Show the e everlasting whisper by jackson gregory copyright by charles scribner s 8 son service CHAPTER XII continued 21 gloria saw that jarrold though he sent a black scowling look at the big ger man was afraid and yet they must fight they must be driven to blows she must somehow set them at each others other s throats she turned to jarrold she gathered herself for the final supreme efort she made her eyes grow bright through sheer force of will she made her lips cease trem bling and curve to a smile at the man she even concealed her loathing and put a ringing note almost 0 of f laughter into her voice as she said softly I 1 know you are not afraid and I 1 think yes I 1 am sure that you could whip himl him I 1 steve jarrold s eyes flashed then they left hers lingeringly brodle brodie was stamping impatiently calling to him take her herl snapped jarrold H 1 take ake both of you the laughter and ani challenge went out of swen brod e s bloodshot eyes a new red surged all of a sudden into them he turned and came slowly about the fire his arms still uplifted the crooking fingers toward gloria scream after scream burst from glorias lips taut nerves seemed to snap all through her body like over stressed violin strings she ran ran anywhere ran blindly back toward the darker end of the cave brodle g hands were almost on her gloria whipped aside and ran again he came on she prayed for sudden death death before those horrid crooked fingers touched her but while she he prayed to god it was of mark king that she thought at last she was at the end the end of the passageway the end of hope brodle brodie came on his arms out he made the last step she felt his hand on her arm closing drawing her for ward the last agonized shriek burst from her oh god oh dear god she did not hear bear and brodle did not hearken to a sudden new sound in the cave grown suddenly still the sound of a cascade of loose stones they came with a rush they piled up near the middle of the open cave dropping from the shadowy rock roof above but benny always on nerve edge shrilled look outi A cave in she heard god had heard better crushed under a falling mountain than in those brute arms and then she saw from ten feet above straight down dropped something else taut nerves of those who saw fancied it a great boulder falling but no boulder this which striking the little pile of rocks became ani ant mated rose whirled and mark marki I 1 screamed gloria mark I 1 turned to stone incredulous of their eyes bewildered beyond the power to move were those who saw it was brail brall who first understood biall the one man with a gun in his hands he whipped it up and begin firing nerv ous ong and excited it was after the sec ond shot that kings king s rifle answered him it roared out like the crash of doom in glorias gloria s ears she saw the stabbing spurt of fire brail brall sagged where he stood crumpled and pitched forward his rifle clattering against the rocks but by now the brief that had locked the other men in staring inaction was gone gloria saw figures leaping forward she knew that brodies hands had relinquished her she saw brolie bearing down on king ring roaring In as he went she raw benny and jarrold and the ital lan ian bearing down upon him king was tn in the midst of all that they were upon him before brails head had struck the ground they gave him no time no space for another shot hot he ile swept his clubbed rifle high over his head she heard the blow when he struck the hideous sound of a cruh ing skull A man went down she did not know which one only it was not mark thank god it was not mark kingi king I 1 and now king had a little room and an instant of his own as two other men swerved widely about the falling figure he ile fired again not putting the rifle to his shoulder another man fell lay screaming rolled aside was forgotten where s my rifle broillet was yelling he t find it in the dark he couldn coulden t stop to grope for it but gloria knew she remembered she ran for it found it straightened up with it in her shaking hands again king was using his weapon as a club since they pressed him so closely again came that terr ble sound steve jarrold it was who went down lown and with it another sound that of hard wood splintering the rifle was broken over his head bead the stock whirled close to gloria king had only the short heavy steel barrel in hie his hands bands benny had circled to the far side brodle brodie had bad caught up a great thick limb of wood they were coming at king from two sides at one gloria tried to aim pulled the trigger tugging frantically only then she remembered to draw the hammer back it was nas brodies ancient rifle and she struggled to get it cocked she ashud derid at the report the bullet sang in front of benny and he stopped dead in his tracks he was near the cave caves s mouth gloria pointed forgot ohp hammer remembered got the gun cocked and fired again benny plunged 0 wildly forward she did not know if she had hit mm him he ile hurled himself headlong toward the narrow exit and through she had forgotten foi fol gotten brodie and kingi king I 1 she turned toward them she d d not dare shoot now king was in the way he seemed to have grown tired he moved so slowly but he did move and toward brodie he swung his clubbed rifle barrel and beat at bro the dies a great face with it beat and missed and almost fell forward again brodie struck again king beat at him they moved up and down back and forth king was moving more and more slowly his left arm swung as it if it were useless brodie swept up his club in both hands grunting audibly with every blow oh ob if she could only shoot if she only dared shoot 1 but brodie kept king always in front of him between him and glorias rifle get you king get you shouted brodie his voice exulting I 1 always wanted to get you right I 1 there was a crash the splintering of wood against steel both men had struck together brodie s club had broken to splinters and the rifle b bar ar rel in kings king s hands flew out of his the blows sounded loudly blood broke out under the pound ng grip and across the cave ringing out as it struck the two men their hands empty stood a moment staring at each other then brodie shouted a great shout of triumph and sprang forward and mark king steadying himself ignoring the hot trickle of blood down his side where benny s second bullet had torn his flesh met him with a cry that was like brodie s own brodie s was the greater weight the greater girth the greater strength and mark kings the greater sheer clean manhood gloria ran toward them the rifle shaking in her hands brodie feared her and strove to turn and twist so that she could not shoot king saw her and shouted in a terrible voice which was not like mark kings voice don t shoot let me she did not heed head she would shoot if ever she could be sure that she would not shoot him but she did not dare they thrashed about so madly brodie had his hands at KIDs kings throat king 9 hands bands were at brodie brodl es s throat she saw brodie s bestial face gloating he be was so confident now she saw his great hands shut down sinking striking into the flesh they were breathing terribly they lay stiller st her iler they did not thrash about so much their eyes were start ing out of their sockets their faces were turning purple or r was it the firelight men s faces could not look like that not while the men lived they gasped now they did not breathe one of brodie s hands came away hastily he began battering at kings face battering like a steam piston the blows sounded loudly blood broke out under the ter terrific rifle pounding king s grip did not alter did not shift his eyes were shut but he clung on grim looking a dead man but a man whose will lasted on after death brodie wrenched they rolled over they were on their feet staggering up and down two men molded together like one man brodie struck blow after blow and with every thud gloria winced and felt a pain through her own body and still king held his grip both hands sunk deep into the thick throat they were apart two blind stagger ing men what parted them they did not know and gloria could not see thus they stood for a second only brodie lifted his hands bands weak hands rising slowly slowly uncertainly king saw him through a gat gathering boring mist brodie opened his mouth to draw in great sobbing breaths of air king the primal rage apon him saw the great double teeth bared and thought that his enemy was laug laughing bing at him it was king bing who gathered d himself first and struck first all of the will he had all of the endurance left in his battered body all of the strength god gave him he put into that blow he struck brodie full in the face bean een the little battered blue eyes and brodie fell he rose he got to his knees and sagged up and forward kings king q shout then was to ring through floria s memory for days to come he bore down on swen brodie cau caught ht him about the great body lifted him clear of the floor and hurled him downward brodie struck heavily his head against the rocks and where he fell he lay stunned or dead come said king to gloria come quick he e turned toward the caves cane a mouth and with one hand began to drag away the stones so that they could go out his other hand was pressed to his side ills work done he picked up the rifle at his feet and went out gloria sw sway ay ing and stumbling came after h him I 1 in ne ther spoke poke a as they made a slow way wiy through the sno v bring king went unsteadily with dragging feet they climbed the cliff laboriously they were in their cave it was like home she dropped down on the fir boughs stumbling to them in the dark CHAPTER XIII gl GI ria d d not know if she had slept or fainted when she regained consciousness though it was pitch dark and dead still there was no first puzzled moment of uncertainty that last wonderfully glad thought which had filled brain and heart when she sank down on her fir boughs had per aisted throughout her moments moment or hours of unconsciousness pervading her subconscious self flow ering spontaneously in an awakening mind mark king had come back to her in her moment of peril he had battled for her like the great hearted hero that he was he had saved her and had brought her home back home I 1 she had prayed to god when utter undo ng seemed inevitable when deith had seemed more des rable than life and he had answered he ile had bad sent mark king ring to her I 1 I 1 she was saved and though it was cold and dark and still she felt her heart singing sinking within her having lived through all that she had endured hav ing been brought safely through it she was as confident of the future as though never had evil menaced her she felt new strength coursing through her blood new hope rising within her new certainty that all was right with her and mark king that all would be right eternally terror and anguish and despair that had bad surged over her in so many great flood ng waves now receded and were gone in their place shone the great flame of life pliant she thrilled through with the largeness larg largeness eneks of life never thank god would she forget how mark king forgetful of self con of the frightful odds against him had hurled himself into the in dst ast of those drunken beasts never would she forget how godlike he had stood forth in her eyes as those others leaped upon him and he beat them back forgetful of self he had al at ways been forgetful of self I 1 she could not think of him as she had ever thought of any other man she had ever known for what other man would have come to her as he had done courting courtin 9 death gladly if only he could stand between her and the hideous thing that attacked her the rush of greit events had swept her mind clear of pettiness and prejudice they bore her on from familiar viewpoints and to new levels like roaring winds out of a tempestuous north they cleared away the wretched fogs that had en wrapped a self centered girl they made her see a man in the naked wiled glory of his sheer clean manhood in glad defiance of a gloria that had been she was proud of the man loan hood of a man who had beaten her herl he ile had been right he had done that as the last argument with an empty headed selfish girl who deserved no better at his hands a girl who had been like the gratton whom she so ab horred and despised despised even in death she had been like gratton the cowardly contemptible petty self selfish lh dishonorable t all along mark king xing had been right and she had been wrong at every step he ile had been gentle and patient after a fashion which now set her wondering and in the end lifted him to new heights in her esteem when without loving him she had lied with her eyes and mar ried him that had been a gratton sort of trick like stealing his partners food without loving him no thank god not that I 1 she had always loved him she loved him now with her whole heart and soul with an adora tion she che had saved for him mark I 1 she called softly in the utter dark she could see noth ing she called anxiously mark irh where are you there was no an awer she sprang up and called to him over and over when still there was no reply she began a hurried search for a match there were still some upon the rock shelf then it was that she stumbled over something sprawl ing on the floor mark I 1 she cried again oh mark she found a match she got some dry twigs blazing in their light she saw him he ile lay on his back like a EL dead man his arms his white face turned up toward hers there was a great smear of blood across his brow tte the track of a bloody moody hand as it had haa sought to wipe a gathering dim ness out of his eves eyes the fire burned brighter she siw it glisten upon a little pool of blood at her side she knelt kelt n and bent ben I 1 0 over V er him hm I 1 SC scarcely ar C ely brei breathing thing if he be were dead if after all this mark king were dead his ills eyes were closed his face was death ly white looking the more gh ghastly atly from the dark stain across it for a little while she sat motion less her brain reeling but almost immediately her brain cleared arid aad there stood forth as in a white light the one thought mark king was about to die and he must not d e I 1 for he was mark king valiant and full of vigor and vitality a man strong and hardy and autv a man wa alo 0 would not be beaten I 1 he it was the victor not the vanquished and further she cloria ning mark kings wife would not let him he ile he iba ads I 1 lers ers her own she would hold hem h b rk ek t her TO BB BE CONTI NT 1 aj J |