Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-09-15
Blu REV. THOMAS DIXON, JR.
CoDgright 1902
Blu Doubleday, PAGE 8 Co

hushed into an awed silence.
In Gaston's heart that fear became a
horrible certainty from the first. Within
a half hour a thousand white people were
in the crowd. CASTOR stood among them,
cool and masterful, organizing them in
searching parties, and giving to each
group the signals to be used.
In moment the white race had fused
! into a homogeneous mass of love, sympa-
| thy, hate and revenge The rich and the
poor, the learned and the ignorant, the
banker and the blacksmith. the great
and the small. they were all one now. 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 negro among themi BY some subtle
instinct they had recognized the secret
feelings and fears of the crowd and had
: disappeared Had they been beasts Of the
field the gulf between them would not
have been deeper.
When CASTOR reached Toms house the
crowd was divided into the groups agreed
upon, and signal gun given to each. If
the child was not 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.
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
stare. Yes, yes; 1 found her bonnet in
/ the spring. I looked everywhere for an
! hour before I 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 PARKWAY tone of voice. land
don't forget to help me pray while you
| look for her"
i've tried already, Tom" he answered
as he pressed his hand and left the house.
All night long the search continued, and
no signal gun was heard. Torches and
/ lanterns cleaned from every field and
| wood byway and hedge for miles in ev-
cry 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 dishev-
| elled, as he unconsciously tore them with
his trembling hands. Now he was crying
in an agony of intensity:
"As 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! I will not let thee go
until thou bless mel Though / perish, let
| her live! have lost all and praised, thee
still. Lord, thou canst not leave me des-
olater'
From the pain Of his wound and the ex-
| haustion 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
he would beg and plead like a child,
and then he would rise in the unconscious
dignity of an immortal soul in combat
with the powers of the infinite and his
language was in the sublim speech of the
old Hebrew seers.
Just before the sun rose the signal gun
pealed it's message of life, One! Two! in
| rapid succession.
Tom sprang to his feet with blazing
| ewes. One! Two! echoed the guns from an
other hill, and fainter grew its repeated
call from group to group of the searchers.
f'There! Glory to GCdp he screamed at
| the top of his voice, the last note of his
triumphant shout breaking into sobs. God
be praised knew they would find her
| she's not dead; she's alive! alive! Oh my
soul, lift up thy head!'
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 attention to his orders to
stay at home, but sprang after him. jump
| ing and falling and scrambling up again
! as he followed. Before they knew 1t he
I was upon the excited, fearful group that
| stood in a circle around the child's body.
CASTOR, who was standing on the oppo-
site side from Toms approach, saw him
and shouted:
my God, men, stop him! Don't let him
see her YETI
But Tom was too quick for them. He
brushed aside the boy who caught at
him as though a feather, crying:
| stand back!"
The circle of men fell away from the
| body, and in a moment Tom stood over it
| transixed with horror.
Flora lay on the ground with her
! clothes torn to shreds and stained with
| blood. Her beautiful yellow curls were
| matted across her forehead in a dark red
been crushed. The stone lay at her side,
the crimson mark of her life showing
| on it's jagged edges.
With that stone the brute had tried to
| strike the death blow. She was lying on
| the edge of the hill with her head up
| the incline. Down her little white bare leg
was still running fresh and warm the tin
| lest scarlet thread of blood. 1t was too
| plain, the terrible crime that had been
| committed.
| The poor father sank beside her body
| with an articulate groan as though some
| one had crushed his head with an AK. He
seemed daZed for moment, and looking
| around, he shouted hoarsely:
THE doctor, boys! The doctor, quick!
For Gods sake. quick! She's not dead yet;
we may save her-help-help!' He sank
| again to the ground, limp and faint from
| pain, and was soon insensible.
CASTOR gathered the child tenderly in
| his arms and carried her to the house. The
men hastily made a stretcher and carried
| Tom behind him.
CTo be Continued.)