The herald., 1893-01-16
PRINCES WE'LL.


had scarcely left my lips when the girl
riding at my side gave her mount
touch with her crop and was off like a
fash
At the bend of the road she turned her
head and smiled. "If you Kill your first
deer, look for mo tonight in Princes
WE'LL" fioated back, n silvery laugh
echoed through the pine trees, and she
was gone.
would have followed. but the sound
of the distant baying of hounds caught
my ear. 1t was the first hunt of the
season, and | knew Mabel would soon
join the hounds. L listened again. The
whole pack was in full bay; they had
jumped.a deer, and their excited yelps
were growing rapidly fainter. A horse
man passed me and sped through the
woods. | followed. We passed the
negro quarters, broad cotton field was
left in the rear, and the great rice fields
spread out from the forest to the river.
Away off on the bank, so far distant that
| could barely hear them the hounds
were stretched for half mile. Ahead
Of them an antered monarch SKINNED
along. Taking one of the narrow canal
banks, spurred my horse on, but was
too far behind.
The deer and the hounds disappeared
behind the trees. There was no sound
to guide me, and III vain | followed in
the direction | had last seen them. I'm
familiar with the roads, halted on the
banks of the broad Santee. The yellow
water flowed by in eddyiug currents.
Wherev& l turned l saw but the ruin Of
better days. AS far as the eye could
reach not field was under cultivation.
Not house or home arose from the mo-
notonous level to break the dreariness of
the scene.
| turned my horse toward Edgefeld,
determining to follow the river bank un-
til came within sight of my hosts
mansion on the other side of theriver I
could easily call the ferryman and get
over before the others returned from the
chase. But ! had miscalculated the dis
tance had travelled, and after several
hours of picking my way along the di-
lapidated bank that had once formed q
wall between the river and the rice field,
but which was now broken in hundred
places, began to realize that it would
be mghtfall before | arrived at Edge
field. Still l struggled on, and it scanned
to me that at every break in the bank
theAestetiin the gulch was deeper At
first it barely covered my horses hoofs,
but soon it came to his belly, and once it
almost carried him off his feet, so swift
was the current,
AS we mounted a high bank l realized
for the first time how swiftly the water
flowed below. 1t seemed, too, as if the
banks were crumbling away in places.
rode ON for a few moments. | could
see that the current was constantly
growing more rapid thought of the
rains up the country of which Colonel
Hazard had spoken, and Of the fEeshet
the planters expected within a day OF
two. Could it have missed their calcu-
lations and come upon them unawares2
glanced ahead at the faraway chin
neys of Hazard Hall, and then at helong
stretch of narrow bank ahead, with its
numerous breaks, through which tho
water now flowed III torrents
spurred my horse toward place
ahead, where the bank spread out hun
dred feet or more, and from which point
knew a narrow foot bank led to the
mainland. We had almost reached the
little hummock, with its tumble down
log cabin, when | heard rumbling
murmur behind me. Far up the river a
wave nearly three feet i'll height rose
above the even surface of the river and
rushed toward me, gathering on its crest
logs and driftwood, which it tossed
wildly about. The yellow foam glis-
tened in the sunlight, and it was some
time before | turned my fascinated,
frightened gaze from the oncoming
food. When did it was to see that an
immense breach had opened in the bank
between myself and the clearing.
With sinking heart l hurried my
tired horse on. could hear the roaring
nearer and nearer to me until it was
Just behind. Before me, though less to
be dreaded, was the broad breach. My
frightened horse plunged down the steep
bank just as the rush of waters swept in
behind me. He struggled bravely on
until, lifted from his feet, we were both
borne forward on the wave. A few feet
to the right was the river, while on the
leIC WAS tllS SOU fuuu Oh Jn0 TlCe Htlu-
as dangerous as quicksand. We crossed
the breach. My horse felt his hoofs be-
meath him, and as he tried to stagger to
his feet | seized the tall canes that
sheathcd the bank. The horse sank
back. There was o distressed whinny,
and the unfortunate animal was swept
from between my legs and out into the
current.
Safe among the stout canes l soon
scrambled to the top of the bank. Wet,
fatigued and huagry looked around in
vain for the foot bank leading across the
rice field to the mainland. 1t had worn
away.d A hundred feet ahead there was
another break in the river bank. / was
on an island. Unless some boat passed
Oh its way down stream / must spend
what was left of the day and the night
there, with no other shelter than the rude
log cabin that stood in the center
A 1 approached the open door of the
hut feeble voice from within called:
Is dat you, Marse StenyT" and then
halting steps sounded on the rude plank
floor. Master, is you come fer ole
Prinee at las'?"