Show EBONY LJ N E D 7 WATERS T by anna mcclure copyright by W a 0 chapman seral a e CHAPTER IX continued 23 more than once I 1 e paused to see if she were in sight slot to see if she were foil wing him up the dangerous path which at times measured its width by inches es ab ve the ebony water here ai at d there a fallen tree sent the f foam oam hah where the impetuous current br ke agala st its bulk I 1 children he thought and th then en if there had been time to get a message to her I 1 would have tor for bl iden idea this dan dangerous berous much too dani dangerous erous but he plodded on thinking frequently that he heard the snapping of twigs behind him we cant can t talk long well we 11 have to be out of this place by four 0 clock he thought or we it 11 not see our way back he ile slipped on a bit of ice and caught himself lust just in time to save him from going over the bank into the welter of hurrying water its anxiety was very great berenice must never venture such a thing again the path had become a mere thread at the bottom of a precipice the great fall hung just ahead of him at its foot the vortex was in full swing the whirl was dancing a mad benanc de nanc of winter even zero cold could not harness it he did not care to gaze at it t too long lone what a place I 1 she must never never come here again turning too quickly he slipped but instantly regained real ned his balance by a violent lurch backward in the a sime line moment he felt the heavy impact of something against his shoulder at 9 glancing blow and wheeled around to find his hands violently and instinctively clutch ing in the square green base that he knew very well indeed the base to which was attached the old tree at the other end of the tree was balder balders s dark and angry face watch tul ful keen and sly wilton had a cinema flash of events convere converging ing to and dl di verging from this encounter moving across this screen were figures both familiar and strange berenice Be in her patient beauty haskell roaming the old academy like some were wolf the immobile waxen children that glanc ing blow on his shoulder was it an accident ac clAnt he ile would soon know and along the avenues of his mind ap pro preached ached another fl figure gure himself trag icalla snared see here balder baider I 1 he tried to with friendly indifference I 1 be a little more careful when you re throwing rubbish into the whirl sou you might hurt somebody what are you in the way for forr the words conveyed more than their obvious meaning and were accod panted by a sound half laugh half halt acarl nature in framing balder baider on a great scale had perhaps tor for the warning of others presented him with out disguise of the inner man mail over his broad blank countenance something passed like a cloud obliterating even his purpose but wilton instinctively felt that he was in greater dan ger than he had ever been in his life life I 1 it might be measured only in moments now then a terrible tear fear had this man been sent to kill them both had he already killed berenice he tried to think calmly and to decipher the black shadows on that huge face balder said let go that end III give it another throw you let go your end I 1 am nearest the stream for answer balder balders s hand gripped the tree trunk tighter wilton no the bits of tinsel still wound about one dry stump of a limb it its s time that christmas tree Is thrown away he said in the same instant that such comments could not but make his situation worse its my business not yours turn around now what for wilton asked trying to speak carelessly do as you re told balder roared wilton a thoughts raced on to make a sudden dart for liberty was im possible the fellow could overtake him with three swings of his great legs only strategy availed now balder seated himself on a fallen limb and ID this position so steep was the cliff he seemed almost hang ing above waltons head the latter thou feht best to drop the base and he let it down gently so as not to jerk the trunk out of balder a hand I 1 beasant Ilea sant spot wilton remarked though it must have looked different the day the Bra bracebridge debrIdge children were drowned A grunting voice came from above this ain aint t an easy place to leave I 1 I 1 mean to leave it you do do you certainly I 1 must get back before lark suppose you never went oacar back IN what hat do you mean suppose you stayed here it have no intention of staging here lie ile spoke firmly but hie his inner terror revealed revel led to him at last what connection lay between his own im eminent danger and a long ago tragedy the withered tree was the link again agala to be an instrument of death throw in your tree when you choose I 1 am going home balder balders s laughter echoed even above the roar of the fall I 1 we gh two hundred and ten pounds I 1 am six feet three in my socks my aly muscle la Is iron and you you are just a school ro m plant I 1 listened in at one of your teaching times you said more ah all ut bothin than any man I 1 ever hear talk you don dont t deserve to live you don donti t 1 and maybe I 1 don t deserve to die any more than he paused then hurled his big boomerang the bracebridge children am I 1 to have the same execution he ile knew he had signed his own death warrant but at least he could bring for one instant into stark day light the suspected crime whose shadow lay along the corridors of lost land academy and haunted its decay ing tug rooms the great face above him grew quite livid for an instant but no rebound of denial dental came from his ills lips when he spot e it was in a matter ot of fact and quiet way you are you know interferon Inter ferin with him nobody dyll 11 ever know what happened no one saw you go up the ravine I 1 ne lord it its s easy to die in this gorge in winter so many hundreds of ways of and fallin that nobody d think twice of how you cum to do it you certainly was a fool to believe that note balder baider was staring at him as if tas fas you 11 never go back now he muttered I 1 wash t sure what to do when I 1 come up here now I 1 know I 1 you didn dian t dare burn that tree the day we were at the church you had the key of the belfry room in your pocket you dare bring it down and burn tt it before miss bracebridge how much ts Is he going to give you tor for this job the boldness of the question dis ills even balder balders s poise ills snarl came slowly uncertainly he ile don t make no bargains he ile ain aint t open and golpl ty lo 10 i at the other end of the tree was baldere dark and angry face square like that ile hints walks all around his design never comes out bold and tree free with it it but he pays high for little lobs jobs moving trunks or books five hundred for moving his books after after you struck one of the bracebridge children with this weapon and cost the lives of the others wilton finished deliberately lie ile knew he had taken away forever his chance for life but in this last grim hour it was a satisfaction to wring out the truth and it comforted him to add to the indictment your master haskell askell II never wanted to go with those four young people to protect them but to steal up behind them as you did I 1 he urged them not to tie tle themselves together in this alpine game they were so fond of playing he urged them not for their safety he knew their aversion to him and knew they d do exactly the opposite of what he told them balder regarded him wit with it round ugly eyes in which a tiny gleam of ad mir mi ration atlon flickered you re a psycho what debbe there s so methin in it debbe its gospel truth and maybe its gospel truth that when jerry found you lu in the vegetable garden you had bad beaten him there by al at out twenty minutes I 1 calculate and maybe its gospel truth when he ald all four drowned you knew right away it was children not sheep 1 lou t ask one question I 1 you d d spy you I 1 I 1 knew you ve been sayin on us ever since the first afternoon when you wall ed in the evergreen walk with your cloak alyin like a great bat TO BE CONTINUED |