Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1900-05-04

can lose no more than is already lost if we
lemain here. VIII you cast your lot with
him-with us-and risk the danger which
can be no greater beyond than in this place?
Come, Thorndyke, make it clear; show her
tbs the last resort, desperate though it be.
There was no need of argument, however,
for with one hand in that of her brother
and the other stretched toward me, she sim
ply answered: II dare all you dare! Have
yet failed?" and stood with lifted head and
untrembling form as she spoke the words
Out of sheer respect and admiration for
the heroism of this girl, felt like bending
my knee even as knight bends before his
sovereign, but the practical mind of Burt
put a period to any possibility of mock
heroics, for that individual asked in the
calmest of tones:
Is your ship still where she has been? Is
she deserted, or, at least, is she not
euarded?"
s.Three days ago not gasket had been
touched since the broad arrow was painted
on her bow" / answered. by night she is
guarded by a single man, but that troubles
me less than would fly on a hot day. He
las seen his last sun if he thwarts me- care
not for one man nor three if 1 can but guide
My approach. From aught I have seen
and I have watched her well-nothing has
been done to her, naught carried away. She
was thought fit to go on an errand to Pigot,
only wanting in men, arms and provisions;
even the fresh water slowed forward may
be good!''
Arms and provisions you can have.
They are even now in the barn room," he an
swered slowly and in strong contrast to my
excited speech Out" he continued. as he
closed the shutters, Blocked the windows,
and lighted the candle, might you not
overshoot your vessel in the fog, or run into
some of the anchored fleet when once
adrift?"
cay, all is chancet" broke in Ames; stand
'twere better to take the chance than to be.
run to earth like tired fox, as is like to
happen in hiding here. What, then, would
come to you, Peter? Like enough you would
help weight third string, and we all hang
together'
s'When does the tide ebb tonight" 1
asked.
Near eleven, or at about the setting of
the moon," Burt answered. Then after
moment he continued: "Well, God be with
you, gentlemen! l will do my part. Like
the refuge in the barn, 1 made the boat and
hid it while yet Washington held the city.
l clearly foresaw the outcome of his col
ison with Clinton, and little doubted the
ultimate use of both barn and boat Either
is at your service"
With the opening of possible escape before
me, and one demanding immediate action,
my spirits went aloft in the measure of
their former depression. Nor did I fear
their reaction, enough uncertainty lay
before to keep mans eyes and wits awake,
and that, too, without the aid of liquor.
Even after the decision to trust to the boat
was made, my mind misgave me. Was it
better to drag this girl into the danger of an
attempt to fly through plan which might
be nippeu in the bud and end by our run
ming at once into the hands of the enemy, or
lie in suffocating box with the doubtful
chance of being overlooked? Even if safer,
the latter would become more than awkward
if necessity demanded protracted conceal
ment, and if discovery ensued it would but
serve to damn our generous benefactor. Be
sides, to tell the truth, I had no wish to be
found like a scared rabbit in a hole. A
mans pride hangs nigh long as his
breath, if he be properly balanced, and l
had made reputation of which, to say the
least, I was not ashamed. Nay, I would
make bold and novel move, and, if it must
so come, end my life like q man with his
liver of the proper color.
This much settled, and in less time than
it has taken to write it, I thought and spoke
no more of the barn room, but turned with
the rest to making ready. Beyond the boat,
the bundle of provisions, an extra brace of
pistols, and a rapier, we mulcted our host
of nothing. In an hour the boat, which was
no more than tiat-bottomed scow squared
at the ends, was brought from it's hiding
place. 1t was fitted with the toughest of
oars and but one thwart, and was damp
affair altogether, its concealment having
been made through covering it with boards
on which had been piled a mass of wet salt
weed. 1t proved tight9 though terribly
heavy, but as l worked completed the de-
tails of the start, and had determined that
the use of oars would but menace our safe
ty, that speed, or lack of it, would be a
quality cutting no figure, We would but
drift and steer.
After cleaning it, there was little else to
do but load the boat, getting the arms snug
ly bestowed, and then wsit for the Stacking
of the food tide. 1t was tedious and impa-
tient waiting, for feared me that the wind
might rise and wreck the fog. If this should
happen before dawn our prospects would be
wrecked with it, and then-and then
But / am not prone to borrow trouble,
though it was with half relief and half re-
greet that toward midnight finally heard
the smashing of the ebb as it eddied along
the rocks, and knew the time to start had
come. The full realization of the risk came
upon me stood with painter in hand Civ
ing my last farewell to Burt. "God keep
you safe!" he said. eff find the schooner
gone tomorrow, and hear not of your cap
ture by Thursday, 1 will thank Him as never
before The next minute the three of US
were out on the Sound river, and the black
land was hidden by the fog that closed
around us.
l at once sculled out into the stream until
l struck the free current. and then sat my
self on the boats bottom, using an oar as a
rudder to keep the scow's head down the
river, letting her drift with the tide which
was here running at great rate. All night
sounds from the land were lost in the thick
cloud, and an almost dead silence ensued as
we whirled southwark, the only break be-