Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 148, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 June 1915 — Page 2

Dark Hollow

By Anna Katharine Green

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CHAPTER XV—Continued. “Tweaty-Eve miles and over a Tory tough mountain road. Did I not confidently expect to find Oliver there. 1 rd not let you undertake this ride. the Inquiries I have just made lead me to hope for the best results ” • ••see* "What's that?" "That's the cry of a loon." "Hour awful! Do they often cry like dhatr "Not often in the nighttime" Reuther shuddered. Mr. Black regarded her anxiously. Rad he done wrong to let her Join him In this strange ride? "Shall we go back and wait for broad daylight?" he asked. "No. no. I could not bear the sunprase of wondering whether all was going well and the opportunity being given you of seeing and speaking to him. We have taken such precautions —chosen so late (or should I say so early) a start —that I'm sure we have outwitted the man who is so watchful of ua But If we go back, we cannot slip away from him again; and Oliver will have to submit to a humiliation it is our duty to spare him. And the good judge, too. I don't care if the loons do cry; the night is beautiful." And it was, had their hearts been in tune to enjoy it A gibbous moon had risen, and. Inefficient aa It was to light up the recesses of the forest it illumined the treetops and brought out the difference between earth and sky. The road, known to the horses, if not to themselves, extended like a black ribbon under their eyes, but the patches of light which fell across it at intervals took from it the uninterrupted gloom It must have otherwise had. Mr. Sloan, who was at once their guide and host, promised that dawn would be upon them before they reached the huge gully which was the one dangerous feature of the road. Their guide had prophesied truly. Heralded by that long cry of the loon, the dawn began to reveal itself and the everyday world of the mighty forest was upon them with its night mystery gone. But not the romance of their errand, or the anxiety which both felt as to its fulfillment Full sight brought full realisation. However they might seek to cloak the fact, they could no longer disguise from themselves that the object of their journey might not be acceptable to the man in hiding at Tempest lodge. Reuther’s faith in him was strong, but even her courage faltered as she thought of the disgrace awaiting him whatever the circumstances or however he might look upon his father’s Imperative command to return. But she did not draw rein, and the three continued to ride up and on. Suddenly, however, Mr. Sloan was seen to turn his head sharply, and in another moment his two companions beard him say: "We are followed. Ride on and leave me to take a look." Instinctively they also glanced back before obeying. They were just rounding the top of an abrupt hill, and expected to have an uninterrupted view of the road behind. But the masses of foliage were as yet too thick for them to see much but the autumnal red and yellow spread out below them. "1 hear them; I do not see them,” remarked their guide. “Two horses are approaching.” “How far are we now from the lodge?" "▲ half-hour’s ride. We are just at the opening of the gully.” “You will join us soon ?" "As quickly as 1 make out who are on the horses behind us.” Reuther and the lawyer rode on. Her cheeks had gained a alight flush, but otherwise she looked unmoved. He was leas at ease than she; for he had less to sustain him. The gully, when they came to it, proved to be a formidable one. It was not only deep hat precipitous, and for the two miles they rode along its edge they saw no let-up in the steepness on one aide or of the almost equally abrupt rise of towering rock on the other. It was Reuther’s first experience of so precipitous a climb, and, under other circumstances she might have been timid; but In her present heroic mood, it was ail a part of her gxeet adventure, and as such accepted. The lawyer eyed her with growing admiration. He had not miscalculated ber pluck. Aa they were making a turn to gain the summit, they heard Mr. Sloan’s -voice behind them. Drawing In their borsea. they greeted him eagerly when be appeared. "Were yon right? Are we followed?" "That’s as may be. I didn’t hear or pee anything more. I waited, but nothing happened, so I came on." Hie words wort surly and his looks eour; they, therefore, forbore to question him further, especially as their bswirst Interest ley ahead, rather behind them. They were nearing Tempest lodge. As It broke upon their view, perched like an eagle’s eyrie on "the crest at a rising peak, liar dxew rein, and. after a short eon-

sultation, Mr. Sloan wended his way up alone. He was a well-known man throughout the whole region, and would be likely to gain admittance if anyone could. But all wished the hour had been leas early. However, somebody was up in the picturesque place. A small trail of smoke could be seen hovering above its single chimney, and promptly upon Mr. Sloan’s approach, a rear door swung back and an old man showed himself, but with no hospitable intent. On the contrary, he motioned the intruder back, and shouting out some very decided words, resolutely banged the door abut. Mr. Sloan turned slowly about. “Bad luck,” he commented, upon Joining his companions. “That was Deaf Dan. He’i got a warm nest here, and he’s determined to keep it 'No' visitors wanted,* was what he shouted, and he didn’t even hold out his baud when I offered him the letter.” “Give me the letter,” said Reuther. "He won’t leave a lady standing out in the cold." Mr. Sloan handed over the judge’s message, and helped her down, and she in turn began to approach the place. Aa she did so, she eyed it with the curiosity of a hungry heart It waa a compact structure of closely cemented stone, built to resist gales and harbor a would-be recluse, even in an Adirondack winter. Mr. Sloan had been repulsed from the west door; she would try the east Oliver (if Oliver it were) was probably asleep; but she would knock, and knock, and knock; and if Deaf Dan did not open, bis master soon would. But when she found herself in face of this simple barrier and was lifting her hand to the door it suddenly flew opep and a man appeared before her. >, CHAPTER XVI. Pound and Lott It was Oliver. Oliver unkempt and with signs upon him of a night’s work of study or writing; but Oliver!—her lover once, but now just a stranger into whose hand she must put this letter. She tried to stammer out her errand; but the sudden pallor, the starting eyes—the whole shocked, almost terrified appearance of the man she was facing, stopped her. She forgot the surprise, the incredulity of mind with which he would naturally hall her presence at his door in a place so remote and of such Inaccessibility. She only saw that his hands had gone up and out at sight of her, and to her sensitive soul, this looked like a rebuff which, while expected, choked back her words and turned her faintly flushing cheek scarlet “It is not I,” burst from her lips in Incoherent disclaimer of his possible thought “I’m Jußt a messenger. Your father—" “It Is you!" Quickly his hands passed across his eyes. “How—" Then his glance, following hers, fell on the letter which she now remembered to hold out “It’s the copy of a telegram.” she tremblingly explained, as he continued to gaxe at it without reaching to take it “You could not be found in Detroit and a 8 it was important that you should receive this word from your father, I undertook to deliver it I remembered your fondness for this place and how you once said that this is where you would like to write your books, and so I came on a venture — but not alone —Mr. Black is with me and —" “Mr. Black! Who? What?" He waa still staring at his father's letter; and still had made no offer to take it “Read this first,” said she. Then he woke to the situation. He took the letter, and drawing her inside, shut the door while he read it She. trembling very much, did not dare to lift her eyes to watch its effect hut she was conscious that hia back and not his face was turned her way. and that-the moment waa the stillest one of her whole life. Then there came a rattling noise as he crushed the letter in his hand. "Tell me what this means," said he, but he did not turn his bead aa he made this request “Your father must do that” was her gentle reply. "I was only to deliver the letter. I came —we came —thus early, because we thought—we feared we should get no opportunity later to find you here alone. There seem to be people on the road —whom — whom you might feel obliged to entertain and as your father cannot wait —” He had wheeled about Hia face confronted hers. It wore a look she did not understand and which made atm seem a stranger to her. Involuntarily she took a step back. "I must be going now," said she, and fell—her physical weakness triumphing at last over her will power. • • • • • • • “Oliver? Where is Oliver?” These were Reuther’s first words, u, coming to herself, she perceived Mr. Black bending helplessly over her. The answer was brief, almost indlf ferent Alanaon Black was coning

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, INP.

himself for allowing her to come to this house alone. “He was here a moment ago. When he raw you begin to give signs of life, he slid out How do you feel, my—my dear? What will your mother say?" "But Oliver?” She waa on her feet now; she had been lying on some sort of couch. "He must —Oh, l remember now. Mr. Black, we must go. 1 have given him his father's letter.” “We are not going till you have something to eat Not a word. I'll —” Why did his 6ye wander to the nearest window, and his words trail away into silence? Reuther turned about to see. Oliver was in front, conversing earnestly with Mr. Sloan. Aa they looked, he dashed back into the rear of the house, and they heard hia voice rise once or twice in some ineffectual commands to his deaf servant, then there came a clatter and a rush from the direction of the stable, and they saw him flash by on a gaunt but fiery horse, and take with long bounds the road up which they had Just labored. He bad stopped to equip himself in some measure for his ride, but not the horse, which was without saddle or any sort of bridle but a halter strung about his neck. This was flight; or so it appeared to Mr. Sloan, as he watched the young man disappear over the brow of the hill. Wnkt Mr. Black thought was not so apparent. He had no wißh to discourage Reuther whose feeling was one of relief as her first word showed. “Oliver is gone. We shall not have to hurry now and perhaps if 1 had a few minutes in which to rest —” She waa on the verge of fainting again. And then Alanson Black showed of what stuff be was made. In ten minutes he had bustled about the half-de-serted building, and with the aid of the daxed and uncomprehending deafmute, managed to prepare a cup of hot tea and a plate of steaming eggs for the weary girl. After such an effort, Reuther felt obliged to eat, and she did; seeing which, the lawyer left her for a moment and went out to question their guide. “Where’s the young lady?” This from Mr. Sloan. “Eating something. Come in and have a bite, and let the horses eat. too. The young fellow went off pretty quick, eh?” “Ya-aB.” The drawl was one of doubt “But quickness don’t count

A Small Trail of Smoke Hovering Above Its Single Chimney.

Fast or slow, he’s on his way to capture —if that’s what you want to know.” “What? We are followed, then?” “There are men on the road; two, as I told you before. He can’t get by them—if that’s what he wants to do.” “But I thought they fell back. We didn’t hear them after you joined ua.” “No; they didn’t come on. They didn’t have to. This is the only road down the mountain, and it’s one you’ve got to follow or go tumbling over the precipice. All they’ve got to do is to wait for him; and that’s what I tried to tell him, but he just shook his suro at me and rode on. He might better have waited —for company." Mr. Black cast a glance behind him. saw that the door of the house waa almost closed and ventured to put another question. “What did he ask you when he came out here?" “Why we had chosen such an early hour to bring him his father’s message.” Sloan replied. “And what did you say?" “Wa al, 1 said that there waa another fellow down my way awful eager to see him, too; and that you were mortal anxious to get to him first. That was about it wasn’t it sir?" "Yes. And how did he take that?” “He turned white, and asked me Just what I meant Then I said that some one wanted him pretty bad, for, early as it waa. this stranger wag up as soon as you. and had followed os into the mountains and might show up any time on the road. At which he gave me a stare, then plunged back into the house to get his hat and trot out his horse. I never saw quicker work. But it’a no use; he can’t escape those men. They know it. or they wouldn’t hare stopped where they did. waiting tor him.” Mr.' Black recalled the aspect of the golly, and decided that Mr. Sloan was

right There could be bat one end to this adventure. Oliver would be caaght in a manifest effort to eacapp. and the Judge’s cup of sorrow and humiliation would be full. He felt the shame of it himself, also the folly of his own methods and of the part he had allowed Reuther to play. Beckoning to his host to follow him, he turned toward the house. “Don’t mention your fears to the young lady ," said he. “At least, not till we are well past the gully." , “1 shan’t mention anything. Don’t you be afeared of that.’’ And with a simultaneous effort difficult for both, they assumed a more cheerful air. and briskly entered the house It was ne until they were well upon the road back that Reuther ventured to speak of Oliver. She was riding as far from the edge of the precipice as possible. In descent it looked very formidable to her unaccustomed eye. “This is a dangerous road for a man to ride bareback," she remarked. “I’m terrified when I think of it. Mr. Black. Why did he go off quite so suddenly? Is there a train he is anxious to reach? Mr. Sloan, is there a train?” “Yes, miss, there is a train.” “Which he can get by riding fast?” "I’ve known It done!" ‘Then he is excusable." Yet her anxious glance stole ever and again to the dizzy verge toward which she now unconsciously urged her own horse till Mr. Black drew her aside. A half-hour’s further descent, then a quick turn and Mr. Sloan, who had ridden on before them, came galloping hastily back. Mr. Black hastened to meet their guide. “What now?”lie asked. “Have {hey come together? Have the detectives got him?” “No. not him; only his horse. The animal has just trotted up—riderless. “Good God! The child’s instinct was true. He has been thrown “No.” Mr. Sloan’s mouth was close to the lawyer’s ear. “There’s another explanation. If the fellow 4s game, and anxious enough to reach the train to risk his neck for it. there’s a path he could have taken which would get him there without his coming round this turn.” Then as Reuther came ambling up: “Young lady, don’t let me scare you, but it looks now as if the young man had taken a short cut to the station. Look back along the edge of the precipice for about half a mile, and you will see Bhooting up from the gully a solitary tree whose topmost branch reaches within a few feet of the road above.” “Yes,” she suddenly replied, as her glance fell on the one red splash showing against the dull gray of the Cliff. a - “A leap from the road, if well-timed, would land a man among some very stalwart branches.” “But^r-but —if he didn’t reach—didn’t catch —” “Young lady, he’s a man in a thousand. If you want the proof, look over there.” (TO BE CONTINUED.)

It Was a Mouse.

If there’s anything that will make a woman throw good -esolutions to the wind quicker than she made them, it is a mouse. A young woman arrived at one of the New York hotels and before retiring at night she decided to straighten up the things in the closet of her room. She was singing over her work and was doing nicely until she discovered two shining little behds in one corner and decided there must be a lost hatpin there. So she reached out to take it. What her hand met was soft and covered with hair. - It was a mouse. The yell that emanated from that room convinced everybody tangoing several floors above that cruel murder was afoot, and there was a scramble to the hallways. The young woman finally succeeded in opening the door of her room and informed the gathering crowd what a narrow escape she had from annihilation. Now there is a standing reward of $6 for the head of that mouse —detached from the rest of the mouse. If it ever appears again, there’s no telling what may happen.

Dust Clouds Armies Make.

An army on the march along dry roads naturally throws up very heavy dust cloudß. To those who haven’t been trained one dust cloud looks very much like another, but to a soldier these dust clouds tell a very clear story. . . The dust clouds thrown up by infantry, for example, hangs in a low. thick cloud. The longer the cloud the more men underneath it, and a scout can, by this means, make a fairly accurate guess of the number of men on the march. Cavalry on the march sends up a dust cloud that is much higher and thinner than that of infantry. The most distinctive of these dust clouds, however, is that made by wagons and heavy guns. The dust rises in little groups of clouds, quite different from the long clouds of cavalry and infantry. So even when unable to see the actual cause of the dust, a scout can tell many miles away what kind of force is passing along a road.

Rice Crop of United States.

The acreage of rice in Louisiana and Arkansas has increased approximately 700.000 acres in the last two years. The United States is now growing practically the equivalent of all the rice it uses.

Dancing Around.

Nowadays, when two Irresistible bodies meet, the usual courses tor them to Join hands and take a few turns In the maxlxe or the heal tattoo —Judge-

Folk We Touch In Passing

By Julia Chandler Manz

SUPPOSE THERE SHOULD BE CHILDREN "Well, I suppose you know* that tuberculosis has developed in three generations of The Man’s family?” questioned The Gossip. “Yes,” answered The Mother of The Girl quietly. “And The Girl knows?” probed the visitor. “Yes, she knows,” came the even tones of The Mother again. “And you will not Interfere?” went on The Gossip, and before The Mother had time to tell her that the life of The Girl was her own to give or withhold, the talker said: “Suppose there should be children.” And The Girl, reading in the next room, heard. The first part of The Gossip’s conversation amused her. She had gone through with all the struggle before she gave The Man her promise. But in her discussion concerning the matter with either The Man or The Mother the suggestion of The Gossip had not entered. Suppose there should be children! The Mother had not suggested such a possibility, jmd The Girl had been too much absorbed in just loving The Man to think of it. Her consent to marry him ha<f been merely a matter 9f personal concern. The heritage of The Man had already touched him with a ghostly finger, suggesting to him that he was marked for other things than marriage. But he was young. The Girl was young, and had so much of vital strength. Th6y would go away together to the heights and

Ana the Girl, Reading in the Next Room, Heard.

snake off the grim hand that lay upon The Man. “But suppose there should be children?” suggested The Gossip to The Mother of The Girl. The Girl pushed the idea aside and went on reading in the next room, but the words she had heard kept running in between the printed lines of her book. She went for a walk in the twilight stillness, and it seemed to her that everywhere there were children, healthy, splendid specimens, bubbling over with life and happiness, and every one that turned a smiling face to hers seemed accusing her of some horrible thing she was about to do. She called to see a friend, and in a friendly little chat tried to force The Gossip’s suggestion from her mind, hut it clung. As the days went by and preparations for The Girl’a wedding progressed the thought implanted in her mind by The Gossip became as a plant that stretched out fts tendrils mid wove them into the woof of The Girl’s life, and so tenaciously did they cling, and so tost did they grow that they crowded out flowers of thought like a rough and hardy weed, until they filled The Girl’s conscious hours, and lapped over into her subconsciousness, haunting her dreams by night. 7 The invitations to the wedding were in the house and The Girl and The Man had spent a very happy evening addressing them. The prospective bride *had gone to bed a little less troubled lu mind than had been her f . ,

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wont of late, when, toward the dawn, the Dream Spirit came and touched her, bidding her follow him out into the. shadows.Suddeply she found herself standing on a naked beach —drear, cold, wind-swept The waves of the ocean dashed their icy spray along the shore and the sound was that as of children wailing. A great darkness settled over the land; that darkest hour which comes just before the dawn. Then came the first gray streak across the easterh sky, and The Girl saw. Along the barren shore ran little children —numbering many, many thousands. They were naked, and a great brawny hand scourged them as they ran until the beach was crimson with the blood which dripped from their little nude bodies, and the air was filled with their helpless cries for mercy. The Girl covered her eyes with her hands to shut out the vision, but the Dream Spirit drew them down again. “They are the thousands of little children brought into the world by mothers who knew beforehand that there was every possibility that they would be scourged down to death by the hand of inherited disease. “Little, little children,” went on the Dream Spirit, “children meant to live and to be happy; children meant to have strong bodies and untainted blood; yet children brought into the world doomed from the beginning.” The sea washed over the bloodstained beach, and the children were dissolved in the sunlight of a new day. The affianced bride of The Man marked for other things than mar-

riage found herself sitting up in bed. the sunlight of an autumn morning streaming in at her window. - "For myself it would not matter. Any suffering I might incur for myself I could bear. Gladly would I give myself in your place if I might,” she told The Man topched already by his ghostly heritage when he came to her. “BUT SUPPOSE THERE SHOULD BE CHILDREN?” she went on, looking bravely into his eyes, “perhaps we have the right as far as we are concerned. BUT NO WOMAN HAS THE RIGHT TO BRING AN IMMORTAL SOUL TO LIVE IN A HUMAN BODY THAT WILL BE SCOURGED BY THE HAND OF INHERITED DISEASE.” Then she told him of the doomed babies wailing on the naked shore, lashed by the hand from which there was no escape. And The Man helped her do the only right thing there was to do.

Ants as Sterilizers.

Many schemes have been developed for ridding clothing of soldiers of vermin, as substitutes for the remedy used in peace times—simple cleanliness. Gasoline or kerosene rubbed into the seams is the favorite idea. A member of the French Academy of Medicine, however, has reported a simpler scheme, which is good during warm weather. The soldier is directed to take off his clothing and toy It on an ant hill. The ants will soon discover the hiding places of the lice and capture them with enthusiasm.