Alpena argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1893-1909, 1894-12-12

parched, they were deceiving them
selves.
Maury only looked over their
shoulders toward the glimmering
lights of Pine Ridge, and then sent
a glance across the treeless space
which seemed to beckon him to a ter
rible doom.
1t was strange that these men
should get it into their heads that
he had wooed the Indian girl. They
had been companions, but he had
never made love to Picotee.
She had come into camp riding a
beautiful sorrel horse, and they
had raced together through the
mountains and had strolled along
the river which cut through the
everlasting hills, but love had never
passed the lips of either.
II was true that Maury had a
sweetheart in the old country
fair girl with whom he was eager
to keep VOW already old-and he
had even told Picotee of this; but
she had shown no signs of disap-
pointment.
The men of Pine Ridge had de-
ceived themselves. and now they
were ready to send him to dread
full death, all because they had not
asked Picotee if they should become
her avengers.
"Let him gow suddenly cried
Burton, with wave of his hand.
And those who held the leash
stepped back, and the steed, with a
wild bound, dashed away with his
helpless burden.
Maury already felt the rope cut
into his flesh, he felt the knots
which seemed to have been placed
so as to give him torture, and with
his face turned toward the stars,
he was carried on and on, now un-
derneath tree which stood lone
and hoary, and now past a group Of
cacti that lifted their spines toward
the Implying sky.
He knew something about the
country which lay beyond these
things; he knew that a watesless
district stretched on and on toward
the horison; that by day it was hot
as a furnace and by night the abode
of bands of wolves which kept the
dreadful secret of more than one
unfortunate's doom.
The American Mazeppa could
only gaze upwards at the glittering
stars and think of the heartless cru
city of man.
The swinging gait Of the horse
that carried him across the waste
told him that the animal possessed
wonderful endurance and might
carry him safely across the desert.
1t was long night to the bound
rider.
He saw at last the long streaks
of light that shot from the east
and revealed the treeless waste upon
which the sun would soon pour with
the fury of furnace.
His mouth was dry and parched,
his limbs had swollen from the
cords, and his eyes seemed to burn
like balls of fire.
He could not turn his head enough
to see that he was in treeless re-
gion that stretched from side to
side into eternity as it were. He
saw nothing living in all that waste
as if everything imbued with life
had deserted it in order to live.
The sun came up and new tor
tn es began.
Maury thought at times the des-
ert was crossed by bands of Indians
on fleet horses that bore the fati-
que well, and he had heard Picotee
tell how she had crossed it i'll COM
pany with her father and a lot Of
young braves.
As the sun scared higher and
higher, Maury grew more and more
exhausted. There were now no
cacti for the black horse to hunt
their shade and not drop of water
for miles.
Maury, with his head lying face
upward, suddenly caught sight Of a
speck along the distant horizon.
He strained his eyes and watched
it, while he held his breath for fear
the thing would leave him.
"A fitting band of savages," said
he, at last. "A lot Of redskins go
ing to the camps along the noun
tains."
And then he closed his eyes and
felt the horse plunge along.
He did not look again for fully
five minutes.
The speck had grown larger and
now it seemed to be approaching
him.
Maury never took his eyes from
it a moment now.
At first it looked like a cloud
rising above the horizon as it came
on, but at last it resolved itself into
horse and the rider trying to over
take him.
He spoke to the horse that car
ried him, but he had already learn
ed that his voice only irritated the
black, which seemed to dread the
human tongue, and instead of break
ing the animals gait it appeared
to infuse new life into the powerful
limbs.
1t was now race between the
black horse and the other horse APP
preaching over the desert.
The man dashed to the black
steed could make no motion; the