Show r 1 ctet wi aff SOME 5 01 it MCI incidental 0 V yra L BELAI IOnS MAYAN chifos by r SYNOPSIS A foolish young tenderfoot becomes with the ilia bosl bolm artful wife or of a drunken prospector in a western west rn mining town they prepare to elope in n a blinding blizzard but are ara confronted ed by the maudlin husband ife fie Is shot gho by the wife but the chivalrous boy anis m a a note to the ady tody takang tho the crime upon himself PROLOGUE continued the storm without the womans comans first thought etien she stepped outside the door was that at all hazards they must go back tho the wind almost swept her away only the steadying grasp of the boy better prepared than she tor for the attack of the storm enabled her to keep her feet yet the presence of that ghastly thing on the floor which was affecting even her iron nerve prevented their return whatever happened they must go ant the door of that shelter was closed to thorn them forever by the dead or dying tenant she realized however that their chances of ibs escaping caping freezing to death in this mad endeavor were so small as to be ba practically none cone well fate had forced her into this position she sha would follow the path she had chosen whatever might be ba at the end of the way speech was well nigh impossible the tha boy staggered on past the window and she followed until the lee of the house was reached between a great drift and the wall in a little open space tho the horses were tied the boy was a natural horseman ile he had bad picked out the best two broncos in the camp if any animals could take them to safety these thesa could not yet chilled by the fierce cold they untied the shivering reluctant terrified horses from tho the wooden plus pins driven into the chinks between the log walls of tho the house bouse to which they had bad been bitched batched bit ched mounted them and threading their way round the drift started south southward wardon on their awful ride I 1 they left death bahi behind nd them and lot death loomed before and on either hand band except where the storm was broken by houses drifts had not yet formed the wind was too terrific it awe adept t the level prairie clean but A away w y from the shelter of the louse house they got the full fores force of it although they were thickly clad in wool and fur the pressure of the storm drove their garments against their bodies and soon filled died them with ley icy mid cold there was no help for it no relief from it IL they had bad to bear it they could only bend their backs to it and keep on trust ing to the endurance ot of their horses tte the woman judged that it had bad been about one in the morning when they had started the overland limited ran through the station at three no that lived could have mado made that 15 nilles miles in two hours under those conditions it was more than probable however that the limited would be greatly delayed by the storm and it if they kept going steadily they would tie ie likely to catch it at any rat rata 9 when they reached the station they would find food fire and sl al ietter it if their horses borses did rot give put out it if aey ey were not turned adrift on foot I 1 J t in the storm and snow and left 0 d on until they fell and slept and fro froze ze and dl died ed they would perhaps get away more experienced than the boy all these possibilities were present to her she did not pray she could ask nothing of god but she ahe went warily and carefully helping the horse where she eho could As for her companion he did not give these matters very much consideration era tion ile he kept going toward the south to the railroad station because that was wan the only thing to be done another however rode with him it if not with her before his eyes waa wa a ever present that gory grizzly spectacle of a human form the red blood welling from its breast redder still from ahr the white snow with which ho he was surrounded that awful figure beckoned him on ile ha was younger finer better than she lie he was more fool than knave she was all knave her thoughts went forward to what was before her but hla his went backward to what was behind after a long time it seemed to them that the fierceness of the was somewhat abated the wind was certainly falling but the tha drifts werl l steadily rising and their progress was more difficult every moment for that cause their very souls were numb with the tha awful cold still belll they went forward slower now and more slowly ever how far they had come what time it was where they were neither he nor she could tell it seemed to thorn them both that they had been hours on the way the woman was waa wire sure that they must have compassed the greater part of at the journey when her horse suddenly stumbled and fell tier her bron chos matchless endurance had at last been exhausted by the terrible at struggle rug of their journey he fie lay dying where he be tell fell and nothing netting she abe could do could get hm him up again the boy had stopped of course v when hen her horse had fallen ile he had bad dismounted and helped her to rise lie he had assisted her vain efforts to get her own played out horse on its feet the two no now w stood staring at each other ather in n dismay must take my horse said the boy at last the woman nodded with hit bis us no el si stance she climbed slowly and painfully into the saddle iddle Bi took the relna reins from the boy and started on iler her companion caught hold of tho the stirrup leather and staggered forward by her aide the going was now infinitely harder tor for the remaining horse tho the woman immediately realized that with this almost dead weight plunging through the deep drifts and dragging heavily nt at the stirrup leather the tha remal remaining ning bronco would soon eoon be exhausted she had bad meant to play fair with him but it could not lie be ana an so for h lang time the trio plodded on in this way the woman nerving herself to a frightful action as best beat she could she hesitated hes dated to do it sha sh was reluctant but no horse horsa that her ever H er lived could stand such a strain she knew that it would be a matter of minutes now when the animal abe rode on would also fall and llo ito when lie ho had fallen like his dead brother back ou on uie the trail and then she and the boy would inevitably well it was hla his life or hersl hers the d decision casion was forced upon her and perhaps after all it was just as aa well to got get rid of them both and have done dona with it she sha reached over and before the boy realized what was waa happening she caught its his hand tore hla his fingers from the saddle strap and thrust him violently backward unprepared unsuspecting half dazed he be could offer no adequate resistance ile ho reeled and fell supine in a deep and overwhelming drift she struck the horse heavily with tho the whip that hung from the saddle bown bow and nd the animal plunged forward wildly she know knew that sho she was waa safe bate unless ho he should try to shoot her for ho he was too weak and too exhausted to catch her the boys senses were wera quickened into instant action by her conduct after the first moment of surprise he be knew at once that she was deliberately abandoning him to die in tho the snow A hot rush of blood in spite of tho the cold swept over him ile ho thrust its his hand within his coat and dragged out a weapon ile he raised it and trained it on the womans comans back and for the moment his hand band did not tremble then there rose before him that other gory figure though hu he had lived some months on the wild frontier and bad seen been more than ono one man killed thero there he be had never been connected with the murder before even as aa an all accessory after the fact and tho the horror of it was still upon him he lowered the pistol though he bo could easily cave have shot her dead such treachery on the part of a woman would lave have killed some men not so this boy in that moment he be became ft man ile he saw himself a tool fool he determined that he be would not also aleo see himself a coward clenching his bis fists and summoning his strength he followed southward afoot in the womans comans wake ile he walked if that bo be the word for his progress with his head bead down and his body bent lower and lower lie he took long rests between the steps by and by he fell forward on tits ills face tho the sensation of delicious rest and drowsiness that swept over him blin wooed h him im to lie still ond and die but there were till still sparks and remnants 0 of t manhood and courage in him lie he shook off his bis desire to sleep at last and strove frantically to rise finding that ho he could note not he crawled forward on his hands and knees slowly working him himself self over tho the snow covered ground round the drifts like a great animal there was no use humanity could not stand tend the th atrean any longer one more movement he made and just as ho he was about to sink down forever he heard board a long deep hollow mournful sound ile he stopped interested dimly wondering what it could be whatever it was it ft meant life of some kand it camo came from directly in front of him it nerved him to further effort summoning tho the last vestige of 0 f his strength he advanced a little farther ile he knew what it was now it was a locomotive ile he lifted his head and saw lights faintly he divined that it was the station the train the overland limited 1 she would get on ie and go awall away what mattered it and what of himself there was help there was life ile ho actually roso rose to his feet and wavered on dy by happy chance the contour of the ground had caused the space between him and the lights to be swept comparatively bare of snow it was waa not now difficult walking yet lie he staggered like a drunken man ahl abl the lights were moving before hla his eyes they danced and flickered the train was going ile he broke into a reeling run hoarse whispers on his bla frozen lips too late lie he stumbled and fell across the car tracks dimly conscious of tho the lights odthe of the departing train lie he had just sense sens enough and strength enough to cry out exit as lie he did zo so some ono one on the station platform heard his voice men came toward him he was lifted up and carried into a warm room something burning yet deliciously re ra was waa poured dowa his throat the woman i he gasped out looking up in the faces of the station agent and his helper lending bending over him she took look the limited not lira alve minutes ago said the man staring at him curiously the train was two hours and a half late or shed never have got it ashes gone then gasped the boy yes thank 1 god I ad abe got awall away he murmured as aa he lapsed into complete unconsciousness there was good stuff in the boy lie he was glad the woman had escaped in spite of all lie he did not wont want another h human beta g s libeon life on ahls hands CHAPTER I 1 the loneliness of mr gormly to hta his great surprise george gormly sometimes found himself feeling lonely and the oftener so BO as an he be grew older every man who has a natural liking for wo what true man has liot no yet who has no intimate friendships with or relations to the other sex la Is likely to find himself in that of mind sooner or later gormly was sufficiently clentI aged he was waa forty tour four although he looked much younger ile he was sufficiently ekpo eipp rien ced he be had dealt with women for a straight hl quarter of a century although he be had bad neither loved nor married one ile he was waa sufficiently self reliant he be had built up by his own unaided efforts the greatest retail iner chandise bust bustness nesa of his him day and gen oration atlon er ile ho was waa sufficiently in depend ent for ho be had done it alone to have been above we tuy ordinary feeling of at loneliness nevertheless he was tern tem pora mentally lonesome and at this particular moment desperately so BO llo ile had drifted into new york some 25 16 years scars before utterly unheralded unnoticed lie ho had begun by filling a small clerkship la in a little dry goods store lie ho kept at it until he owned the store and after that a larger store on a better street lie he had developed a genius for trade and an executive ability in accord until the tha original little shop had expanded into a IS ae story building ro covering vering a block on the principal thoroughfare of at new york city and its ita owner had become a power in finance a merchant prince such was george kornily Gor Gar nily raly ile he was too a scrupulously honest man ile ha sold good goods without deceit things were as he represented them ile iio established principles ot at ac commotion in his dealings dealing that were unique when they were first instituted la in new york ile iia mado no dishonest dollars ills his money was waa good everywhere because i it t was untainted lie ile prospered exceedingly ono expansion following another i eschewing speculation a of t any kind and devoting himself strict strictly I 1 y to the business lie ha found himself in n middle life the liend head the foot the sole owner of tho the greatest enterprise of tho the kind that tho the world had ever seen this had not been achieved lightly lie ile had brought it about because with absolute aftic singleness leneas of heart he be had bad put every ounce of strength and time and talent which in him bira amounted to genius at the service of tits his affairs alroe alire talent and genius do not always produce such results fortuno fortune still atilt must be considered in the game opportunity port unity had favored gorrold Gor roly nily ile iia had succeeded in everything beyond his own or wildest wildcat dreams he might m have gone on indefinitely in his mercantile operations without attracting special attention to himself personally had bad it not been for one fact that momentous happening was hla his meeting with alias alsa haldane it had come about in a commonplace way enough miss haldane deeply interested in social settlement wo work rk and being brought in contact thereby with some of tho the poorer era em of tho the great gormly establish went ment had concluded conc ludel to call on the proprietor thereof to see sea it if she eho could not induce him to make some adequate contribution to tho the work ah had so much at heart like over 0 ther other business man in now new york gormly was waa overwhelmed by chart char table demands ills ilia business was waa on thing his bis charity another ile ho employed pla ed a special sec secretary rotary to look att er the ilia eleemosynary end of his affairs there were two reasons why the th secre secretary iary felt himself unequal to deal lea with miss haldane and her demands the first reason was waa miss Il aldano herself she was a member of the oldest and most exclusive circle in new york society iler her family was waa one of the richest and most esteemed in that hive of bo sos also rans and other peo pie the second was the magnitude of miss lial danos demand she want ed something like a million dollars this amount appalled the secretary she realized that a roan man like ilka comly go amly indeed most moat men it they had the dower would much rather give a million than a dime dim to an undertaking that appealed to them still gormly having devoted his attention so exclusively to his business heretofore was rather staggered by the magnitude of the tha amount he would havo been more staggered by it had lie he been les lea so BO by miss haldane herself miss Il aldane had bad beauty thou rands of people women that Is and acme fow few men have that she had more she bad presence and personality Ilund hundreds redi of roen men and some few women have these those who have all three in either sex are rare and come to view infrequently quent ly whether it was miss hal danos undoubted beauty or miss hal danes exquisite |