Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1916-07-21

the ledge Cleo soon exhausted; she
cleaned the cabin; lighting a candle,
she explored the abandoned mine
working; she attempted to beguile the
time reading the books which she had
discovered in the sack, which proved,
however, to be dry-as- dust scientific
works; and every few hours she peer
ed over the edge of the precipice in
the faint hope that she might see
someone in the canyon below On the
morning of the fourth day her pa
thence was rewarded, for she saw
two boys fishing in the mountain tor
rent which raced and roared along
the bottom of the canyon. She called
to them; again and again she scream
ed, but the distance and the noise
of the river drowned her voice. Gath
ering handful Of pebbles, she
stretched herself on the edge of the
cliff and commenced to methodically
lombard the boys below. A dozen
pebbles she threw without attracting
their attention, but at last, when she
had almost abandoned hope, a pebble
struck one of them on the shoulder.
Whirling about to see where it had
come from, he saw Cleo on the ledge,
half thousand feet above. He called
to his companion and they both stood
staring at her. Frantically she beck
oned to them, but they shook their
heads; it was evident that they knew
of no path by which to reach the
laHna Cha tr,aI 30 raD IN that,, hat
it was impossible to make them hear.
Suddenly thought struck her. Run
ming to the cabin. she looked wildly
about for pencil and paper, but could
find neither. On the table lay the
book which contained the code. Tear
ing out the flyleaf she lighted match
after match, left them burn for mo-
ment, blew them out, and, using the
blackened ends in lieu of pencil,
scrawled her brief cali for help: Held
prisoner by Morton in cabin on ledge
in mountains. Conc quickly. Cleo"
Folding the sheet, she addressed it
to Jarvis Hope. SALISBURY Hotel,
Santa Eulalia. Now her problem was
how to get the message to the boys
below, for, should she let it flutter
down, it would, in all probability, be
carried away by gust of wind, and,
il she tied it to stone, It might
plunge into the river and be lost. All
at once there came to her the rccol-
lection of an amusement OF her child
hood. With her handkerchief and a
piece of string she made a miniature
parachute, such as children use,
weighed it with a small stone, and
tied to the stone the message. Re-
turning to the cliff, she first held up
the parachute for the boys to see,
then tossed it out into space. Al
most instantly the handkerchief bill
lowed out, thus checking its descent,
and it sailed gently downward into
the boys upstretched hands. She
could see them slowly deciphering the
ill-written message, and then glance
I'D at her again, whereupon she ges-
tured frantically that they were to
take it to the town. They quickly
caught her meaning and, giving her
a wave of encouragement. started
down the canyon on run.
Hope did not return from Los An
geles until the day following Cleo's
disappearance. He was met at the
railwa station by Hook, who, almost
beside himself with anxiety, told him
the news. He wired to Los Angeles
for detectives. Stirred by Cleo's youth
and beauty and the mystery which en-
veloped her disappearance, posses OF
cowboys and citizens secured the sur
rounding region, afoot and on horse
back and in automobiles.
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