Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-03-20

reflected. "Any time. now. I may sight the
double-peaked mountain. II can't heaVe in
sight any too soon TO suit me-
There was need of sighting il, indeed for
already the party had begun to suffer not
a little. The perpetual tramping through
ashes had started cracks and sores forming
on the mems feet. Most of them were
coughing and snee2ing much of the time,
with a kind of influenza caused by the
acrid and biting dust
Tho dried food, too, had started an in
tolerable thirst and water was terribly
scarce. The canteens were now almost all
empty; and more than one brook or pool
to which the men eagerly hastencd, turned
out to be saline or hopelessy fouled by
fallen forest wreckage. fostering and green
slimed in the cooking sun
In spite of the eyeshields and pigments
some of the men were already suffering
from sunburn and ophthalmia' which
greatly impaired their efficiency. Their
failure 4 take fish was also beginning to
disheartet them.
Allan pondered the advisability of sus.
pending day travel and treltllng only by
night but had to give over this plan. for ii
would obviate all possibility of his sighting
the landmark, the cleft mountain. Though
he said nothing, the pangs of apprehension
were biting deep into his soul.
For the first time that night the idea was
strongly borne in upon him that, after all
this might be little better than a wild-goose
chase, and that-despite his desperate need
of the Pauillac engine--perhaps the better
part of valor might be discretion retreat
return TO Settlement Cliffs while there
might still be time.
Yet even the few hours of troubled sleep
he got that night, cramped in a blackened
ravine served to strengthen his determine
ton to push on again at all hazards.
1T can't be far now" thought he. s"rhe
place simply can't be very far. We must
y have made the best part OF the distance al.
ready. What madness to turn back now
and lose all we've struggled so hard to
gain No, no--on we go again! Forward
TO success !"
Next morning, therefore--the fourth since
having left New Hope River--the party
pushed forward again. 1t was now strange
procession, limpng and SLOW the men
blinking through their shields. their hands
and faces smeared with mud and ashes.
Painfully, yet without a word OF COM
plaint or rebellion, they once more traled
over the fire-blasted hills on the quest of
the wrecked Paullac.
Hour by hour they were now forced to
pause for rest. Some of the impedimenta
had TO be discarded. During the forenoon
Allan commanded that most of the fishing
gear and part of the cordage should be
thrown away.
Toward mid-afternoon he sorted out the
tools and kept only an essential minimum.
Now that they had seen no possible need
for ammunition, he decided to leave half of
that also
The tools and ammunition no carefully
cached under q rock cairn and set a tall,
burned pole UP over 1t, with u crosspiecs
lashed near the top. The position of this
cairn he minutely noted on his map. Some
day he would return and get the valuables
again.
Nothing could be spared from tho pro-
vision packets, but these were much lighter,
anyhow. This helped q little. But Allan
could see that the strength OF his men, and
his own force as well, was diminishing
faster than the burden.
So, with a heavy heart, now half-inclined
to abandon the task and turn back, he sur
yeyed the horizon for tho last time that
night in vain search for the landmark
mountain of his hopes
Morning dawned again ptilessly hot and
sun-parched. BY . o'clock the party was