Port Royal standard and commercial. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1874-1876, 1876-04-13

ore hand resting upon the little pie OF
gold, his ruddy face grew suddenly pale
as shroud, his blue eyes dilated, until
they we're encircled by line of white
enamel; he remained standing there, as
if frozen to stone. -,
"Why, captain, what is the matter e
cried the colonel, starting up in alarm
edo you see q ghost, that you stand
gazing there at the blank wall :"
The other officers also started up In
alarm, also asked the cause of this sim
gular demeanor, but still, for the space
OF q minute or more, the captain stood
there, more like dead man suddenly
recalled to life than living being.
That moment passed, he sat down
with cold shiver made strong effort
a. If to command his reason /; and then
gave utterance to forced laugh.
"Ha, ha! See how I've frightened
youl |" he said-and then laughed that
cold, unnatural, hollow laugh again.
But now he turned from one comrade
to another, uttering some forced jest, or
looking towards the doorway, crowded
by officers and ladies, he gayly invited
them to share in this remarkable argu-
ment: Which were the most beautiful
women in the worlda
As he spoke, the hour struck. =.
Twelve O'Clock was there, and with 1t
q footstep, and then bold Indian form
came urging through the crowd OF ladies,
thronging yonder doorway.
Silently, his arms folded on his war
blanket, a look of calm stoicism on his
dusky brow, the Indian advanced along
the room, and stood at the head OF the
table. There was no lady with him
"Where is she 2" at last gasped the
captain. "She has not refused to come :
Tell me-has any accident befsllen her
by the'way3 I know the forest is dark,
and the wild path most dificult-tell
me where is the lady for whom l sent
you into the rebel inesT
For a moment, as the strange horror
of that lovers face was before him, the
Indian was silent. Then as his answer
seemed trembling on his lips, the ladies
in Wonder doorway, the officers from the
ballroom, and the party round the table,
formed q group around the two central
fgures-the Indian, standing at the
head of the table, his arms folded IN his
war blanket-that young officer, half
rising from his seat, his lips parted, his
face ashy, his clenched hands resting on
the dark mahogany of the table.
The Indian answered by an action,
then by word. ~
First the action: Slowly drawing his
right hand from his; war blanket, he
held it in the light. That right hand
clutched with blood stained fingers a
bleeding scalp, and long and glossy locks
of beautiful dark hair!
Then the word: "Young warrior sent
the red man for the scalp OF the pale
faced squaw! Here it is p
Yes-the rude savage had mistaken
his messagel Instead of bringing the
bride to her lovers arms, he had gone
on his way, determined to bring the
scalp of the victim to the grasp of her
pale face enemy. - ..-
Not even O groan disturbed the silence
of that dreadful moment. Look there
The lover rises, presses that long hair
so black, so glossy, SO beautiful-to his
heart, and then-as though a huge
weight, falling on his brain, had crushed
him, fell with one dead sound on the
hard floor. -rs G. 5 ~
He lay there-stiff, and pale, and cold
his clenched right hand still clutching
the bloody scalp, and the long dark hair
falling in glossy tresses over the floor !
This was his bridal eve -..
When the bridegroom, flung there on
the floor, with the bloody scalp and long
dark tresses in his hands, arose again to
the terrible consciousness of life, these
words trembied from his lips, in faint
and husky whisper:
"Do you remember how, half ON hour
ago-I stood thereby the table-silent,
and pale, ind horror-stricken-while
you all started up round me, asking me
what horrid sight I saw? Then, oh,
then, I beheld the horrid scene-that
home, yonder by the Hudson river,
to heaven in the smoke and
flames The red forms of Indians going
to and fro, amid flame and smoke
tomahawk aud torch in hand There,
amid dead bodies and smoking embers,
I beheld her form-my BRIDE for whom
had sent the messenger-kneeliDg,
pleading for mercy, even as the toma-
hawk crashed into her brain !"
As the horrid picture again came o 'er
his mind, he sunk senseless again, still
clutchipg that terrible memorabilia
bloody scalp and long black hair d!