New Britain herald., 1924-06-16
Dorothy Disturbed

'VfptNf
 To Dorothy were left the hills and the sky, the steep crags and the alder thieketes, many-colored by tho whims of the frost. That strange mood of utter loneliness that she remembered from many tragic dream settled upon her, weighing her down seem inEly about to kill her with its burden upon her heart. and with it a sense Of absolute futility and hclplessness. There was no special sense of terror because tho Loneliness was itself terror in it's last degree, and it per- vaded all her being. She was all alone, lost as in dream. She stood a solitary figure in an ullpLp bitcd waste: the empty barrens MNlching down to the barren sea: the hills, gray with dying herbaye, rolling on and losing themselves al last behind the curtains of the clouds: the gray, forbidding crags piled np in endless grim heaps about her. lt was lone ly, utterly chccrlcss vista Of dead sky and dead world. and the blast Of the wind was too unvarying and monoto- nous to destroy the effect Of silence.
 
 own life as she stared down at the yawning hole in the snow crust through which Pete had fallen. Her thoughts were those of half-delirium --abstract terror, queer cratic fan- cies, that were darkened and sha- dowed with a sudden, secret knowl- edge Of the dread meaning Of life. She had known sccurity-the last dream. the dearest blessing in all the uncertain tsiils Of life-but it had de- paEied. and now she was exposed to the punishment Of Destiny. or course Pete vas dead. Such chasms were of fearful depth. The dull red cooiing paled slowly in her face. and she swsyed as if about to drop down.
 Yet she must not lose conscious ness. 1t was part Of the grim code of the grim land to fight to the last breath: such was part of the obliga- ton of all living things. Pete him. self had made that plain. She be- gan to climb down the hill, stumbling. sliding in the loose rarth. fighting through the alder thickcts. Her delicate skin was scratched and torn: her hands bled from grasping tho sharp rocks. Soon she reached the brink of the chasm.
 One glance showed 1t to be moro than sixty feet in dcpth-at the point she encountered it fifst--and a small stream flowed between great boui- ders~at the bottom. Here the banks were covered with a heaty. impass- able growth Of aiders. She followed down the brink short distance. then began 10 work her way down into the gully itself.
 Haif-slidinr. haif-ruruinE. in im- minent danger of breaking her bones on the rocks al the bottom. she made her way to the stresrT bed. then fought on ID toward the place where Pete had fallen. The banks were too sheer to find footholds. so sine walked in the stream. the icy water splash ing over her as she slipped and stumbled on the slippery stones. Soon she vanished into a cavern formed by inc sHoN-bank completely bridging the gully. The Ehsdous slopiy gathered. the farther she vent under the roof of snow until finally she rroped her way in curious ssn tHilirht that zas like tils grarness Of a dream.
 The gapping rent in the snowy roof above showed her where Pete had fallen. She made out long shadow among tlie boaiders .of the creek bed. and at once she kneit in the shallow water at his side.