The Parma herald. (Parma, Idaho) 1903-1917, 1917-06-21

Realizing that no time was to be lost
they set out on the long journey. Ev-
cry foot of the troublesome way Of
fered difficulties. Water impeded them
continually. Nan picked their trail.
But for her perfect familiarity with
every foot of the ground, they could
not have got TO the mountain at all.
When they got to the mountain trail
itself they found their way swept by a
mad rush of falling water, its deafen-
ing roar punetured by fragments of
loosened rock which, swept downward
from ledge to ledge, split and thun-
dered as they dashed themselves
against the mountainside. On a pro-
tected floor the two stood for mo-
ment, listening to the roar of the cata-
ract that had cut them off their refuge.
mo use, Nan" said De Spain.
There isn't any other trail. is thereT'
She told him there was no other.
"And this will run all night. Henry"
she said, turning to him and as If
thinking of a question she wanted to
ask, how did you happen to come to
me tonight when l wanted you so?'
81 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 I'M
easily 81 got your message on the
telephone last night, in my office at
Sleepy Cat, from a man that refused
TO give his name"
II never sent any message to you"
she insisted in growing wonderment.
II have been locked in a room for
three days, dearie. The Lord knows
l wanted to- send you word. Who ever
telephoned message like that? Was
it trap to get you in here?"
l. 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. "It couldn't
have been a trap. 1t must have been
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 can't 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 Capitan?"
She started in spite of herself. ut
/ would be certain death, Henry
81 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?"
81 know two or three" she an
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
I up Music mountain is still pointed
out in the gap. No person, looking
at that confused wall, willingly be-
| lieves 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 well 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 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 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 undprStOOd uncomfortable !
well how a sudden shift might, at any
moment. lay their entire path open to |
its fierceness. She warned De Spain /
they must be moving, and, freshened |
by the brief rest, they set out toward |
Ell Captain. |
They had covered more than half |
the distance that separated them from
the cliff, when 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
other moment the two storms, meet
ing in the gap, rushed together. As if
an unseen hand had touched a thou
sand granite springs above the gap.
every slender crevice spouted a
stream that shot foaming out from
the mountainsides. The sound of NOV
ing waters rose in a 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