Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1902-03-05
CHAPTER VIII.
Pub by Harper Bros. Copyright isoi bycutcle lyme.

THE PREACHER FROM THE NOUN
TAINS. s~
1t was long enough since 1 hat
found leisure for a parcel of sleep
and so during the larger part of thai
day | am free to confess that / slum
bcred soundly, Nais watching me
Night fell, and still we remained
within the privacy of the temple. Il
was our plan that / should stay there
till the camp slept, and so / should
have more chance of reaching the
seabeach without disturbance
The night came down wet, with a
drizzle of rain, and through the Sits
in the temple walls we could see the
many fires in the camp we'll cared for
and men and women in skins and
rags toasting before them, with
steam rising as the heat fought with
their wetness. Folk seated in dis.
comfort like this are proverbially
alert and cruel in the temper, and
Nais frowned as she looked on the in.
clemency of the weather.
But as the hours drew on the night
began to grow less quiet. From the
distance someone began to blow on a
horn or shell, sending forth a harsh
raucous note necessarily. The sound
came nearer, as we could tell from its
growing louuness, and the voices of
those by the fires made themselves
heard, railing at the blower for his dis
."rbance. And presently it became
stationary, and standing UP we could
see through the Sits in the walls the
people of the camp rousing up from
their uneasy rest, and clustering to-
gether round one who stood and talked
to them from the pedestal of war en-
CINE.
What he was declaiming upon we
could not hear, and our curiosity on the
matter was not keen. Given that al
who did not sleep went to weary them
selves with this fellow, as Nais whis-
pered, it would be simple for me to
make an exit in the opposite direc.
ton.
But here we we're reckoning without
the inevitable busybody. A dozen pairs
of feet splashing through the wet
came up to the side of the little tenn
pie, and cried loudly that Nais should
join the audience. She had eloquence
of tongue, it appeared, and they
feared lest this speaker who had
taken his stand on the war engine
should make schisms among their
ranks unless some skilled person
stood up also to refute his argu,
ments.
Here, then, it seemed to me that
must be elbowed into my skirmish by
the most unexpected of chances, but
Nais was firmly minded that there
should be no fight, if courage on her
part could turn it. Come out with
me-" she whispered, land keep distan;
from the light of the fires"
But how explain my being here?"
There is no reason to explain any.
thing" she said, bitterly. They viii
take you for my lover. THERE'S moth
ing remarkable in that; it is the mode
here. But, oh! why did not the gods
make you wear a beard, and curl it
even as other men? Then you could
have been gone and safe these two
!. hours"
"a smooth chin pleases me BETTER
$50 it does me- heard her murmul
as she leaned her weight on the stone
which hung in the doorway, anc
pushed it ajar; "your chin
The ragged men outside-there were
women with them also-did not wal
to watch me very closely. A coarse jes
or two few (Which could have founs
good heart to have repaid with SWORD