Mountain advocate. (Barbourville, Ky.) 1904-1935, 1919-12-05
CHAPTER TX.


My rest was miserable. In q succes
sion of brief dreams fed with JacQue.
line over n wilderness II Ice, while 10
the distance, ever drawing nearer, fol
lowed Leroux. Lacratk and fere An.
tome.
must have fallen sour5 isleep at
last, for when opened my ayes the
sun was shining brightly Low down
over the Rlvlere f0r. The dear Of
the tent stood open and Jacqueline
was not inside.
With the remembrance of my dream
still confusing reality ran toward the
trees, shouting for her In fear.
"Jacquellne! Jacquellnei" I called
She was coming toward me. She
took me by the arm. paul ~ she be
gan with qulvering lips. "Paulw
She led me into the recesses OF the
pines. There, IN a little open place
clustered together upon the ground
were the bodies Of our dogs. All we're
dead.
Jacquellne sank down upon the
ground and sobbed as though her heart
would break. stood there watching,
my brain paralyzed by the shock OF
the discovery.
Then l went back TO the sleigh, on
the rear OF which the frozen fish was
piled. l noticed that II had a faint.
slightly aromatic odor. / flung the
hard masses aside and scooped up q
pnu,dar.v c,,hSto poa NTH y,,v bande
Mythology had been q hobby Of
mine, and It was easy to recognize
what that substance was.
1t was the amanita, the deadliesi
and most widely distributed of the
fungi, and the direst Of all vegetable
poisons to man and beast alike. The
alkaloid which It contains takes effect
only some hours after Its ingestion,
when II has entered the blood streams
and begun its disintegratlng action
upon the red corpuscles. The dogs
must have partaken Of 1t on the pre-.
cedlng afternoon.
knew this was Leroux's work. He
had tricked me again. was mad with
anger. I meant to kill the man now,
and without mercy. would be as un.
scrupulous as he. He would be In this
place by the afternoon; I would walt
for him outside the trail. My pistols
Jacqueline was looking up into my
face In terror. The sight Of her re-
called me to my senses. Leroux after.
ward-first my duty to her
paul What is the matter, PsulY"
she cried. 81 never saw you look like
that before"
l cnlmed myself and led her away,
and presently we were standing be forv
the fire again.
"Jacquellne," I said, ut Is easier to
60 on than to turn back now"
She watched me like a lip reader.
Eyes, Paul; let us go on" she an.
swered.
So We went on. But our Journey
was to be very different now. There
was no possibility Of taking much bag.
gage with us. We took few things
out OF our suitcases and disposed them
about us as best we could.
We must have covered at least a
dozen miles o. more when we stopped
for a brief midday meal. 1 was little
fatigued from carrying the pack and
my ankles ached from the snowshoes;
but Jacquellne. who had evidently been
accustomed to their use, was as fresh
as when she started.
Suddenly we emerged from among
the trees upon an almost barren pla.
teau, and there again we halted for q
breathing spell.
resolved to take my bearings accu-
rately, and telling Jacqueline to wait
FOR me few minutes at the base Of .
hill and setting down my pack. 1 began
he ascent alone. The climb was
onger than l had anticipated. My
Eyes were aching from the glare of the
snow. l had left my colored glasses
behind me In the tent and gone on,
laying nothing, though had realized
ny loss when was only a mile or so
way.