Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1898-04-28
THURMONT, Frederick County, Maryland Thursday April 28 1898.
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COPYRIGHT, 1897 az THE AurHoR.

thoughts backward. Not very far, only
to that moment Of time when he had
written his note to Mamie Colyer, ex-
planning his sudden call to assist his IA
ther in moving Governor Strongs pos.
sessions beyond reach Of danger" and
telling her of his resolution to enlist.
The note had closed trifle lugubrious-
ly.
"Perhaps if can fetch home an arm
less sleeve or broken leg may become
more valuable or less valueless in your
eyes than I am now, even though the
uniform propose to don be blue"
Liza had scolded him in whisper,
standing on tiptoe to kiss him goodby.
She had called him the hermit pessi-
mist and credited his heavy heartedness
to habitual morbidness. She had prom
ised him, with quaint nod of her
small, wise head, to "see that matter
of Adrien's wife and boy properly at
tended to-" and she had comfortcd him
immensely concerning Mamie Colyer,
saying sapiently:
1--WE lonely women will have to col
onize for self protection. After all Of
you go away, Seth will be the only
white man within a radius of 20 miles.
Poor old Seth! Twill have to teach Ma
ME how to weave. Amy is getting on
splendidly Eight yards yesterday. l
intend to keep Miss Colyer with us un-
til her father or you como for her. Dear
me, what lot of heroes we are turning
off our reels!'
And she had laughed while the others
were weeping. Yes, decidedly, Liza
was just the sort of woman one wanted
about in an emergency. The madam,
white and tragic, had stood, as if turn
ed to stone, holding back the trailing
tendrils of madeira vine with one
long, jeweled hand, as she gazed in dry
eyed CONSERVATION at the slowly NOV
ing column headed by her father-in-
law. Rebecca, rotund, plebeian, sin
cere, had voiced her misery loudly und
shrieked adjurations and counsel after
them until they were hidden. Liza
alone had stood inscrutably smiling,
bright eyed and composed.
Forward, in rcvclie, to the long tedi-
Gus night, when, favored by the dark
ness, they had launched their feet of
flats and swiftly placed tho rushing Wa
ters of the Mississippi river between
themselves and hcme. Captaincd and
piloted by four rcsolute spirits of tho
dominant race, manned and propelled
by sullenly acquicsccnt slaves, standing
confused on the borderland between
bondage and liberty, the fleet crossed
the swift current and touched the fur
ther bank, reluctantly moving back
ward, still lackward-who knew? Per
haps forever out of reach Of tho angel
of liberty, whose beckoning hand they
had discerncd Us yet but dimly upon
tho horizon Of their future,
Then had come tho parting with the
governor When this day, that had just
gone down in lurid magnifcencc, had
been young and jocrnd, the governor
had given his parting injunctions to
Overseer Martin and taken leave of
them all in his kindly, stately fashion.
"You II get these fellows out to Lake
lock, Martin, and as soon as you have
housed them pitch @ corn crop. Never
mind about cotton. The place is so in
fernally far back from anywhere that
you couldn't get it to market if you
made it. But go in for food crops. Keep
them at work feeding themselves until
this id nonsense has blown over
and We'll settle back on the old footing.
/ am glad Strong is going with you.
Don't shove the OK teams too hard. v
Then the white haired old aristocrat
had ridden away from them as gayly rs
a troubadour going to do battle for the
guerdon of lady's love, shifting all
responsibility for the we'll being OF his
slaves upon Eben Martins we'll paid
shoulders.
How Strong had envied that old
man of the privileged class riding
away to enroll his name among tho as.
pirants for military renownl
1.-The old man seems real glad to co.
said Eben, looking after the slender,
stopping form reflectively, "and yit I'm
sho' his heart worn't in this thing at
the fust of it. Is'pose he feels like he
mus go in fur his country, right or
wrong. I reckon it's somethin, like if
you or Seth was to git into a quarrel
with an outsider and Charlie there was
to stan off till he inquired inter the
merits of the case think it'd be mo-
lax my boy Charlie to pitch in and fight
for his brothers fust and then talk about
it later on. Hey, Charlie?'
At which home thrust Strong had
WINGED. The recollection of it brought
the hot blood to his cheeks He had not
cared to remind his father that better
dmile would have been Charlle's inter-
erence in an alteration between his
brother and himself, for he was going
into this fight himself as soon as ne
should have helped locate the colony on
Lakelock, and he did not care to submit
his own motives to the chilling infu-
ences of discussion.
Tomorrow night my duties as
slave driver will end-and then l, too,
shall enter the lists. F."
With violent start he came back IN
to the present. Why did he not hear
some sound from the looked for cara
van? Could that imbecile Sandy have
misdirected it? He was unwilling 10
tax his horse for the return ride. he
would need it's services indefinitely IN
to the future. The suspense grew unen-
durable. He walked swiftly toward his
horse. His hand was upon the. tether-
ing rope. He stood still in the darkness,
| listening. If no sound from the advance
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