Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1930-10-24
At the Devils
Whirlpool
By CHARLES SLOAN REID


(Copyright.l
THE top of Bald Cliff stood revealed
= In the moonlight; and outlined
there were two figures near the edge
of the rock From the base of the cliff,
far below, came the sound of rush
ing waters. The DEVILS Whirlpool, a
miniature maelstrom. lay below, the
depths of whose swirl no one knew.
"Jane, don't put me off no longer,
honey" Mat Granger was holding the
girls hands with his eager lips but
few inches from hers.
"But, Mat yuh don't know-no, yuh
don't know!"
"But l do know, Jane. Amt the old
man ever give in yit?"
mo, Mat, an tibet amt the wust-
he amt ever goin' to-"
Lord, honey, an air yuh goin' to
let tibet stand atwixt US forever? We
can run away an get married; and
when we come back. the old man can't
say nothin'."
A distinct shudder passed through
the girls frame. "Thet's jest 1t, Mat
Paw saws If run away wi yuh, he'll
fOller yuh down an shoot yuh, shore"
Mat laughed. "Fll risk tibet"
mo, no, no; yuh don't know Paw.
It's all on account O. yore Paw shoot
In his brother bout them hogs, twenty
year ago. OF course 1t was self-de-
Tense, an Paw knows it; but some
how he can't git it out'n his system"
"Jane!" Mats words came in short,
quick breaths; "ef yuh wont run away
wi me, I'll steal yuh, honey. Eff l
can't have yuh, I'd jest as soon be
dead. So what's the difference?"
Back in the cabin, fifty yards away,
Jeff Slocum woke from maudling
sleep, with hiccoughs. "Hm-hic-I
reckon got to get up an drink about
a bucketful of water" he decided
From corner he took down gourd
from nail in the wall, and dipped
the bowl of 1t into a bucket which
stood on shelf there. AT length he
turned toward the he'd, his hiccoughs
quoted. Passing the open door of a
shed room, he glanced at a bed near
an opposite window, upon which the
moonlight now fell. Quickly turning
about he called.
"NIaw?"
"Wat's the matter now, Paw" came
from the bed he lately had left.
"Whar's Jane?"
lord, I don't know; eff she amt
in bed"
swell, she amt, nuther."
'"Thet's funny"
"Taint funny, nuther, efn she's run
off wi tibet scamp, Mat Granger. May
be she amt got fur"
SlOcum hurried to the front door
of the cabin. He had thought of the
cliff. He had courted his own wife
there in her girlhood, and remembered.
Creeping through the bushes he ap-
preached the rock in roundabout
way, and soon cam, up just in the rear
of IT. His teeth went together with a
snap when he recognized Mat and
lane. They were standing some dis
lance npart, Mat quite near the edge
of the rock. Slocum's blood boiled.
The old hog feud rose in his thoughts.
Half Il dozen bounds would bring him
TO Mat Changers back. Maybe he
could he quick enough to accomplish
the deed he had resolved upon before
lane could give warming. Crouching,
he planted his left foot behind him to
mid in the first spring. A slight i'm
pact from his Outstretched hands
would send the young mountaineer
over the edge of the rock and into the
whirlpool below.
Presently there was the sound of
body shooting forward through the
leaves of the shrubbery, Jane screamed,
and Mat quickly ierked his head about
Realizing the nature of the onslaught
Mat stepped aside just in time to es-
cape the catapultna form of Slocum.
SlOcums momentum was such that he
could not stop. In an instant he had
shot. head foremost. over the edge
of the cliff Jane capped her hands
to her eyes. and sank to the rock.
"For Gods sake, little help here,
Janet" The words came from Mat in
little gasps.
Jane sprang to her feet AS Slo-
Gums body had shot past Mats hands
suddenly had swept Outward-just In
time to seize one foot of the big noun.
taineer as his body disappeared over
the brink OF the precipice. Slocum
now hung suspended down the face of
the rock. while Mat, lying fiat upon
the cliff, was clinging to that one foot.
"Glt long stick back there, Jane,
an let yuhr dad git hold of 1t, while
you lie down like | be-
Jane obeyed.
snow, Slocum," Mat directed, "you
climb tibet stick; an don't yuh do It
WI no jerkin', nuther."
1t was hard work and required time;
but In the end SlOcum lay painting on
top of The rock. while Mat and Jane
stood over him. II was some minutes
before the old man had recovered.
Then he thrust hand toward Mat.
Granger grasped 1t warmly.
"Yuh can have err Mat ! been lest
a gol-derned fool, not 10 know a man
when seed one" Taking Jane by the
shoulders he thr dst her into the arms
of Mat.
"What yuh say now, Jane?" Mat
held her close TO his breast.
"Itll be any time you say, Mat"
Jane buried her face against his neck.