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Show A Ufa? Ursnlc cLit 9w3 CnjttYJ '; ' JJ A Roma ncc JofcaT or if1 PiM&iC rail "I rather guess them ltter'll tell," answered the old man evasively, "an' I like you, and 1 don't want to you throwed away." "What do you mean?" asked the girl curiously, thrilling to the solemnity of the moment, the seriousness, the kind affection of the old frontiersman, the weird scene, the fire Hunt, the tenU gleaming ghostlike, the black wall of the canon and the topi of the mountain moun-tain range broadening out beneath the atari In the clear aky where they twinkled above her head, the strange and terrible atory, and now the letters In her hand, which somehow seemed to be Imbued with human feeling. Ktrkby putted her on the shoulder. "Itead the letters," he aald; "they'll tell the atory. Good night." CHAPTER IV. The Pool and the Water Sprite. Long after the others In tbo camp bad unk Into the profound aluniber of wenry bodies and good consciences, a solitary candle In the small tent occupied oc-cupied by Enid Maltland alone gave evidence that she was busy over the letters which Kirkby bad banded to her. It was a very thoughtful girl Indeed In-deed who confronted the old frontiersman frontiers-man the next morning. At the first convenient opportunity when they were alone together ahe handed him the packet of letters. "Have you read 'era?" be asked. "Yes." "Wall, you keep 'em," paid the old man gravely. "Mebbe you'll waut to read 'em agin." "Hut I don't understand why you want me to have tbetd." "Wall, I'm nut quite sure myself why, but leastways I do an' " "I shall te very glad to keep them," said the girl still more gravely, slipping slip-ping them Into one of the pocketB of her hunting shirt as she spoke. The packet was not bulky, the letters let-ters were not many nor were they or any great length. She could easily carry them rin her person and In' some strange and utiexpllcable way she was rather glad to have them. She could not, aa she bad said, see any personal application to herself In them, and yet In Rome way she did feel that the solution of the mystery would be hers some day. (-'specially did she think this on account of the strange but quiet open emphasla of the old hunter. There waa much to do about the camp In the morning. Horses and burros to be looked after, fire wood to be cut, plans for the day arranged, excursions laid out, mountain climbs projected. Later on unwonted bands must be taught to cast the fly for the mountain trout which filled the brook and pool, and all the varied duties, d-talla d-talla and fascinating possibilities of camp life must be explained to tue newcomers. The first few days were days or learning and preparation, days or mishap mis-hap and mlnadvcnture, of Joyous laughter over blunders In getting set tled, or learning the mysteries of rod and line, or becoming burdened and acclimated. The weather proved perfect; per-fect; It waa late October and the nights were very cold, but there was no rain and the bright sunny daya were invigorating and exhilarating to the last degree. They had huge fires and plenty or blankets and the colder It was In the night the belter tbey slept. It was an Intensely new experience for the girl from I'hlladelphla, but she showed a marked Interest and adaptability, adapt-ability, and entered with the keenest xest Into all the opportunities of the charming days. She was a good siorts-woman siorts-woman and she soon learned to throw a fly with the best of them. Old Kirkby Kirk-by took ber under bis especial protection pro-tection and as he whs one or the best rods In the mountains, be had every advantage. She had always lived In the midst of life. Except In the privacy of her own chamber she had rarely ever been alone before not twenty feet from a man, she thought whimsically, but here the charm of solitude attracted at-tracted her, she liked to take her rod and wander off alone. She actually enjoyed It. The main stream that flowed down the canon was fed by many affluents from the mountain sides, and In each of them voracious trout appeared. She explored them aa she had opportunity, sometimes with the others, but more often by herself. She dtHcovered charming and exquN'.te nooks, little stretches of grass, the size perhaps of a small room, flower decked, ferny bordered, overshadowed by tall giant pine, trees, the sunlight filtering through their thin tallage, checkering the verdant carpet beneath. Huge moss covered boulders, wet with the everdashlng spray of the roaring brooks, lay In midstream and with ether natural stepping atones bardby Invited her to cross to either shore. Waterfalls laughed musically In her ears, deep still pools tempted ber skill and address. Sometimes leaving rod and basket by the waterside, she climbed some particularly steep acclivity of the ennon wall and stood polacd, wind blown, a nympb of the woods, upon some pinnacle or rock rising needlelike needle-like at the canon's edge above the' sea of verdure which the wind waved to and fro beneath her feet. There In the bright light, with the breeze blowing blow-ing her golden hair, she looked like some Norse goddess, blue eyed, ex-hlllrated. ex-hlllrated. triumphant. She waa a perfectly formed woman on the ancient noble lines of Mllo rather than the degenerate sortneHS of Medici. She grew stronger of limb and fuller of breath, quicker and steadier of eye and hand, cooler or nerve, In these demanding, compelling adventures among the rocks In this mountain air. She was not a tall woman, Indeed slightly under rather than over the medium size, but she waa ao perfectly proportioned, she carried car-ried herself with the fearlessness or a young chamois, that the looked taller stream or down the stream, whether she should follow the rivulet to Its source or descend It to Its mouth, was apparently a ma'ter of llttlo moment, mo-ment, yet her whole life turned absolutely abso-lutely upon that decision. The ldl and unconsidered choice of the bou waa frought with gravest possibilities Had that election been made with any suspicion, with any foreknow ledge, had It come as the result of careful reasoning rea-soning or far seeing of probabilities, It might have been understandable, but an Impulse, a whim, the vagrant Idea of an Idle hour, the carelest chance of a moment, and behold! a life Is changed. On one side wen youth and Innocence, freedom and happiness, a happy day, a good real by the cheerful fire at night; on lb other, peril of life, struggle, love, Jealousy, self sacrifice, devotion, suffer. Ing, knowledge- scarcely Eve hersell when she stood apple In hand with Ignorance anil pleasure around hei and enlightenment and sorrow befori her, had greater chol '.o make. How rortunate we are that the future fu-ture Is veiled, that the psalmist! prayer that he might know hla end and be certified how long he had tc live Is one that will not and cannot be granted; that It has been given t but One to foresee his own future, The Girl Stood as It Were on the Roof of the World. for no power apparently could enable us to stiind up against what might be, because we are only human beings not sufilclently alight with the spark ' divine. We watt for the end because we must, but thank (jod we know it not until It comes. Nothing of this appeared to the girl that bright sunny morning. Kale bid In thohe mountains under the guise or fancy. Llghthearted. carefree, fitted with buoyant Joy over every fact or life, she left the flowing water and scaled 'the cliff beyond w hich In the wllderncKN she was to find after all, the world. The ascent waa longer and morn difficult and dangerous than she had Imagined when she first confronted It, perhaps It was typical and foretold her progress. More than once alio had to stop and carefully examine the face bt the canon wall for a practicable; troll ; morn than once she had to ex-prelHO ex-prelHO extremest care In ber climb, !)it i be was a bold and fearless tiioui'-aliicer tiioui'-aliicer by thU time and at last surmounting sur-mounting every difficulty sbe stood imntlng slightly, a little tired, but rlumphant upon the summit. The ground waa rocky and broken, he timber line was close above ber ind she JuCged that she must be sey-ral sey-ral miles from the camp. The canon sas very crooked, she could see only i few hundred yards of It In any (11-ectlon (11-ectlon Khe scanned her clrcurn-icrlbed clrcurn-icrlbed limited horizon eagerly for the ituoke from the great fire that they ilwaya kept burning In the ramp, but lot a sign of It was visible. She waa vldently a thousand feet above thv Iver whence she had come. Her Handing ground was a rocky ridge hirh fell away more gently on the it tier side for perhaps two hundred ret toward the same brook Hbn nuld see through vistas In the tree he uptossed peak ol the main range. ;are, chaotic, snow crowned, lonely, najestle, terrible. The awe of the everlasting bills U renter than that of heaving seas. :ave In the infreijuent periods of calm, he latter always moves: the nioun-alns nioun-alns are the same for all time. The Kean ti quick, noisy, living; lb Mountains are calm, still dead! The girl stood as It were on the oof. of the world, a solitary human ielng. ao far as she knew, la (be eye Cod above her. Ah. but the eyes ivln look long and see far; things ieyond the human ken are all re aled. None of the pry bad ever ome this far from the ramp In this irectlon she knew. And h was :'ad to be the first, as the f ;- ou.lr elieved. to observe that n,B-Hr i !i- (To vi'. cont:m luj than she was. There was not an ounce of superfluous flesh upon her, yet she had the grace of Hebe, the strength of I'nllas Athene, and tbo swirtness of motion of Atalanta. Had ahe but carried bow and spear, had she worn tunlo and sandals, she might have stood for Pinna and she would have had no cause to blush by comparison com-parison with the finest model of Praxiteles' chisel or the most splendid splen-did and glowing example of Appellea' brush. Vncle Robert was delighted with her; his contribution to ber western outfit was a small Winchester. She displayed astonishing aptitude under his lust ructions and soon became wonderfully won-derfully proficient with that deadly weapon and with a revolver also. There was little danger to be apprehended appre-hended In the daytime among the mountains, the more experienced men thought, still It was wise for the girl always to have a weapon In readiness, so In her Journeying, either tho Winchester Win-chester was slung from her shoulder or carried In her hand, or else the Colt dangled at her hip. At first she took both, but finally It waa with reluctance reluc-tance that she could bo persuaded to take either. Nothing bad ever happened. hap-pened. Save for a few birds now and then she hnd seemed the only tenant of the wilderness of her choice. One night after a camping experience experi-ence of nearly two weeks In tho mountains moun-tains and Just before the time for breaking up and going buck to civilization, civil-ization, she announced that early tbo next morning she waa going down the canon for a day's fishing excursion. None of the party had ever followed fol-lowed the little river very far, but It was known that some ten miles below tho stream merged In a lovely gemlike gem-like lake In a sort of crater In tho tuountalna. From thence by a series of water falls It descended through the foothills to the distant plalna beyond. be-yond. The others had arranged to rllmh one especially dangerous and ambition provoking peak which towered tow-ered above them and which bad nevei before been surmounted so far as tbey knew. Enid en y yed mountain climbing. She liked te uplift In reeling reel-ing that came from going higher and higher till some crest was gained, but on this occasion they urged her to accompany ac-company them In vain. When the fixity of ber decision was established she had a number of offers to accompany her, but declined them all. bidding the others go their way. Mrs. Maltland, who was not reeling very well, old Kirkby, who bad climbed too many mountains to feel much Interest In that game, and I'ete the horse wrangler, who bad to look after the stock, remained In camp; the others with the exception of Enid started at daybreak for their long ascent. as-cent. She waited until the sun was about an hour high and then bade good bye to the three and began the descent of the canon. Traveling light, for she was going far farther. Indeed, than she knew she left her Winchester Winches-ter at home, but carried the revolver with the fishing tackle and substantial luncheon. Now the river a river by courtesy only and the canon turned sharply back on themselves Just beyond the little meadow where the camp was pitched. I'ast the tents that had been their home for this Joyous period the river ran due cast for a few hundred feet, after which It curved sharply, doubled back and flowed westward for several mile before It gradually swuns around to the east on Its proper prop-er course again. It had been Enid's purpose to cut across the hills and strike the river where It turned cant ward once more, avoiding the long detour back In fact, she had declared her Intention of doing that to Kirkby and he had i given her careful directions so that i the thould not get lost In the moun- i tains. 1 I'.ut she bad plenty or time and no i excuse or reason for saving It. she i never tired of the charm of the canon; therefore. Instead of plunging directly I over the spur of tho range, rne fob i lowed the familiar trail and after the ' had passed westward far beyond the limit of the camp to the turning, she I decided, in accordance with that ot- ' terly Irresponsible thing, a woman's ' will, that she would not gi down the I canon that day after all. but that she i would rrors back over the range and strike the river a few miles above the camp and go up the canon. i Hhe had been up In that direction a t tew times, but only for short dls- I tance. as the ascent above the camp was very sliarp, in fact for a little i more than a mile the brook was only a succession or water fall; the best i fUhlng was below the camp and the 1 finest woods were deeper In the canon c Hhe suddenly concluded that she would Use to see what was up In that t unexplored section of the country and i so, with scarcely a momentary best tsUon. she abandoned ber former plan ( and bfgan the ascent of tbe range Upon decisions so lightly taken , what momentous consequences de-' t pend? Whether she should go up the 8YN0P3I3. Knld Maltlanal, a frank, rrse and un-ixilletl un-ixilletl young rhil'iilelplila Klrl. la taken to the t'nloritilo muumalna by her unel, Knbert Mm: bind. Jumea A mint run. Multlaml's prutea", falls In lovs with her. His persistent wooing" thrills the girl, but ha healtul, and Armstrong gin-a ttuit on btiMlnrg without a lnnlta answer. CHAPTER lll-(Contlnued.) "It was tour years an' nine months exactly, nob." drawled old Kirkby, who well knew what was coming. "Yea, I dare say you are right. I was up at Evergreen at the time looking look-ing after timber Interests, when a mule came wandering Into the camp, saddle and pack still on hla back." "I knowed that there mule," aald Kirkby, "I'd sold It to a feller named Newbold. that bad come out yere an' married Louise Rosser, old man Hosier's Hos-ier's daughter, an' him dead, an' beln' an' orphan an' this feller beln' a fine young man from the east, not a bit of a tenderfoot nutber, a mlnln' engineer engi-neer he called hlsseir." "Well, I happened to tie there, too, you remember," continued Maltland. "and they made up a party to go and hunt up the man, thinking something niltrht have happened." "You Fee," explained Kirkby, "we was all mighty fond of Louise Rosaer, the hull camp was nctln' like a father to her at the time, bo long 's she hadn't nobody flue; we was all at the weddln', too, some six mouths afore. Tho gal married him on her own hook, of course nobody tnakln' her, but somehow she didn't seem none too happy, although Newbold, who was a perfect gent, treated her white as far as we knowed." The old nian stopped again and resumed re-sumed hla pipe. "Kirkby. you toll the story," said Maltland. "Not me," aald Kirkby. "I have seen men shot afore for takln' words out 'n other men's mouths an' I ain't never done that it." "You always were one of the most silent men I ever aw," laughed1 George. "Why, that day Pete yere got shot accidental an" bad his whole breast tore out w'en we was lumbering lumber-ing over on (Hack mountain, all you said was, 'Wash him off, put some axle grease on him an' tie htm up.'" "That's so," answered i'ete, "an' there must have been somothln' powerful pow-erful soothln' In that axle grease, for here I am safe an' sound to this day." "It takes an old man," assented Kirkby, "to know when to keep his mouth she'. I learned It at tbe ruuz-cle ruuz-cle of a gun." "I never knew before," laughed Maltland, "how still a man you can be. Well, to resume the story, having nothing to do I went out with the posse tbe sheriff gathered up" "Him not thlnkln' there had been any foul play," ejaculated the old mr.n. "No, certainly not." "Well, what happened, Uncle Hob?" Inquired Enid. "Just you wait." said young l!ob, who had heard the story. "This la an awtul good story. Cousin Enid." "I can't wait much longer," returned the girl. "Please go on." "Two days after we lert the camp, we came across an awtul figure, largod, blood stained, wasted to a skeleton, starved " "I have seed men In extreme cases afore,1' Interposed Kirkby, "but never tjoi e like blm." "Nor I," continued Maltland. "Was It Newbold?" asked Enid. "Yes." "And w hat had happened to him?" "He and bis wife bad been prospecting prospect-ing in these very mountains; she had fallen over a cliff and broken herseir so terribly that New bold had to shoot her." "What!" exclaimed Pradsbaw. "You don't mean that he actually killed her "That's what be done," answered old Kirkby. "Poor man," murmured Enid. "Hut why?" asked rblllps. "They were five days away from a settlement, there wasn't a human being be-ing within a hundred and fifty mile of them, not even an Indian," continued contin-ued Maitiaiid. "She waa so frightfully broken and mangled that be couldn't carry her away." "Hut why couldn't be leave her and go for help?" asked Hradshaw. 'The wolves, the bears, or the vultures vul-tures would have got her. These wood and mountains were full of them then and there are some of them left now guess." The two little girls erept closer to tbflr big com In, each casting anxious glances beyond the fire light. oh. you re all right, little gl." aid Kirkby reassuringly, - they wouldn't come nigh ua while this tire Is burrln' an' they Ve teen pretty well named eut I guess; 'sides there men yere ho'd like rsothln' better n dram IV a bead on a big bar." -And so." eontlnued Maltland. "w hen she Ngged him to shoot ber. to put ber cut f ber misery, be did fo sad then t e started back to the settlement to tell his story and stumbled ou us looking after him." "What happened then?" "I went back to the camp," said Maltland. "We loaded Newbold on a mule and took him with us; he waa ao craxy he didn't know what waa happening; he went over tho shooting again and again In hla delirium. It was awful." I "Did he die?" ' "I don't think so," waa the answer, "but really I know nothing further about blm. There were some good women In that camp; we put him In their hands and 1 left shortly afterwards." after-wards." "I kin tell the rest." said old Kirkby. Kirk-by. "Knowin' more about the mountains moun-tains than most people hereabouts I led the men that didn't go back with Hob an' Newbold to the place w'ere he said bis woman fell, an' there we found her, her body leastways." "Hut tho wolves?" queried the girl. "He'd drug ber Into a kind of a holler and plied rocka over her. He'd gone down Into the canon, wich was Homethlng frightful, an' then climbed up to Were she'd lodged. We bad plenty of rope, bavin' brought It along a purpose, an' we let ourselves down to the shelf where she waa a lyln'. We wrapped her body up In blankets an roped It an" finally drug her up on the old Injun trail, leastways I suppose sup-pose It was made afore there was any Injuns, an' brought her back to Evergreen Ever-green camp, wich the only thing about It that was green was the swing doors on the saloon. We got a parson out from Ienver an' gtvo her a Christian burial." "Is that all?" asked Enid as the old man paused again." "Nope." "Oh. the man?" exclaimed the worn, an with quirk Intuition. "He recovered bin senses so tbey told ua, an' we'en we got back he'd gone." "Where?" was the Instant question. Old Kirkby Iretched out bis hands. "Don't ax iie," he said, "ho'd Jest gone. I alrtf "r.ever seed or heerd of him rence. Poor little LouIbo Rosser, she did have tt"hard time." "Yes," said Enid, "but I think the man hud a harder time than she. He loved ber?" "It looked like It," answered Kirkby. "If you had seen blm, his remorse, his angulKh, his horror," said Maltland, Malt-land, "you wouldn't have had any doubt about It. Hut It Is getting late. In the mountains everybody gets up at daybreak. Your sleeping bags are In tbe tents, ladies; time to go to bed." As the part7 broke up, old Kirkby rose slowly to bis feet; be looked mtanlngly toward the young woman, upon whom the spell of tbe tragedy Mill lingered, he nodded toward the young brook, and then repeated bis speaking glance at ber. Ills meaning was patent, althoggh no one elite bad seen tbe covert Invitation. "Come Kirkby," said the girl In quick response, "you shall be my escort. es-cort. I want a drink before I turn In. No, never mind," she said, aa Hradshaw Hrad-shaw and Philips both volutteered. "not this time." Tho old frontiersman and the young girl strolled off together. They stopped stop-ped by the brink of the rushing torrent tor-rent a few yard away. The noise that It made drowned the low tones of their voices and kept the others, busy preparing to retire, from hearing what they aald. 'That ain't quite all the story. Miss Enid," sai l the old trapper meaningly. "There was another man." "What:" exclaimed tho girl. t "Oh, there wann'l nothln' wrong with IouUe Rower, wich she was LouUe Newbold. but there was another an-other man; I suspected It afore, that's w hy she was sad. W'en we found ber body I knowed It " "I don't understand." Theseil explain," said Kirkby. He drew out from bis rough bunting coat a package of soiled letters; they were carefully enclosed In an oil skin and tied with a faded ribbon. "You aee," he continued, holding them In his band yet carefully concealing them from the people at the fire. "W'en she fell off the clIT somehow tbe mule lost bis footin'. nobody never knowed how, leastways tbe mule was dead an' couldn't tell she struck on a spur or shelf about a hundred fet below tbe brink; evidently she was carryln' tbe leMers In ber dress. Her bosom was rrtghtfu'ly tore open an' I the letters was lyln' there. Newbold didn't see "em. because he went down Into tho canon an' came up to the sheir. or butte bead, w ere tbe body was lyln". but we dropped down. I was the first man down an' I got "em Nobody eUe ser-ln' me, an' there ain't no human eyes, not even my wlfes, tbnt's ever looked n them letters, except ex-cept mine and now yourn" "You are golr.g to give them to me?" "I am." aald Kirkby. "Hut wbyr "I want you to know the bull itory," "Hut why. again?" "r R.ad the LteV He ftaiaV i |