The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1920-12-31

| SldIE Ul DCWkluCttnCnts 66 Tie lE@tn
Of his situation reasserted itself. he
sat up, conscious OF stiffness in every
joint, yet reinyigoratej by several
hours of rest. He faced a day of In
activity, hard demand upon man
of his temperament, and he was ms
slow as possible over a meager break
fast, his eyes continually wandering
toward the narrow opening, as his
mind again reviewed the occurrences
of the day before.
Finally, unable to resist the tempta-
ton longer. he ventured to thrust his
head through the entrance to learn
something more definite as to his sur
roundings. All he could perceive was
the shelf of rock, with considerable
| coping about its outer edge. together
with q few feet of the descending
trail On the other hand new cleft
appeared in the front of the cliff over
| shadowing him, and he suspicioned
that the path he had followed the
| night previous continued upward
| was, perhaps. that secret passageway
! which Pancha had said led finally to
the .op Of the gorge. and along which
| she planned to guide their future es-
cape. Beyond the outer edge Of the
shelf there was nothing but sky yisi-
BILE. and, believing the coping would
conceal his movements from observa-
tion below. Shelby pushed his way out
! through the opening. and crept on
hands and knees to where he cautious
ly could gaze over.
He was higher up on the cliff than
he had previously realized, although
its precipitous front yet lowered men
acingly above The. view below was
like that of distant picture, Its de-
! tails indistinct He felt no longer any
special fear of being observed, how
ever. and leaned far enough forward
to see clearly up and down the broad
valley. His position lay somewhat re-
moved. around the angle of side
ravine, so that he could not trace the
entire course of the Cottonwood, or
even discern the waterfall beneath
which he had entered the Hole. Yet
he had glimpse of the main stream
| NOulu pi1h oul Whul DSlieNtu ~ Dt
the log house from which he had es-
capped, while, within grove so as to
be scarcely distinguishable, appeared
the roof of another, smaller building.
He would not have noticed this. but
for thin spiral of smoke arising from
the chimney. Pancha had said the
place where Olga was confined was
visible from this spot. Could this be
1t? He stared down long while, but
without reward.
Yet there seemed to be much pass
ing and repassing along the main val
ley; black, ill-defined figures of men
on horseback almost constantly visible.
He was surprised at the number,
never having supposed that this colony
of outlaws was so numerous. An
other thing, while he could not clear
ly distinguish such small objects at
that distance, the majority of these
riders had the appearance of being In
dams. Could they be Sioux warriors
gathered here In preparation for some
raid on the exposed settlements? or
was it possible that the troops had al
ready struck, and driven the rem
nants Of scattered war parties into
this Hole for refuge? In either case
their presence in such numbers rem
dered his own position so much more
precarious, and increased the danger
surrounding Olga. He felt that. in
spite of his pledge to the Mexican girl,
he could not remain in his hiding
place quietly, without endeavoring to
learn more of what had actually oc-
Cured during the night.
Indeed he could perceive no reason
why he should remain entirely mac
tive. At the very best she could ac-
complish nothing before night. and
had held out very little hope for even
then. There We're no signs that he
was being sought after down below. II
might be that in the excitement OF
other happenings. his escape had been
considered as of minor importance
that Indian Joe, convinced that he
could never get out of the Hole unob.
served, took no immediate interest IN
trailing him. What was the use, when
he must eventually surrender? II
would be simple matter to steal eau.
tiously down through that deep cleft
in the rocks, as far, at least, as the
stream below. He would be concealed
all the way, and once there, hidden
securely among those thick bushes, he
might then learn what was actually
occurring. 1t would be far better fol
him to know. Besides, this would be
no disloyalty to Pancha; even IL she
sought him he would still be in the
path she must follow, and, so long as
he remained undiscovered. just where
he was concealed could make no pos
sible difference. The argument salts
fled his mind, because he felt he must
act; must make some effort of hi:
own.