Carroll free press. [volume] (Carrollton [Ohio]) 1834-1861, 1847-06-25
From the United States Saturday Post.
HERBERT TRACY;
Or the Legend Of the Black Rangers.
BY GEORGE LIPPARD.
CHATTER VIII.


s,eed ofthe British colonel and planting his spur,
into the sides of the plunging animal, forced him
to take the steep and winding road that lead a
round the precipcs, a thousand feelings rushed
through his mind. aud wild tumult Of opposing
Thoughts agtated his brain, but amid all the con,
tending feelings and opposing thoughts, one idea
was unpernost in his mind, steady, firm and
unalterabe resolve to bear his betrothed away to
some scene of safety, and desperate purpose
10 mart with his life ere the beautiful being, whose
head now lay piowed on his breast, should be
torn from his embrace, by the rude hands OF
those who had, so mokngly, toyed with her
plighted VOWS.
Winding his arms yet closer around the waist
Of Marian; no dashed down the narrow path,
plunged into the Wssahikon, and ascending the
opposite bank, gained the rocky road which pur-
sued It's irregular course along the banks of the
stream As he flew along the road with the
speed of wind, the fresh and breezy night air,
tanning the pallid cheek of the maiden, awoke
her TO consciousness, and Herbert felt the warm
beating of her heart, throbbing against The hand
which held her to his side.
She opened her b.aming blue eyes, and as the
warm flush of youth and love again gowed on
her swelling check she cast hurried glance a.
dering thoughts, and then as the whole truth
flashed upon her, she wound her arms with a
quick, convulsive movement, around the neck
of her lover, her bosom rose and fell in the
moonlight, and sinking her head upon his manly
breast, she found relief from the tumut Of op.
posing thoughts in food Of tears.
Herbert gazed upon her fair face, with its
beauty half upurned to the sky, and if ever, dur.
ing his wild and dreamy life, he felt his soul
swell with the feeling Of intense happiness, and
every nerve thrill with delight, il was at that mo-
ment, when her full, and lustrous orbs were cast
upward, with glance so full of high and haIlow-
ed love, so full of all the trustlulness of woman's
passion, and beoming with that winning conf
dence, mmodifed with disrust and doubt, which
the vilest Of mankind would hesitate to wrong or
betray.
The sounds of pursuit broke upon the air.
Herbert had attained the point, where the paper
mills cast a heightened shadow over the stream,
and a quarter of mile lay before him ere he
could reach Riuenhouse's mill. 1t was his pur.
pose, to avoid his pursuers, 10 seek the farm
house of the Quaker, Joab Smily, place his be-
irothed in safety till the morrow then repass the
British lines by the bed of the Wissahibon, and
reach the haunted house by midnight Marian
in the farmhouse, with entire safety, until the
coming day, when the fate of battle would ena-
bic him to place her in a situation Of greater
security.
The sounds of pursuit, the echong of the
horses hools and the shouts OF the pursuers
broke louder and nearer upon the stiffness oil
night, and sinking the rowes into the fanks OF
his steed, Herbert gave him free rein, and in an
instant he dashed along the road, with the mon
otonous beat ofthe hoof upon the sod, which be-
tokened the utmost stretch ofhs speed put to the
test. A hundred yards lay between Herbert and
Ritenhouse's mill, and a hundred yards behind
his pursuers came numbering along the road
The report Of pistol broke upon the air, and
bullet whistled by Eerber's ear at the same
moment the voice of his father, urging the pur-
suit, rose high above all other sounds.
81 will foil them yeti" Herbert muttored be-
tween his teeth us he recognized the tones of.
his fathers voice. "lIero is Rrtenhouse's mill
the moon has gone down, and the night is
dark-now God help mel"
As the exclamation rose upon his lips, the
sounds Of horses hools which rose in his rear,
were echoed by similar sounds on the opposite
bank of the stream, and the crashing Of brush
wood and the rustling of branches, gave Herbert
warning, that his escape was cut off beyond the
mill.
The crisis came. The mill was reached, the
party on the opposite side came laundering thro'
the woods and the voice Of Major Tracy was
heard, nearer and yet more near; whcn refining
his stoed up against a small and perpendicular
rock which peepcd out from among mass of
brushwood, Herbert loosened his feet from the
stirrups, and gathering his arm around the waist
Of Marian, with firmer embrace, sprang from
the horse, on to the rock, amid the shelter of the |
environing shrubbery, and as he sprang the ai- /
friphted horse bounded forward, dashed through
the slream, swept up the road that traversed the
opposite hill and with the speed of a bolt, driven
from the bow, disappeared in the shade of the
wood.
AS he disappeared, the party of colonel Mus
grave emerged from the woods on the opposite
bank into the stream, and almost the very same
instant major Tracy with his men, rushed along
with the speed of lightning, within an arms
reach of the spot upon which Herbert stood, and
passing between the rock and the mill, dashed
into the Wissahlkon, and ere he was aware,
confronted the colonel and his company in mid
stream.
(which way went the fugitivesl" shouted
colonel Musgrave.
"Do you not hear the horses hoofs upon the
hill?" replied the stern and commanding voice
of major Tracy-"away! away! We rihe-we
lose tme away"
"Well have them now by" exclaimed
the voice of lieutenant Wewood Tracy, "they
cannot be more than fifty yards ahead. Now
for it my men"
And with one assent the pursuers Joined their
forces and galloping up the opposite hank Of The
stream in the direction taken by the steed which
Herbert had just abandoned, their forms were
lost in the shades of the forest, and the echoinr