Frostburg mining journal., 1883-09-29

no means probable, as our scouts are
abroad, they will surely be found skirt
ing the columns where scalps abound
the most. The route of the detach-
ment is known, while ours having been
determined within, the hour, must still
be secret"
"Should we distrust the man because
his manners are not our manners, and
that his skin is dark ?" coldly asked
Cora. =.
Alice hesitated no longer; but Civ
ing her Narraganset* smart cut of
the whip, she was the first to dash
aside the slight branches of the bushes
and to follow the runner along the
dark and tangled pathway. The
man regarded the last speaker in open
admiration, and even permitted her
fairer, though certainly not more
beautiful companion to proceed un-
attended, while he sedulously opened
the way himself for the passage of her
who has been called Cora. 1t would
seem that the domestics had been pre-
viously instructed for instead of pen
etrating the thicket, they followed the
route of the column a measure which
Hayward stated had been dictated by
the sagacity of their guide, in order to
diminish the marks of their trail, if,
haply, the Canadian Savages should
be lurking so far in advance of their
army. For many minutes the intrica-
cy of the route admitted of no further
dialogue; after which they emerged
from the broad border of under brush
which grew along the line of the high
way, and entered under the high, but
dark and gloomy arches of the forest.
Here their progress was less interrupt
ed and the instant the guide peIceived
that the females could command their
steeds, he moved on, at a pace between
trot and a walk, and at rate that
kept the sure-footed and peculiar ami
mails they rode, at fast yet easy
amble. The youth had turned to
speak to the dark-eyed Cora, when
the distant sounds of horses hoofs,
Gathering over the roots of the broken
way in his rear, caused him to check
his charger; and as his companions
drew their reins at the same instant,
the whole party came to halt, in
order to obtain an explanation Of the
unlooked-for interruption.
In few moments a colt was seen
gliding, like a fallow deer, amongst the
straight trunks of the pines, and, in
another instant, the person of the un-
gainly man, described in the preceding
chapter, came into view, with as much
rapidity as he could excite his meagre
beast to endure without coming to an
open rupture. Until now, this person
age had escaped the observation of
the travellers. If he possessed the
power to arrest any wandering eye
when exhibiting the glories of his
altitude on foot, his equestrian graces
were still more likely to attract atten-
tion. Notwithstanding a constant
application of his one-armed heel to
the flanks of the mare, the most con-
frmed gait he could establish was a
Canterbury gallop with the hind legs,
in which those more forward assisted
for doubtful moments, though gener-
ally content to maintain Looping trot.
Perhaps the rapidity of the changes
from one of these PAGES to the other
created an optical illusion, which
might thus magnify the powers of the
beast; for it is certain that Hayward,
who possessed true eye for the merits
of a horse, was unable with his utmost
ingenuity, to decide by what sort of
movements his pursuer worked his
sinuous way on his footsteps with such
perSeVerlng nafdlno0d.
The industry and movement of the
rider were not less remarkable than
those of the ridden. AT each change
in the evolutions of the latter, the for
mer raised his tall person in the stir
rups; prodcuing in his manner, by the
undue elongation of his legs, such sud
den growtLs and dimipishings of the
stature, as baff1ed every conjecture
that might be made as to his dimen-
sions. If to this be added the fact, in
consequence of the er poHe application
of the spur, one side of the mare APP
peared 10 journey faster than the other;
and that the aggrieved flank was re-
solutely indicated by unFemitted -four
ishes of bushy tail, we finish the pic
ture of both horce and man.
The frown which had gathered
around the handsome, open, and manly
brow of Hayward, gradually relaxed,
and his lips curled into slight smile,
as he regarded the stranger. Alice
made no very powerful effort to con-
troll her merriment Asa even the dark
thoughtful eye of Cora lighted with a
humor that, it would seem, the habit,
rather than the nature, of its mistress