The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1892-09-30
B6SI6g6d by Gn6v6nn6S
By A. q. GIBSON.
copyright. 1892, by American Press Associa.

ing out the can of powder she hastily
transferred it to the skiff.
With grateful heart Lois was push
ing the little boat away from the shore.
Suddenly the clouds overhead parted for
a moment, letting the moon pour d
shower of silvery rays across the bosom
of the Arkansas. The next moment a
savage whoop from the opposite bank
rang wildly out on the night air.
With q sudden terror Lois realized
that she had been detected by lurking
redskin.
Almost Immediately an arrow whizzed
through the air dangerously close to the
girls head.
Filled with alarm though she was, she
did not lose command of herself.
Grasping the oars firmly in her we'll
trained hands, she pushed dauntlessly
forward down the river.
If she had but one enemy to contend
with she felt pretty confident of her own
ability to protect herself Her fathers re-
volver, carefully loaded, lay by her side
and she knew how to discharge it.
She dared not, however, hope for so
easy an escape. 1t was not at all likely
that the Indian who had spied her was
alone.
Glancing over her shoulder as she
piled the oars she caught sight of three
stalwart Cheyennes running rapidly
along a sand bar which extended for
some distance into the stream.
Another glance sufficed to show her
that they We're trying to unloosen large
canoe which was partly imbedded in the
heavy sand.
The canoe was one which her father
had made and had been carried by the
last rise of the river to the bar on the
opposite side. Having no immediate
use for the canoe he had not taken the
time to reclaim it from where the waves
had stranded it.
Little the Gilbert family, who had
enjoyed many trips down the river in
its rude cavity, dreamed that it would
ever serve their enemies as craft in
which one of its members would be
pursued.
Lois observed with feeling of thank
fulness that the Indians were founder
ing about i'll the sand, as if in hopeless
condition of getting the canoe launched.
"They're i'll the quicksand at the edge
of the barr she cried to herself, shoot
ing another glance toward her foes.
"All the better for me! I'll have
good start before they get out of that
sand"
With q courageous heart Lois sent the
ikiff, with its doubly precious cargo,
bounding like frightened bird over the
water.
Two arrows sped after her, but she
was already too far from the vexed war;
riors, struggling on the verge of the
quicksand, to prove an easy target.
A curtain of dense clouds again swept
across the moons face, rendering OBJ
jects along the river dim and uncertain,
and greatly increasing the yexation of
the Indians
Not for one moment did Lois Gilbert
slacken the speed at which she was urg-
ing her skiff forward
The quicksand ON the bar opposite her
home and where Nose Gilbert had once
had an unpleasant experience might
hS4lAO41Nt i4SA ~ NtS1etp ms II1C SACJ
for a short time, but she knew they
would be able to extricate themselves
and secure the canoe. All too soon they
would be hurrying after her.
In the meantime, though, she put forth
every effort to make as great headway
as possible before the pursuit actually
began.
She was not wrong in her belief that
the savages would be able to free them
selves from the quicksand.
She had not proceeded far around a
small bend in the river when the un-
mistakable dip, dip of a canoes paddles
fell on her ears.
They're really after me now in earn
est" she told herself. "Well, I'm a
good way ahead, and I'll try to keep that
way"
Taking q deep breath, she bent to her
task with renewed energy.
The little boat seemed fairly to fly
along over the water, but fast as it
went she could still hear the dip, dip of
her enemy's paddles as they came stead
lily onward after her,
The moon was dimly visible now be-
hind mass of filmy clouds and objects
were becoming family discernible.
Lois glanced back to ascertain if pos
sible how near her pursuers We're.
She could just make out the dull out
line of the long canoe and its dusky oc-
cupants as they swept around the bend.
She could not, however, estimate the
distance between herself and them,
though fear made it seem less than it
actually was.
The sharp eyes of the Cheyennes saw
the skiff with its solitary occupant far
ahead of them, and uttering a chorus of
savage whoops, which echoed wildly
from bank to bank, they showed the
canoe forward at an impetEous rate.
Lois realized that it must be race
for life with her there on the Arkansas,
where she had spent several careless
afternoons i'll the very craft now pursu-
ing her.
| Even in that time of peril she could
not help thinking Of one particular af-
ternoon in June when Lee Hutchins,
mounted on his pony, had ridden along
the bank as she idly floated, not far
away, in the old canoe, They had con-
versed little, but it had left an indelible
impression on her mind.
But the yells of the pursuing Indians
drove her happy memory away, Shut
ting her lips firmly, she stroge to force
| the skiff along with all the vigor which
she was able to command.
Work as she did to keep ahead, she