\ UBTERRANEAN tires had wrought, with clamor and convulsion. to upheavo Sugd'rloaf through the shattered crust; and in the fissures around its base Plutus had lifted in the golden—spangled quartz. All in order that Donovan might have his day. Through the ages, the cortical peak stood sentinel at the cauyou'a mouth, dominating the desert plain below, and waiting without“. impatience for Donovan. On one side a corrugated ridge of basalt, like a mekacontb. ble symmetry of the cone. so that Donovan ~ should not fail to‘be lured to his preordalnod fate. . At last he came. six feet of man‘, singing as he trudged. grubstnke and goldpan on his back, a prospector'a hammer in. his hand. with whieh he knocked on l’lutus‘ door. _ “Conn- in! l‘ve been expecting you a long time,” said l’lutus. But a quartz proposition needs money-— a dollar in for every dollar out. they say. So Donovan was soon off again with his little sack of samples; and between his samples and his persuasive tongue. mellowed by just a reminiscence of brogue, succeeded in interesting the floating capital of Ernest Seagrnve, Esquire, and some of his friends. Then at the , foot of Sugar—loaf then was clamor and bustle; the silence of the ages was disturbed by the voir-es of men. clanking of loaded wagons, hammering and riveting and blasting; and tinully~by tho Mug of steam and clatter of stamps. When the work had progressed thus far. Mr. Seagrave, who had never seen a mine of any sort, thought he would go out and have a look at his own. in due time. this ppy inspiration eventualcd in a big tour- g car finding its-way to Sugarloaf; no difficult feat. for there was a plain road M, with many coming and going on it. from the touring car aligbtcd Mr. Sea- vo and his guests. bliss Angel and her an. And this was the beginning of ovan's day. . tourists were conducted through tho workings. underground and above“ Angel, her blond hair and s'vaito dgnro clipsed under a miner’s hat audi’ollskin heat, a tin candlestick in her hand, was the most alert investigator of the three; ad hom‘ithe beginning of-the tour, it was aha who walked first in lino after Superfno tandent Donovan, she to whom his as- planatory conversation was most directly, addressed. ' .4 When they came out of the thha. they, [and a deputation waiting them to invlh the strangers to investigation of now do- ,Qolopments further up «he canyon. The presence of Eastern investors “in oua midst" was an opportunity not to be over- looked by the owners of prospect holes yawning for capital. There was no road feasible for an auto beyond this point, but the transportation department had provided some nags. None of them, however, was furnished with a side-saddle, and bliss Angel ’passed up the proposition. ‘Sho watched her father and Mr. Seagravo take their departure up the trail. and then looked at her to see it there were promise of re exciting amusement for-tho next two of three hours than the chapters of tho half finished novel lying on the seat of tho machine seemed likely to aflord. Old Bugat- loaf was\ there. ready and waiting. This was the day and the hour. ‘ “What an inaccessible-looking Jittlo peak!" remarked Miss Angel. "Did any one ever climb it?" * “Oh. yes." said Mr. Donovan. “But not (sum this side." “There must be a line view from the hon." hinted Miss Angel. "Magnificeutl'i replied thorium. _ "How long would it take?" inquired bliss .Aagel. "About two boun'tts go up. and half as long to come down. Will you try it! It Donovan with on traversed the inaccesli- ’ .y. 1 4- / ‘ O “Come!” he said, holding up his arms would be worth your while if you admire u‘onery." ‘ 1 “Of course I admire scenery!" returned the lady. The trip thus far had been a distinct dil- Illlmintment to bliss Angel. She had come to the wild and woolly West and not a single thing had happened out of the ordi- nary. She had not met with a bear or a bandit. a cowboy or a cloudhnrst. At last here was a mountain and a man—a verl hamlsomsune. She embraced the 099°" tunity with some bopefulness. ONOVAN led his guest to a narrow 'trcstle that spanned the gulch whats the waste mt‘lt was being dumped. A single board lny between the rails for the man who pushed the car to walk on. and Miss Angel was expected to cross on this. above tbe'dizcy gulf. For a moment Ill. hesitated. , “Can't you do it?" inquired Donovan. “It will save a mile of hard walkinl-" "Yes, i can." said she. and advanced upon the board. One-eyed Billy. cor waiting for them to pass. looked her appreciatively with his single nrh. " “This is your day. lilislber ilolionlI.v he saitLto his bass as he “cut by. ho offense was meant: his employer took none. "it's the day of my life." he answered. "Beg pardon?" inquired bliss Angel. turnin her head. “I fvns telling this fellow that it would be worth his life it be dumped any roc'k. over this; trestle before we were ofl it, said Donovan. ,' They crossed without dlfleulty. Bertha walking quickly with eyes straight (head, a. Donovan bade her. They then ascended the slope of the op: posits hill untit they came to the head of the ravine: here they crossed back again on a bug's-back ridge, which was almost as tickiish work as the trestle. and found themselves well up on the peak of Sugars Wat. They had taken their time, and Bertha had beguiled the way by “drawing out" her companion. Donovan knew what he was there for and allowed himself to ho drawn out eliectively; what his convaraas tion lacked in solid fact it made up for in piquaney and pleturesqueness; be told his stories well and did credit to his upbring- ing. And he was so handsome! “How I could love you," thought Bertha.- -"if you were only one of my kind! What I pity, what a pity, that this should ho going to waste in a desert!" ‘ Nevertheless, when one of his narrativfl aeomcd to be tending lewsrd lavititioul mention of his partner. whom he referred to as “tarry Vere do Vere with the bicycle la‘mp”.*(bir. Seagrave wore a monoclo). aha sotindinlm note of warning. "Do u little careful, Mr. Donovan, if. yo. please," she said. Donovan paused abrtiptly. “Is be anything to you!" ho M bluntly. “I am engaged to him," she W as bluntly. - who was holding hid after “He is a good fellow." said Donovan. loyalty. "We all laugh at each other out here, you know." . mu Angel sighed unconsciously. She had no fault to find with Mr. Sean-ave. He was a nice man of his sort: but the ylntago seemed a little thin" at the moment, Donovan caught the sigh. ' "You are tired!" he asked. Bertha protested that she was not. but be lnsistsd that she sit down and rest. “The worst is yet to come." he assured her. ' ’ mu Angel called one of the sunflowers with which the whole mountainside was gilded. and plucked the leaves. daisy-wise, repeating the foolish patter. “Ho loves me not," she concluded. and cast‘ths revisited atom away. . "Then he is a lost fool.” said Donovan. ‘. ,J I? 2 “But don'tfiou know." he added. "it would require a good deal of a man .to love you." young woman looked startled. be ‘ ML lilo had been treating the blue- shirted miner perm-fly as one of her own kind, but she cared that she had gone a little too far, that he seemed entirely unaware of any condesccnaion on her part ’ in doing so. proceed by saying tloubtfully, “II that com- plimentary or otherwise?" ~ "Any man not blind." continued ponc- van, regarding her thoughtfully, “could love you with his eyes. And a line gentle- man like my pardner could love you' with ‘hlayensa of fitness. and be sure you would never discredit it. Ami a clever man could love you with his mindw-il he were clever enough not. to be jealous of iours. But none of, them could lot'Moti !" Bertha looked at him, with something . resembling tight in her eyes. To the print- tiva woman in her, smothered deep under the veneer of civilisation. this son of tho. solitude dared to appeal boldly, aura of. his ‘ 'ground-‘ ilowi did he know? How dldhs. know! She. arose, breathing rather quickly. “We will never reach the tomif we 'don’t go on," she suggested. _ AI Duilovnn had said. the worst was "at to come; but with his aid. Ibo surmounted it without our much ditliculty, and they stood upon the summit. , - The cone nllurllul. as she had been promised. a magnificent outlook. filthougll s'mere llii'-)' among treaties. in comparing to the “Luz-ts ranged behind it. its shape, it! lsulnlion. and its location at the mouth of the cunyozt and on the rim of the desert. combined in :rivr- it a commanding position. Uu une sitil‘. they looked up the cargo to an ,.),.,,,.,..,,t Minus of snowy heights: turn- ing in the utlwr.‘tbe vision spanned rut spaces curl leached yet other ranges, bluo upon lllt‘ Horizon. lllrrtliy at their feet, seeming near; enough to tiitlp a stone down the smoke- stnrk of the mill. was the spot whence they had climbed. , “it ltmlta so close!" said Bertha. "And to think of all the distance we have to go to get bar-k! llid no one ever go down this side?" . “ “Not that l lineman" Donovan ra- plied. '.l‘be face of line‘slops was clearly in. practicable. “0i only from its steepnem. but because it was entirely covered by sharp-edged shards and flakes of rock from the size of an arrowhead to that of a dinner plate llut Bertha thoucht she do- scried a way. "it almost seems as if we could go down there. "along-those melts,” she suggested. Her eyes were on the cob which has been mentioned as ridging one side of the peak. Donovan considered it. “We might if‘we lard the nerve," be said. “But it's only fair to warn you that it would he a good deal more difficult than it looks from here." “Let's try it," insisted Bertha. “If it's not feasible. we can come back and go around." "It may not be feasible to come back," predicted Dono- van. "You're taunted. “Afraid that I would get home place with you whera.I couldn't get back!" exclaimed Donovan. And that should bade stopped her, you say. if she had been brnlce girl. But, you afraid!" ' aha see, it was only for one day; and she had been so bored for three‘wceks. They picked their way down to the ba- glaning of the ledge, and clambered out upon it. It was pretty easy going at first. Bertha was a natural‘born mountaineer, clasroheadad. aura-footed. able to choose a . o . » , - a To' Still, she encouraged him to y Annie Harem. and”, _ ‘ quickly and taka~ advantage of every foot- bold and handheld: she hadon a sensible short skirt and fairly stoutybootat though she soon saw“ Vafully that this was to be their finish. ' ' And Donovan‘s band was always ready. guru as the itself. Having acquitted his conscience y warning but against the adventure, be treated it now as a par- fectly commonplace one. He helped her down, step by step, with no more apparent sense of anything unusual in the situation than It he were assisting her (delight from a trolley. car.‘ . . So they went along finely until. they had accomplished about a thlrd of the descent. The ,enttrarin had been so easy that it seemdd to render ridiculous the timorous- neu' with which it hail been approached. Butnow a step intervened beyond the reach of even Donovan's searching foot. Ho swung down by his hands and felt about for , a toeholdrbsvlng discovered one at least. he swung the other foot out into space and found a support for it on a small pinnacle. He let so than and braced himself, one leg straightened horizontally against the face of the . k. Below him a few inches was a little oh if. narrow but sufficient. "Coma!” he said, holding up his arms. g "Put your foot on my leg, there and your hands on my shoulders and I will swing . you dowa’ou a good place that I see below here." His tone was perfectly matter-of-fact. but. Bertha drew back. disms ed, both at its idea of the contact and the seeming impossibility of his maintaining his pro- cnrloua'balance under her added weight. “Oh. you can't!" she said, voicing one- half her reason. “I am not a fairy. Mr. Donovnu, and you have no foothhld." "A perfectly good one," be responded. “You're not a onltter, are you?" “it may get worse and worse." she muro murodv « “Well. at the worst." said Donovan. cheerfully, “there are plenty of men and ropes down below there. We have only to holler."1 it began to look like a real adventure. "Don't be afraid." said Donovan. reas- suringly. and placinghis hands firmly on her waist. he swung her easily down to the place ilt'.llnil selected. and followed after her. She was pale and trembling all over. not only because she had been a little frightened. but because a descent is more trying than an ascent. and her unaccus- tomed muscles were beginning 'to assert their fatigue. But Donovan ignored these first symptoms of a breakdown. "Het- how easy," he remarked. “You won't be afraid to trust yourself to me out time." And he began looking about him tor another step. Then she made a tiiswn Hi . "it in Just more of the same." she cried. ltillltlll: at him reproachfully. "ll does look like it. doesn't it?" said i‘onmnn. "lint we have to go on now; “1- can't go back." And they went on in tin: same way. Donovan would find a hear? Have you!” i , ‘ hot kisses. “Don’t die! I love you! I love you! Oh. can’tyou mi w *of scarred peak. Igg~‘wflmw. ‘ at $3" ‘ ., . ,fbliie. hove makes his own rules and he plays his game as he girl and Donovan learned 0 the bleak, age- .,. . Will liconout‘ ii; and this the footbo brace himself, aha would place her foot on knees or his thigh. her hands on his shoulders. or around his neck. if “I. ca‘sa were very bad, and he would take her in his arms. and put her down on some little vantage point, and find another for her hand to cling to.uht|l be bad swunl himself down again. And‘thcd the nor- formanca would "be repeated. “‘ , .When she had once tested the strength of his muscles and tho surety of his clasp, she no longer doubted his ability to get her safely down. When he said, “Heady now!" or "Coma!" his steady eye held her nerve steady for that time. After that first oc- easion, she had no feeling of prudery in giving herself to him. for be handled her as if she were a package, a precious one most certainly, but one without any human appeal. She appreciated the perfection of his attitude, and yet she subconsciously ra- ' seated it. .It seemed almost inhuman: she felt as if a little petting would have helped her along wonderfully over that rocky road. . As far Donovan, be kept saying his las- son to himself.. Each .imo he took her in his arms. each time her breath fanned his neck. her hair got into his eyes. or her check grazed his. he said to his soul, “She trusts you, Donovan! She is help- less! She could not resent it if you held her tight while you covered her face with But, if you do it I'll beat your brains out against the door-lamb when I get you alone." . Nevertheless, there was growing in him momentarily a tieree sense of possession which was likely to set at naught in the end all prior claims and conventions. And so they came down another third of the way. Then a roomy shelf. which was almost a platform, deemed to offer op»: portunity for a brief intermission of the strain upon nerve and muscle. But below it was a fearful drop. Bertha looked over at it and her pluck deserted her on the instant. it oer-lined to her with sudden realisa- tion that Donovan must be as tired as she. liven bis slnewa of steel could not endure such effort indefinitely. This was the place where they were going to succumb at last, and both would be precipitated to destrpc- lion together. Andehat would she look like at the bottom? To be a corpse was . had enough, but to be a scrappy one was beyond endurance. She cast herself down and lay prone with her face pressed into the rock. She would have amalgamated herself with it If she eould. She commenced to cry; she had been wanting to do it for; a good while. Donovan saw that. exactly as he had forebodcd, panic had soiled he! just as soon as be allowed her a mo- ment's respite'from exertion. He looked at her helplessly. "it's no use. no use," she sobbed. “ ave yrrst‘l.‘ and leave me here to die! do lit.‘ 9 it i" ,. “(If course you do. and of course I will." raid honor”. "But it's funny how I seem to banker after dying myself since you told an.- that about Percy—I bog your pardon i— ‘ Sentrnw.” Ii) sighed. 15min. made no reply. Perchanee she was minim: to see it here was the man who lillt‘w how to love her. But Donovan was still saying his lesson to himseii;-ao in- ’ stead of comforting her after the mapner of his‘lnnging. he sat down before her and swung his feet over the edge. » "0b, don't!" she cried, shuddering and pressing her face again to the rock froar which she had lifted it almost impercep- tibly to peep at what he the doing. Ho laughed and commenced telling her a funny . . ii "limb-3”: story. At length. be had her smiling: she sat up and'took on her hat and balm '0 reassure herself as to hairpins. Thea Don. ovan suddenly flattened himself out on the rock, dus his toes into a crevice, gritted his teeth. and before she guessed what he W" 10'“! to do, swept he'r from her seat and swung her over, the edge. 8b. screamed Ind clung to him. as he leaned over. his arms stretched to the utmost, supporting her full weight. “Let go!" he said. "There is a good place not six inches from your toes. It means your life, dear! My foot is slip- vlus!” . HE let go then and found herself still alive, much to her surprise, and not in fractional parts. “Here is your hat," Donovan said. pine; idly, hamling it to her. and then swung" himself down beside her and faced her anger. She was white and quivering. “Oh. you brute!" she breathed. brute-l" “But you're down!" retorted Donovan. cxultnntly. ‘ ‘ "You did 'not have to treat me that way!" she exclaimed. examining her red- ' dened wrists. Donovan took them both in one hand and chafed them tenderly with the other. lie‘refrained from kissing them, but he looked into her eyes and said irrele- vantly: “is that wedding coming 01 soon?" “It—the day is not set yet," Bertha ad- mitted, averting her glance. “Then," said Donovan, “I have a pra-. ,. sentiment that it is not going to be." The «M ‘ descent was virtually accomplished now. They skirted the base of the ledge, because it was easier to clamber along it than to make 'lheir way rver the ilinty talus at its foot. Suddenly. just beneath them, some invisible person shouted, “All set i" . “Oh, my God !" said Donovan. He caught the girl and threw her down upon the ground at the bottom of the rock wall, and bent his body above her. ”Lie still! Lie still, darling!" be im- plored her. as she struggled in his grasp. believing him gone suddenly mad. » He was near madness. it is true, for when he heard that about. he had remembered for the first time that on that very morning he had set a shift of men at work to excavate a place for an extension of the \mill. That warning cry meant that a battery of blasts was about to be discharged almost beneath their feet. And while Bertbs fought to free herself. they commenced to go off. As a . shower of debris from the first one pat- tered about them. the second went 0d; then four more". When Bertha recovered consciousness she felt a hem-y weight on her chest: she dis- covered that it was Donovan's body, lying inert across hers. She pushed at him. fea- biy at first. then savagely, fighting'for a chance to breathe. When she succeeded in lifting him. be rolled over on his back and lay still. his head down hill” She sat up and looked at him and slowly began to com- prehend what had happened. Then alto saw a stream (1 crimson fluid stealihg over the rock a little distance befora‘it sank away, out of sight.. After watching it stupidly for a while. she felt a dawning ..curiosity as to whence it came. and followed .it with her eye to its source. Then she saw that it was welling out of a jagged bole just below the man's ear. The discovery gs!- vanized her into life. “Ion HE sprang to him, searching frantically for something to stanch the dreadful flow. lisr handkerchief 'seemed a paltry dam as she pressed it between the jagged lips of the wound and essaycd'to hold them together over it. . “Donovan! Donovan!” she cried. (She had never heard his baptismal name.) . "Don't die! i love you! I love you! Oh. can’t you hear? i love you i" ' She ruined kisses upon his pallid face. Ills ii’l.‘ fluttered. They lifted: Through \ bisJilming eyes, his soul spoke to hers across the rbyas. ' . "I was the man who knew how to ion you. li'member me," his look said. 4 “if he had ’only kissed me. just once!" she grieved. her .head lying on his lifeless breast. her heart confounded with a bitter sense of eternal. never-to-be-compensatad lass. 'But Donovan had had his day. CODWM by Public War 00mm Rb»: '
Norwalk Chronicler