A Daughter of Maryland — page 31: what you’re looking at

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

. Tyee EL ae oe ee RC eee Ae ae Lee TR RR Stat eS a ivy o- 4 o - —— Be AY - f ‘ , Ps om Pe fi woe : “~, a, : j 16 A DAUGHTER OF MARYLAND. make was only waiting a favorable opportunity for expres- sion. With that strange intuition we cannotfathom, but is none the less unerring, she anticipated it was the subject now uppermost in his mind, and that she would have to resort to sharper tactics than common to avert the crisis. She felt this without realizing how completely she was to throw herself into his power. Very much to her surprise he descended the hill in silence, refraining from speaking until they had reached the bridge spanning the river, which here shifted its course to the opposite side of the gorge. The water was running uncommonly high, so the froth- ing tongues of the flood licked the bridge stringers. ‘‘Let me cross before you venture upon it,’’ said Esten Berners, stepping upon the weakened structure, as she stopped Maze at its edge. Then he crossed over, the bridge _ swaying and trembling beneath his footsteps. ‘‘It is growing weaker every moment,’’ he shouted back, loud enough for Aurian to hear him above the sullen roar of the stream; ‘‘and I think it will not do for you to cross with your horse. Wait a moment until I can——”’’ A peal of thunder at that instant exploded like a shell on the distant mountain peak, It was the first gun of the advancing storm. Miss Lancier was in the act of “diamountine: when her horse gave a snort of terror and plunged madly forward, nearly unseating her by its frenzied movement. The reins slipped through her hands, but she managed to save herself from falling, while a deafening crash rang in her ears and she felt herself and horse carried downward. That end of the bridge had fallen beneath the weight of the terrified animal, though the opposite supports had not completely broken away. The raging flood swept over the doomed structure, and Maze’s feet slipping on the wet inclined planks the struggling horse fell upon its knees. Ksten Berners had witnessed the startling scene with a comicbooks:com >