St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1885-03-05

when came up to her prevented me.
She was STOPPING, or rather in the
act of rising, and she had something in
her hand. 1t did not need second
glance for me to know that it was the
cast horseshoe. 1t had fallen from the
nail, or rather the nail had fallen with
it. do not know what said, but |
do know that if ever saw the paleness
of death that we rear spoken of, it was
in the face Elise turned to me.
Nonsense - said, sharply you
are not frightened at such an absurd
thing-the accident of a. broken branch
or faulty NALL .......
She did not answer at once, but took
out her watch and noticed the time.
alt is odd, at any rate" she said with
blanched lips.
at would have been more peculiar
if the nail, to humOr our superstition,
had held on in spite of rust and decay.
YOu can feel for yourself how heavy
the horseshoe is" | added, taking it
from her reluctant mana.
AS we walked home we determined
not to say anything of Elise's finding
the horseshoe on the ground, but to
wait for someone else to make the dis
covery that it was missing, feeling sure
of the uncomfortable feeling even such
Il trifie would make when every one OF
us was so high strung and anxious. In
deed, finding what an impression the
unlucky accident had made upon Elise
- the more so, fancy, since it was
Arnold who had hung it on the nall
tried to beguile her from her supersti-
/ tious feelings by telling her of some OF
/ Frank Maybin's rawlings. Poor fellow
he would have felt much proper cha
! grin if he had known upon what dull,
unsympathetic ears his soft nothings
/ had fallen. By the way, did | mention
! that Frank was ATnold's lieutenant,
and so shared all of his dangers "a
| fact that ought to have made him and
all he ever said or did interesting to
|
! Before we had breakfasted, news
came of some of the absent ones and
| in the anxiety to hear more, no one
| thought of the east horseshoe least
no one but Elise and me. Then de-
! tachment of troops came in, or cOuri-
ers on horses ridden well-nigh to death
/ tollino of rho SlOyUar arrivals If was
all so different from these fast days OF
! telegraphs, where messages flash out
the stern. relentless facts, leaving moth
| ing to hope for. Then the whole all
seemed as full of reports and surmiSes
as it is of electricity on Il hot summer
day. Just before sunset most of the
troops had returped intact I; indeed, all
of them but Captain ArnOld's com
mand, and it had not been heard of.
only knew how much Elise managed
| To keep out of her white face. With
all the regiment ut her feet, she would
! have been less than Il woman if she
had not been pale and anxious.
! Then came the welcome news that
the missing command had come. The
whole garrison tnrned out to welcome
them, we ladies standing under the
! live-Oak to see them march in. They
came riding two abreast, without the
usual dash, and with no greater noise
than the necessary clank of the sabres
and jingle of the spurs, with the thnd
of the horses feet. Here and there
down the long line came Il riderlesss
horse led by the bride, and the ambu-
lances in the rear were driven carefully
and slowly. Suddenly | felt the pain
full pressure of cold hand on mine,
and then | knew Elise had seen that
Black Bess, ArnOldis horse, was rider
less, led by the bride 10y his orderly.
1t seemed an age before | managed
to smuggle Frank Maybin into my par
lor, where, poor boy Elise's face was
a revelation to him. He closed and
sealed his own love story whilst he
told as cOncisely as possible OF poor
ArnOld's herOism. SO strangely close
the woOfs of different lives run parallel,
yet never touching.
1--WE struck the trail early in the
morning" said Frank, "resting short
time on account of the horses. At sun
rise we found ourselves on the brink of
a narrow lake fringed by luxuriaDt
growth of trees. Here we halted for
the men to breakfast. There could not
have been on Gods earth il more peace
full scene-the sun rising clear and
round over the prairie as he is wont to
do over the sea the lake shining like
FURNISHED gold in the Qualification the
rising sun made ; the ever-welcome
sight to the eyes of traveller on the
prairie of green branching trees. |
never knew Arnold gayer or more
genial than he was as we sat under Il
great pecan-tree taking an early smoke
after our cup of coffee, and while we
waited for breakfast. Suddenly the
port of rifle revealed the fact that
Indians were on the other side of the
narrow lake, we'll protected by the
trees, from behind which they could
take most excellent aim at our little
party. The bugle rang out the order
to mount, and in an instant every man
was in the saddle, eager for a fight.
Unfortunately the lake was too deep
to ford, so we were obliged to skirt it
before we could get near enough to the