OCR Text |
Show I t I "Hcindlf)e Story ofN Certairi persons X Ufo Urank oUt and Conquered 'J 1 A Romance ' Author ok-7ftcKH an tfo Oatif KVfe LTfctf.tter Han?1fcartff and CN Sr .- the HfchwayV As pftri "X " : rryju p jjc ", . " - -m 8YN0PSI8. Enid MaltUntt, a frank, free and Unspoiled Un-spoiled young i'hlladt-lphla girl, la taken to the Colorado mountain by her uinic, ltnbert Multland. Jamea Armatmng, Maltland a protege, fit 1 1 m In love with her. Ilia peralatent wooing thrllla the Kill, but lie liealtHtea, and Armatrong kwi eant on hualneaa without a definite biiiht. Knld heara tho alory of a mining engl-nwr, engl-nwr, Kewhold, whoa wife fell off a cliff anil was an aerloualv hurt that he a compelled to shoot h'r t prevent hr he-Ing he-Ing eaten )y wolvea while ho went f ir lielp. Klrkby. the old guide who tclla the etnry. gives Knld a (linkage of letters hlih he aaya were found on the dead wnman'a liiNly. Khe reada the letter" ami at Klrkby'a requeat keep them. While tmthlng; In mountain atrenm Knld I attacked at-tacked by a liear. willed la mvaterhumly ahot. A alnrin ailila In the Kit l a terror. A audden deluge transform brook Into raging torrent, whlrh awe.-pa Knhl Into gorge, where ahe la reamed by a moun-tnln moun-tnln hermll after a thrilling experience, t'ampera in great ronfunlon upon dlamv-Ing dlamv-Ing Knl.Va ahxem-e when Hie atorm breaka. Mnltlnrid and Old Klrkhv i In search of the girl Knhl diacovera that her ankle la aprulm-d and Hint ahe la unable un-able to walk. II"T myaterioua rcacucr carrlea tier to hla camp. CHAPTER IX (Continued). He did not make uny apology for hfa next action, he just stooped down and, disregarding her faint pro t'Hta and objertlona, flicked her up In hla arms. She was by no nieana a llpht burden, and be did not run away with her as the heroes of romances do Hut he was a man far beyond the average In strength, and with a stout heart and a resolute courage that had always carried him successfully through whatever he attempted, and he had need of all his qualities, physical physi-cal and mental, before he finished that awful Journey. The womnn struggled a little at , first, then finally resigned herlf to j that day the sweat stood out on his forehead, bis legs trembled under him. Haw he made the last Ave hundred feet up the steep wall to a certain broad shelf perhaps an acre In extent where he had built his hut among the mountains, he never knew; but the last remnant of hlr force was spent when he finally ope..ed the unlatched door with his foot, carried her In the log hut and Inld her upon the bed or bunk built against one wall of the cabin. Yet the way he put her down was characteristic of the mnn. That last vestige of strength had served him well. He did not drop her as a less thoughtful and less determined mnn might have done, he laid her there as gently and as tenderly as If she weighed nothing, and as If he had car rled her nowhere. So quiet and ensy was his handling of her that ahe did not wake up at once. So soon as she was out of his arms, he stood up and stared at her In great alarm, which soon gave way to reassurance. reas-surance. She had not fainted, there was a little tinge of color In her cheek that had rubbed up against his rough hunting coat; she was asleep, ber regular reg-ular breathing told him that. Sleep was of course the very best of medicines medi-cines for her, and yet she should not be allowed .to sleep until she had got rftl t;f her wet clothing and until something had been done for her wounded foot. It was Indeed an era-barrasslng era-barrasslng situation. lie surveyed her for a few moments wondering how best to begin. Then realizing the necessity for Immediate action, be bent over her and woke ber en latch and no lock. Closed It served to hide the occupant of one room from the view of the other, otherwise It was but a feeble protection. Kven had it possessed a lock, a vigorous man could have burst It through In a moment. These thought! did not come very clearly to Ktild Maltland. Few thoughts of any kind came to her. Where she lay she could see plainly the dancing light of the glorious fire. She was warm, the deftly wrapped banduge. Hie healing lotion upon her foot, had greatly relieved the pain In that wounded member. The bed was hard but comfortable, much more so than the sleeping bags to which of late she had been accustomed. Few women bad gone through such experiences, mental and physical, as had befallen her within the last few hours and lived to tell the story. Had It not been for the exhaustive strains of body and spirit to which she had been subjected, ber mental faculties would have been on the alert and the strangeness of her unique position would have made her so nervous that she could not ha slept. For the time icing, however, the physical demands upon her entity were paramount; she was dry, she I was warm, she was fed, she was free from anxiety and she was absolutely unutterably weary. Her thoughts were vague, Inchoate, unconcentrated. The fire wavered before her eyes, she closed them In a few moments and did not open them. Without a thought, without a care, she fell asleep. Her repose was complete, com-plete, not a dream even disturbed the profound slumber Into which she Albeit the room was smaller than the other, It was still of a good site. He walked nervously up and down from one end to the other as ceaselessly cease-lessly as a wild animal Impatient of captivity stalks the narrow limits of his contracted cage. The even tenor of his life had suddenly been diverted. The ordinary sequence of his days had been abruptly changed. The privacy pri-vacy of five years which he had hoped and dreamed might exist as long as he, had been rudely broken In upon. Humanity, which he had avoided, from which he had fled, which he bad cast away forever, had found him. Abllt. excesslt, evaslt, eruptt! And, lo, his departures were all in vain! The world with all Its grandeur and Its Insignificance, In-significance, with all Its powers and Its weaknesses, with all Its opportunities opportu-nities and Its obligations, with all It joys and tts sorrows, had knocked at hla door; and that the knocking hand was that of a woman, but added to his perplexity and to his dismay. He had cherished a dream that he could live to himself alone with but a memory to bear him company, and from that dream he had been thunderously thun-derously awakened. Kverythlng was changed. What had once been easy had now become impossible. He might send her away, but though he swore her to secrecy she would have to tell her story and something of his; the world would learn some of it and seek him out with Insatiable curiosity curios-ity to know the rest. Ryes as keen as his would presently present-ly search and scrutinise the mountains moun-tains where he had roamed alone. They would see what he had seen, find what he had found. Mankind. gaze with his own. "1 am a woman, absolutely ulone, entirely at your mercy; you are stronger than 1, I have no choice but to uV what you bid me. And In addition to the natural nat-ural weakness of my sex I am the more helpless from this foot. What do you Intend to do with me? How do you mean to treat me?" 1 It was a bold, a splendid question, and It evoked the answer It merited. "As God Is my Judge," said the man quietly, "Just as you ought to be treated, as I would want another to treat my mother, or my sister, or my wife" she noticed how curlouslysfcls lips suddenly tightened at that word "If I had one. I never harmed a woman wom-an In my life," he continued more earnestly, "only one, that Is," he corrected cor-rected himself, and once again she marked that peculiar contraction of the lips. "And 1 could not help that." tie added. "I trust you." said tie girl at last, after gazing at him long and hard, a If to search out the secrets of his very soul. "You have saved my life and things dearer will be safe with you. I have to trust you." "I hope." came the quick comment, "that ft Is not only for that. I don't want to be trusted upon compulsion." "You must have fought terribly for my life In the flood." was the answer. "I can remember what It was now. and you carried me over the rocks and the mountains without faltering Only a man could do what you have done. I trust you anyway." "Thank you," said the man briefly as he bent over the Injured foot again. TI:e boot laced up the front, the short skirt left all plainly visible. With deft fingers he undid the sodden knot and unlaced It. then stood hesitatingly hesi-tatingly for a moment. "I don't like to cut your only ps? of shoes." he said as ha made a slight motion to draw it off, and then observing the spasm of pain, stopped. "Needs must." he continued, tskl-J out his knife and slitting LI leather. L I He did It very cart fully so as q I to ruin the boot beyond repair, n'JR finally succeeded In getting it 'ofr without giving her too much pnln. And she was not so tired or so miserable miser-able as to be unaware of his gentleness. gentle-ness. His manner, matter of fact, business like, If he had been a doctor one would have called It professional, distinctly pleased her In this trying and unusual position. Her storking was stained with blood. The man rose to his feet, took from a rude homemade home-made chair a light Mexican blanket and laid It considerately across the girl. "Now If you can manage to get off your stocking yourself, I will see what can be done," he said, turning away. It was the work of a few seconds for her to comply with his requent. Hanging the wet stocking carefully over a chair back, he drew back the blanket a little and carefully Inspected Inspect-ed the poor little foot. He saw at once that It was not an ordinary sprained ankle, but It seemed to hlra that her foot had been caught between be-tween two tossing logs, and bad been bsdly bruised. It was very painful, but would not take so long to heal as a sprain. The little foot, normally so white, was now black and blue and the skin had been roughly torn and broken. lie brought a basin of cold water and a towel and washed off the blood, the girl fighting down the pain and successfully stifling any outcry. "Now." he said, "you must put on this gown and get Into bed. I!y tbe time you are ready for It I will have some brotb for you and then we will bandage that foot. I shall not come In here for some time, you will be quite alone and sa(." He turned and left the room, shutting shut-ting the door after him as he went out. For a second time that day Enid Maltland undressed herself and this time nervously and In great haste. She was almost too excited and apprehensive ap-prehensive to recall the painful circumstances cir-cumstances attendant upon ber first disrobing She said she trusted the msn absolutely, yet she would not have been human If she had not looked most anxiously toward tbst closed door. He made plenty of noise In the other room, bustling about as If to reassure ber. She could not rest the weight of her body on ber left foot, and getting rid of ber wet clothes was a somewhat some-what slow process in spite of her hurry, made more so by her extreme nervousness. The gown he gave her was far too big for her, but soft snd warm and exquisitely clean. It drsp-ed drsp-ed her alight figure completely. Leasing Leas-ing ber sodden garments where they had fallen, for she was not equal to anything else, she wrapped herself In the folds of the big gown and managed man-aged to get Into bed. For all Its rude appearance It was a very com Tort able sleeping p'sce: there were springs snd a good mattress. The unbleached sheets were clean, although they had been rough dried; there was a dell clous sense of comfort and rest Ifi her position. She bad scarcely cooi- KHed herself when he knocked loud upon her door. 'May I come In?" he asked. When she bade him enter she saw he had In his hand a saucepan full of some steaming broth. She wondered how he had nuide It In such a hurry, but after ho poured It Into a granite-ware granite-ware cup and offered It to her, she took it without question. It was thick, warming and nourlhlilng. He stood by her and Insisted that she tale more and more. Flnully she rebelled. "Well, perhaps that will do for tonight," to-night," be said; now let's have a look at your foot." She observed that he had laid on the table a long roll of white cloth; she coulj not know that he had torn up one of bis sheets to make ban-duges, ban-duges, but so It was. He took the little lit-tle foot tenderly In his hands. "I am going to hurt you." he said. "I am going to find out If there Is anything more than a bruise, any bones broken." There was no denying that be did pain her exquisitely. "I can't help It," ho said as she cried aloud, "I have got to see what's the matter. 1 am almost through now." "(Jo on. I can bear It." she said faintly. "1 feel so much better, anyway, any-way, now that I am dry and warm." "So far as ! csn determine," said the man at last, "It la only a bad. ugly bruise; th skin Is torn. It has been battered, but It is neither sprained nor broken.' and I don't think It is go Ing to be very serious. Now I am going go-ing to bathe It In the hottest water you can bear, and then I will bandage It and let you go to sleep." He went out and came bark with s kettle of boiling water, with which h laved again and again the poor, torn, battered little member. Never In her life had anything been so grateful as these repeated applications of hot water. wa-ter. After a while he applied a healing heal-ing lotion of some kind, then be took his long roll of bandage and wound It dexterously around her foot, n' drawing It too close to prevent circulation, circu-lation, but Just tight enough for support, sup-port, then as he finished she drew It back beneath the rover. "Now," said he. "there Is nothing more I can do for you tonight. Is there?" "Nothing." "I want you to go to sleep now, you will be erfectly safe here. I am v-Ing v-Ing down the canon to search " "No," said the girl apprehensively. "I dare not be left alone here; be-sldws be-sldws I know how dangerous It would be for you to try to descend tbe canon In this rain; you have risked enougn lor me, you must wait until the morning; morn-ing; I shall feel better then.' "Hut think of the anxiety of )our friends." "I can't help It," was the nervous reply. "I am afraid to be left alone here at night." Her voice trembled; he was fearful she would have a nervous breakdown "Very well." he said soothingly. "I will not leave you till the morning " "Where will you stay?" "I'll make a shakedown for myself In the store room," he answered, "I shall be right within call at any time." It had grown dark outside by this time and the two In the log but could barely see each other. "I think I shall light the fire." continued con-tinued tUe man, "It will be sort of company for you and It gets cold up here nights at this season. I shouldn't wonder If this rain turned Into snow, resides. It will dry your clo'Oes for you." Then he went over to the flreplice, struck a match, touched It to the kindling under the huge logs already prepared, and In a moment a cheerful blaze was roaring up through the chimney. Then he picked up from the floor where she had csst them in a heap her bedraggled garments. He straightened them out as best be could, hung them over the backs of chairs and the table, which he drew as near to the fire as was safe. Having Hav-ing completed this unwonted task he turned to the womsn who hsd watched watch-ed him curiously and nervously the while. "la there anything more that I csn do for you?" "Nothing. You hsve been as kind and as gentle as you were strong and brave." He threw his hsnd out with a deprecating depre-cating gesture. "Are you quite comfortable?" "Yea." "And your foot?" "Saems very much better." "Good night, then. I will call you in the morning " "Good night.' ssld the girl grate- 1 fully, "and God bless you for a true and noble man." CHAPTER X. 1 On the Two tides of the Deer. Tbe cabin contained a large and a i small room. In the wait between i tbtm there was a doorway closed by 1 an ordinary batten door with a wood- i He Stared at Her In Crest Alarm. He Walked Nervously Up and Down. the situation; Indeed, she thought swiftly, there was nothing else to do. she bad no choice, she could not have been left alone there In the rocks In that rain, she could not walk. He was doing the only thing possible. The compulsion of tbe Inevitable was upon them both. They went slowly, the man often topped for rest, at which times be would sest her tenderly upon some prostrate tree, or some rounded boulder, boul-der, until be was ready to resume bis task. He did not bother her with explanation, ex-planation, discussion or other conversation, conver-sation, for which she was most thankful. thank-ful. Once or twice during the slow progress she tried to walk, but the slightest pressure on ber wounded t foot nearly caused her to faint He made no complaint about his burden and she found It. after all. pleasant to be upheld by such powerful arms; he wss so sit k. so tired, so worn out. and there was such assurance cf strength and safety In bis firm bold of ber. Dy and by. In the last stage of tbeir Journry. ber bead dropped on bis boulder and she actually fell Into an uneasy troubled sleep, lie did not know w tether she slumbered or whether she bad fainted again. He dM not dare to stop to find out, his iiern'h was almost spent; In this last effort the strain upon bis muscles wss almost as great as It hs4 been In tfce whirlpool- For tbe second time up. Again she stared at biin In bewilderment be-wilderment until he spoke. "This Is my bouse," be said, "we are home." "Home!" sobbed the girl. "I'nder shelter, then." said the man. "You are very tired and very sleepy, but tbere Is something lo be done; you must take off those wet clothes at once, you must hsve something to eat, and I must have a look at that foot, and then you can have your sleep out." The girl stared at him, his program. If a radical one under the circumstances, circum-stances, wss nevertheless a rational one. Indeed the only one. How was It to be carried out? The man easily dUlned ber thoughts. "There is another room In this house, a s'ore room. I cook In there." he ssld. "I am going In there now to get yoj something to eat; meanwhile you must undress yourself and go to bed." He went to a rude set of box like shelves drsped with a curtain, apparently appar-ently Ms own handiwork, agslnst tbe wsll, and brought from It a long and somewhat shapeless woolen goan. "Tou can wear this to sleep In." he continued "First of all. though. I am going to have a loot- at that foot" lie bent down to where ber wounded wound-ed foot lay extended on tbe bed. "Walt." ssld the girl, lifting herself on her arm. and as (he did so be lifted lift-ed bis bead and answered ber direct sank. Pretty picture she made; her head thrown backward, ber golden hair roughly dried and quickly plaited plait-ed In long braids, one of which fell along the pillow while the other curled lovingly around her neck. Her fare In the natural light would have looked pallid from what she bad gone through, but the fire cast red glows upon It; the fitful light flickered across her countensnre and sometimes some-times deep shadows unrelieved accentuated ac-centuated the paleness born of ber sufferings. There Is no tight thst plays so msny tricks with the Imagination, or that so stimulates the fsnry as the light of an open fire. In its sudden outbursts It sometimes seems to add life touches to the sleeping and the dead. Had there been any eye to see this girl, she would have made a delightful de-lightful picture In the warm glow from the stone hesrth. There were no eyes to look, however, save those which belonged to the man on the Dther side of the door. On the hither side of that door In the room where the Are burned on the hearth, there was rest in the heart of Ihe occupant; on the farther side where tbe fire only burned in the heart, there wss tumult. Not outward ind visible, but Inws.d and spiritual, snd yet there was no lark of apparent manifestation of the turmoil la the man's soul. gold lusting, would swarm and hlvs uion the bills and fight and love and breed and die. Great God! He could of course move on. but where? And went he whithersoever be might, he would now of necessity carry with him another memory whlrh would not dwell within his mind In harmony with the memory whlrh until that day bad been paramount para-mount there alone. Slowly, laboriously, painfully, be had built bis bouse upon tbe sand, and the winds hsd blown and the floods had come, not only In a literal but In spiritual slgnlficsnce. and In one day that house had fallen. He stood amid the wrecked remains of It trying to recreate It. to endow once more with the fitted precision of the past tbe shapeless broken units of the fsbrle of hts fond Imagination. While he resented the fierce, savage, sav-age, passionate intensity tbe Interruption Interrup-tion of this womsn Into hla life. While he throbbed with equal Intensity Inten-sity and almost as much passion at tbe thought of ber. (TO BR CONTINUED ) She Did. "Do you. my sisters." demanded the exhorter. "draw tbe line between the clean and tbe soiled in lire?" "I do." replied one member of ISe flock, timidly; "every Monday norm. Ing." |