The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-03-30
THE LEOP ARDS SPOTS
Continued from Page Nine.)

the bell of the Methodist, and then or
the Baptist churches joined their clamor
to the alarm.
He snapped the lid OF his. desk. snatch
ed his hat and ran down the steps.
AS he reached the street, he heard the
long. piercing cry of a woman's voice,
high. strenuous, quivering!
"A lost child, A lost child"
What cry He was never so thrilled
and awed by human voice! In it was
packed all the anguish of every mothers
broken heart transmitted through the
centuries from mother to daughter
At the court house door an excited
group of men women and children had
gathered. A man was standing on the
steps gesticulating wildly and telling
the crowd all he knew about it, Over
the din he caught these words: tom
Camps Floral
He breathed hard, bit his lips, and
prayed instinctively:
Lord, have mercy on the poor old
man. 1t will kill him.
Within half an hour a thousand white
people were in the crowd CASTOR stood
among them, cool and masterful, organ
Using them in searching parties, and CIV
ing to each group the signals to be used.
1t was a thrilling study in the laws of
human society to watch that crowd. In
a moment the white race had fused into
a homogeneous mass Of love, sympathy,
hate, and revenge. The sorrow OF that
old one-legged soldier was the sorrow OF
ALL every heart beat with his, and his
life was their life, and his child their
child
But at the end of an hour there was
not a negro among them! By some
subtle instinct they had recognised the
secret feelings and fears of the crowd
and had disappeared.
When CASTOR reached Toms house the
crowd was divided into the groups agreed
upon and signal gun given to each. II
the child was net dead when found two
should be fired-if dead, but one.
He sought Tom to be sure there was
no mistake and that the child had not
fallen asleep about the house. He found
the old man shut up in his room kneeling
in the middle of the floor praying. His
long gray hair was brushed back and the
big hole a bullet had made in the upper
edge of his forehead stood out in the
centre and white at its edges as though
1t had felt anew the crash of that musket
ball
When CASTOR laid his hand gently on
his shoulder his lips ceased to move, and
he looked at him in a dazed sort of way
at first without speaking.
"Oh!-it's you, Charlie" he sighed.
Yes, Tom, tell me quick. Are you sure
she is nowhere in the house %
"Sure!-Sure?" he cried in a helpless
state. "Yes, yes, / found her bonnet at
the spring. / looked everywhere for
an hour before l called the neighbors!"
Then I'm off with the searchers. The
signal is two guns if they find her alive.
One gun If she is dead. You will under
stand"
Yes, Charlie answered the old SOL
der in a faraway tone OF voice, land
don't forget to help me pray while you
look for her."
eve tried already, Tom" he answer
ed as he pressed his hand and left the
house
All night long the search continued
and no signal gun was hear. Torches
and lanters cleaned from every field
and wood, byway and hedge for miles in
every direction.
Through every hour of this awful night
Tom Camp was in his room praying-his
face now streaming with tears. now dry
and white with the unspoken terror
that could stop the beat of his heart
His white hair and snow white beard
were disheyelled, as he unconsciously
tore them with his trembling hands
Now he was crying in an agony of in
tensitY.
LAS Thy servant of old wrestled with
the angel of the Lord through the night,
so, oh, God, will / lie at Thy feet and
wrestle and pray! l will not let Thee
go until Thou bless me? Though l
perish, let her live! l have lost all
and praised Thee still, Lord, Thou
canst not leave me desolate!"
From the pain of his wound and the
exhaustion of soul and body he tainted
once with his lips still moving in prayer.
For more than an hour he lay as one
dead When he revived he looked at his
clock and it was but an hour till dawn.
Again he fell on his knees. and again
the broken accents of his husky voice
could be heard wrestling with God. Now
and then he would beg and plead like 2
child land then he would rise in the I'M
conscious dignity of an immortal soul
and combat with the powers of the in
finite and his language was in the SUI
blime speech of the old Hebrew seers!
Just before the sun rose the signal gun
pealed its message of life, One. Two. in
rapid succession.
Tom sprang to his feet with blazing
eyes. Onei Two! echoed the guns from
another, hill, and fainter grew the re-
peated call from group to group of the
searchers.
There. Glory to Cod" Tom scream
ed at the top of his voice, the last note
OF his triumphant shout breaking into
sobs. God be praised! 1 knew they
would find her-she's not dead she's
alive! alive! oh! my soul, lift I'D thy
headl'
The tramp of swift feet was heard at
the door and CASTOR told him with
husky stammering voice.
She's alive, Tom. but unconscious
I'll have her brought to the house. She
was found just where your spring branch
runs into the Flat Rock, not five hundred
yards from here in those woods. STAY
where you are We will bring her in \
minute"
CASTOR bounded back to the scene
Tom paid no atten-io to his orJors
to stay at home. but sprang after hin,
jumping and falling and scramhlino M