The Arvada enterprise., 1921-05-26

I himself, and licked about in % y
| slant Of bswildesment. A. the treo
Of his situation reassertsd atssn. -
sat up. conscious Of stiffness In evss.
Joint, yet reinvigorated BY sevetei
hours OF rest. He faced day OF u
activity, q hard demand upon man
Of his temperament. and he was -
slow a. possible over 4 meager oreak'
fast. his eyes continually wanderins
toward the narrow opening. a. hAe
mind again reviewed the occurrences
Of the day before.
Finally, unable to resist the tempta'
ton longer. he ventured to thrust hia
head through the entrance to learn
something more definite - to his sur
roundings. All he could perceive was
the shelf Of rock, with q considerable
coping about its outer edge, together
with q few feet Of the descending
trail. On the other hand q 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 passaEeway
which Pancha had said led finally 70
the TOP Of the gorge. and along which
she planned to guide their future e.
cape. Beyond the outer edge Of the
shelf there was nothing but sky visi.
BILE. and. believing the coping would
conceal his movements from observa-
ton below. Shelby pushed his way out
through the opening. and crept on
hands and knees to where he cautious
" could gaze over.
He was higher up on the cliR than
he had previously realized. although
its precipitous front yet lowered men
acingiy above. The view below was
like that of q 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 a side
ravine. 50 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 4 glimpse Of the main stream.
could pick out what he believed to BE-
the log house from which he had es-
capped. while. within a grove 80 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 bs
IT. He stared down q long while. but
without reward.
Yet there seemed to be much pass
ing and repassing along the main val.
ley; black. ill-denned figures Of men
on horseback almost constantly visible.
He was gurprised at the number.
never having supposed that this colony
Of outlaws was 20 numerous. An
other thing, while he could not clear
~ 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 Isettlements7 o.
WAS It possible that the troops had a.
ready struck. and driven the rem
nants Of scattered war parties into
this Hole for refugef In either case
their presence In such numbers reo.
dered his own position 20 much more
precarious, and increased the danger
surrounding Olga. He felt that. In
spite Of his pledge to the Mexican girl,
be 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 reasoa
why he should remain entirely inae-
tive. At the very best she could ae.
complish nothing before night. and
had held out very little hope for even
then. There were 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 a. Of minor importance: |:
that Indian Joe. convinced that b.
could never gst out Of the Hole unoo-
served, took no immediate interest in
trailing him. What was the use. u1lU
hs must eventually surrenderf II
would be simple matter to steal eau
tiously down through that deep cleft
In the rocks, ~ far. At least. ~ he
stream below. He would Be concealed
ail the way. and once there. hidden
securely among those thick bushes. ~
might then learn what was actually
occurring. II would b far better fol
him to know. Besides, this would b
no disioyalty to Pancha: even II she
sought him hs would still b. In tho
path she must follow. and. % long -
he remained undiscovered. Just where
hs was concealed could make no poo-
sible difference. The argument satis.
0sd his mind. because be felt be muse
act: must make some effort Of bis
own.