Argosy, Vol. 147, No. 1 — page 109: what you’re looking at

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

His plan, then, was to land, and with -Anina follow the men. The rest of the girls he would send back to me with the platform, to tell Miela and me to come over the next evening to the end of the trail. He and Anina meanwhile would keep close behind the men, and then when the cahon was neared, get around in front of them and bar their farther advance. This would be easy since he could walk and run much faster than they, and Anina could fly. He would drive them back out of the gorge, send Anina to keep the appointment with me and bring me up to him with the girls and the platform. They reached the shore and landed with- in a few feet of where they had been an hour before. The men were not in sight; nothing remained to show they had been there, save pieces of cut cord lying about. Anina now instructed the girls what to tell me, and in a moment more, with the blanket and a few pieces of bread, she and Mercer were left standing alone on the rocky beach. Anina was cold. He took off his fur jacket and wrapped it about her shoulders. She made a quaint little picture standing there, with her two long braids of golden hair, and her blue-feathered wings which the jacket only partly covered. They started up the trail together. It was al- most dark in the woods, but soon their eyes ‘grew accustomed to the dim light, and they could see a little better. They walked as rapidly as Anina was able, for the men had nearly an hour’s start, and Mercer con- cluded they would be far ahead. They had gone perhaps a mile, climbing along over fallen logs, walking sometimes on the larger tree trunks lying prone—rude bridges by which the trail crossed some ravine—when Anina said: “T fly now. You wait here, Ollie, and I find where they are.” She handed him the coat and flew up over the treetops, disappearing almost im- | thediately in the darkness. Mercer slung the coat around him and sat down to wait. He sat there perhaps fifteen or twenty min- utes, staring up at the silent, motionless treetops, and thinking all sorts of vague, THE FIRE PEOPLE. _- . Bei impossible dangers impending. Th heard her wings aan and saw ting down through the trees. — ss an “Very near, they are,” she said as she reached the ground. « ‘ they have—and they are ready n sleep.” ‘ oe They went on slowly along the : ae ace soon saw the glimmer of a fire ahez ae : camp for the night,” whispered } — “It must be nearly morning now.” x: He looked about him and smiled realized that no light would come vith ht morning. Always this same dim 7 here—and eternal darkness on ~ ahee “Good Lord, what a place to ive!” muttered. i” They crept on cautiously until t nail were within sight of the camp. A large - ni: burning briskly. Most of the men wrapped in their blankets, appa asleep; three were sitting upright, on g Mercer and Anina crept away. ‘We'd better camp, too,” Mercer s when they were well out of hearing. “ Y will probably stay there four or five h anyway. Lord, I’m tired.” He iid hand on her shoulder gently, almost timid] “ Aren’t you tired, too, little pirl?’? 7 aes - Ss Yes, ” she answered Simply, and 1 aryviitic¢ yes—I tired. Very much.” se a They did not dare light a fire, n they any means of doing so. Th ig a back from the trail a short distance, fir ing a little recess between two fallen los where the ground was soft with a moss. Here they decided to sleep or few hours. a z e A small pool of water had collected on barren surface of rock near by, and fre gether and ate about half the few ai ing pieces of bread which Mercer! was car rying in the pockets of his jacket. T were both tired out. Anina | was very sleepy. ee When they had finished ctng A A n down, and Mercer covered _ blanket. She smiled up at tithe “Good night, Anina.” oe “ Good night, my friend Ollie.” _ She closed her eves hii icbooks. com al tom Ad Yo