The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1891-04-25

w eho GA NO0iA hOW l1df0 UtOn NOAAAe~S~~
and dismay, but both the master and
Long Peter were old colonists, and had
had more than one brush with the ma
tives. They were both as cool as pos
sible.
'Bar the door, Jem," said the shep-
herd, "and hand me the powder flask
and bullets. Here, Bouncer, keep to
heel, good dog"
With feeling more akin to agony
than had ever known before, ! handed
the powder flask to my fellow servant,
at the same time telling him that had
forgotten all about the bullets, and that
only half dozen remained on hand.
He just gave me one glance, partly in
dignation, partly pity. "Then we are
all up tree" he said. However, let
us do our best; two bullets to each of
us, Jem, and Wen stand by each other"
The good old fellow! l saw by his
face that he felt for me in the agony of
remorse was enduring, and did not
mean to make it worse for me by his re-
proaches. Yet Long Peter had wife
at home among the heather mountains,
and daughter, curl of whose golden
hair had often seen in his pocketbook.
All, Long Peter could not afford to die
yeti
Meanwhile Mr.. Ashby was coolly re-
connoitering through the loopholes; he
had let down the window, and was pre-
pairing for action as calmly as the shep-
herd. We had handed him his two bull
let's, but he pushed them back; he had
few of his own. Take them, take them,"
he whispered; ''you will need them ALL"
And truly we did. By this time the
moon had risen, its light gradually
growing ON the landscape till we could
see the outlines of the trees, and could
see the long grass waving white in the
ghostly shadows, but all was silent
nothing but the hoarse cry of some night
bird broke on the stiffness around. Oh,
how long was it to last, this dreadful
silence and inaction? For myself must
confess that every pulse in my body was
beating like sledge hammer, every
nerve quivering till could scrrcely hold
my rife. But the master and Peter,
they knelt as quietly as though no dan
ger was to be apprehended, their barrels
pointed through the loopholes, while
they closely watched for any movement
outside.
But there was none. The sheep were
camping quietly round the hurdles, the
night wind swept with mournful
sound through the dark trees, causing
the spectral tracery of the branches to
dance in the moonlight ON the grass,
but that was all. Still the terrible 81
lence. But suddenly there was change,
three or four of the sheep rose, looked
all round, stamped with their feet and
huddled close together. Something had
alarmed them, some sight or sound as
yet unrevealed to our blunter faculties.
Bouncer rose to his feet, too, whining
uneasily. a9 s@
Down, dog, DOWN. whispered Peter,
breaking the silence for the first time,
and the docile animal once more sank to
the ground. -.s,,,-~.-
The next moment a loud report rang
out into thousand echoes. Peter had
fired the first shot, a shrill death scream
following it, while we could dimly see
the dark figure of man who leaped
from his ambush and fell like clod to
the ground.
"Now, MASTER" cried Long Peter,
while rapidly reloading his gun, ''fire
away, but aim to the right, sir, aim to
the right. I can see the cursed creatures
gathering there in numbers"
Mr.. Ashby obeyed the directions given
him by his servant, for in truth Long
Peter had fuller view than any of us
of what was going on outside.
"There, you are all rightp he added
exultantly, as both Mr.. Ashby's gun and
mine were fired at the same moment.
"You have each fixed your man, and the
others are drawing off for little. But
mark my words, sir" he added, "though
they are mortally afraid of our guns,
they'll find out soon enough that our
ammunition is running short, then they
will fire the hut and we are done for.
Sir, 1 mean to get Bouncer to help u.s."
"The dog?" asked Mr.. Ashby, inquir.
ingly. ~ don't understand. What can
he do? They will certainly kill him il
you let him Quit"
80 they will, if they can catch him, -
replied the shepherd composedly; "but
we must take our chance of that, sir.
If you will write a line to the Head Sta
ton, telling them what fix we are in,
reckon that my dog will carry the let
ter there in less time than thorough
bred horse could do it. have taught
him, sir, to fetch and carry, little think
ing that at some time our lives might
depend upon him doing it. Please write
the letter, SIR" ..-.....-......
"But will he go to the, Head Station
with it," replied the master, who was
busily writing. GLOW can you get him
to understand"
leave that to me, sir" replied Long
Peter; "the dog is as wise as any Chris
tan, and deal wiser than many; be
sides, l have waistcoat here belonging
to Jerry; if / show him that it is all right
he loves Jerry, and knows that he is a
the Head Station. The only difficulty
is, will the black fellows wait Ions
enough before they fire the hut, so as tx
allow of help coming? 1t is doubtful
but we can only try. We are in God'
| hands, SIR"
"True," replied Mr.. Ashby, as h,
handed the letter to his.faithful servant
The master said no more, but couli
see that his heart was full. All, his dea,
young wife, his blue eyed little ones
Would he ever see them more?
There was certainlyno time to lose
could see the dark figures of the NATIVES
lodging round the hut, evidently think
ing that since we had ceased firing oul
ammunition must be totally expended
but it was not 80, we had each of us on,
bullet left, but only one, which we wer,
keeping for emergencies, or for fna
scrimmage. Meanwhile Long Peter hat
pulled away half rotten slab from be
hind his bunk. thus making hole sufH
cenuy large for Bouncer to cree
through. he then fastened the lettel
securely to his collar, the noble anima
giving now and then a suppressed whine
and trembling from head to foot will
anxiety. He had smelt at Jerry's waist
coat, and quite understood what was ex
pected of him. could not bear to lool
at Long Peter at this moment, his feat
ures were working with emotion, and
could have sworn that there were tear
in his eyes; but he said nothing. Every
thing being now ready he led Bouncer t,
the hole, held his muzzle for momen
pressed hard between his hands, Will,
he gazed into the creatures expressly,
eyes. "Now go, good dog" he whis
pered; and squeezing himself through
the hole Bouncer sped away on noiseles
| feet