Roanoke Rapids herald. [volume] (Roanoke Rapids, N.C.) 1914-192?, 1917-08-10
Nan ST
Music
Mountain
BY
FRANK II. SPEARMAN
Author Of WHISPERING SMITH"

lCopyright by Charles Scribners sons'
cdpI1i6fies ana veins sustained his
consciousness for n while. Then the
torturlng pain abated, the rough drag
cling shattered the bruised body less
II was MS IL the Lady and the storm
together were making easier for the
slowly dying man his last trail across
the desert. He still struggled to keep
alive. nv sheer will power llckerlng
SHARKS Of consciousness, and to do so
concentrated every thought on Nan. II
was poignant happiness to summon
her picture to his falntlng senses; he
know no should hold to life as long
Ms he could think Of hen Love,
stronger than death, welled In his
heart. The bitter cold and the mercl-
less wind were kinder as he called her
image from out of the storm. She
seemed to speak-to lift him on her
arms. Ahead, distant mountains rose,
white.peaked. The sun shone. lie
rode with her through green fields, and
great peace rested on his weary
senses.
Lady Jane, pushing on and on en-
llghtened by that instinct before Which
the reason of man is weak and piiiful,
seeing as 1t were, through the i'm
Venerable curtain Of the storm where
refuge lay herself slow-moying crust
Of frozen snow, dragged to her jour
news end-to the tight-shut doors Of
the Calabasas barl-her unconscious
burden, and stood before them patient
" waiting until someone should open
for her. It was one Of the heartbreaks
of tragic day that no one ever knew
inst when the Lady reached the door
or how long she and her unconscious
master waited in the storm for ndms-
sion. A startled exclamation from
John Lefeyer, who had periodically
and Qnxlously left the red-hot stove
In the Office to walk moodlly 10 the
window, brought the men tumbling
over one another as he ran from his
companions to throw open the outer
door and pull the dropping horse into
tho barn.
It was the Indian, Scott, who, read
ing first Of oil the men everything in
the dread story, sprang forward with
n stihed exclamation, as the horse
dragged in the snow-coyered log
whipped knife from his pocket cut
the incumbered arm and white hand
free from the whifletree, and, carry
ing the stffensd body into the Office
began With insane haste 10 cut away
the clothing.
Lefever, perceiying 1t was De Spain
thus drawn to their feet shouted
while he tore from the blade Of scott's
knife the frozen garments, the orders
for the snow, the heated water, the
warm blankets, the alcohol and bran
dy, and, stripped to his waist, chafed
the marble feet. The Indian, better
than staff of doctors, used the cum
ming of sorcerer to revive the spark
Of inanlmate life not yet eXtlnguished
by the storm. A fearful interval of
suspense followed the silence into
which the work settled, silence bro
ken only by the footsteps of men runs
ming to and from the couch over which
Scott, Lefever and McAlpin, half
naked, worked in mad concert.
De Spain opened his eyes to wander
from one to the other Of the faces. He
half rose up, struggling in a frenzy
with the hands that restrained him.
While his companions pleaded to quiet
him, he fought them until, restored
to It's seat of reason, his mind reassert-
ed itself, and, lying exhausted, he told
them in his exquisite torture of whom
he had left, and what must be done
to find and bring them In.
While the relief wagons, equipped
with straining teams and flanked by
veteran hOrSemen, were dashing out
of the barn, he lapsed into uncon-
seriousness. But he had been able to
hold SCOTS hand long enough to tell
him he must find Nan and bring her
In, or never come back.
It was Scott who found her. In their
groupings through the blizzard the three
had wandered nearer Calabasas than
any one Of them dreamed. And on the
open desert, far south and east of the
upper lava beds, it was Scott's horse
that put foot through the bottom OF
the overturned wagon box. The sus-
pected mound Of snow, with the buried
horses serambling to their feet, rose
upright at the crash. Duke crouched,
half-conscious, under the rude shelter.
Lying where he had placed her, snugly
between the horses, Scott found Nan.
He spoke to her when she opened her
staring eyes, picked her up In his
arms, called to his companions for the
covered wagon, and began to restore
her, without a moment of delay, to
life. He even promised il she would
drink the hateful draft he put to her
lips and let him cut away her shoes
and leggings and the big coat frozen
on her, that in less than an hour she
should see Henry de Spain alive and
well.
CHAPTER XXI.