Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1890-12-27

wild escapade and for which unstinted
rensure would be meted out to the young
girl who should attempt IT. But as
things were then, the act was separated
from any mere recklessness or adventure
some boldness
have before me as write the diary
Of Rose Fenwicke, kept at the time and
written in the cramped hand and stilted
style then In vogue, also the yellow old
letter which she left on her little table
for her mother, and In which she at
tempted to explain and Justify her
course.
II know full well, my dear mother
90 runs part Of the epistle. that You
will not attribute to your daughter what
you are aware il not In her nature; nor
will You ever cease to trust her word
who has never broken faith with any one.
have thought and prayed touching my
duty to You, my duty to my country
and my duty to my lover Never
once have | suffered selfish desires to
hold place in my heart while searching
after the true line Of action. have at
last become convinced that Savannah
will never be retaken by the patriot
army. ! shall never again see Wayne
Prescott unless 60 to him. which am
now fully set upon doing, even at the
peril Of my life. II reach him shall
wed him at once and follow him whittier
soever he may 90. . - . It is hard.
almost unbearable, to leave you thus
to desert you by stealth, but there is q
call over yonder which l dare not close
my ears to, and there Is terror here
which l cannot longer endure. feel
that you will be quite safe here. Tho
British commander will protect you and
your estates 70 that you shall not want
for anything. l depart this night with
good old Grampus, who will be able, l
think, with Gods help, to lead me forth
from this more than prison into the free
air Of the country, where shall at least
be rid Of my enemies and prosecutors.
have searched In vain through the
diary, the letter and all the documents
bearing upon the matter to find out why
she spoke Of prosecutors Possibly the
word was used with no directness Of ap-
plication. She may have been antici-
pating q sort Of negative persecution
from Maynard. whose persistent kind
ness must have amounted to something
Of the sort, at least to . girl Of her tenn
permanent, and situated as she must have
been had she remained In Savannah
There may have been, however, other
and deeper reasons, Of which she did not
care to make record, and / am inclined
to believe there were. 1t appears on the
face of it, at least at this distance. so
improbable that she should have under
taken a task so hazardous In every way.
SO likely to end in unspeakabls disaster
and 50 trying to young girls nerves, II
she had not been impelled by some abso-
lutely irresistible circumstance. that
cannot help feeling that she must have
hidden the deeper and real cause Of her
act At all events some powerful stim-
ulus bore her through trial the like Of
which rarely comes to woman. and the
very thought Of which should be enough
to chill the heart of even the strongest
and most courageous maiden
Grampus, the old negro servant, with
that cunning and cleverness characters
tic Of his race. took his young mistress.
not by the highways, but by the byways
and paths 80 well known to him that he
could follow them quite Is well by night
as by day, and carrying for her light
case of clothing COON had reached the
edge Of swamp just beyond which
were the lines of defense. Rose was
quite calm and cool, for she long since
had conquered her fears as well as her
scruples, and was now ready to meet
every edgency with that peculiar cour-
age which belongs to woman She fol-
lowed Grampus, stepping firmly in his
tracks and needing little the gloom Of
the swamps or the ominous sounds that.
like heavy. half suppressed breathings
of battle, rustled along the lines of the
motionless armies. There was no firing
no martial music, no distant voices; but
to the right and left and directly before
them strange stir. a vague, significant
yet scarcely definable tumult Of minor
noises shook the stiffness Of the night,
Lights that could not be seen cast their
Pickering reflections on the sky. render
ing the solemn blackness Of the densely
wooded swamp still more heavy and aw-
full. The trees were hung with immense
festoons Of Spanish moss, mingled with
wild grape vines, amid which small ami
mails, probably raccoons. were scram-
bling and playing.
Much Of the way Rose was wading In
water four or five inches deep, and she
had to lay hold OF the negro's coat in or
der to follow him. 1t had been agreed
beforehand that Rose was not to speak
unless Grampus first spoke to her: SO in
perfect silence, save the light splash Of
their feet in the water, they trudged
very slowly and cautiously along until
they had reached the heart Of the
swamp. Here Grampus paused, and,
turning about, whispered:
"Deys somebody right yander. We's
got ter slip back and go way roun' an