White Cloud Kansas chief. [volume] (White Cloud, Kan.) 1857-1872, 1858-06-17

wings in entering into a contest with tn,
mother country. The undisguised senti
ments of his fair step-daughter, WHIT
openly reioiced at every discontinue o
the British arms, but increased his dislik,
and hatred to the cause of independence
On all occasions, even in the presence o
British officers themselves, she fearlessl,
and warmly espoused the cause of he
countrymcn, to the great modification O
Isaac Wharton, an imperious and over.
bearing man, who could not endure sucl
inhexible opposition in a member of hi
own household.
The visits of Michael to his house had
long since been forbidden, and latterly HI
had met his betrothed only by stealth
sometimes at the house of friend, and
at others in the open greenwood-alwayl
apprizing her of his presence in the neigh.
borhood, by some preconcerted sigma
which she readily recognized. Many /.
stolen interview had taken place between
them, little suspected by her ungracious
step-father, who little dreamed of the
articles to which lovers will resort tc
elude the vigilance of those who would
sundei them forever.
Michael well knew how anxiously Dora
longed for his coming. and whatever
dangers beset his way, he seldom failed
to hasten to her side, when the public
service permitted his absence from the
camp. Sometimes his signal greeted her
ears from the forest near her dwelling,
when the sun had but few hours COM
menced his morning course; and again
when it had sunk to rest, and the stars oil
heaven were shining brightly in the Him
table vault, some note uttered from afar,
unrcgarded and unrecognized, save by
herself, would cause her young heart to
autter with that strange sensation of de-
light only felt by those who love passion
ately, and only to be experienced by them
when after long absence husband or a
lover returns to repay them for the long
vigil Of love:
The sun was within an hour of his set
ting. when the line of hazy vapor which
had long lain motionlesS on the western
horizon, began TO grow dark and dense
as it doomed up fearfully in the distance,
and the wind. which had lulled for near
an hour, again sprang up; but this time
from the thunder-clOud in the west, in
ftful blasts, now surcharged with vapor,
and now hot and sui phurous as the reek-
ing breath of a volcano. The muttered
thunder began to groan and growl in the
west fearfully and deep, and with its
wings wide spread, the cloud rode wildly
down upon the gale, turning day into
night as its black shadow rolled over the
earth. In an instant al nature was min
gled in confusion. The sheeted lightnings
glimmered and flashed necessarily; the
deep-toned thunder shook the earth with
its terrific tongue, and the tall trees of
the forest bent, shivered and snapped in
the gale-the crash of their fall swallow
ed up and lost in the yet louder thunders
OF the believing storm.
AS accustomed as Michael had been to
scenes of peril and danger, feeling Of
superstitious awe came over him, and he
felt like frail and helpless creature of
the dust, in the contemplation Of so i'm
posing and terrific scene. The narrow
pathway along which he rode, stretched
away through dense pine forest, and on
every side the tall trees were broken and
scattered around him like stubble before
the wind.
Michael would fain have turned aside
to seek a shelter from the storm in some
of the scattered habitations that lay by
the roadside, for the hurricane was now
upon him in all its fury; but his past
experience had taught him to act with
cautious circumspection in a country where
civil war had loosened the bands of soci-
ETY., and set neighbor against neighbor,
in bitter and exterminating strife. Well
known through all that portion of country
as an active and incorporating whig,
he was equally an object of terror and
bitter hatred to all who were enlisted
against the independence Of their country.
Fearing lest in seeking shelter from the
storm, he might unswares place himself
in the power of the tories, in whose hands
his fate would soon have been sealed, he
hurried by dwelling after dwelling. pre-
ferring rather to suffer exposure to the
elements than to risk falling into the
hands of bloody minded and unscrupu-
lous men.
As the road, however, emerged from
the forest into an open clearing Of consid-
eS.:ssII,e extent, lie found himself within a
few rods of a house which lay upon his
right, too dilapidated in appearance TO
render Improbable that he might there
meet with dangerous adversaries. Tho
rain, too, was nearly upon him, just as
he reached the narrow lane which led
down to the building. Hesitating only
for a moment, he turned his horses head
and galloped up to the house, turning his
horse into the sheher of an unoecupied
stable, the door of which opened into the
lane. Entering the gateway, where. half
torn from its hinges. the gate hung OBJ
structing his way, with few hasty strides
he mounted the steps of the piazza that
tottered under his tread, and raped
londly at the door for admittanee.
Everything about the place wore de-
serted and cherries aspect. The mag
ni6cent shade trees around, which seemed
the growth Of centuries, stood unpruned
and neglected. with their jagged houghs
descending within few feet of the ground;
the rank grass was allowed 70 cover the
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