CHAPTER XIII.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 211, 16 July 1887, Page 7 (Supplement)

CHAPTER XIII.

WHAT THE ECHOES SAID. They had been slowly ascending a high hill during the conversation just recorded, but now they had reached the top, and Ruby turned to look back over the way they had come, and, as she uttered a cry of delight, Walter stopped the horses to give her an opportunity to appreciate the view. The cariiage behind them halted also, and those four people wore held spellbound by a picture such as one reads about sometimes, but seldom sees. There were hills everywhere, with rich little valleys between, each one, in its dre^.s of varied hues, like some superb gem that catches a thousand lights from the diadem in which it is set. All the beauty of a glorious summer seemed concentrated in the magnificent scone. A beautiful river, winding in and out like a thread of silver embroidered in quaint designs on Nature's vesture, seemed almost like a thing of life as it glittered and sparkled in tho sunshine, while here and there along its banks, thrifty villages nestled lovingly among the emerald, and ruby, and gold, with now and then a heavenward-pointing spire, which told that Nature's beautydispensing CJod was not forgotten in the enjoyment of His bountiful gifts. Above and over all was the deep blue vault of heaven, spotted with white, fleecy cloud* that made shitting and fantastic shadows over hill antS dale. " Did you ever see anything like ifc before ?" said Ruby, under her breath. "Yes, for I have looked upon the same scene many true. 1 -. T never tire of it, however, and I was sine you would appreciate it,' 1 ho replied. " Appreciate it ! It is delight simply to look upon so much beauty.'' " Indeed it is," the young man agreed, but he was thinking more of the loveliness of the expressive face, with its earnest eyes, fluctuating colour and tenderly omiling lips, upon which he was gazing, than of the view below them. Ruby Hushed. She could not fail to perceive that hi?> intcicst was centied in her. " Such wonderful hills," she murmured, " .See how they Mt, each in it& place as if cntlnoncd an eternal king and ciowned with glory from the beginning. Oh, Mu Richaid.son, v. hat a rare pleasure you are giving me to-day." " I wish I might give you pleasure every day oh' your life, if 1 could but occasionally win such a charming leturn," Walter responded, in a thrilling tone, his luminous eyes betraying how deeply she had stirred the inmost feelings of his heart. " I shall never regret it," she said, turning ay/ay fiom hib eager look, for her cheeks weie flushing beneath it. Then she added ; " Are we far from the bridge now V "No, we can soon be there. Are you ready to go on V "Yes," she assented, casting one more lingeiing look behind her ; and on they went over the top of the mountain, and began to descend on the other side. Shoi tly after, Walter turned abide from the road into an opening space where the underbrush had been cleared from beneath three noble oak I*,1 *, and, dismounting, hitched hib horses to a ponderous ring that had been driven into one of the trees for that purpose. "This is a favourite resort for parties," Walter explained, as he perfoimed tho same service for Mr Marshall, the gentleman who had accomplained him hither, " and yon perceive that arrangements have been made for their convenience." He then as-i&ted Ruby to alight, and led the way along a well-trodden path, thiough a thick growth of pine and cedar, toward the natural cm iosity which he had come to show her. They were obliged to walk some distance, and at length they came out near a\ hat appeared to be a gorge, where huge boulders and masses of rock rose up on either side far above them, and then sloped away beneath into what seemed to be a fathomless abyss. A little farther on and Ruby uttered an exclamation of astonishment ; for before and far above them, spanning the gorge, with a perfect and symmetrical arch, was a beautiful, mobs - grown, ivy - draped bridge, fashioned by Nature's own hand. " Oh, how little it makes one feel !" said the young girl, in an awed tone, while her eyes roved up over the almost perpendicular mountain side opposite them, where, in some places, the gigantic walls of granite seemed as smooth as if they had been cloven with some ponderous instrument of steel. "Yes, indeed,'' observed Mr Marshall. " Man seems but an atom, compared with such a scene ; and yet he has power to &übdue and make subserve his needs even such stupendous things as those solid mountains and rocks." "I think we will deposit our baskets in some safe spot, for they will be a burden to us : then I will take you under the arch, and let you look up. You will then get some idea of the height of the structure. How high do you suppose it is from the bottom of that abyss ?" Walter asked. "I am sure I have no idea," replied Ruby; "more than a hundred feet, perhaps." Her companion laughed. "Do you see that large flat rock which projects about midway over the chasm ?" "Yes." , J , " Well, that is more than two hundred feet below tho bridge, and a line of three hundred more will barely reach to the bottom of the cavern below." " I cannot imagine it," returned Ruby, with a look of wonder. "You will realise it when you stand upon that flat rock. Have you nerve enough to go to the edge and look down t Walter asked, as the party moved on " Yes," the young girl replied, if you hold my hand, and promise to keep me from falling," Walter's face flushed. " I do not need to promise that,' he said, in a low tone. "You know I would let no harm come to you." A thrill ran through Ruby's heart at these low, earnest words, and her lovely eyes drooped beneath the light that had! suddenly leaped into his. Presently they reached the table-rock which Walter had pointed out to them. "It is much larger than I thought," remarked Mr Marshall, as he stopped upon, it, and looked around him with some surprise. "It measures a hundred feet across," said Walter, smiling. " Will you come to the edge and look down ?" Mr and Mrs Marshall thought '" not care to ; they could see ** i&hed where they were ; but b was eager to k^r lory thr -c awe-itiepinng depths. Walter lcf^ Qv to whe , e a F hug e shaft or mass 01 /X2C k umse ftB ft suppor t to the I "This is the safest place to look over, he said. <« Aye you sure you will not get, dizzy ? perhaps it will be wiser not to look after A \\ » " Oh I would not miss it for anything; 1 wane to see all there is to see, now that I am. here," &he returned, eagerly. " Then give me your hand and do not :, feav, for! shall brace myself against this r rock ai»d you will be perfectly sate. • Ruby placed her hand unhesitatingly in

his, and his fingurs closed over ib iti a strong, assuring clasp, whilo a thrill of pleasuro ran through him at this evidence of ncr implicit trust in him. Then Ruby leaned forward and looked into the chasm, and her heart almost ceased its beating as she thus realised something of the immensity of space between that shelf upon which she was standing and those weird depths below. ( To be Continued. )