The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-03-05

at the same time handed him his OWL.
Each looked in silence at the portrait in
his hand-in a silence of amazement, of
stupefaction. The two portraits repre-
sented the same person!
Quixarvyn was the first to break the
silence.
"What!" he said, drawing a deep
breath and bursting into low laugh,
which was both fierce and glad, 'you,
was it? To think that that have found
you after all! Fate is kinder to me than
fancied."
The other returned his gaze.
"Well," he said, sit was l, it appears;
though never knew it, nor suspected
it. And" he added simply, sit has
been no ones fault"
"No ones fault?"
"No, no ones. Mary Seldom liked
you, but she did not love you, and when
we met she found out her mistake. You
frightened her with your bad humors.
Without mentioning your name she told
me the whole story. You could not
make her happy, and could; that's the
whole case. Do you blame herr"
"No," said Quixarvin, thrusting the
portrait back into his breast. 81 don't.
But have sworn to be equal with the
man who turned her mind against me
will never believe he acted by fair means
and | am goingto do it. Defend your
self. l give you warning"
Both men sprang to their feet at the
same instant and stood glazing at each
other. AT that moment there was
heard outside the church the rattle of
drum.
Only the rattle of drum. But the
sound struck them motionless as figures
turned to stone. Nor was the effect on
their companions less remarkable. There
was a moments silence in the church,
deep as the silence of the dead; then
movements long thrill of horror. That
summons meant that day was breaking
and that their hour was come.
The guard set instantly to work to
prepare the first batch of prisoners to be
led out Of the church. Dare and Quix-
arvyn were among the first seized.
With about dozen others they were
marched into the open air. The gray
dawn was scarcely giving way to the
first streaks of sunrise as they passed
out Of the churchyard gates, but the
whole village was wide awake and in a
tumult of excitement; indeed, there had
been little sleep that night. Every win
dow was alive with terror stricken
gazers as the party of doomed men, sur
rounded by band of soldiers, were hur-
ried through the narrow streets and out
upon the open moor.
At the border of the moor sat an Off
Ger on horseback, surrounded by a troop
of soldiers. Here the party halted, and
the guards saluted. The officer was
man of about forty, whose dandified APP
pearance, which was as trim as that of
toy soldier newly painted, showed
oddly in the midst of soldiers stained
with battle. This was Lord Feversham
"a man in whose nature vanity, callous-
ness and love of pleasure were about
equally combined. His face was gay with
pleasant expectation as the rebels were
drawn up before him.
'sGood!" he remarked. "These were
all ringleaders, were they? Sergeant
John, draw up your firing party and
shoot down every man of them"
The order was instantly obeyed. The
firing party was drawn up; the prisoners
were ranged in line at a few PAGES dis
lance. At one extremity of the line
David Dare and John Quixarvyn found
themselves once more side by side.
An officer who sat on horseback at
Feversham's right hand observed them.
81 know those two," he said, pointing
to them with his finger. "Pity two such
fellows should be done for. One of them
is the best runner in the country side
and the other the best rider"
"Eh? What" said Feversham, stand
ing up in his stirrups. "Hold there
moment, sergeant; spy chance of
gallant sport. What say you, major-a
race between these two across the moor,
the one on foot, the other mounted.
Will you back the runnerg
The major was man of some human
ity. He reflected for moment.
"Agreed!" he said. "And to insure
that both shall do their best, let the win
ner have the promise of his life"
Feversham received this proposal with
by no means good grace, for to spare
rebel hurt him to the soul. But the de-
lightful prospect of seeing two men
racing for their lives, and of being able,
after all to shoot the loser, at length
reconciled him to the scheme. He gave
his orders and the two prisoners were led
out of the line.
Out upon the moor, about quarter Of
mile away, stood a solitary tree. This
was selected as the starting point. A
double line of troopers was drawn up,
stretching from the tree to the spot
where the general was stationed, leaving
a space between them like race course,
some yards wide. At the end of the
course Feversham and the major sat OPP
posite each other. Whichever of the
two competitors should pass between
them first would be rewarded with his
life and liberty.
And what were the sensations of the
pair while these preparations were in
progress?
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