The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-07-21

looked out A body OF troops were
passing had almost passed. She could
see the scarlet uniforms Of the Sixth
and tho Scotch caps and gray jackets Of
Captain Donaldson's men, She could
almost hear the words Of the soldiers
ss at quick march and In double Ale
they passed along, their sternly venge-
full faces telling Of the hard work they
had been doing, the work they were
about to do, and yet, when she tried to
call to them, her tongue Glove to her
mouth, mist rose before her eyes. and
with faint cry she sank. face foremost.
ON the ground
When she recovered, she was In her
husbands arms, and his grateful tears
were on her face. Little did that young
officer, who had heard Of the attack ON
Futterhabad and the wholesale mas
sacre, expect to see his wife alive and
safe. The Sixth had indeed met and de-
feated the party Of which they were In
search with more ease than they had
expected and were in consequence re-
turning rather earlier when met en-
route by the body Of mutineers dis
patched for that purpose, who. by first
harassing and then leading them in
pursuit, had, without the loss of more
than two or three men, contrived to de-
lay them two good hours ON their way.
But what Of Maryi
No one can tell what she endured in
her return search for her child. 1t was
then in the last week Of May, and the
heat at o'clock was so intense that IL
seemed to frizEle the brains in her un-
covered head. She had lost shoe, and
her feet were cut and swollen Her
head felt swollen, too and her eyes dim
and distended. Jt was the effect Of the
too hearty drink in the hot sun and Of
the want Of food, which was besides
making her sick and giddy, and as the
sun grew hotter and hotter species of
delirium seemed to seize her. She saw
before her crowd of sepoys with in
famed eyes and dark, ferocious faces
and in the midst of them her baby held
by one of the miscreants in the act
of dashing its brains ont upon the
ground. She shrfelzed aloud in her
agony. darted wildly forward, stumbled,
fell headlong to the ground, staggered
to her feet again, and, lol the sepoys
were gone, and instead her child was
waiting, wailing, somewhere In front Of
her. Yes, she saw IL now distinctly,
wrapped in tho cloak as she had left IL
among the cornstalxs, and near 1t,
crouching for the spring, huge Bengal
tiger. Again she screamed and sprang
forward, throwing out her arms wildly
| to scare the animal, and again the hor-
rible vision vanished, only to be renew
| ed thousand times In thousand diff
ferent forms
Once she met gentle looking Parsee
face to face. who stopped her and gave
her some 'chuppatties" coarse meal
cakes) and q drink of sour milk and
warned her earnestly against returning
to the town, signifying, by gesture rs
| well as words, the tate which had befaii-
| en- her friends there. She ate and drank
ravenouslv of what he gave, but only
shook her head at his advice and hasten.
ed on. The Parsee went his way, shak-
ing his head. Evidently the poor wom-
an bad been driven mad by the slaugh-
ter of those belonging to her, and he
should only embarrass and compromise
himself by trying to detain her.
And then at last, all at once, the
weight rolled off her brain and the red
mist from before her eyes. She was on
her knees in the maize field, and In
front Of her was the very hole where she
had laid her infant with the rusty plaid
cloak crumpled on the edge of it
But the child?
For a moment an awful despair seized
her, and cry broke from her lips, SC
shrill and unearthly that it scared away
q couple Of vultures who were lowering
low over something yard or two dis.
tant A little cooling, gurgling note OF
pleasure answered, and turning she saw
round, rosy face among the cornstalks
and pair of fat hands and naked dim.
pied feet trying, by stretching and crawl
ing, to get at the mother who had left
it.
When Captain Glare, accompanied by
four Of his men, entered the same field
in search Of his wife's prcserver, they
found Mary quietly seated on the
ground. nursing her baby. and the ring
ing cheer which greeted the sight might
have shown her how her heroism wa.
appreciated by those brave, rugged
hearts. She hardly needed il, but JUS
stood up. dropping her courtesy to tn,
officer, and then looked round at th'
others
can where's my Jim at alp"
There was no immediate answer. Th'
men did not seem to hear, and Captain
Clare began thanking her In an agitatet
way for all that she had done. and urg
ing her to hasten with him to the car
riage at the foot of the hill, where Mrs
Glare was waiting for her, which wa
to take them both under strong guar
to Susi and thence as soon as possible T.
Calcutta Mary courtesied again.
THANK We, sir. It's very good ye ar
20 me, but I'm not wantin to lave m
husband, though It's not 'on tn
strength am. Shure, I'll go down {
| A. ..ox. .,.,a ha,o No mind 4