The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1937-07-30

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pass. Just as he was in the act of
quenching his thirst, he heard a
rasping challenge behind him.
Whirling about and drawing at
the same time, he had seen Scrap
Johnson standing a short distance
away.
| The next instant there had been
the roar and blaze of two guns.
Scrap Johnson's bullet had reached
Its mark first, while Ted's went
wild. From that point, memory
Registered nothing but blank void
shot through with excruciating
pain and horror-filled nightmares.
Doubtless Scrap Johnson had de-
cided to ride on, and leave him
here to die.
All details of the night blurred
into delirium, as the pain in his
chest swept over him again. But
while the delirium persisted, he
did not completely lose conscious
ness.
Through the delirium ran SUBJ
conscious viii to live, determina-
ton to pull through for Kay's sake.
She needed him. He mustn't fail
herI
BY . gigantic effort, and pro-
PEELED by this insistent inner force,
Ted pulled himself up on his
hands and knees and began slowly
and painfully to drag his aching
body along the rocky edge of the
stream.
Two thoughts possessed him
above all others. He mustn't lose
the trail of the water. He must
stay by it, so that he could quench
the thirst that burned in him. And
he mustn't let himself relax and
lie down. Once he did that, he
would never get up again.
Gradually the dawn lghtened
into day. Dull clouds scudded
across the sky and no sun app
peared to glisten on the headwa-
tiers of the Bitter Root and Clear
Water rivers. Ted had managed to
drag himself 500 yards or more
through the scrub pines that
dotted the southeastern slope Of
the divide.
At the point Of exhaustion, but
still animated by that mysterious
viii to live that functions without
any conscious control, he pushed
on to small clearing that APP
peared Unexpectedly through the
trees.
At the far end of it he could see
I a tumbled down and apparently
deserted shack. Making for it, in a
blind instinct to reach shelter, Ted
struggled over to this goal, mutt
term in incoherent delirious
phrases.
Shelter AT Last
a S he approached, there was
; slight movement behind the
shattered window. The next min-
ute, a feminine figure appeared in
the broken down doorway.
For a terrified second, the girl
on the threshold and the exhaust
ed and delirious man stared at
each other. The girl clutched the
lsagging wooden frame Of the door.
Her brown eyes were wide, and
her dark hair seemed in sharp COM
trast to her face, which showed up
without an ounce Of color in her
startled surprise of the moment.
The amazement in her look
gradually changed to concern as
she took in Ted's desperate plight,
and with cry Of pity, she ran
over to him and stopped down to
try to help him.
With a convulSive effort, Ted
struggled to straighten up, but
with a groan, he sank back un-
conscious.
Her first terrified surprise over,
the girl proved herself equal to
the emergency facing her. She
could not have been more than
is, but she had why strength in
her tall slender frame.
Half carrying, half dragging
Ted, she managed to get him to the
door of the shack. The sky had
gradually darkened with heavy
clouds that piled up in the east
and threatened a sudden down.
pour.
After one glance at the lowering
sky, the girl darted inside the tiny
foreclosure and quickly made I'D the
cot on which she evidently had
spent the night.
Then, with one last mighty eff
fort, she pulled Ted inside and
managed to lift him onto the cot
just as the first heavy drops of the
storm splashed on the roof Of the
shack.
Painting from her exertion, she
leaned back 3 moment against the
wall. and studied the face Of the
man she had brought ia.
Evidently treasured by what
she saw. she dropped to her knees
with q murmur of pity. and ex-
amined his wound. Her fingers
worked with a gentle experiences.
Rising to her feet, she took q
basin and filed IL with water. Then
she pulled a clean cloth from the
drawer Of rude wash-stand in
ore corner, and deity proceeded
20 wash Ted'S wound.
The rain, gathering with the
swift intensity Of mountain storms.
beat q wild tattoo on the roof, and
gusts OF wind shook the tiny shell
ter 70 its foundations. But the girl
was oblfvious 70 the elements out
side as she bent, with absorbed at
tention. to her battle with life and
death.
fCopsrigAfs 1857. Aferss e. Nerraadf
Kay Is disappointed wksn Tea fniIs
BE- arrive. tamerrow.