Beverly banner. [volume] (Beverly, N.J.) 1877-1964, 1925-08-07
CHAPTER xIx-Continued

of the wall searching"
For whatY"
'For bits of wood-for anything that
would burn-for fuel. He must have
a funeral pyre. He has been crazeo
by fear again. But he finds nothing
Brena. There is no wood here, no
paper, no grass. There's nothing but
sand and stone. Let him run about
till he drops. There is no mercy for
him. Nothing that will burn. Nothing
within a half hundred miles. Like
Hennepin, he too now screams and the
scream comes back from the cliff with
a terrible mockery."
"But he did find fuel, Peter" she
said. HE must have found some
thing"
Eyes, he found something that would
do-not very well, as we can see. He
had hoped for better results than he
got. Come"
On the way toward the gate OF the
fertilization walls Peter stopped and
kicked at a blackened spot on the
sand. He said laconically, Their fire.
Where they ate their last supper to-
gether-the vanished men,"
The sun had dropped below the
mountains above the mesa; its
needed fire had settled down into
hot layer of dull, sullen heat. But
beyond the wall where their car stood
the open desert, bare, cruel, with the
heat waves running like endless herds
of sheep along the quivering horizon,
was a relief from that strange spell
of the dried well, the ruins, the fine
yellow gray dust, and the silence.
Brena filled her lungs as one does
who has come from the interior of
mortuary.
"Peter," she said.
Eyes, dear"
81 want to tell you, Peter, that you
need not worry about me. l am all
right. 1t is necessary for me to know.
And I'm going to know, Peter, with
out any weakening. We've come too
far for that"
He took her hand.
"I'm not willing to let this make
scar on me, Peter" she said. 'I've
paid in full before this. So show me.
And then let's turn toward the earn
ing Of our ways"
sour way" he insisted, correcting
her. mot ways. The earning of our
way, together"
She shook her head little as II
some doubt had stirred within, but
they were outside the wall now and
Peters eyes were upon that which he
had seen before.
He dropped behind her and turned
her body so that she faced toward
the bend In the southern end Of the
fortification wall
There said he. "You did not see
1t as we drove in"
Standing on the desert, like a ragged
unkempt improperly. was the ruin OF
a touring car. All that was left of its
top was hanging in wispy strips on
the metal frame, its paint and varnish
had almost gone, the tires had
hardened and crumbled on the wheels.
shreds of dry rotted leather daDeied
from the cushions. Motionless, dead,
silent as all else, the car, as It II
were a shabby outcast thrown oug "a
die, appeared disconsolate, ready 70
send forth a wall of loneliness into
the emptiness. 1t had turned its baek
upon Pueblo Mescalero, as IL 1t had
wanted to go away but could not
HE came In that. Peter?" Brens
asked.
EYES,"
"But never took 1t away. Did as
kill himself?"
mo" Peter answered. "a great d..
stract justice--a great equity from
which there was no appeal-sat ID
trial of him here / tell you, Bre1a
the thing is of magnificent. awe-insliF
ing dignity. It's tremendous than
--an unforgettable majesty of inexor
able dealing out of sentences. tt,
place of his crime was the scene Of
his trial, his conviction and sentence
He died as Hennepin had died-ol
thirst"
Brena started to speak.
mo, not yet" Peter said. "As Hen
nepin had suffered so he suffered
More, perhaps. because in his car
lust as we haye-he had two-days
supply of water Do you see that
black thing out there on the desert
1t is a metal container for water. He
was so crazed that he had tried tC
drag it along with him on hopeless
Journey through the sand. When he
lost hope after many miles he dragged
it back, tapping its contents to wet
his cracking lips until the last drop
was gone"
but the carp she asked. what
happened to the carp
"The car was all right" replied
Peter. "Come this way, Don't go In
front of 1t. Look behind 1.-THE
tracks 1t had made from the enclosure
entrance. But here It stopped. Oh,