The Holly chieftain., 1898-01-21
A CASE In EQUITY.
copyright. 1895. by }. 3. upelaeoa Col
xy.-CosrsuEp.
BY FRANCIS LYNDE

XV.@CoNTNuED.
Having set out in haste, he had am
pie time to repent in leisure. The road,
little used ut amy time, and practically
abandoned since the opening of the
railway. soon led away from the valley
and ran in tortuous windings and in
eenious doublings over spur of Johns
mountain. AT the top of the spur it
speedily lost it's identity in a succession
Of wood roads, and. after following sew
eral of the latter to their vanishing
points, Philip gave up the struggle and
determined to let the horse find the
way If he could. In common with un-
equestrian mankind in general, Philip
shared the belief in the inerrant path
finding instincts of horse; butafter an
other hour of hesitant wandering, dur
ing which time he had been thrice gar
roted by low-swinging branches, and
mpartially bruised about the legs by
the efforts of the horse to squeeze be-
tween close-growing trees, his conf
dencc in the sagacity of the animal be-
gan to waver. From doubt to GER
tainty is but step, and Philips faith in
horses went the way of all delusions
when the clumsy benst stumbled on the
edge of ravine, slid helplessly to the
bottom, and ended by throwing his
rider into heap of stones.
Philip was half stunned by the fall.
and when he came to himself he found
that he had gained q sprained ankle and
lost horse. Remembering ruefully
the maxim about great haste and small
speed, he got up with some difficulty
and continued his wanderings afoot un-
til the pain in his ankle became unbear-
able. After that there was nothing for
it but to sit down and wait for daylight,
and he was about to resign himself to
this comfortless alternative, when he
heard a cock crow. Chickens argued
inhabitants, and Philip dragged him
self painfully in the direction of the
sound until he came to the log cabin
of mountaineer. 1t was but miser.
able hovel of single room and loft,
and its indwellers were doubtless
Bedouins in other respects than in their
hospitality; but of the latter Philip
soon had grateful assurances. He was
taken in and cared for; the man making
up fire in the crumbling stone fire.
place while the woman bathed his swol-
len ankle and called half-grown boy
from the loft to go out after red clay for
n poultice. And afterward they would
have made him take the cnly bed in the
cabin il he had not insisted upon sleep
ing on the floor before the fire.
When Philip awoke the next morning
he found himself as completely pris.
oner as even Sharpless could have de-
sired. Walking was out of the ques.
tion, and his host had neither horse
nor the disposition to go to Glenco to
procure one, though his offers of hos
pitality were us generous as he knew
how to make them. Philip guessed nj
the mans reason for not wishing to ap-
pear in Glenco when the mountaineei
offered him potntion from a jug
drawn from its hiding-place beneath tht
punchcon floor, and forbore to pres
the point, contenting himself with re
quest that the boy might be allowed II
carry letter to Allacoochee. The
permission was given, and Philip wrote
note to Duncan, telling him of thu
accident and urging him to spare ne
pains to keep Kilgrow out of the hand'
of Sharpless and his emissaries during
the enforced armistice. This he in
closed in line to Protheroe, In which
he begged the young engineer to de
liver the message to the Scotchman
Not having an envelope, he took tina
from Helen,s letter, drawing his pencil
through his own name and writing
Protheroe's above it; and, after man,
explicit and precise instructions, tn
boy left the cabin on Thorndyke's er
rand. An hour afterward he was sit
ting contentedly on a bowlder by tn
side OF the AlIacoochce road. waiting II
TRANQUIL idleness for the chance COMING
Of some team whose driver would re
Iieye him of the necessity for furthe
exertion. He found . proxy in tn
course Of tho forenoon. and in due tim
the letter WINS delivered, not to Profile
roc, but to Mr.. jenkins Fench, VIII
answered the bearers inquiry a. to tn
whereabouts of the engineer. and VIII
kindly volunteered to convey the mis-
sive to that gentleman's office on tn
fourth floor of the Guaranty building.