The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-03-15

mystic blackness She took two steps
toward the door. But there she paus-
ed. Innumerable possibilities OF dan
ger had assailed her mind. She return
ed to the window and stood waVering.
At last, she went swiftly to the door,
opened it and Slid noiselessly into the
darkness.
For moment she regarded the shad-
ows Down in the orchard the camp
fires of the troops appeared precisely
J like a great painting, all in red upon
black cloth. The voices of the troop
ers still hummed. The girl started slow
ly of in the opposite direction. Her
eyes were fixed in a stare; she studied
! the darkness in front for moment be-
/ fore she ventured upon forward step.
Unconsciously her throat was arranS-
ed for a sudden scream. High IN the
4 tree branches she could hear the voice
| of the wind, a melody of the nlght,
! low and sad, the plant of an endless
! incommunica BILE sorrow. Her own dis
tress the flight of the men in gray
these near matters as we'll as all she
! had known or imagined of grlet-eVery-
! thing was expressed in this SOFT mourn
! ing of the wind in the trees. At first
she felt like weeping This song told
her of human imootency and doom.
I Then later the trees and the wind
] breathed strength TO her, sang of sac
rifice, of dauntless effort, Of hard car
/ ven faces that did not blanch when
duty came at midnight or at noon.
! She turned often to scan the shadoWy
/ figures that moved from time to time
! in the light Ci the barn door. once she
/ trod upon q stick and it Topped. crack
! ling in the intolerable manner of all
sticks At this noise, however, the
guards at the barn made no sign. Fin
/ ally she was where she could see the
/ knot holes in the rear of the structure
| cleaning like pieces of metal from the
/ effect of the light within. Scarcely
breathing in her excitement she glided
! close and applied an eye to knot hole.
/ She had barely achieved one glance at
the interior before she sprang back
! shuddering.
! For the unconscious and cheerful SEN
! try at the door was swearing away in
| flaming sentences, heaping one gor-
! geOus oath upon another, making a
confagration of his description of his
troop horse.
Why" he was declaring to the calm
| prisoner in gray, you amt got horse
in your hull --- army that can
run forty rods with that there little
mare"
AS in the outer darkness, Mary eau
tiously returned to the knot hole, the
three guards in front suddenly called
in low tones, ''S-s-s-h.' "Quit, Pete,
here comes the lieutenant" The sentry
! had apparently been about to resume
his defamation but at these warnings
he suddenly posed in a soldierly man.
ner.
A tall and lean officer with a smooth
face entered the barn. The sentry sa-
luted primly. The officer flashed a COM
prehensive glance about him. Every
thing all right?'
"All right, SIR
This officer rad eyes like the points of
stilletoes. The lines from his nose to
the corners of his mouth were deep and
gave him a slightly disagrocable as
pect, but somewhere in his face there
was quality Cf singular thoughtful
ness as OF the absorbed student deal
ing in generalities which was utterly
in opposition to the rapacious keenness
of the eyes which saw everything.
Suddenly he lifted long finger and
pointed What's that?"
That? That's a feed-box, I sup
pose"
Whats in it?''
81 don't know. I"
You ought to know" said the officer
sharply. He walked over to the feed
box and flung up the lid With a
sweeping gesture he reached down and
scooped a handful of feed "You
Z y
when you have prisoners in your care, -
he added scowling.
During the time of this incident, the
girl had weakly swooned. Her hands
searched weakly over the boards for
something to which to cling. With the
pallor of the dying she had watched
the downward sweep of the officers
arm, which after all had only brought
forth handful of feed The result
OF I,
was astonished out Of her senses at
this spectacle of three large men met
amorphosed into a handful of feed.
NV.
1t is perhaps a singular thing that
this absence of the three men from the
feed-box at the time of the sharp lieu
tenants investigation should terrify
the girl more than it should joy her
That for which she had prayed had
come to pass. Apparently the escape
of these men in the face of every i'm
probability had been granted her, but
her dominating emotion was fright
The feed-boX was a mystic and terri
BILE machine, like some dark magician's
trap. She felt it almost possible tina
she should see the three weird mer
floating spectrally away through the
air She glanced with swift apprehen
sion behind her and, when the daZzlt
from the lanterns light had left hel
eyes, saw only the dim hillside
stretched in solemn silence.
The interior of the barn possessed FOL
her another fascination because i
was now uncanny. 1t contained thai
extraordinary feed-boX. When sh'
peeped again at the knot hole, the
calm gray prisoner was seated upon TN
feed box. humping it with his dang
ling careless heels, as if it were in NJ
wise his conception of a Remarkable
feed box The sentry also stood facing
it. His carbine .he held in the hollow
of his arm. His legs were spread apar
and he unused. From without came tn
low humble of the three other troop
ers. The sharp lieutenant had van
ished.
The trembling yellow light Of the Ian
tern caused the figures of the men t.
cast monstrous wavering shadows
There were spaces of gloom whicl
shrouded ordinary things in impressiV
garb. The roof presented an inscruta
bic blackness save where small rift
in the shingles glowed phosphorescent
" frequently old Santo put down
thunderous hoof The heels of TIL
prisoner made a socnd like the boom
ing of a wild kind of drum. When tn
men moved their heads their eyes shon
with ghoulish Wilderness and their com
plexions We're always waXen and un
real. And there was that Profound.
strange feed box, imperturbable wit
it's burden of fantastic mystery.
Suddenly from down near her fee
the girl hoard a crunching sound,
sort of nibbling, as if some silent ant