The St. Johns herald., 1921-07-28

"will it not show them where we have goneT
 "I hope not; probably the smoking. blazing timbers will choke up the opening, leaving 1t so filled with part ly burned wood as to conceal it entire ly. Anyhow, this is our one chance. We would be shot down mercilessly outside"
 The glare from the burning rubbish revealed their faces, and the smoke began to swirl past them in clouds. yet did not choke the tunnel, showing there must be an opening somewhere beyond to the outside. Shelby fast ened his neckerchief over the girls nose and mouth, and protected her, as we'll as himself, by means of his coat. Scarcely conscious of the action they sat thus, their hands clasped, gazing at the leaping figures of flame. and listening to the variety of noises reaching their ears. The position. while one of breeding horror, did not apparently involve immediate peril. The flames could not reach them, and 1t was already evident that those dense volumes oS smoke, while dis agreeable and suffOcating, could still be endured. But being cOOped up there, in that hole underground, un- able to venture forth, choked by the fumes, their faces smarting from the heat, the eafth walls holding them in prison, death waiting for them which ever way they turned, brought a strain to Olga sho could no longer combat. Impulsively she clutched the man beside her, her head touching his shoulder, her slender form trembling to a sudden outburst.
 Don't lose your nerve" he whis- pered, startled by her action, nothing can hurt us here"
 "Oh. know; it Is not that" the words almost sob. T do not think am really frightened; only I-I want to feel you near me"
 "Me l" he questioned surprised: 'why, I haven't been much good so far"
 "Oh, but you have; you have been splendid No woman could ever ask more. I want you to know how grate- ful am."
 "Wel, don't just like that" he protested. 'aThere ain't no cause for you to be grateful, so far as can see. A man who wouldn't stick with bis wife wouldn't be much"
 "Are you here just because of that?"
 "WeI, maybe not altogether. Of course, I'd be here anyhow. I wouldn't go back on no woman who belonged to me. But you aln't just that exnct- ly. I've somehow got to thinkin' lot about you lately"
 ''Truly?"
 Sure; there's a heap O things hap pened since we was lined up against the wall of that shack down at Ponca. I've found out more what you are than knew then; an, reckon, you got a better line on me-"
 "I-I chose you even then"
 "Out O that bunch! I don't take that as no great compliment. Say, that was the ornariest lot O cattle I ever rode herd over."
 ooh, I don't know" her mood chang ing into new interest. There were some among them not so bad. Any, how. chose you"
 Maybe you're sorry sinceT"
 "I am not" firmly. "I never have been. See here, Tom Shelby, I pretty near knew what sort of man you was when I you; your face told me that. You thought I just took you so as to get away. Well, maybe I did in a sense, for I would have done al- most anything to escape from that life. But I never would have gone with you, if I hadn't honestly liked you just the same. You said in the cabin there that you didn't marry me because you knew had money-that you had no such knowledge. Was that trueT
 Certainly"
 'Then why did you marry meT"
 His face, burning from the heat of the nearby flames, grew redder. If pos sible, with embarrassment. Her eyes were gazing straight at him, insistent of an answer.
 'sWell, I ain't exactly sure that know" he admitted reluctantly. May be I sorter sympathized with you a bit, an then I got almighty mad at the way them fellows acted. I-I kinder got to wantin' you myself"
 'I knew you did"
 "You knew2 But how? I never said anything like that"
 "No; yet felt the change. would never have said yes otherwise. am willing to tell you now. Perhaps we shall never get out of this place