The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1917-05-26
By, ttank: Spedr1maN-
Author d whispering Smith.

nc duSWeFSu uer QueSClOu WIFI I'LL
ptker: "What about trying to get out
by Ell Capitan?''
She started in spite Of herself. 1T
would be certain death, Henry"
II don't mean at the worst to try
to cross it till we get a glimpse of
daylight. But it's quite a way over
there. The question is, Can we find
trail up to where we want to go?"
II know two or three" she an.
swered, ':if they are only not flooded"
The storm seemed ito have passed,
but the darkness was intense, and
trom above the northern Superstitions
came low mutterings of thunder. Com
PEELED to strike out over the rocks to
BET 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
put In the gap. No person, looking
at that confused wall, willingly be-
heves it 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 we'll after midnight,
A favoring spot was seized on by De
Spain for the resting place he wanted.
a dry recess beneath an overhanging
wall made shelter for the fire that
ne insisted on building to warm Nan
IN her soaked clothing. It was dan
Eerous, both realized, to start a fire,
out they concealed the blaze as best
they could and took the chance-a
change that more nearly than any that
mad gone before, cost them their
lives.
The mutterings above the noun
tains now grew rapidly louder, and
while the two lowered over the fire,
thunder squall, 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 uncomfortable
well how sudden shift might, at any
moment, lay their entire path open to
It's herceness. She warned De Spain
they must be moving, and, freshened
BY the brief rest, they set out toward
El Captain.
They had covered more than half
the distance that separated them from
the cliff. when a second thunderstorm
seeming to rush in from the desert,
burst above their heads. Drenched
with rain, they were forced to draw
back under projecting rock. In an
pther moment the two storms, meet
ing in the gap, rushed together. AS If
IN unseen hand had touched a thou
sand granite springs above the gap,
every slender crevice spouted
stream that shot foaming out from
the mountainsides. The sound of NOV
ing waters rose in dull, vast roar,
broken by the unseen boom Of distant
falls, launching huge masses Of water
into caverns far below. The storm
laden wind tore and swirled among
The crowded peaks, and above all the
angry sky moaned and quivered in the
:age OF the elements.
1T was only the lulls between the
sharp squalls that enabled them to
cover the trail before daylight. When
they paused before Ell Captain tie
Jury of the night seemed largely to
gave exhausted itself, but the over
charged ;4r hung above the noun
aims, trembling and moaning like
bruised and stricken thing. Light
ling. playing across the inky heavens,
olazed in constant sheets from end
q end Of the horizon. Cnder it all
he two refugees, high on the noun
:ainside, looked down on the flooding
gap.
Their flight was almost ended. Only
The sheer cliff ahead blocked their
descent to the aspen grove. Hardly
moment passed after they had
IT. GN|SSA|