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

sat up, conscious of stiffness in every joint, yet reinvigorated by several hours of rest. He faced a day of tn- activity, a hard demand upon man of his temperament, and he was as 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- tion 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 a considerable coping about it's outer edge, together with a few feet of the descending trail. On the other hand a 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 top 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 visi- ble, 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 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 a 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, 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 a 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 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 it2 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-deined 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- dians. 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 uietly, without endeavoring to learn more of what had actually oc- cured during the night.
 1o1r why he should remain entirely inac- tive. At the very best she could ac- 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. 1t 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 1n trailing him. What was the use, when he must eventually surrenderT r would be simple matter to steal cau- 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. It would be far better for him to know. Besides, this would be no disloyalty to Pancha; even if she sought him he would still be in the hath she must follow, and, so long as he remained undiscovered, just where he was concealed could make no pos sible difference, The argument satis- 6od his mind because he felt he must