Show the Everlasting whisper im by jackson grego gregory ry copyright by charles scribner a sona service FROM THE BEGINNING in the california sierra mark king prospector sees andy parker killed by swen brodle brodie park ers rs outlaw companion king Is on his way to the home of ben gay nor king and gaynor share with brodie knowledge ot of a vast store of ol 01 h adden gold king meets mrs gaynor and Is impressed by her daughter borlas youthful beauty he ile dislikes a house visitor na named m ed gratton with gloria king r rides ides to coloma intending to sound NO honeycutt he finds brodle brodie with th the old prospector and animosity dares flares king is drawn closer to GI gloria arlot she and her mother re turn to san francisco in a spirit of adventure gloria accompanies gratton on a business trip at coloma she finds her father badly hurt he gives her a message and a pad age tor for king urging her to get them to him at once gloria le illyes she has compromised herself by her journey with gratton he proposes marriage and gloria apparently accepts him gratton arranges tor for the marriage by a country judge king unseen by gloria watched the ceremony from a window at the last moment gloria refuses to utter tle requisite yes king enters the room and gloria appeals to him for krotec ion gratton dismissed reveals his knowledge of the hid den gold and makes threats king heartened by glorias gloria a appeal to him urges her to marry him really in love with him and seeing a way out of her dilemma th the girl consents gaynor a mes sale aage to king reveals the location of the treasure and urges him to go at once and secure it CHAPTER VI continued 12 A more radiantly lovely gloria he had never looked upon she had slept and rested she had bathed and groomed and set herself in order he gathered her up into his arms so that her boot heels swung clear of the floor do you know do yon you guess have haye you the faintest sus biclon how I 1 love you its sweet of you he told her softly to get up and come down aind nd see me off I 1 oh said gloria I 1 am going with you not once had king dared think that she should go with him into the moun bains on this quest of his he sat and pondered and stared at cpr don t you want me I 1 asked gloria aren arent t you glad mark it was not on any spur of the mo me ment but after long deliberation that she had decided that she the would go with him if it were rumored that she had gone out of town with grat ton if gratton wanted to be ugly and feed rumor then on top of that if she appeared within reach of a reporter without a husband there would be talk if it were answered that she was married to mark king there would be the question I 1 and where my dear Is this mark king from upstairs last night she had heard frag outbursts from the judge irregular no lice license now gloria meant to kill 1111 the snake outright not to allow the scotched reptile to writhe free she was married she wag was going with her husband into the wilderness en on the most romantic of all honey moons the papers were free to make much of that of course I 1 want you said king slowly glad glad that you want to come with me can t you see that I 1 am the gladdest man on earth but 1 I have already written a message I 1 wanted to send to a girl friend in san francisco I 1 was going to have it phoned in to her it tells her I 1 in married to you mark and that were off on the most wonderful trip together into the heart of the wild country I 1 god bless you he said heartel heartily y but gloria glancing at him swiftly saw that his eyes were clouded with perplexity of course she said if you don dont t want a girl along you said last night that you t afraid of any thing brodie and his men could do that they didn dian t even know where to go that they d never know where to find you yes and I 1 meant it but he ile wanted her with him she want ed to come further it pained hm to think that those first glorious days should be spent with the mountains between them he was tempted sorely tempted was there thee really any danger would thereto danger to her if he thought so that there was the faintest likelihood of harm to her he would say no no matter what the yearning in his heart but if they made a quick dash in and out two days each way not over one day at gus ingle ingles s caves eaves they could go in one way nay come out mt another they had at least a full days head heads start of any possible followers no in his heart he be did not believe that there would be any danger to gloria fur ther the thought struck him that she would not be altogether safe here there was venom in gratton gratton know from glorias own lips that she had brought we message from her father in cicma hence gratton might suspect and brodle brodie after him that gloria was in possession of old loony honeycutt s secret instead of seeming hazardous to take aloria with him it began to appear that his new lity of guarding her from all harm had begun already and lind that he could best protect her from any possie e evil by having her a al ways with him so ST with himself communed mark king never a man overly gl gi n to caution but seeking now to inea measure aure chances to set them sit in the scales over against the desire of his heart hearl 0 0 0 king estimated they would be gone five days and then making due al lowance for any reasonable delay provisioned for ten gloria was much interested in everything and looked out to the mountains eagerly when king had swung her up to her saddle on blackie the tall sober faced horse king looked at her and marveled her cheeks were roses her eyes were glorias own wonderful and big and deep beyond fathoming you are not afraid that I 1 can take care of you are you gloria he asked and gloria laughed gaily answer ing my dear mr man I 1 am not the least little bit afraid of anything in all the world this morning 1 so with the glorious day brighten ing all about them they turned away from the log house and into the trail which straightway king dubbed ad venture trail there were red spots in glorias cheeks when they started king sought to guess at what might be the emotions of a young girl going on with glorias gloria s present emotional ad venture vain task of a mere man seeking to fathom those troubled feminine depths 1 marking that she was a little nervous and distrait 1 I I know the place gus ingle tried to dese describe ribe I 1 he said as well as I 1 know my old hat or at least I 1 id d have said so until he ment mentioned boned the third cave ive been there dozens of times too but I 1 ive ve got to see more than two caves eaves there yet I 1 I 1 wonder do you suppose we 11 find it as he says I 1 at least well we 11 see about it and whether there be heaps and piles of red red gold as the tale delleth be have you the faintest suspicion how I 1 love you sure our trip is going to be worth the two days ride show you such chasms and gorges and crags as you youve ve never turned those two lovely eyes of yours upon mrs gloria king As they journeyed king noted that gloria displayed none of that chat bering singing gaiety of their former rides together he remembered sym pathetically that she had had very little sleep last night and that she had endured a wearisome twenty four hours before and that the long nervous strain under which she had struggled must certainly have told upon her both physically and mental ly IY so believing that she would be grateful for silence he grew silent with her king xing well before midday reached the spot in which from the first he had planned that they would noon he was quick to help her to to dismount and noted that she came down stiffly the eyes which she turned to him were heavy with fatigue maybe I 1 t have let you come after all dear he said con tritely these are harder trails than we ve ridden before and we ve had to keep leep at it steadier there was an effort in her smile ap answering him the last two days have been hard to get through with I 1 she said as she yielded to his fils insistence and sat down on the sun warmed pine needles I 1 I 1 am sorry I 1 am soso so so 4 he did not allow her to run down the elusive word nonsense he told her heartily you ye got a right to be tired but when you youve ve had some lunch and a cup of hotle hot coffee offee you 11 be tiptop again you 11 II see I 1 king unsaddled and tethered the horses built his little fire and went about lunch getting with a joy he had never known in the olo accustomed routine before now and then he glanced toward gloria he could not help that but he saw that she was lying back her eyes closed and while his heart went out to her he did not force his sympathy on her she seemed to be asleep but gloria was not asleep never had her mind raced so it was done and she was mark kings king s wife I 1 higher and higher loomed that fact above all other considerations but there were other considerations her father hurt she did not know how badly her mother mystified by now perhaps informed of glorias gloria s mar ariage gratton with the poison ex from his fangs had the fangs still brodle somewhere brodie with L fhe the horrible face she shivered and stirred restlessly and king who saw everything thought that she had dreamed a bad dream but lunch was ready he came to her with plate and cup and again gloria did her best to smile gratefully ton you are so good to me mark she said her eyes were thoughtful would he always be good to her even when but she was too weary to think I 1 want to learn how to be good to you wife of mine I 1 he said very gently I 1 that Is all on earth I 1 ask just to make you happy you love me so much mark she asked as one who wondered at what she had read in his low voice and glimpsed in his eyes gloria he told her gently I 1 I 1 don t understand this thing they call love yet it Is too new too wonderful but I 1 do know inow that in all the world there Is nothing else that matters she looked at him long and curl curt you would do anything you could to make me happy anything mark I 1 pray with all my heart and soul that I 1 always may I 1 gloria seemed to rest through the noon hour and to brighten when she saw him the second time look at the sun she got up from the ground and said time to go on I 1 im in ready and after that banquet I 1 feel all me again I 1 he laughed and went off after the horses singing at the top of his voice she stood very still looking off after him her brows puckering into a shadowy frown oh if she could only read herself as he allowed her to read him it if she could only be as sure cure of gloria as she was of mark it she could only look deep into her heart as she looked into his did she love mark king she had thrilled to him as she had thrilled to no other man but that had been in the springtime twice then she had been sure that she loved him but that was so long ago and now that she had allowed him to carry her out of the quick sands what now oh if she had only let him go on alone this mom morn ing if she had remained where she could rest and think and thus come to see clearly even into her own troubled heart they came about four 6 0 clock to a small meadow stopping in the open sitting sideways in the saddle he waited for her gloria drew rein and looked at him with large eyes across the twenty paces separating them 1 I I can cant t go any further she said bleakly im tired out he was quick to see a gathering of tears and swung down from his horse and went to her with long strides his own eyes filled with concern poor little he said hum bly I 1 ive ve let you do yourself up and it was his duty his privilege and no ones one s else in the world to shelter her to stand between her and all hardship in a moment he was unrolling a pack making a temporary couch for her and commanding her lovingly just to lie ile down and look up at the treetops above her and rest while he staked out the horses gloria threw herself face down on the blankets she did not know what possessed her she fought tor for repression hiding ing her face from him out of a hideous ly stern world a black spirit had leaped upon her it clutched at her throat it dragged at her heart she was so nervous that now and again a fierce tremor shook her from head to toot foot dusk gathered while king worked over his fire the aroma of boiling coffee rose crept through the air blend blended edwith with the aromas of the woods he set out his dishes upon a flat topped rock replenished his fire threw on some fresh cut green cedar boughs for their delightful fragrance and went to call gloria G gloria lorla too tired bodily and mental ly to wage a winning battle against those black vapors which flock so frequently about luckless youth had suffered and yielded and gone down in misery hers was a state of over wrought nerves which forbade clear thinking which distorted and warped and magnified 4 A cup of coffee and a bit of supper p er king ling said gently you 11 feel a lot better she rose wearily and followed him saying absently I 1 am not hungry it was good of you to go to all of this trouble I 1 am afraid I 1 am not much of a camper Tuc tuckered hered out he thought clean tuckered out and finally when she pushed her cup away and let her two hands drop into her lap he gathered the dishes and carried them away to the nearest pool to wash them when he came back to her in the hush of the first hour of night he thought that he understood her need for silence and spoke only infrequent ly and briefly and now he said taking up his short handled ax I 1 am going to make tor for my lady love the finest couch for tranquil restful sleep that mortal ever had As he strode away toward a grove of firs he was lost to her eyes before he had gone a hundred paces he worked swiftly grudging every min ute away from her and then he stopped sat down upon a log and filled his pipe with slow fingers aled he d force himself to smoke one pipe before he went back to her thinking that she would be grateful tor for a few moments alone TO BE |