Show O O O CK X OO OOS o ol V Vv S v 8 X 8 0 l HER 0 w o 0 v vo I o 0 gilt m o 0 ATONEMENT 8 0 0 nt 8 A oo o 0 pl 01 g A By Herbert Hey wood 0 I C o o O c O o n James Jam L F Ferguson in a gray hunting hunt huntIng hunting Ing suit ault stepped off the train at the th station of 01 Hot Springs In the heart of 01 the Colorado C Rookies As te made a rapid turn up an I down the platform his clear blue eyes took In the tho whole Inspiring scene acene of that Upper world work The dazzling white whitecliffs cliffs rifling rJ ln II feet Ceet straight up from the narrow canyon of Chalk creek threw throw b buck ck the echoes from the raging a cad at their feet y Yes It ft In is alt all here Just as ae when I Iwas Iwas was a young JOung adventurer all except th big horn hum that used u ed to herd at the tile foot of tn tM the cliffs The traveler uttered the words as he ho turned to a mountain non nan who stood with folded arms leaning on In the butt of his rifle W Well Veil 11 sir air the big horn is pretty nigh gone now ye dont see no more of or orett ett em n from the railroad track These en ginee eln puffing and screeching up over Alpine pass has hae ha scared em all out of 0 sight Ight those these fifteen years ears They are the Ute wildest and things In the th mountains but I know where to find om em yet yot Then youre my man for I have come Omit all the way from Crom New York to got tot another crack at them and carry carryn n u pair of horns herns back with me said Ferguson Capitalist t and trust magnate m he had returned after atter two decades that change a ilL youth uth into a R mature man to revisit the scene Hene ofhie of his hili first strike in the St StElmo Elmo mine and the scene too of or his love and romance With the he guide he was seen on his way to the fastnesses ees ot of o the Chalk cliffs cUffs that Jut out from Mt Prince tons southern elope slope That night they spent In the hut but of an abandoned mine far tar up on the mountain Some time after Ferguson had fallen Callen asleep he rose on his elbow with a start and ani an glared t the open doorway I 1 surely sure saw her he muttered as young oung and fair as when they called her herthe herthe herthe the bolle belie of the valley valle and I was her Mover Clover But that was twenty years ago and I 1 am dreaming about a woman who must have been n a wife wiCe and mother mothe man many a year and he settled himself again to sleep But In spite of his ef efforts efforts efforts forts he could not rid his mind of that vision of a pretty retty mountain girl stand standIng standIng standing Ing In the doorway of the cabin he whole hole form Illuminated by a fitful flash of or the lying dying fire It was the twilight of dawn when the guide aroused him and they crept outside Groping among the scrub cedars and copses of quaking ash the two hunters made their way to the up upper upper per ridges Below Belo them was an abyss so deep that its foot was still dark in inthe Inthe the gloom of night while the tint of dawn way wax Va on the crags above Were Vere on the Chalk cliffs now tiow where only the big horn live said saidI I tile the guide Ide as he dropped on his hands and knees knee Look out for Cor the grounds mighty shifty here and und he started cautiously along the topmost ridge of the cliff Ferguson followed his cx ex Glancing downward on either cither side ho he shuddered shu and became zy at the fearful black depths below bolow him He looked upward to throw off the sIck sickening ening g vertigo v Its on this ridge the herd berd comes to their grounds shouted back the guide b t be ready with your gun If IC they once get a whiff whit of ofus ofUS us UK see ate fe no more big bl horn here for fora fora a wary momet the ridge was narrow narrowing narrowIng ing lag As Ferguson FerUson crept along on his hAnds hande and knees knee he saw flaw a few Cew rods alive ahead 1 his lite hJ guide kneeling with his gun gunin f in position find and peering intently at nt the t of or the ridge Its the herd a n ae conein oom In but I cant think what malts makes mal s e Rt no an n Men lose a lions lIon after em 1 Tho The crack of a rifle cut through the 1 UH air and an echoed among the cliffs The Th guides bronzed taro face turned a yellow My God he lie cried theres a hunt hunter er on their trail trail In another minute be on top of or ue us Fire Five like h hl 1 when they come in sight of butt us into the gulch guIdi where not even a coyote can pick our carcasses James Ferguson was a brave man bat bet for an instant his heart beart stood still as he the horror of the situation dawned upon him Then he gripped his gun with a firm hand and awaited tHe in inevitable Inevitable evitable tragedy for he knew It would be a duel to the death with the mad maddened maddened mountain sheep and their mighty leader the black big horn buck whose fame Carne had spread all over the The ridge on which the men clung was Va barely a foot Coot wide The tooth like lIko upper ridge of oC a chalk cliff con connected connected connected the rocky heights above with the lower levels of the mountain A sharp click of hoofs and a bunch of tawny sheep heep led by a superb black blackbuck blackbuck blackbuck buck bounded Into view On they came straight for the men leaping over the cliffs shaking their branch branchIng branchIng branching Ing horns In wild fury Give them the ballast now said the guide and both rifles cracked again and again like the rapid fire of machine guns But with his band fall faU falling falling ing and dying about him the invincible ble black buck burk bu k charged on and with witha a rallying cry to his mates closed In Inon Inon inon on the guide Ferguson saw to his horror the big black antlers straight ahead of him and lifted upon them was the fighting struggling form torm of his companion knife in hand tossed In a twinkling high in the air then falling head foremost man and beast down Into the terrible abyss With a sickening sensation Ferguson felt the stones giving way under him I I and grabbed frantically at the jagged rocks which jutted out above him They loosened in his hands and to his inexpressible i terror he went Avent sinking down into space And this is death he cried criedA A few hours later Inter he gave a convulsive convulsive sive she start and opened his eyes He was lying bIng on a broad table rock with the all I bout about o him and d the St hf prettiest ti creature it seemed e ci to him that he had ever looked upon the girl giri girlY Y had seen in the cabin doorway LOW kneeling at his side She was a mountain mou girl with the shy soft eyes of ot r his own Ori earthly love Could it be sh she had come comeback comeback comeback back to him again In all her youth and beauty From the Ute present back to the past his thoughts flew fiew fast fa t and he was a boy again with his sweet sweetheart sWeetheart sweetheart heart at his side Daisy he cried and clutched at her hands The years have been many and weary since you gave me back my m ring but now you OU have come back to me though I had to die to find you ou Confused and p he thought himself in heaven and the tle girl with rare tact humored his fancy It was many man weeks after when James Ferguson recovering from a fierce struggle with brain fever feer came cameto cameto cameto to know that the girl who had saved his life liCe on the digs cliffs was not his early love but her daughter Then he told the girl the story of oC his love for her mother and that he loved her even better than he had her mother and begged for her love In return You Daisy he be said can bring my lost youth back to me Will VIII you OU dear deor dearlove dearlove love and be he the joy jo the light of my life liCe And her beautiful eyes grew gre greETy very ETy motet moist and tender as she shyly law laM her h hand in his and whispered I will for the cruel wound my mother gave you I will be bo her h r atone atonement atonement ment Copyrighted not 1901 by W R It Hearst |