The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1923-01-17
THE
SKYLINE
SPRUCE
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without outward motion. intrigued
by the possibilities OF this little hand
ful OF berries. She shuddored once.
nervousiy, but there was no further
impulse OF romorsa Perhapa she
tremhled slightly: and her eyes were
simply depthleas shadows under her
browa.
They were so little. seemingly no
inoffensive; these dark berries In tho
shadows OF the covert They were
scarcely 20 be noticed twico Hut not
even tho savage grirxly was OF such
might: storms or scas were not 50
deadly. There they were. inoon-
spicuous among their sister plants.
waiting for her hand
II was right that they shouid b
black In color. Their hiackneas was
as OF black night without star
shining thru--a black cloud with
never n rainbow TO promise hope. She
could no, turn her eyes away How
black they were among the green
leaves a. death itself.
A handful Of them meant death;
hor father had warned her about
them long ago. Hut half handful
perhaps dozcn OF the sable herrle.
In tho palm OF her hand-what did
they meant Just a sickness wherein
one could no longer guard a prisoner.
They were a powerful aikaioid. she
knew. and n dozen OF them would
likely mean hours and hours OF deep.
droamlcss sicep-a sleep IN which
one could take no reckoning OF hands
fumhinw NJ a cartridge beity Half
a handful would. In all probability.
fail TO strike tho life from such q
powerful frame as Ren's. but would
certainly act upon him like n power
fui opiate and leave him helpless IN
her hands.
Eagerly her fingers plucked tho
black herriea
xxxiU
In one OF the TIN cups Beatrice
pressed tho juice from the night
shade. obtaining perhaps table
spoonful OF black liquor To this she
added considerable sugar. barely
tasting tho mixture on the end OF
her finger. The balance WAS ineiin-
ing toward the success Of her plan.
The sugar mostly killed the pungent
taste of the berries
Then she concealed the cup In .
cluster OF vines. ready for tho mo-
ment Of need Her next act was 10
procure from among tho supplies the
little cardboard box containing half
dozen or 40 OF her pistol shells
The way OF safety was 10 destroy
those FIRST. The effect OF tho poison
might BE- Of only a few minutes
duration. and evsry motion might
count. Under any conditions. they
would BE- out Of tho way. She was
careful. with q superl.five cunning.
to take the boz M weii a. It's con-
tsnts She foresaw tina; In all iiseii-
hood Ben would sock ths shells a.
soon ~ he fired tho few that re-
NAMED In hi. pistol magazine: and
an empty contAinsr might put him
upon bis guard On ths othor hand.
n b. could not mad the boz 1T all.
he could easily b led 70 beiisvv that
n had been simply misplaced among
the othsr supplies
She scattered thu shells In ths
heavy brush where not evan the
bright. searching eyes OF the Canada
jay might even find them Then shs
FASTENED up the ridge TO meet Ben
on hts way to the cave.
She waited q few minutes. then
-..xt,x IA. sfnfwarf frrt,. - sha cdr.
OF the beaver meadow. she tripped
down TO meet him. lie was not In
the least suspicious Of this little act
OF friendship II was quite the Gus
somary thing. lately. for her thus TO
watch for his coming; and his brown
face always lighted with pleasure at
tho first glimpse OF her graceful form
framed by the spruce. she too had
always taken pleasure In these little
meetings and In the gay talk they
had an they sped down toward tho
cavern: but her delight was singular
~ absent today. She tried TO restrain
the wild racipg OF her heart
She knew abe must act her part.
Her plan was 20 put him off his
guard. 10 hide her treachery with
pretended friendship. To meet him
hero-far distant from the poison cup
hidden In the would give her
time 10 master her Ieaping heart and
70 strengthen her seif-confrol
Yet she had hardly expected him
TO greet hor IN just this way--with
such light IN his eyes and such OBJ
yfou. delight In hts smile He had n
rather boyish. friendly smile. this foo