The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1917-03-17
unaccustomed sound Of running water
underneath his horses feet.

horse after the hard experience of the
evening was drinking welcome draft.
De Spain had no conception of where
ne could be, but the stream told him he
had somehow reached the range,
though Music mountain itself had been
swallowed up in. the night. A sudden
and uncomfortable thirst seized the
wounded man. He could hear the wa.
ter falling over the stones and climbed
slowly and painfully out of the saddle
to the ground. With the lines in his
left hand he crawled toward the water
and' lying flat on the ground beside the
horse, put his head down to drink. The
horse, meantime, satisfied, lifted his
mead with a gulp, rinsed his mouth,
and pulled backward. The lines
slipped from De Spain's hand. Alarmed,
the weakened man scrambled after
them. The horse, startled, SHE'D, and
before his rider could get to his feet
scampered off in a trot. While De
Spain listened in CONSERVATION, the es-
capped horse, falling into an easy stride,
galloped away into the night.
Stunned by this new misfortune, and
listening gloomily to the retreating
hoof-beats, De Spain pendered the situ-
alton in which the disaster left him.
1t was the worst possible blow that
could have fallen, but fallen it had,
and he turned with such philosophy as
he could to complete the drink of water
that had probably cost him his life.
When he had slaked a seemingly un-
qdenchable craving, he dashed the run.
ming water, first with one hand and
then the other, over his face. He tried
feebly to wash away some of the alkali
that had crusted over the wound in the
front Of his head and was singing and
burning In it. There was now moth.
ing to do but to secrete himself until
daylight and wait till help should reach
hint was manifestly impossible for
him to seek 1t.
Meanwhile, the little stream beside
him offered first aid. He tried it with
his foot and found it slight and shall
low, albeit with rocky bed that made
wading in his condition difficult. But
he felt so much better he was able to
attempt this, and, keeping near to one
side of the current, he began to follow
it slowly upstream. The ascent was
at times PERCEPTIONS, which pleased
him, though it depleted his new
strength. 1t was easy in this way to
hide his trail, and the higher and fast
or the stream took him into the noun.
tains the safer he would be from any
Calabasas pursuers. When he had re.
gained a little strength and oriented
himself, he could quickly get dowp into
the hills
Animated by these thoughts, he held
his way upstream, hoping at every
step to reach the gorge from which
the flow issued. He would have known
this by the sound Of the falling water,
but, weakening soon, he found he must
abandon hope Of getting up to it. How
ever, by-resting and scrambling up
the rocks, he kept on longer than he
would have believed possible. Encoun-
tering at length, as he struggled up
ward, ledge and a clump Of bushes,
he crawled weakly on hands and knees
Into it, too spent to struggle farther,
stretched himself on the flattened
brambles and sank into a heavy sleep.
He woke in broad daylight. Con.
seriousness returned slowly and he
raised himself with pain from his
rough couch. His wounds were stiff,
and he lay for long time on his back
looking up at the sky. At length he
dragged himself to an open space near
where he had slept and looked about.
He appeared to be near the foot of q
mountain quite strange to him, and in
rather an exposed place. He clambered
a hundred feet above where he had
slept before he found q hiding place.
1t was at the foot of tiny waterfall
where the brook, striking ledge Of
granite, had patiently followed out a
shallow pool. Beside this great mass
of frost-bitten rock had fallen, and one
OF the powders lay tilted in such q
way as to roof in sort of cave, the
entrance to which was not higher than
mans knee. De Spain crawled into
this refuge.
The violent exertion Of reaching the
height had started the ruptured artery
anew, and his first work was crudely
to cleanse the wound and attempt to
rebandage it. He was hungry, but for
this there was only one alienation
sleep-and, carefully effacing all traces
Of his presence on the ledge, he
crawled into his rock retreat and fell
again into heavy slumber.
1t was this repose that proved his
undoing. He woke to consciousness so
weak he could scarcely lift his head. It
was still day. A consuming thirst as.
sailed him, but he lacked the strength
to crawl out of his cave, and, looking
toward his bandaged foot, he was
shocked at the sight Of how it had bled
while he slept.
Toward afternoon his restlessness In.
creased, but he chung to his resolve to
u