Ardis Clayerden

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1900 Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XII Scarcely had he made a step from the door of the little house, scarcely had he taken a breath of the outer air which seemed to him so suffocating, when Jack Surrey heard sudden cries from female voices, and turning, he saw Ardis and Norma sitting under the shade of a tree. Instantly the two girls arose and ran toward him. "Mr. Surrey!" exclaimed Ardis. "What is the matter with you? Where have you been?" Surrey presented good cause for amazement. His face was pallid and smeared with dirt; his clothes were torn and covered with dingy white slime from the floor of the cave; his form was trembling as he stood; and, worse than all, from his left arm, from which the coat sleeve was nearly torn away, blood came dripping down, drop by drop, upon the ground. Norma shrieked. "He is bleeding!" she cried. Surrey smiled a weak, faint smile. "I have had a rough time," he said. "Tell you about it after a while. Didn't know I was cut. I must sit down." "He is faint!" said Ardis. "Norma, is there any water?" Norma dashed into the little house. There was a pitcher on a table, but it was empty. She seized it and came running out. She stopped for a moment, looking about her. "There must be water down the hill," she said; "I will get some." And away she ran. Surrey sat down at the foot of a tree, his back against the trunk. Ardis took out her handkerchief, and approached him. Her face was full of pity, but she asked no questions. "Let me tie up the cut," she said. "It must not be allowed to bleed in that way." Surrey looked at his arm. The lower part of the shirt sleeve had been torn away, and a few inches above his wrist there was a jagged wound which had no doubt been cut by a sharp stone in the course of the mad struggle in the cave. "I wondered why I felt so wea...