
not have moved until help came.
Even now old man Smellsgood was
standing at a comfortable distance from
the redhot ruins OF the hut and won
dering what fool had set 1t on fire
and why.
Through the fosest itself the fre was
only burning broad path. confined ia
this by open barrens and swamps or by
timber too green and we'll watered ia
burn. From the mouth Of the cave II
looked like receding column OF
smoke. and there was no real menace
In It for anyone but Prof Stilliter. Him
It bounded on and on. And now. con-
tinually, like child that babbles he
was asking God to save him. Christ to
As he lost blood. his progress be.
came slower and slower. and dealt
stared him in the back. He was tt
have one short reprieve. He came L
gravelly bank so steep that in try
e ing to get down 1t be began to slide
) could not save himself. and wa,
dumped presently into ice-cold deey
water.
(Continued Tomorrow