The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1918-08-01
G NAN Of g
MUSIC MOUNTAIN
By frank II. Spedrmdn
Author Of Whispering Smith

= nav 'A7ii ~ lhiAiAIH NtA'is IT, ''slltl
/, ing roar punctured by fragments q
[ looSened rock which. swept downwar
from ledge 10 ledge, split and thur
dcred as they dashed themSelve
against the muuntainside. on a pre-
tccted floor the two stood for a INC
ract that had cut them of their refuge
40 use, Nan said De Spain
There isu't any other trail. is there?
She told him there was no other
and this Will run all night. Henry,
She said. turning To him and as Il
thinking of "A question she wanted I,
ask, how did you happen to come t,
me tonight when | wanted you SOP
II came because you sent for me,
he answered. surprised.
"But | didn't send for you"
He stopped. d~umfounded. "Nhai
do you mean, Nan?" he demanded un.
easily. Il got your message on the
telephone last night. in my office AT
Sleepy Cat, from "A man that refused
to give his name"
81 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
| wanted to send you word. Who ever
teleph0ncd IA message like that? Was
it n trap To get you in here?"
lie told her the story-of the siren
uors efforts he had made to discover
the identity of the messenger-and
how he had been baked. NO mat
ter said Nan at last. at couldn't
have been a trap. 1t must have been
Il friend. surely, o 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?
Ne can't stay here all night and
take what they will greet us With n
the morning"
He answered her question with an
other: What about trying to get out
by I'll Captain"
She started in spite of herself. 1T
would be certain death, Henry"
IL don't mean at the worst to try
to cross Ii till we get a glimpse Of
daylight. But it's quite a way over
there. The question Is, Can we find
a trail up to where we want to go?"
IL 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 ow 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
up Music mountain is still pointed
out In the gap. No person. looking
at that confused wall, willingly be-
lieves 1t 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
made a shelter for the fire that
he insisted on building to warm Nan
In her soaked clothing. It was dan
gerous, both realized. to start a fire,
but they concealed the blaze as best
they could and took the chance-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,
q thunder squall. rolling wildly down
the eastern slope. burst over the gar.
Nan knew even better than her COM
panion the tickle nature Of a range
storm, and understood uncomfortably
well how a sudden shift might, at any
moment, lay their entire path open to
Its ~herceness. 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 a second thunderstorm
seeming to rush In from the desert,
purst above their heads. Drenched
with rain. they were forced to draw
BACK under a projecting rock. In an
other moment the two storms, meet
ing In the gap, rushed together. AS If
an unseen hand had touched q thou
SAND granite springs above the gap.
every slender crevice spouted q
stream that shot foam,ng 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 swiried among
the CrOwdnd mazda and ckc.,o ~ <ho