Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1917-08-16


cave I'm oorninG. Lsfever viii set
In here sHme dine tomorrow. Thea
We can connect With him.
Realizing that no time was 10 - ~.
they Get out on the long journey. Ev-
cry foot u the troublesome way Of
fered difficulties Water impeded them
continually. Nan picked their trail.
But Tor her perfect familiarity with
every foot Of he ground. they could
not have got to the mountain Mt NIL.
When they got to the mountain trail
itself they found their why swept BY q
mad rush Of falling water. its deafen-
ing roar punctured by fragments Of
loOsened rock which. swept downward
from ledge to ledge. split and thun-
dered az they dashed themselves
against the mountainside. On u pro-
tected floor the two stood for u mo-
ment. listening to the roar OF the cata-
ract that had cut them on their refuge.
mo use. Man." said De Spain.
There isn't any other trail. Is thereY"
She told him there was no other.
"And this will run. all night. Henry"
she said. turning TO him and as II
thinking Of u question she wanted TO
ask. show did you happen to come to
me tonight when l wanted you so"
II came because you sent for me-"
he answered. surprised.
But l didn't send for YOU"
He stopped, dumfounded. "What
do you mean, Nan?" he demanded un-
easily. Il got your message on the
telephone last night, in my Office AT
Sleepy Cat. from n III that refused
to give his name"
II never sent any message to YOU"
she insisted in growing wOnderment.
Il have been locked in a room for
three days, dearie. The Lord knows
I wanted to send you word. Who ever
telephoned n message like that? Was
it n trap to get you in here?"
He told her the story-of the siren
uous efforts he had made to discover
the identity Of the messenger-and
how he had been baked. mo mat
ter" said NaL at last. ut couldn't
have been n trap. 1t must have been
a friend. surely, not an enemy,
Henry" every time she repeated
his name De Spain cared less for
what should happen in the rest of the
world, 'what are we going to do now?
We cant stay here all highland
take what they will greet us with In
the morning"
He answered her question with an
other: "What about trying to get out
by Ell Captain"
She started in spite Of herself. ut
would be certain death, Henry"
II don't mean at the worst to try
to cross 1t till we get a glimpse of
daylight. But it's quite a way over
there. The question is, Can we find
a trail up to where we want to go?"
:" know two or three" she IN
swered, IF they are only not flooded"
The storm seemed to have passed,
but the darkness was intense, and
from above the northern Superstitions
came low mutterings of thunder. Com
PEELED to strike out over the rocks to
get up to any of the trails toward Ell
Captain, Nan, helped by De Spain
when he could help, led the ascent
toward the first ledge they could hope
to follow on their dangerous course.
The point at which the two climbed
almost five hundred feet that night
UP Music mountain Is still pointed
out In the gap. No person, looking
at that confused wall, willingly be-
lieves 1t could ever have been scaled
in the dead of night. Torn, bruised
and exhausted, Nan, handed up by her
lover, threw herself at last PROSTATE
on the ledge at the real beginning Of
their trail, and from that vantage point
they made their way along the east
ern side of Music mountain for two
miles before they stopped again to
rest.
1t was already well after midnight.
A favOring spot was seized on by De
Spain for the resting place he wanted.
A dry recess beneath an o%verhanging
wall made a shelter for the fire that
he insisted on building to warm Nan
in her soaked clothing. 1t was dan.
gerous, both realized, to start a fire,
but they concealed the blaze as best
they could and took the cfance-a
chance that more nearly than any that
had gone before, cost them their
lives.
The mutterings above the noun
tains now grew rapidly louder, and
while the two lowered we the fire,
a thunder squat. rolling wildly down
the eastern slope, burst over the gap.
Nan knew even better than her com
panion the tickle nature Of a range
storm. and understood uncomfortably
well how a sudden shift might, at any
moment, lay their entire path open to
its ficrceness. She warned De Spain
they must be moving. and, freshened
by the brief rest, they set out toward
I'll Captain.
They had covered more than half
the distance that separated them from
the cliff, when n second thunderstorm
seeming to rush In from the desert,
burst above their heads. Drenched
with rain, they were forced to draw
back under a projecting rock. In an
other moment the two storms, meet.
ing 10 the gap, rushed together. As II
nm unseen hand had touched q thou.
sand granite springs above the gap,
every slender crevice spouted O