Show e ci 1 AV le d v IFS oliver Cut wood ca INC I 1 service CHAPTER VW VII 13 ive a notion to ride this log through the gorge 1 exclaimed lucy belle i wont want to know what Is un an fler and between those walls walla which you say oily no ore lias has ever explored colin what do you suppose can be there an inferno of devils I 1 imagine replied tier her husband possibly not fairles fairies might ive there suggested claire Ll alre A black and sunless place where lovely water maids without eyes frolic in the darkness added paul imil or a kingdom of where dreams dream sare ure made inalle and sent out into the world sold said carla derwent was nas preparing ills his end of the log for a final heave 1 insist tt it to Is a place of devils dells and death still like lucybelle lucy belle id like to see there after all its lift fifty million years of my mystery steryl are you ready paul ready heady ill I 1 the lug log pitched down and as it went tile the end of it swung alk a living thing and struck paul kven even before the blow la in the lightning flash or of time when eyes behind could see it sweeping upon blin a sudden scream scream filled ailed his bis consciousness and as the timber caught win him he saw it was claire whose cry had bad tried to warn him then lie fie was over with photographic cleanness clea ills eyes aies beheld we his fate the clater seemed to up uj slid catch calcai him film on its oily breast ond and tor for a brief instant after ills there was a sensation not about its hold for some unaccountable rea son he be felt no sense of fear car or terror even when tones forces that were Ir resist but gentle pulled him down lie knew it was death the death they the had played placed with and lightly talked about yet iet its presence closing about ilia him did nut not rob his mind of its vision and judgment nor frighten him film into senseless wrestling with it IL lie ile would cuine come up again all alive ive near dear the jagged ja aged tooth of rock after that hint would mould be his file end and in such nn an hour jig as this seconds set ands beca became tue eternities or of life ills his wife carla lucybelle lucy belle and derwent were ere still nearer lenrer to bin than limn the final stroke of death ile be would see them especially claire and carla cm la when ft hen he looked back in those lew few moments of grace which the monster mot ister of the un would glie give min these two and tile the supreme faith which had wrought a comradeship between him ond and nit nil the tones forces of nature gave him and without effort tile the courage not to be afraid the undercurrent undercurrents under currents o In draughts and refluxes carried him with a quiet and deliberate del te leisureliness which gave ahn no physical discomfort except that of holding hla his breath yet they were so BO powerful so utterly sure in their trip that when he be made an experimental effort to reach the surface it will was BS 1113 if be were struggling gillig against a wooden wolden wall to save the air in ills hla lungs lie he restrained himself from further exertion md nd when at last be came up near the rock and felt fresh air to in ills his face he be had bad suffered suf feied no DO greater inconvenience tha 11 if he had taken a long dive ills als fit list I 1 tho I 1 ight wall of tile the log ilia bis second second of tile the granite snag agugust tills this after a moment he felt himself being slowly and throwing throw lug out ills his hands he was thrilled by the fibrous slimy touch of a ropelike rope like substance which had gathered thickly about it just under tile the surface of the water river weeds and flog flag had bad wrapped them selvia tin in a tough belt bell about the rock find and so firmly bad they attached ther them a selves to it unit that he knew they would for a time ah tit least bold up his wilga from rom the sucking undertow unde under itow tov which was already beginning to drug drag at bis big limbs i fia loukes larked toward the cuff and raised one hand to wave at the four who stood blood there with the distance aad aad lie e water in his eyed he could not lot make out which was claire or carla or lucybelle lucy belle but something told him it was his big wife who annd nearest to the edge with her arms reaching out toward him and then on the cliff one woman said bald to another are you going with him halml tile the woman spoken to gazed w wide ide eyed motionless anti after 11 a moment of tinse tense waiting the other said then ihen bacall CHAPTER VIII paul saw tile the swift deliberate plunge through space of the slim glim body which in the uncertainty ol of his bis an instinctive and positive impulse told him was claires Cl alres A womans comans piercing cry came cama from the cliff but no responsive echo of horror escaped hip hi own lips no sound but an articulate gasp lie as the figure struck the water and disappeared an appalling and devastating weakness seized upon him a deadly sickness of shock a thing that loosened the grip of his bis fingers from the clinging belt of weeds weeda and ande him limply against the dragging force of the hie undertow for an instant his bis brain reeled in dark ness he began to go down easily and slowly as if the cruel and mur murderous hands bands below were fearful of arousing tile the inertness to which he had bad momentarily su sti cuin hod then 11 11 paul sa saw the swift deliberate plunge through space of the slim body water kinto his face and startled liliu film henrt and brain in ID response to its tt vr inning arning uno und tie he thrust up wildly unit caught tile the weeds ag agnan a in they hung closely to tile rock all allowing 0 10 lo him to drag ills his hudy up until his h shoulders dels were out of water once ocre more he heard derwent dement shout as if from a mile uway away but he fie palo paid no attention to the cry nor did be look toward the ell cliff IT the thought in his mind was that claire would he DC with him in another iii ollier moment or two she lie would come to the surface near the rock and li he in must he be rendy to seize and hold bold her with arii until the weeds gave way uy or a miricle happened five file or six fret feet from film where tile the water was like a pool of oil that hint had bad no motion a little disturbance sud bud denly flecked its surfaced sur facea il chanse of er unlit light a i dri drieling fling up of something in tangible and shadowy a nebulous blotch which changed under his bh eyes ees to substance a floating mass of hair tile the sun was vias shining tile the water adler was almost blink black but bill there was nas no glint of gold cold in clint he saw the kalir hair waar was dark carlas face became b became a part of it in a moment it 11 a seemed to him that the monsters mun stera who lived about tie the rock held her up tor for him with a smile on oil her illas and in her eyes her anee toward him ana her arms arins reaching out he fie was halt half la in n a daze and might anve fancied some of the things he wow out but carla was there she not his W wife ife had bad come to join him in death dealt the quiet terrible drama of it held him from calling tier her name ashe waited for her to come within his bis reach but ifft the undertow brought her no nearer for a second two of them three or four it held her away from froin him film and each of 0 these seconds second wua a lifetime lu in passing then lie he saw faw the distance bet beteau bete aeu eu them wM wiening ening an and d as it widened ano things below bo b gan to drag carla down she made no struggle did noi dot cry ry out oat to him but only raised tier her ianda itLy ids so BO that be might see they were waiting bior for him na and it him as she went to arr kingdom of her land of dreams dream TO s 82 |