Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1901-04-06
CHAPTER XNIII.-tContinucd.p

,barge Of fifty Indians from all points
,f the compass; more accurate than the
rule of three, for Rab remembered about
,ntting the bonds of the maiden bound
ia the stake tat fifty PAGES, was itH
He was therefore quiet but his super
.titiouS terrors had vanished. Rab had
thought of cmigrating 50 as to possess a
rcyolyer but this was better. lie would
show them that he was not a boy They
were all in their beds sleeping. and ne.
fht. Youngest, was in the deadly imminent
breach \ moment afterward he wished
he had been anywhere else The man
took Il step in his direction, and Rab
.ayr himself up for lost. But the man.
As the candle tiickered cut, stopped and
Kicked up Il double twist of pillow rope
rom the hard-beaten eartheu door of
The barn. Then he went to the door
and looked out. The dark object was
still lying mOtionless in the snow.
The man stopped and threw it
about his shoulders III the form
Of a cloak. Without pausng to shut the
door of the barn. he went silently
bat. which could be seen silhcuetted
against the glimmcring snow. Rab was
ont Of his hole in Il moment, and at the
door. The man went straight TO the
window of the room where Walters
mother slept Rab knew that Waffle
bly, on the strength of the fright he had
rot for he had seen the double shadow
oil the blind before he went to sleep 4
the man turned the corner of the cart
she'd Rab slipped ont of the back door
of the barn. and was round behind 1hn
corner of the little fir plantation undcr
whose shadow the snow lay sparsely
He had hardly got himself hidden before
the tall figure came round the corner,
and paused moment before going up 20
Nelly Anderson'S window. Rab had time
to wonder where the dogs were that they
made no sign, then he remembered that
they wonld be in the kitchen, quite at
The other end of the long. low. rambling
h0use-a part of the house entered by an
entirely different door-and that the
snow deadened every footstep The man
approached the window, laid the r0DC
which was over his left arm. on the
snow, inserted something under the sill
of the window, which instantly gave
n0iselessly upwards half it's height and
prepared to make his way through the
opening thus made. But at this moment
Rab, knowing that the time had come
for him to do something. stepped lightly
from his covert. and, Just as the man
put his head within the room. the lads
TWO heavy hands We're laid on his Sheul-
ders, and he was dragged hack into the
snow. There was a deadly conflict.
waged with short gasps, but otherwise
in silence. The adversary was the
stronger man, but Rab was no mean foe
His grasp upon the throat of his antag-
onist, in spite of his struggles. was not
10 be shaken off. and it was with a feel
ing of triumph that Rab felt his efforts
SlaCken. The thought that victory was
within his grasp ran like wine through
his veins. They would not cali him the
wean any more-those who lay in bed
Ike logs while he. Rab, was defending
The house; and, above all, what would
Nelly Anderson say?
Alas. just then something sweet and
claHmy was dashed in his face, a mil
ion lights ran round him in ring. his
grasp relaxed, and he fell back with a
sigh on the snow. At that moment there
came from the other side of the house
the sound of a door being opened. The
man hastily gathered his cloak, and
stepped into the darkness of the little
plantation which sheltered the farm on
three sides. He glided STOPPING under
The horizontal boughs, and followed il
ali the way till at the north end he
struck down the loaning and vanished
\ light snow was just beginning to
fall, and the sky was overcaSting. \
solemn wrack of clouds was drifting up
from the south, and the snowflake that
drove before them wiped the sky Of stars
rs a boy wipes his slate. As the man
vanished a shawl-wrapped figure came
round the house. 1t was Mary M'Quhirr
looking for her youngest son. She had
been at the barn, but had found there
only silence and emptiness. Her eyes
caught the dark object lying at the
''doon-the-house'' window. and she went
quickly forward. 1t was her own Rab
iying on his face in the snow. beside
MN coil of rope, and the frame Of
Nelly AndPrson's window open. 1t said
much for Mary M'Quhirr's belief in her
training of her children that no though.
# evil came into her mind. Neither
Of oil \
her mind. She had been wondrouSly re-
assured during the last six months about
mat young woman. and that too by
events whose bearing might have seemed
10 be all the other way; but happily she
was woman. ana therefore illogical.
,!od pity us men if women were not 50.
Mary listened at the window: she heard
the two hreathings from the darkness
WheFe the bed WaS-one long and slow.
the other quicker, ever falling ont Of
STEP rs it were, and then again making
mp. She softly drew the window down.
ANA stood a moment 10 think how she
''uid get the boy in. Assured that he
was breathing, she wrapped her shawl
about his head and shoulders, and ran
'if" the house. In Il minute she came
ont with her husband. Saunders with
''t comment took his son in his arms
1Ad carried him into the kitchen. whore
50 laid him on his own plaid on the
"aken, and after eXhauSting all the ordi-
larry means known 10 their simple phar-
saacopoeia. the father and mother sat
Gown beside their boy. saying no word.
.Nt each chatting hand. till the gray
-,-ht of morning began to come, ana the
.ao looked up. bewildered After a few
minutes Saunders asked with stern ter
HtI ness what was the meaning of all
ms Rab grew bit by bit into the sense
ms heroShip. and told the story as
.'Ahectedly a he could. 1t was the bit
crest disappointment to him that his
amer evidently did not believe one word
the tale. Saunders thought that the
mad been walking in his sleep and
""H dr' AIMED the rest. He told Rah. in
way not to he mistaken. 10 say noth.Gg
,',at u. hut TO go quietly upstairs to his
o. Mary M'Quhirr WAS not so sure
E5L' mad seen the open window. and she
t not think that the truc-heartcd Rab
'la either have been deceived or have
lowed her She went ont aS soon as
was daylight to the barn. She found
1>iy enough Rah's hole from which he
""H risen. with the corn sacks pulled out
I me floor. She also found in the cor