The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1880-12-18
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easily assisted him 10 the roof, and 80 b,
reached the second story windows, one o
which he opened and instantly was INNER
sed in the darkness of the room.
That house was the residence Of Molli,
Williams, about whom there was 20 much
scandal, and who dwelt there alone.
Matto's dark eyes cav this sight from hel
covert.
She did not cry out, or fall In a ftj buI
she was very pale, and her breath came
quick and fast and she hastily put her hand
To her heart. She turned away and walked
back 10 her pony, and deliberately remount.
ed him.
A touch of the whip put him in motion
again but not homeward.
Mrs. Foster had not the civilized instincts
her impulses were in the direction Of re.
vengei that at hand, and all that was pos-
sible to follow. She set out, without sec
ond's hesitation, to the ball.
Plummer's was the store at Willow Creek,
and the crowd had been gathering since the
turkey shooting-match in the morning,
which took place two miles away in the
forest, and at which Tom Foster had won
" first choice"
The ball was in full progress" Postum
Jim," the mountain fiddler, saving away
for life at Cumberland Cap" while the
house shook with the whack of the borgans
upon the slab floor.
An immense throng filled the room
everybody in a violent motion, and every
muscle of the body; but at Matte Fosters
appearance, there was monetary stop.
page and stare,a and even Possum Jim paused
and drew breath.
Time, however, was too precious for the
expenditure Of more than minute, even
upon this sensation, and Immediately the
festivities were resumed with renewed fury.
Matte looked round, scanning those faces
for the only one that could have any inter
est for her. She wished to be absolutely
sure.
But very soon she was so--the brown and
laughing eountenance of the grass widow
was not among them. Toms case, therefore,
was beyond doubt,
Still the girl fingers, watching the scene,
seeing, it is plain, very little of it.
She is debating something-choking with
hatred and malice-planning revenges, she
knows not what.
The sturdy pounding OF the moccassins
and brogans upon the floor, the wall and
scream OF Possum Jim's fiddle, the course
laugher, the stern shouts of tho men, the
merry treble of the women and at intervals,
rising above all the rest, the hoarse yell OF
' Set to your pa'tners!" or "AH hands
round |" make savage and diabolic Babel
in her ears.
Suddenly, as she continues to stare va
,antly over the heads of the crowd, pair Of
ylittering eyes meet hers,a her heart gives
| frightened leap.
Joe Williams, ,ruffian, moonsb iner outlaw,
' 'hAre, and holds her for the minute with
- ~'--t-- --~;i-
With sort ofgrasp,she takesa step back
ward, turns and fees from tho room.
A keen wind had risen as Matte again
reached the open air, and the splendid
noon was just falling from the mid. heaven.
Hastily she united her pony and leaped
ipon his back, and, with chirrup and a
harp cut of the whip across the hanks, the
Inimal sprank up the frozen road.
She had scarcely compassed five hundred
'ards, when she heard loud shout in the
ear and the sound Of her own name.
Again she lashed the pony, and so pitt
essly that he bounded under the pain, but
lew away with the velocity of mustang
She was bestriding him, must own, in
,he masculine fashion, as ladies in hurry
'lten do in those parts, and, in truth, she
,ould scarcely have otherwise kept her
,lace. So, like an arrow shot into the night,
lie sped up the mountain defile.
Her pursuer was, of course, the man she |
lad recognized In the ballroom-her old
dmirer, Joe Williams, whose lOve-making |
he remembered as terrifying experience,
md who, having been in certain sense
ilted, was likely to discuss the subject, il
hey met, with sense Of injury and pret-
y formidable eloquence.
As the race went on, she heard, although |
he wind was blowing the contrary way, at
hort intervals, Joe's loud yells, growing |
loarser, as he found she had no idea OF
topping, and changing gradually from
Stop, you pretty durlingP and similar
orms of endearment, to threats and male
Lotions.
So, in this fashion the chace continued the
wo keeping always nearly the same dis
ance apart. A fleet horse was necessity |
0 Joe, and he never owned any other kind,
nd race was by no means uncommon,
experience, particularly when the revenue
fficers were inspecting the neighborhood. |
he only difference being that under those
circumstances it was Joe who was in ad-
ance.
It was hard riding, the reader may well
elieve. The roads are terrible, even in /
ummer, and most OF the streams without
ridge but, on the other hand, there is
rarcely fence. What they call roads, are
n fact, merely trails, which creep around
ifIicult passes and around the verge Of
-ightful chasms and TO slip is certain death,
There are, moreover, numerous by-paths
nd devious cuts across ridges and rugged
la Ifs, and all sorts of spots for instant dis.
ppearance, to the bewlderment of strange
entlemen in search Of irregular liquor mer-
hanls.
Tactics Of the latter sort Matte did not
tempt, although she knew the thiekets and
,verts as we'll as any ono can who is allow
/ TO roam at will among them from child
ood up. But so did Joe, who could have
und her as quickly as ferret after rat
ld in short, there was nothing for it but to
nrry on, and get home as quickly as pos
bic, and bar the door.
Aud winding on with tie speed ofthought, !
rough many a devious and dangerous