Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1901-10-12
The House of The Wolf,,,,,,''


n answer. / should have bitterly rued
the day. Providence was good to me.
Such men and such women, we may be-
lieve, have ceased to exist now. They
flourished in those miserable days of
war and divisions. and passed way
with them like the foul night birds Of
the battlefield.
To return to our Journey. In the
morning sunshine one could not but be
cheerful, n think good things posi-
bic. The worst trial / a came with
each sunset. For then-we generally
rode late into the evening-Louis
sought my side to talk to me OF his
sweetheart. And how he would talk
of her! How many thousand messages
he gave me for her! How often he re-
called old days among the hills, with
each laugh and jest and incident, when
we five had been his children! Until 1
would wonder ~passionately, the tears
running down my face in the darkness,
how he could-how he could ak OF her
in that quiet voice which betrayed no
rebellion against fate, no cursing of
~prividence! How he could plan for her
and think of her when she should be
alone!
Now / understand 1t. He was still
laboring under the shock OF his friends
murder. He was still partially stunned.
Death seemed natural and familiar to
him, as TO one who had seen his allies
and companions perish without warn
Ing or preparation. Death had come to
be normal to him, life the exception;
as / have known It seem to a child
brought face TO face with a corpse for
the first time.
One afternoon a strange thing hap
pened. We could see the Auvergne
hills at no great distance on our left
the Puy de Dome above them-and
we four were riding together. We
HAD fallen-an unusual thing-to the
rear of our party. Our road at the mo-
ment was a mere track running across
moorland, sprinkled here and there
with gorse n brushwood. The main
company had struggled On out OF sight.
There were but a half dozen riders
to be seen an eighth Of a league before
us, a couple almost as far behind. /
ook every way with a sudden surg
ing of the heart. For the first time
the possibility of fight occurred to me.
The rough Auvergne hills were within
reach. Surprising we could get a lead
OF a quarter Of a league, we could
hardly be caught before darkness cam
and covered us. Why should we not
put spurs to our horses and ride Off?
"Impossible!" said Pavannes quietly,
when | spoke.
"Why?" l asked with warmth.
First" he replied, because 1 have
given my word to go with the vidame
TO Cahors."
Ny face flushed holly. But" I
cried, what of that?" You were taken
by treachery! Your safe conduct was
d~isregarded. Why should you be scrup-
ulous? Your enemies are not. This is
folly"
II think not. Nay" Louis answered,
shaking his head, you would not do
1t yourself in my place"
Il think l should" l stammered awk-
wardly.
mo, you would not, lad" he said,
smiling. II know you too well. But
/ would not do 1t, it Is impossible" He
turned in the saddle, and, shading his
eyes with his hand from the level rays
of the sun, looked back intently. 1T
is as / thought" he continued. lone
OF those men is riding Gray Margto,
which Bure said yesterday was the
fastest mare in the troop. And the man
on her Is a lightweight. The other
fellow has that Norman bay horse we
were looking at this morning. 1t Is q
trap laid by Beers, Anne If we turned
aside a dozen yards those two would be
after us like the wind"
10 you mean, i cfleu, 'that Beers
has drawn his men forward on pur-
poser"
Precisely" was Louis answer.
THAT is the fact. Nothing would
please him better thar to take my
honor first, and my life afterwards.
But, thank God, only the one is in his
power"
And when / came to look at the horse
men Immediately before us they con
firmed Louis view. They were the
best mounted of the party; all men OF
light weight, too. One or the other OF
them was constantly looking back. AS
night fell they closed in upon us with
their usual care. When Bure joined
us there was a CLEAN or intelligence in
his bold eyes, a flash OF conscious trick
cry. He knew that we had found him
out, and cared nothing for it.
And the others cared nothing. But
the thought that IL left to myself l
should have fallen into the vidame's
cunning trap filed me with new hatred
towards him; such hatred and such
there was humiliation
mingled with them-as l had scarcely
felt before. / brooded over this, barely
noticing what passed In our company
for hours-nay, not until the next day
when, towards evening, the cry arose
round me that we were within sight OF
Cahors. Yes, there 1t lay below us, in
It's shallow basin, surrounded by gen.
tie hills. The domes Of the cathedral,
the towers of the Vallandre bridge, the
bend Of the Lot, where It's stream en-
braces the town. knew them all. Our
long journey was over.
And / had but one idea. l had some
time before communicated to Croisette
the desperate design / had formed-to
fall upon Beers and kill him in the
midst OF his men-in the last resort.
Now the time had come If the thing
was ever to be done; IL we had not left
1t too long already. And l looked about
me. There was some confusion and
as we halted on the brow of
Hill, while two men were dispatched
ahead to announce the governors ar
rival, and Bure, with half a dozen
rode out as an advance guard.
The road where we stood was narrow,
shallow cutting winding down the
declivity of the hills. The horses were
tired. 1t was a a time Inc place for
my design, and only the coming night
was In my favor. But 1 was desperate.
Yet before 1 moved or gave a signal
nothing could recall, / scanned
landscape eagerly, scrutinizing in
the small, rich plain below us,
warmed by the last rays of the sun, the
bare hills here glowing, there dark, the
scattered wood clumps and spinneys
hat filled the angles of the river, even
he dusky line of the holm-oaks that
the ridge beyond-Caylus
way. So near our own country there
might be help! IL the messenger whom
had dispatched to the vicomte be-
ore leaving home had reached him, our
lncle might have returned, and even
In Cahors to meet us.
But no party appeared in sight; and
saw no place where an ambush could
lying. / remembered hat no It'd
rigs of our present plight or of what
had happened could have reached the
'icompte. The hope faded out of life
8 soon as dasnair haa niL:an ~ hirth