San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1893-01-07

ward the river.
Jordan found the skltf where he kept
it concealed among the rocks. He was
not long in launching it, and when Lois
had seated herself In the boat he handed
her her fathers revolver, saying:
"God bless yer, Lois, and send yer
safe back"
"He will; never fear" she answered
in full faith.
Lois Gilbert was no stranger to the
water. All her life her parents had
lived along some stream and she had
learned to handle the oars with much
skill.
Silas Jordan lay on the bank for some
time watching the girl as she urged the
little skiff up the Arkansas.
When she was out of sight he crawled
back to the cabin, where his presence
might be needed at any moment.
AS the skiff bore her farther away
from the blockhouse a feeling of loneli-
ness and dread crept over her.
1t was strangely quiet out on the river.
Only the occasional cry of some night
bird along the shore, or the dismal yelps
of coyotes far off on the prairies, broke
the awful stiffness which had succeeded
the confusion of the attack on Jordans
hill.
Every stroke'of the light oars carried
her farther and farther away from her
friends.
Finally she realized more forcibly the
full danger of her position.
Every lone tree and clump of bushes
that doomed up dimly on the banks on
either side of her in her imagination
must reveal lurking redskin.
She kept on, however, and strove dill
gently to drown all thought of peril to
herself in thinking of the great danger
of the settlers at Jordan's should the
siege be renewed with as much force as
the Cheyennes had displayed in the
early part of that night.
"Why should ] fear?' Lois asked her.
self. He is risking his life for others.
Why should not I?'
The thought encouraged her, and she
urged the skiff forward with all possible
speed.
1t was more than three miles by the
river to tho Gilbert shanty, but Lois
made the trip without encountering any
adventure worth recording.
When sh" stepped from the skiff,
which she left at the foot of the bluffs,
all her old courage seemed to return.
She did not, however, lay all precau-
ton aside. She reconnoitered the path
before her very carfully as she went to-
ward the cave where the goods had been
concealed.
She had prepared to see her sod home
in ruins. Imagine her surprise when
its rough dark outlines arose before her,
standing undisturbed in its rocky niche.
The Indians had not yet been there,
or else they had considered the rude
habitation of too vast insignifcance to
destroy.
Reaching the little cavern up among
the bluffs t. displaced the rocks at the
entrance with great cautiousness. TAX
ing out the can of powder she hastily
transferred it to the skiff.
With a 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
shower of silvery rays across the bosom
of the Arkansas. The next moment
savage who0p from the opposite bank
rang wildly out on the night air.
With a s-lden 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 well
trained hapGs, 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.
CHANGING over her shoulder as she
piled the oars she caught sight of three
stalwart Cheyennes running rapidly
along sand bar which extended for
some distance into the stream.
Another glance sufficed to show her
that they were 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 Ii
time to reclaim it from where the waves
had stranded it,