The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1925-09-04
The
Vanishing
Men
BY
i Richard
/ Washburn
Il Child
CHAPTER XIX-Continued
Copyright by q. p. Dutton q Coz
wNU Service.

snow he goes running out along the
walls searching for something. Look
Here! He ran out along the base
of the wall searching"
For what?"
For bits of wood-for anything that
would burn-for fuel. He must have
funeral pyre. He has been craZed
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"
Yes, 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 a
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 a
mortuary.
Peter" she said.
YES, dear"
81 want to tell you, Peter, that you
need not worry about me. 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 a
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"
Our way" he insisted, correcting
her. mot ways. The earning of our
way, together"
She shook her head a little as f
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
fertilization wall.
There" said he. "You did not see
ii as we drove in"
Standing on the desert, like a ragged
unkempt improperly, was the ruin OF
touring car. All that was left of its
top was hanging in wispy strips on
the metal frame, its paint and varnisll
had almost gone, the tires had
hardened and crumbled on the wheels
shreds of. dry rotted leather dangled
from the cushions. Motionless, dead
silent as all else. the car, as If II
were shabby outcast thrown out to
die. appeared disconsolate, ready ia
send forth a wall of loneliness into
the emptiness. 1t had turned its back
upon Pueblo Mescalero. as II 1t had
wanted to go away but could not.
HE came in that, Peter?" Brena
asked.
yes"
But never took It away. Did he
kill himself?"
"No," Peter answered. "a great alb
stract justice-a great equity from
which there was no appeal-sat In
trial of him here. tell you. Brena,
the thing is of magnificent. awe-inspir.
ing dignity. It's tremendous thing
AN unforgettable majesty of inexor.
able dealing out of sentences. The
place of his crime was the scene of
his trial, his conviction and sentence.
He died as Hennepin had died-or
thirst"
Brena started to speak.
mo, not yet" Peter said. AS Hen.
nepin had suffered. so he suffered.
More, perhaps, because in his car
Just as we have-he had two-days
supply of water. Do you see that
black thing out there on the desert
1t is metal container for water. He
was SO crazed that he had tried To
II oil xr,fth i'm
journey through the sand When he
lost hope after many miles he dragged
1t back. tapping It's contents TO wet
his cracking lips until the last drop
was gone"
"But the carr" she asked "Whar
happened to the carr"
1.-THE car was all right" replied
front of it. Look behind 1.-THE
tracks 1t had made from the enclosure
entrance. But here II stopped. Oh,
I tell you, II is thing of stateliness
-as IL some great hand had come
down."
Brena stared at him in open-eyed
wonderment.
he was me lHStTuInent OF justice
he himself" Peter went on. IA man
who would save his life. lost It. The
madness of fear brought all that he
had TO fear-and more"
He paused.
"Brena, / will tell you" he said In
a hushed, awed voice. THE man was
mad. IRRESPONSIBLE. without power to
reason. He was In a panic of fear.