The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1885-04-15

| aira II might, for all he could tell,
take days to reach the Spanish lines.
And though many good soldier is
missing after battle, who would be
found missing beforep He might tell
some lie; but then a Blackthora was
always safe to be found out II ever he
ventured ON q lie. But then, how, as o
man, could he leave woman like this
to make her way alone? 1t was not:
How could he force her back-that
question had been settled long ago. On
one side honor and duty; on the other,
beauty in peril.
He possessed single COMA six
pence with hole in it-which Kate or
Nellie or Susan or Mary had given him
for love and luck; he forgot which, but
he had kept 1t for her sake, all the
same. Suddenly he tossed it in the air.
'Heads, go back-tails, 60 on. Hang
II all, it's heads. I'll try again--two
out Of three. Tails this time. Now for
the third. Heads, by all that's blue!
Go back, that means. No; it was tails,
turning TAIL you know, for go back;
and heads for going ahead; that's GO
ing on. Which was it, CountessP I'm
hanged if l know"
II know nothing Of incantations, )"
said she. "Au reUoir, sir. You have
meant WE'LL"
On she rode.
"Was it heads, or was it tailsP" he
brooied. "Yes; it Uas tails. Woman
wins" .....,
The coin was not made bv mortal
mint against which, when twirled by
Dick Blackthorn's thumb, woman
would not have won. But he had done
his best And, having done his best,
he threw all doubts away, and gave
himself up to the hour, only wishing
that his Portuguese uniform were not
quite so threadbare and stained. Why
mad he not a pair of epaulettesP He
vowed TO win them before they had rid
den a league. 1t is not every day that
one champions beautiful Spanish
Countess, heroine of romance besides,
through the perls of war in an un-
known land. She was gracious to him,
as, indeed, she had every cause to be.
As the sun sank and their shadows
heightened, all sorts of moss in the
shape of evening dreams gathered upon
the rolling stone. What if he did some
thing very heroic indeed; what If he
avenged all her wrongs; what if-but
there is no need to count all the stones
of a castle in Spain.
But it is one quality of these castles
to have neither kitchen nor bedcham-
Der; and Dick Blackthorn frequently
began TO wonder where these apart
ments were to be found before morn
ing. Moreover, horses can not last for
ever, and his was well-nigh foundered.
But there was no sign of laundering
about Countess or mare, though they,
on her own showing, must have ridden
thrice as far that day as he. Nor did
she hint at hunger, or thirst, or any
thing of that common kind. She was a
heroine OF romance Of the true blood,
II even there was such thing out Of a
tale. Not that she harped upon her
own troubles, as, no doubt, heroine Of
the very first rank should do. On
the contrary, she led Dick 10 talk about
himself, which, had he been trhe full
or, he wou.. have done yet more glad
ly; and she must, at last, have known
him as we'll as II they had been ao-
quainted for years.
"You are u clever young fellow" said
she; ''it is disgrace such power Of
adaptation should be thrown away. 1t
comes of being an Englishman--so stiff
ard so starched you all are. In any
other country you would have had a
career. You would be rich man as
well as clever one. For example-it
Is not the soldier who becomes rich in
war. AL the plunder goes somewhere
but wheres Yet it can not 60 into
the air.
"Are you not tired, Countess?" he
asked. "And are you not hungry,
toO?"
"Oh, no. Are you, thenP We will
rest il you are; but"
He was ashamed to be beaten by a
woman. And so they rode on till dark
ness fell around them, and in the great
silence of night the flow of the river
could be heard. For they kept close by
that, as their only guide. "Well, she
must give in at last. ;" thought Dick, toe
hard set for even such slight love-mak-
ing as u Countess might have allowed
from trooper. But he never wished
he had never met her-the ride was be.
ginning 10 feel like dream.
"Look there"
They had issued from dry water
course; aud it was Dick who saw, some
: three hundred yards or so in front, {
dull red glow.
/ "Hushl" whispered she. "Not 81
: loud A campfire; but French, Of
| Spanish, or English-who can sayP"
"Hark!n
; "All's wellr' was the welcome chan
that greeted Dicks hungry ears. Ant
never had those good words gladde
ring.
IAN English outpost!'' said he; INA,
/ be the English lines. We're all righ
r now. BY the Lord Harry, | believe Tn
the luckiest dog unhung"
: "Hush, my friend! l can not rid
r into the English lines; all alone as am
i dare not go among those rough men
/ trust you; but / trust none else in tn
l whole wide world. i shall be pris
0 oner; and you, too. ! must find Gen
eral Cuesta tonight. II tonight he is b
be found. have no papers-no pass
, remember; and will not risk wha
. may come OF that again, It Is simpl
1 for you. You are strayed from tn
: Spanish lines, and have lost your way