The Snyder signal. (Snyder, Tex.) 1887-????, 1921-05-06

I Sank Unconscious Upon the Ground.
little doorway had been naked. Be.
fore me was a small patch OF mOonl!t
sky which showed through q ragged
aperture.
As my hands passed over my body
they came In contact with pockets and
IN one OF these a small parcel OF
matches wrapped In oiled paper. One
OF these matches / struck, and It's dim
fame lighted up what appeared TO be
a huge cave, toward the back OF which
! discovered strange. stiil figure
huddled over tiny bench. As I sp-
preached Il saw that q. vas the dead
and mummifed remains % little Old
woman with long black hair. and the
thing Il leaned over was a small char
cosl burner upon which rested a
round copper vessel containing
small quantity " greenlsh powder.
Behind her. depending from the root
upon rawhide thongs snd stretching
entirely across the cave. was row OF
human skeletons. From tho lhOns
which held them stretched another to
the dead hand OF the little old woman
as I touched the ord the skeletons
swung to the motion with noise as OF
the rustllng OF dry leaves.
Il was a most grotesque and horrld
tableau and | fastened out into ths
fresh air; glad to escape from SO grue.
some a place.
The sight that met my eyes as !
stepped out upon a small ledge which
ran before the entrance OF the cave
fled me with CONSERVATION.
A new heaven and a new landscape
met my gaze. The sIlyered mountains
10 the distance. the almost stationary
moon hanging In the sky, the cacti-
studded valley below me were not %
Mars | could scarce believe my eyes,
but the truth slowly forced Itself upon
mel was looking upon Arizona from
the same ledge from which ten years
before had gazed with longing upon
Mars.
Burylus my head 90 my arms /
turned, broken, and sorrowful down
the trail from the cave.
Above me shone the red eye Ok Mars
holding her awful secret, forty-esght
million miles away.
Did the Marian reach the pump
room? Did the WALKING air reach
the people OF that distant planet in
time to save them Was my Dejah
Thoris alive, or did her beautiful body
lie cold I'm death beside the tiny golden
incubator In The sunken garden OF the
inner courtyard OF the palace OF Tar
dos Mors, the jeddak Of HelIuml
For ten years ! have waited and
prayed for an answer to my questions.
For ten years have waited and
prayed to be taken back 20 the world
OF my lost love. would rather lie
dead beside her there than live or
earth all those millions OF terrible
niles from her
The old mine, which I found un'
touched, has made me fabulously
wealthy; but what care for wealth
As | sit here t0nlgRl IN ny HtNie
study overlooking the Hudson, just
twenty years have elapsed since irst
opened my eyes upon Mars.
I can see her shining in the sky
through the little window By my desk,
and tonight she seems calling to me
again as she has not called before
since that long dead night, and think
can see, across that awful abyss OF
space, beautiful black-haircd woman
standing In the garden OF a palace, and
at her side is a little boy who puts his
arm around her as she points into the
SKY toward the planet Earth, while al
their feet Is huge and hideous crea-
ture with heart OF gold.
believe that ihF are wa'i'ag Tor
re. AMI somciline '-, : 'u~ f!ot ] shal
zuun know