Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1917-04-19
Nan Of Music Mountain


head with gulp, rinsed his mouth,
and pulled backward. The lines
slipped from De SPANS 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 glO0mily to the retreatfng
hoof-beats, De Spain pondered the stu
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 {. seemingly IN
quenchable craving, he dashed the run
ming water, st with one hand and
then the 9th T. over his face. He tried
feebly to wash away some of the aIkalf
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 it.
Meanwhile, the little stream beside
hil offered first aid. He tried it with
his foot and found it Slight and shall
low, albeit with a rocky bed that made
Wading in his condition difficult. But
he felt 50 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 precipitous, which pleased
him, though it depleted his new
strength. It was easy in this way to
hide his trail, and the higher and fast
er the stream took him into the noun
talns the safer he loud be from any
Calabasas pUrsuers. When he had re-
gained a little strength and Oriented
himself, he could quickly get down 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, a ledge and a clump of bushes.
he craWled weakly on hands and knees
into it, too spent to struggle farther,
stretched himself on the fattened
branbleS 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 a long time Oh 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 a
mountain quite strange to him, and in
rather an exposed place. He clambered
a hundred feet above where he had
slept before he found a hiding place.
1t was at the foot of tiny waterfall
where the brook, striking a ledge of
granite, had patiently followed cut
shallow pool. Beside this a great mass
of frOst-bitten rock had fallen. and one
of the powders lay tilted in such
way rs 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, bat for
this there was only one alienation
sleeD-and, carefully effacing all traces
OF his presence on the ledge, he
craWled into his rock retreat and fell
again into a heavy slumber.
1t was this repOse that proved his
undoing. He woke to consciousness so
weak he could scarcely lift his head. II
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
lie still. BY evening he was burning
with thirst, and when morning came
after a feverish night, with his head
on fire and his mouth cruSted dry, he
concluded rightly that one or both of
his wounds had become infected.
De Spain understood what it meant.
He looked regretfully at the injured
foot. Swollen out Of shape and angry
looking, the mere appearance would
have told him, had the confirmation
been needed, that his situation was
becoming critical This did not so
much discomfort him as it surprised
him and spurred him mentally to the
necessity of new measures. He lay
long time thinking. Against the infec-
ton he could do little But the one
aid at his hand was abundance of Geld
water to drink and battle his wound in,
and to this he resolved now to drag
himself. To crawl across the space
that separated him from the pool re-
CURED all the strength he could sum-
mon. The sun was already well UP
and its rays shot like spectrum arrows
through the spray of the dainty cat
aract, which spurted in a jeweled sheet