Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1922-11-10

Then he saw the file pause, and it
seemed to him that words, too faint
for him to understand, reached him
across the moonlit spaces. Then one
of the party turned off toward the
ridge.
He guessed that it was Simon. He
thought the man was riding toward
Linda's home.
He watched until the shadows had
hidden them all. Then, straining up
ward, he tested his bonds. He tugged
with the full strength of his arms, but
there was not the play of an inch be-
tween his wrists. The Turner'S had
done their work well. Not the slight
est chance of escape lay in this quar-
ter
He wrenched himself to one side,
then looked about him. The fields
stretched even and distant on one side.
but he saw that the dark forest was
but fifty yards away on the other. He
listened; and the little night sounds
reached him clearly. They had been
to delightful fancies of a fawn steal
ing through the thickets, or some OF
the Little People in their scurried,
tremulous business of the night hours.
But lying helpless at the edge of the
forest they were nothing to rejoice
in now He tried to shut his ears to
them.
He rolled again to his back and
tried to find peace for his spirit in the
stars. There were millions of them.
They were larger and more bright
than any time he had ever seen them.
They stood in their high places, wholly
Indifferent and impassive to all the
strife and confusion of the world be-
could partake of their spirit enough so
that he could rise above the fear and
bitterness that had begun to oppress
him. But only the pines could talk to
them. Only the tall trees, stretching
upward toward them, could reach into
their mysterious calm.
His eyes discerned a thin filament
of cloud that had swept up from be-
hind the ridges, and the sight recalled
him to his own position with added
force. The moonlight, soft as it was
had been a tremendous relief to him.
At least. it would have enabled him
to keep watch. and now he dreaded the
fall of utter darkness more than he
had ever dreaded anything in his life.
1t was an ancient instinct, coming
straight from the young days Of the
world when nightfall brought the hunt
ing creatures to the mouth of the cave,
but he had never really experienced it
before.
He watched with growing horror the
slow extension of the clouds. Finally
the moon swept under them.
The shadow fell around Bruce For
the first time he knew the age-old ter
ror of the darkness. He no Longer
knew himself as one of a dominant
breed. master of all the wild things in
the world He was simply a living
creature in grim and unconquered
world alone and helpless in the terror
of the darkness.
The moonlight alternately grew and
died as the moon passed in and ont
of the heavier cloud patches. Winds
must have been blowing in the nigh
lanes of the air, but there was 40
breath of them where Bruce lay The
forests were silent, and the little rus
things and STRINGS that reached him
from time to time only seemed to ac-
centuate the quiet.
He speculated on how many hours
had passed. He wondered if he could
| dare to hope that midnight had al
| ready gone by and, through some di-
lovergence from wilderness customs, the
| grizzly had failed to return to his
| feast 1t seemed endless hours since
he had re-entered the empty rooms of
! Linda's home. A wave of hope crept
through the whole hydraulic system of
his veins. And then, as sudden sound
reached him from the forests at one
| side, that bright wave of hope turned
| black, receded and left only despair.
He heard the sound but dimly. In
| fact, except for his straining with ev.
cry nerve alert, he might not have
heard it at ALL Nevertheless, distance
alone had dimmed it; it had been q
large sound to start with. So far haC
it come that only a scratch on the
eardrums was left of it !; but there was
no chance to misunderstood it, II
| cracked out to him through the unfath
Omable silence, and all the elements by
which he might recognize it were dis
tinct. 1t was the noise of heavy
thicket being broken down and parted
before an enormous body.
He listened, straining. Then he
heard the sound again. Whoever came
toward him had passed the heavy
brush by now. The sounds thai
reached him were just faint and inter
mittent whispers-frst of twis
cracking beneath a heavy foot, ther
| the rattle of two pebbles knocked to
| gether. Long moments of utter silence
would ensue between, in which ht
| could hear the steady drum of his
heart In his breast. and the long rol
of his blood in his veins.