Show the i e ev go by jackson gregory Copy copyright richt by charles scribner a sona sons service FROM THE BEGINNING mark king prospector and his partner ben gaynor share wit with h a desperado swen brodle brodie knowledge ot of a vast store ol 01 hidden gold kin king g Is impressed by gloria gay nor a daughter he dislikes a house visitor named gratton in a spirit of adventure gloria accompanies gr gratton a lion from san francisco on a business trip at coloma she finds her father badly hurt he gives ner a message tor for king with gratton she goes to the gay nor summer home gloria realizes she has compromised herself by her journey with gratton he pro poses marriage and gloria alpar antly accepts him gratton ar ranges tor for the marriage king watches the ceremony through a window at the last moment the girl refuses to utter the requisite yes king ling enters and glor 9 a ap peals to him tor for protection grat ton dismissed reveals knowledge ot of the hidden gold king ambold ened by gloria a s appeal to him urges her to marry him really in love with him and seeing a way out of her dilemma the girl consents gaynor message reveals the location of the treasure and urges king to go at once and secure it after the wedding glor la asserting the necessity for or res rest after her trying experience king leaves her and prepares for or his trip next morning gloria insists on going with him on the lour jour ney her overwrought nerves give way in hysteria she admits to king that she married him only to save her name from gossip king humiliated renounces her but refuses to take her home de daring claring he Is under promise to her father to lose no time seeking the gold she unable to find her way home alone has to go with him glor as horse goes lame but king keeps on he finds the gold gloria resents his giving her orders she has seen smoke from a campfire campf lre and threatens to make her way to it king knows the party must be brodie s and of 0 course forbids it he dec des to start back and re turn with trusted men CHAPTER VIII continued 16 he ile went a second time far bach back into the darkness of the further cave carry ing a smoking torch as before vanish ing from glorias gloria 9 eyes she had but to snatch up the few things she meant to take tale with her to go out to find her way down the cliffs she hesitated and time passed at length king returned she noted that his coat was off oft that in it as in a bag he carried something heavy this goes with us wherever we go he announced triumphantly it s a big breathing spell tor for ben gaynor he ile dumped it out there were other lumps like the two he had brought back the first time if you can whip up enough endur ance for the work ahead of us he an bounced impersonally we stand a good chance of getting out of this otherwise we stand a whole lot bet ter show of being caught here and freezing and starving to death A storm like this he told her may blow itself out soon and it may keep on for a long time As it Is we 11 have our work cut out for us if this keeps up all afternoon and all night he shrugged you mean that then we couldn t get out at all she asked sharply king nodded and began his eions with jealous eye he judged the weight bulk and worth of every ar tide bacon to the last small scrap and fat lined rind coffee to the once boiled dregs in the coffeepot coffee pot he packed carefully then he took up the discarded articles and hid them under some loose dirt in a r remote mote black corner of the cave ten minutes later he had gotten first his pack then gloria safely down the cliffs and they started gloria was at every step by the expectation of coming presently to their horse and of having nothing to do from then on but hold to the pom porn mel and have king lead her on to an ultimate safety so when they came to the spot where king had tethered his horse and there was no horse there gloria simply collapsed king stared about him with an almost equal consternation leaving gloria he put down rifle and pack and hurried down into the hollow where he had tethered his horse five minutes of read ng the signs in the snow told him the story A bear had come up over the ridge I 1 had frightened the horse into breaking its tether and running king came back slowly and sat down on his pack his ills lips tightened the afternoon was passing and the dark would come early are you up to crowding ahead on foot he called to gloria she moaned miserably I 1 am sick I 1 am dying I 1 think I 1 cant can t go on king ring grunted disgustedly we well 11 go back to the cave for the me night after all he told her quietly stand up but glorias gloria s head moved the slight est bit in sidewise negation her pale lips stirred soundlessly what asked king I 1 cant can t came her whisper you ve got to he informed her crisply do you want to lie ile here and die tonight I 1 dont care said gloria listlessly he turned away took up his pack and gun set his back square upon her and trudged off toward the only shelter that was theirs he d d not turn to look behind him until he had gone fully half of the way to the cave then he dropped his burden and went back to her he had meant to storm at her to stir her into activity by the lashings of his rage but instead he stooped and gathered her up into his arms and car r ed ei her ahr ugh the storm shield ng cpr body all hit thit he rould could the climb a A s h ra nd 10 lo v and more than ever before filled with danger but in the end it was done again they were in gus ingle s cave bing built a fire left gloria lying by it and went back for his pack when he pe returned turned she had not moved he made a bed for her placed her on it and covered her with his own blanket then he boiled some coffee and made her drink it she obeyed again and dropped back upon her hard bed and shut her ea ases es with a quickening alarm in his eyes he stood by the smoky fire staring at her to hardship her dell cate body was air already eady beaten with still further hardship to come might she not die dle and what would mark king ring say to ben gaynor even if he brought back much raw red gold if it had cost the life of ben gaynor s daughter he drew off her boots and stockings and found that her feet were terribly cold he wrapped them in a hot blanket and hastened to set a pot of water on the coals while the water warmed he knelt and chafed her feet between his palms finally the dead white began to give place to a faint pinkness like a blush and again he put the blanket about them she had not moved he hesitated a moment then the urgent need being more than evident he began swiftly to undo her outer garments the boy ish shirt he unbuttoned and managed to remove he ile noted her un dergar ments silken and foolish little things with amazement she had known no better than to wear such nonsensical affairs on a trip I 1 ke this I 1 good G d what did she know but he did not pause in his labors until he had slipped off the wet clothing then he wrapped her tn in another warm blanket and placed her on her bed her feet to the blaze all of the time she probably was hardly conscious now only she opened her eyes stirred slightly eased herself into a new position cud died her face against a bare arm sighed and went to sleep CHAPTER IX all night king kept his fire blazing his nerves were frayed within his soul he prayed mutely that when morn ing came gloria would be alive with the first sickly streaks of dawn he came to stoop over the girl and listen to her breathing then he descended the cliffs for more wood in the noose of his rope he dragged up the cliff much dead wood through out the noi noise se of his comin comings comins s and go ings the girl slept heavily while he waited for the coffee to boll he took careful stock of provisions for two people there was enough for some twenty meals food for about a week he ile even counted his rounds of ammu here alone he was affluent he had in the neighborhood of a hundred cartridges for the rifle while he was setting the gun aside he felt glorias gloria eyes upon him he ile addressed her with prompt frankness inside fifteen minutes we weve ve got to be on our way out As we go we well 11 look for the horse but find it or not we were re going the storm Is over then no but we are pot not going to wait we have food for only six or seven days at the most she let her eyes droop to the fire so that the lids hid them from him it was not yet full day it was still snow ing gratton and the men with him would of course have ample supplies she yearned feverishly to be rid of king and his intolerable domineering iam I 1 am tired out she said faintly still not looking up I 1 can t go on he ile stared at her there was a flush on her cheeks his old fear surged back on him gloria was going to diel die I 1 so he did what gloria had counted on having him do he hastened to serve her a piping hot breakfast of crisp bacon hot cakes and jim hers was the victory mark king was again waiting on her hand and foot dicing for her I 1 am going to look for the horse he told her but don t count too much on my success another thing if I 1 don t get buck today he d be no use to u that Is if the snow keeps on but III do what I 1 can when he had gone she scrambled up and went to peer out no sound out there she sought eagerly for some Is agn of gratton there was none but he would come soon he must she would wait hoping for Grat gratton tons s coming before king kings s r turn making his way back to the point where buck had broken his tether king came to the place whence the horse had fled he knew that beyond two ridges was the valley of the giant sequoias there a horse woul I 1 find water shelter and grass if he failed to find the animal there well then buck was well on the trail or lost to king in any one of a hundred places when at last he came to the grove of big trees as he had more than half expected he found nothing gloria told herself when king had bad gone that she was ras glad to be alone five minutes later she began to stir restlessly another five minutes and already she was listening for his return she drew on her boots and walked up and down when she peered out across the desolate world she drew back from its bleak menace shuddering returning to crouch mis drably by her fire repeatedly she was tempted to go forth and seek gratton grafton to hunt up and down until at last she came to him she sought to tell herself that she was not afraid of the snow of being lost of being unable to find grat ton but she could not climb down the cliff she knew that she would fall dizzy and sick shivering with dread and cold she turned back al ways she let her fire die down not botic ing it then the cold reminded her and she worked long building another she knew where a block of matches was she had seen king set it care fully away in her excitement she struck dozens of matches dropping the burnt ends about her at last her fire blazed up and she w armed herself then she was con of a strange faintness and real iced that she was hungry she opened a tin of sard nes and came back to the fire with it in her hands she had no clear conception of the deed when half of the fish consumed the smelly stuff revolted her and she hurled the remaining part into the bed of coals king stamped the loose snow from his boots and came in gloria stood confronting him tense rigid white faced her hands stiff at her sides the surge of her relief like a sud denly released current impacting with that other current of her unleashed abger made of her consciousness a sort of wild fuming whirlpool king ring was tired throughout every muscle of his body coming I 1 in from the storm cleansed open he sniffed sullied at the closeness of the cave then he noted the sardine can with a stick he raked it out of the coals in god s name he demanded what do you mean by a thing like that are you stark raving mad for a moment she was at a loss to understand what had enraged halml him the act of tossing the d food into the fire had been purely tary ghe she was not without reason in their present predicament she was a tool fool to have done a thing like that she could hardly believe that she had done it and so with an elaborate shrug of disdainful shoulders she turned her back to him but king flung to his feet and set his hands on her two shoulders and swung her about listen to me he said angrily I 1 am ain going to talk plain to you you are a fool a downright empty headed silly fool what you have destroyed in wanton carelessness would have kept the life in a man a whole day be still he commanded as she sought to wriggle out of his grasp to avoid the direct blaze of his eyes 1 I am going to do what I 1 can for you to see you safe through this it I 1 can not because you are anything to me but just because you are ben gaynor s and he Is my friend understand but I 1 am not going to have you throw all of our chances away by dumping grub into the fire if you do one other brainless thing like that and I 1 catch you at it I 1 am going to tie you up hand and foot and keep you out of mischief you dare 99 but she knew better he would dare anything she went slowly to her bed to hide her trembling and lay down then for the first time he saw the waste of scattered matches on the floor from them he looked to her in an amazement so sheer that it left him no word of expostulation the suspicion actually came to him that the girl was mad it vas ras scarcely conceivable that a perfectly sane individual could do the things which she had done she saw him get up and begin gathering up all of the foodstuff he carried it to the back of the cave where he passed out of her sight in the dark he made a second trip after which there was left on a shelf of rock only half a dozen matches and enough food tor for one scanty meal CHAPTER X king awoke filled with resolve and definite purpose it was still snowing heavily stead ly implacably the big gest storm in twenty years he told himself he must seek immediately to locate his horse one could eat horse fesh if driven to it he ile mut must try to get game of some sort he went to gloria a bed you d better get up he said brief ly time to start the day while we eat I 1 want to talk with you I 1 never saw a storm worse than this we have enough food for a few days after that if we stuck on here and did not find more somehow wed we d die like dogs therefore re w e are going to get ready to beat it out the first chance we get gloria I 1 am going to do all that I 1 can for both of us you are going to do all that you can that Is final she bit her lips and gave him her scornful silence she ignored him when he called crisply that breakfast was ready there were limits to her obedience she thought rebelliously rebel piously to be told do this do that was intolerable king looked at her and had the understand ing to grasp something of her thought S so 0 he explained I 1 want you to come outside with me you 11 find it hard work it would be a first rate idea if you d fortify your strength by the little bit of nourishment which we can afford to take no well I 1 im in sorry here I 1 he ile offered her the pieces of a sack he had cut in two for her tie those about your feet to keep them from freezing when I 1 want your advice III ask for I 1 it t S she he retorted tell icily y very well he answered I 1 and I 1 cant can t make you eat cat if you don t want to after all perhaps you are not hungry he ile set aside her portion her heart seemed scarcely to stir in her breast then slowly it began to beat swifter and swifter hammering wildly her leaon reason fled before the flood of the passionate wilfulness of the old gloria and she crie cried shrilly I 1 won 11 I 1 won 11 I 1 am a not your slave lave and I 1 am not going to jump at your bidd biding ni you can cant t make me you shan t make me I 1 won t tl I 1 TO BH bill CONTINUED 1 |