Adventure, February 20, 1922 — page 140: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Za said as his assistant took the seat the ranger had just quitted. “Too bad he’s got the —-hetting weakness. And yet—I don’t know as I'd call it just that. I must have a talk Sith the chief when he comes.” Pay BRADLEY was viaiatal for the cosy full moon which sat upon the hori- Ké zon and threw a dull reflection upon a ~ the forbidding tangle of lush overgrowth | ee that was Black Swamp. He left his horse .__ in a tiny meadow beside the main trail to the reserve, and on foot struck out across country where the healthy forest, clean _ based and park-like, gradually gave way to rank, sodden-rooted vegetation. Se When he had reached the edge of the ae e swamp proper he delayed many minutes searching out the point where, a year before, he had- begun his traverse of the — : _ treacherous land in response to another wager. That had been a trip of madness as was this, with the one difference that he had then crossed in daylight the danger x oe belt that ringed the center of the swamp. There had been no need fof hurry then; he ge _ had taken his time, pausing now and then to strike a blaze with his hatchet upon the BP, < _ trees along the way to guide him upon his = His eagerness for the present undertaking os == ee: had been tempered with misgiving since he had left Whipgown behind. He was not so confident tha he could cross in darkness _ the treacherous bad-land with its endless s = acres of mire, its unhealthy vegetation, and which one might fall in the darkness and _ * break a leg, or perhaps two. Tragedy, with _ a hint of mockery, would lurk in the wake of such an accident; for the citizenry of _, Whiptown would never think of going -out “in search of Bradley, who never lost such a bet. _ _He mildly upbraided-himself for making ren the rash wager, for letting himself be swept =. Sa ‘unreasonable enterprise. He wondered, ae now that he had time for sober reflection, if _ Driscoll had consciously turned the situa- : = = probably been laughing behind his hand. 3 ~ “ Well, he’d laugh the other way before ee ~ another sunset—providing Bradley’s hunch ee - se a up. iia This thought cheered him, and he was ESeTOILE to himself when, coming abruptly ee -* ‘ \\fP ~ my ia ; nA LY ia . < a > swath agin a teres wees ue? ~ Pa Ee a alse = pe Se ne Adventure upon a familiar spot, he flashed his electric torch and after a careful search found a weather-darkened blaze upon the trunk of a giant fir. He turned at once to the left and went down a narrow aisle that twisted away among stunted, unhealthy trees which were choked by rank, octopus-like under- growth that reached up millions of strang- ling fingers to sap the vitality of the forest. The way, Bradley knew, was along a low, flat ridge. To either hand, though he could not see far, the land dropped away gradually — from his trail and stretched off into damp, steaming flats. There was an unnatural warmth upon the dead, still air; a heavy, fever-laden energy rose from sweating acres of decaying vegetable matter. As he went on the trees grew sparse, less vigorous of development, though the op- pressive undergrowth increased. ~ There were spaces where no foliage was overhead to shut out the moon, and here the last year’s blazes were not difficult to trace. But when he passed through dark intervals, where a fabric of leafage was woven against the sky, he had to flash his torch many times to make sure of the wa And that he make sure of the way was imperative. He knew that were it daylight he could see to either hand foul, stagnant acres sometimes dry with a deceiving, brittle-caked surface skin which suggested safe footing, but which would give way beneath the merest pressure. It was an uncertain matter to wander-from the safety of the ridge into the endless bogs beyond. For half an hour he went steadily on, at first with comparative ease, but as time wore on with gradually increasing difficulty. His blazes of the year before had been hastily struck; many of them were faulty and deceptive; and before an hour had gone he was pausing at short intervals to check | the accuracy of his course. Yard by yard as he*penetrated the wilder- ness his taste for the expedition and his certainty of its success decreased. Once when he brought up confused, unable to trace the trail, he was tempted to turn back. If he was to give up at all, he rea- soned, the sooner done the better, for the farther he went into the increasing maze the less would be his ease in back-tracking his footsteps. _ After a prolonged study of his chart and compass in the light of the electric torch he went on once more, more speculative than - Gomicbooks « x h . < aie soe f= SE Be A = : Xe aot” “ae. => a rh em ED a ee (E(0) ii Od