The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1894-07-25
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..1 Know not, Master Thomas he an
swered i'm his Norfolk talk, which will not
set down. HALF way to wheresoeyer he
was going, should say, measured by the
pace at which he left when once had sat
him upon his horse Lawks, but he was
glad to be gone! How he did gallop!'
s.Now, you are bigger fool even than
thought you, Billy Minns," " said in an
ger That man would have murdered
me- overcame him and made him fast,
and you have let him 60"
.'He would have murdered you, master,
and you made him fast! Well, he's gone,
and this alone is left Of him. And he
spun the piece into the air.
Now. seeing that there was reason IN
Billy's talk, for the fault vas mine, I
turned away without more words, not
straight homeward, for wished to think
alone awhile on all that had come about
between me and Lily and her father, but
down the way which runs across the lane
to the crest Of the Vineyard hills These
hills are clothed with underwood, in which
large oaks grow to within some zoo yards
of this house where write, and this un-
derwood is pierced by paths that my moth
er laid out, for she loved to walk here.
One Of these paths runs along the bottom
of the hill by the edge Of the pleasant
river Wayeney and the other hundred
feet or more above and near the crest OF
the slope, or, to speak more plainly, there
is but one path, shaped like the letter O,
placed longitudinally the curved ends Of
the letter marking how the path turns
upon the hillside - ~ = Z =
Now, I struck the path at the end that
isfalthest from sthisshouse and followed
that half of it (which runs down by the
river bank, having the water on enc side
Of it and the brushwood upon the other.
Along this lower path wandered, my
eyes fixed upon the ground, thinking deep
" as i. went, now of the joy Of Lily's love
and now of the sorrowof our parting and
of her fathers wrath, and my eyes fell
upon footprints in the wet sand of the
path One of them was my mothers
could have sworn to it among thousand,
for no other woman in these parts had so
delicate foot. Close to it, as though fol-
lowing after, was another that at first
thought must also have been made by q
woman-it was so narrow. But presently
I saw that this could scarcely be, because
of its length, and, moreover, that the boot
which left it was like none that knew,
being cut very high at the instep and very
pointed at the toe.
Then of sudden it came upon me that
the Spanish stranger wore such boots, for
I had noted them while talked with him,
and that his feet were following those Of
my mother, for they had trcdden on her
track, and in some places his alone had
stamped their impress on the sand, blot
ting out her footprints.
Here they were mixed one with another,
rs though the two had stood close togeth-
er, moving now this way and now that in
struggle. looked up the path, but there
were none Then cast round about like
beagle, first along the river side, then
up the bank Here they were again, and
made by feet that few and feet that fol
lowed Up the bank they went SO yards
and more, now lost where the turf was
sound, now seen in sand OF loam, till they
led to the bole Of q big oak and were once
more mixed together, for here the pursuer
had come up with the pursued.
Despairingly as one who dreams, for
now I guessed all and grew mad with fear,
I looked this way and that till at length
I found more footsteps those Of the Span
lard These were deep marked, as of a
man who carried some heavy burden.
followed them First they went down the
hill toward the -::ver, then turned aside to
a spot when the brushwood was thick.
In the deepest Of the clump the boughs,
now bursting into leaf, were bent down
ward as though to hide something beneath.
I wrenehed them aside, and there, gleam-
ing whtely In the gathering twilight, was
the dead face-m mr. notherl .s.s5s: