The Carlisle independent., 1917-05-03
again I fancy that you'll be a little

She saw him walk briskly along the edge of the cliff to cable arrange ment which, in her panic, she had failed to notice; saw him climb into basket which was suspended from a pulley-wheel which ran upon the cable; saw him haul himself across the chasm by means of a rope, get out of the basket, detach it from the pulley, and disappear with 1t behind the screen of bushes which lined the oppo- site cliff. A few minutes later she heard q sudden roar, as of a motor car with it's muffler open, and before her astOnished eyes an aeroplane arose.
 Having convinced herself that es- cape from the ledge was impossible save with assistance from outside, Cleo returned to the cabin, less wor- , ried than might have been expected, for she knew that Hope and Hook, once they discovered her absence, would move heaven and earth to find her. On the table was the basket of provisions brought by Morton-a cold ham, bread, potatoes, timed 1 meats-enough to last her with req sonahle economy, she figured, for at least a week. She discovered a cup board which contained matches, can dies, a bag of salt, some tins of fruit and vegetables, and meal sack filled with what felt like books. Untying the string. she emptied the contents of the sack upon the floor-then gave a | nf oGtp ichT amid the tattered dog cared volumes, was one she recognized. It was a work on metallurgy-one of the dozen books which, since her earliest recol- | lection, had stood on the shelf above her fathers desk. She opened it with trembling fingers. Written in a firm, bold hand across the f1yleaf was the name, Richard Paten." By one of those l coincidences which causes fiction to hang it's head, Morton had brought her to the cabin of the very man for whom they were searching. Now she re- called the storekeeper's description of Patten as Hope had repeated it to her: "A queer fellow quiet fond of books has cabin up in the mountains some where's" And now, by a chance in a million, she had found Patten's cabin and the book. Slowly she turned the leaves, carefully scanning each in turn But she found nothing. Disheartened, she was about to close the book, when, at the very foot of the last page, in letters so faint and minute as to be almost indistinguishable, she saw line of writing. philosophy" it read, ''p. 61, every seventh word" It was the key to the formula
 Three days dragged by-three days which, in that awful solitude, seemed like three years. The resources of the ledge Cleo soon exhausted; she cleaned the cabin; lighting a candle, she explored the abandoned mine working she attempted to beguile the time reading the books which she had discovered in the sack, which proved, however, to be dry-as-dust scientific works; and every few hours she peered over the edge of the precipiee in the faint hope that she might see someone in the canyon below. On the morning of the fourth day her patience was re- warded for she saw two boys fishing In the mountain torrent which raced and roared along the bottom of the | canyon. She called to them: again | and again she screamed, but the dis tance and the noise of the river drowned her voice. Gathering a hand l full of pebbles, she stretched herself on the edge of the cliff and commenced to methodically lombard the boys be- low. A dozen pebbles she threw with out attracting their attention, but at | last, when she had almost abandoned hope, pebble struck one of them on the shoulder. Whirling about to see where it had come from. he saw Cleo on the ledge, half a thousand feet above. He called to his companion and they both stood staring up at her Frantically she beckoned to them. but they shook their heads; it was evident that they knew of no path by which to reach the ledge. She tried to call to them, but it was impossible to make them hear. Suddenly a thought struck her. Running to the cabin, she looked
 
 wildly about for pencil and paper, but could find neither. On the table lay the book which contained the code. Tearing out the fiyleaf she lighted match after match. let them burn for moment, blew them out, and, using the blackened ends in lieu of pencil. scrawled her brief call for help: Held prisoner by Morton in cabin on ledge in mountains. Come quickly, Cleo" Folding the sheet. she addressed it to Jarvis Hope, Shaftsbury Hotel, Santa Eulalia. Now her problem was how to get the message to the boys below, for, should she let it flutter down. it would, in all probability, be carried away by gust of wind, and, if she tied it to stone, it might plunge into the river and be lost. All at once there came to her the recollection of an amusement of her childhood. With her handkerchief and piece of string