The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-01-27

that the moonshiners trust no one.
You will help me, sweetheart?' he
asked as he drew her to her feet.
but how?" asked Mary
Get my horse, Mary; it is down at
the forks
"To fer" answered the girl; but
reckon my mare'd do"
just the thing, Mary, but where is
she?"
Right nigh. Come"
After much scrambling they We're
upon comparatively level ground. a
rough road skhted the side of the
mountain. Below it a shallow stream
slowly moved, with dark ferns and
rhodcdendrons on it's banks.
Il can't stay here, Mary said the
man looking about IT'S too open"
Look" and the girl spreading her
arms wide parted a clump of laurel.
INTO this greenery the sheriff crawled.
Yell KEN back ag'in, Ben" mourn
fully asked the girl as she leaned
against her mare.
"Of course" answered the man, and
asked as he tightened the girth
whats become of your old lover,
Mary? Tom was his name, wasn't it?'
Then not waiting for a reply, he added:
II suppose if I'd not come along you d
have been married to him long ago,
eh, girlo" He raised her shin and
looked into her eyes as he asked the
question.
But you-uns kems, I nev'r kin now
-Ben-lem'me go long of you-uns, Ben,
the mare kin tote two"
NO, child, what could l do with you
down in the city? No, no." he said,
more emphatically You'd be better
off with Tom
But Ben, ] had to love you-uns;
tell you uns KEN ] lowed | loved Tom,
but now-oh, Ben" she pressed his
face between her hands, her eyes dim
with emotion.
From above came the angry hiss of
an owl. The girl. recognizing 1t as a
signal of the moonshiners, grasped the
stirrup and exclaimed;
"Ouick. qulcli." The sheriff swung
himself to the saddle Just as two men
ran down the slope. lie dug his heels
into the mare, but the girl chung to the
stlrrup and to his leg as she impored:
TEX me, Benz They'll kill me! Oh,
tek me-"
The sheriff With an oath and saw
age thrust of his foot against her
breast released himself from the girl,
and she fell heavily.
one bullet went through his hat the
other slit his ear, The mare in a
frenzy of fright bolted into the thicket
The moonshiners looked scornfully
down at Mary, and let themselves drop
into the cave.
Mary's mare, not accustomed TO such
harsh treatment, galloped down deep
into a boggy ravine. The man pulled
and tugged as he tried to turn her,
for before him was the wallow of the
wild hogs,
A great boar with short tusks and
bristing name rose savagely at sight
of them. As the mare stumbled
through the mhe the boar with roar
ing grunt charged upon her. \ tusk
pierced her side and she went down,
the boar grunting and stamping upon
her in his fury.
The agile sheriff Jumped far as she
fell but only 10 find himself surround
ed by hogs of all shades, from black
TO rusty red. AS he reached for his
pistol he was howled over by a young
boar. and with rush the hogs We're
at him. Their sharp hoofs wounded
his body; his face he pressed deep into
the mire.
Above him there rang out an agon-
lied scream from Mary, who had fol-
lowed ON the path, AS she ran down
the bank she raised her arms high as
she called TO a man on the oppos!. .a
ledge.
'2om, Tom, save him! save him"
pointing toward the sheriff.
Tom dragged his knife from his boot,
grasped his rifle and slid down the
steep decline, calling as he de-
Scended: