Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1918-01-02


lady in the rain when you take her
for a walk, but it can't be helped.
Well laugh about it tomorrow"
Would they7 she wondered, answer
ing his smile family. Her courage was
Slapped.
He turned to the climb.
you've forgotten your coat" she re-
minded.
I'm travelling light this trip. You'd
better slip it on before you get chilled"
Sheba knew he had left it on pur-
pose for her.
Her fascinated eyes followed him
while he moved out from the plateau
across the face of the precipice. He
had none Of the tools for climbing
no rope, no Ratchet, none Of the sup
port of numbers. All the allies he
could summon were his bare hands
and feet, his resilient muscles, and his
stout heart. To make it worse, thu
Ice film from the rain coated every
iutting inch of quartz with danger.
moving with the infinite caution of one
who knows that there will be NJ
chance to remedy later any mistake
A slight error in judgment, the failure
In response of any one Of fifty muscles
would send him plunging down.
T, Her eye left him for an instant tt
sweep the gulf below. She gave 9
little cry, ran to his coat, and began
to wave It. For the first time since
Elliot had begun to traverse she tool
the initiative in speech.
II see some people away over to the
left, Mr.. Elliot. I'm going to call t.
them" Her voice throbbed with hope
But it was not her shouts or his
which would not have carried one
tenth the distance, that reached the
group in the valley. One of them
caught glimpse Of the wildly wav'
ing coat. There was consultation
and two or three fiuttered handker.
chiefs in response. Presently they
moved on. ,.... ....
Sheba could not believe her eyes
''They're not leaving US surely?" she
gasped.
''That's what they're doing" an.
swered Gordon grimly. "They think
we're calling to them out Of vanity
to show them where we climbed"
"Ohw She strangled sob.
"Tm going to make 1t. I think I see
my way from here" her companion
called across to her. "A fault runs to
the foot of the stairway, If I can only
do the next yard or two"
He did them, by throwing caution to
the winds. An icy, rounded boulder
projected above him out Of reach. He
unfastened his belt again and put the
shoes, tied by the laces, around his
neck. There was one way to get across
to the ledge of the fault. He took
hold of the two ends of the belt,
crouched and leaned forward on tip
toes toward the knob. The loop of the
belt slid over the ice-coated boss.
There was no chance to draw back
now, to test the hold he had gained.
If the leather slipped he was lost. His
body swung across the abyss and his
feet landed on the little ledge beyond.
His shout Of success came perhaps
ten minutes later "I've reached the
stairway, Miss O'Neill. I'll try not to
be long, but you'd better exercise to
keep up the circulation. Don't worry,
please. I'll be back before night"
"I'm so glad" she cried joyfully. II
was afraid for you. And I'll not worry
a bit. Good-by."
Elliot made his way up to the sum-
init and ran along foOtpath which
brought him to bridge across the
mountain stream just above the falls.
Before he had specialized on the short
distances Gordon had been cross
country runner. He was in fair con-
dition and he covered the ground fast.
About a mile below the falls he met
two men. One of them was Colby Mac
donald. He carried coil of rope over
one shoulder. The big Alaskan ex-
planned that he had not been able to
get it out of his head that perhaps
the climbers who had waved at his
party had been in difficulties. So he
had got rope from the cabin of an
old miner and was on his way back
to the falls.
The three climbed to the falls,
crossed the bridge and reached the top
of the cliff.
"You know the lay Of the land down
there, Mr.. Elliot. Well lower you," de-
cided Macdonald, who took command
as a matter of course.
Gordon presently stood beside Sheba
Oh the little plateau. She had quite
recovered from the touch of hysterla
that had attacked her courage. You
weren't long," was all she said.
II met them coming" ne answered
as he dropped the loop of the rope "vsr'
hec head and arranged it under Mt.'
lie showed her how to relieve part
Of the strain Of the rope on her flesh
BY using her haI'y Is to lift