The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-04-29

SACuSe, ne feII lne guard house. He
went straight to Mother Malone's. The
angry woman was still sitting there,
awaiting her husband and daughter.
Where is Katy?' the sergeant
asked. and his face was so white that
the scars stood out upon his brow and
cheeks in scarlet
Where, indeed?" cried Mrs Malone.
The baggage! She's not been in TO-
night! She'll leave my house; Holmesi
Holmes! What is it? What has she
done now?''
With a loud curse the sergeant turn
ed on his heel and rushed off. He made
for the stables of his troop, and reused
the stable sergeant by furious blows
on the gate
My horse. by order of the officer of
the day. he hoarsely yelled. "A pris-
oner has escaped"
".
If he had been capable Of Thought.
capable of planning a sure revenge. he
would first have reused the guard. and
sent half a troop after the fugitives.
Perhaps. indeed, he did think. but
felt that this was a matter which con-
cerned him alone. Therefore he went
swiftly at a gallop in pursuit, and the
sleepy stable sergeant went back to
bed, and the guard remained on
watch, wondering where their SER
Seant had gone TO, but all unaware of
the prisoners escape.
The river read? He spurred his horse
down the trail furiously until the post
was far behind him. On his right the
river flowed; ON his left the land rose
tn ripping bluffs, gray-black mass
In the starlight. For many miles
IN front of him he knew the
long and lonely trail stretched
dreardly, without house, with
out town, for nigh 100 miles, when at
last it ended at the railway. He was
able, with an effort, to consider that the
two would spare their horses, knowing
how far they had to go, and hardly ex-
pectlnS pursuit before guard mount in
the morning, when the officer of the day
would make his report. They had more
than an hours start but if he pressed
hard after them he should catch I'D
soon. That settled, he urged his horse
to the utmost, and gave himself up to
the mad rage Of Jealousy and disap-
polntment. He had known her from a
child to be Wfllful and passionate and
mlscheIVous, but he never, in his adora-
ton, believed her capable of such de-
celt. He did not stop to think that love
had forced himself to break his oath to
neglect his duty, to assist a prisoner IN
der his charge to escape, to forfeit, if
the truth became known, the trust of
his officers and the name he had won in
years of hard campaigning. He did not
stop to think Of what love might have
forced her to do also. His mood was en-
urely selfish He was wounded sorely,
and he wished for nothing but revenge.
The dust scattered in clouds about
him; the horse, in that hot night, soon
was streaming sweat. He never slack
ened pace. Now and again there was a
creek TO cross, and through them ne
dashed, needless of mud hole or rock or
stump. once a belated Indian freighter
met him and grunted an astonished
Howl. Holmes hardly saw him. nor
answered his greeting. In an instant
he was out of sight and hearing. So he
rode, blind TO all ne passed, his eyes
gIarlnS ahead. his Jeeth grating, seek
ing revenge for the slight and the scorn
and the lie
They had Travelled more quickly than
he had reckoned they would, and the
sky of the midsummer morning was
turning slowly from gray to violet when
he saw them, and drew the revolver
he carried as being on guard duty He
hailed them, and through the misty
dimness Of the dawn they saw him and
spurred ahead with a cry Of fear and
surpldse. His horse, the fieetest in
the troop, drew up upon them, but,
urged by terror, they pushed on to
the utmost. The sergeant was with
in 200 yards of them when he IeveIed
his revolver and fired They were too
far off for pistol shooting. but the
shot resulted in bringing them TO q
standstill. He rode slowly I'D and
refined in, facing them. The girl sat
erect In her saddle, her bosom heay-
ing, her eyes defying him. The ulu-
Sician looked at him with his big.
brown, sorrowful eyes-despairing.
Holmes looked only on the girl. and
even as he did so, that which had
cauSad all his misery in the last few
years, his great love for her. came
back sweeping in on him as a flood
washing away his wrath and disap-
pointment and longing for revenge. 1t
was Katy Malone who faced him. his
pet IN her school days, the one thing he
had ever loved. As he looked on her.
flushed with exercise and Indignation
he put his pistol back in the holster
and the reins fell on his, horses neck.
and ne cared nothing for the others |
presence, but held out his arms in
despair. crying:
Katy Katy! Why have you done
tkiS?"
The girl paused a moment in surprise, !
for she had surely expected an out |
burst of colossal rage. but in a mo- |
ment she regained her usual self-pos- |
session. She took the musicians hand |
in hers, in the protecting way she had |
used when she had met him in the /
island wood
Because I love him." she said
simply.
The sergeant's head dropped low |
over his horse, and his tall frame /
shook. When he looked up, his face /
was gray as the morning sky. All |
light was gone from his eyes, even as |
the stars We're disappearing in the
heavens He was calm now
You could not trust me to make !
you happy he said. slowly. Il begin /
TO understand. l want to know one /
thing Did you care for me at all, be- /
fore-he-came?
She shook her head
Never" she said.
He sat again erect and looked I'D at /
the sky. In one instant his life stood 4
revealed. Lonely lonely, lonely. +
all the years. from the frst .
early questionings of himself. of who 1
his mother was and who his father /
through all the years OF iII-used. soul i
5ouring childhood. starving youth, +
through all the years of manhood, soil /
-ary and avoided by his comrades, he
saw himself babe, child, boy, man, I'M
friended and alone. Lonely. lonely.
onely! Friendless and unloved.
He looked at the young lovers. hand
What good would it do TO
arrest him2 She would only hate him /
he more. What good would II do to
'orce her back? Besides the escape
must be known soon, and he, in turn,
would be prisoner. The sky was
into blue; the sun was almost
N the horizon, but round his soul the
hight grew very dark. For a while
hey watched him, wondering, and at
asst he looked at them, and his eyes
we're full Of tears.
ride on" he said
They did not ,,oox-a t,,~l5,x- t.-rsz. /