The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1902-06-25
CAPtaip p. ~ MITCHELL
Author OF "Chattsnoega," "chickamsueN" Ets.

spent great deal Of his time In prayer;
Helen seemed calm, yet noticed y
strange look In her eye Up TO this terri
BILE morning she had been the mainstay OF
the party. Under the strain that smold-
ering fire which burned within her 1ared
ominously. Turning TO me. she asked
harshly:
Are you a Confederate or are you a
What matters II nowf''
Il came to save you. understanding
you TO be Confederate"
Would you abandon me now II you
| knew me TO be Union man?''
| She turned away and l saw that she
( was weeping. put my arm about her
and drew her head down on my breast
| There she wept long and silently.
| Whether she was unconscious OF what
| she did or whether her sufferings. made
| her careless did not know, but as felt
her heart beating against mine I was
conscious OF the birth OF a new love.
| AS the sun rose higher II beat down
upon us with all the enervating heat of
an unreasonable day. The water drip
ping back OF US alone sustained and re-
| freshed us. One by one we would go
| to the cleft and, standing under the
cooling drops, receive them In our mouths.
We envied the birds the food they bore
| to their nests and the freedom OF those
soaring far above In the limitless ocean
OF air. Why could we not be given wings
to fly from our rocky prison? The wreck
ed are prone to dwell on Authorizations.
SO TO us came sounds denoting the ap-
proach OF rescuers. One would hear the
tramp OF armed men. Another would see
the white covers of a wagon train. All
day we were tortured by these fancies
till at last ceased TO pay any attention
to them.
ssr I'm
"oh. no, you don't. Buck" said, lay
ing my hand on his head.
II tell yo' DO"
| Listen" said Helen.
We all listened, but so far as I was
concerned there was no unusual sound.
II hear them. too" said Jack.
II was singular that these two should
agree / looked anxiously at Helen. My
hearing was net especially acute. IL
Helen had heard. i might have thought
| there was something 10 hear. She lis
| tened a long while, but no sound came
| to her
Its gone" said Buck.
$50 II is." said Jack. II heard II: I
| know / did"
| they had been tortured by another hallu-
cination. Neither Buck nor Jack heard
| anything more, and the incident was
| soon forgotten, at least by Helen and by
me, who had heard nothing. We all re-
lapsed into that dreadful waiting-waiting
| for the time when the fear OF death would
| be overcome by the pangs Of starvation
Helen suddenly looked at me, that dan
gerous light which had seen before In
! her eyes.
your enemy7" she asked.
What enemyT'
THE one you came 10 Alabama to kill"
'T shall never kill him now"
| "Do you mean that you abandon your
revenge?" She spoke contemptuously.
with death staring me, staring you
| and the others In the face--you who have
wrecked yourselves in vain attempt to
save me-my private griefs sink to MOTH
| ingness."
"You must be revenged." She spoke
| as II II were she and not i who was to
be the avenger.
II remember. You were to help me-"
''I will help YOU
There is no need. We are doomed"
1--WE shall live. and you will meet him. "
"And then?'
You will kill him"
MY poor girl. think no more OF that
Let US fix our minds on gentler things;
let us hope for some escape from this
| dreadful fate"
| She sat down on the bare rock. / beside
| her We both looked out upon the set
ting sum- tinting the mountains with
| ominous blood stains, like those / had
| seen on the evening I reached the guer-
rilla band. Jack was sitting holding her
| knees rocking back and forth; Buck was
lying on his back with his eyes shut;
| Ginger had finished a prayer and was
rising from his knees. Suddenly the
whole command started up as IL touched
| by a current OF vitality. There rang out
on the still mountain air the clear tones
| OF a bugle.
| There was no hallucination about this
sound. Each note cut the air with scimi-
| terlike sharpness. To our ears, whetted
| as they were for some tidings of relief
| Il was like trumpet tones from heaven
| IL echoed and re-echoed through the
mountains, each echo fainter than the
| last, dying softly in the far distance.
Shading my eyes with my hand, peer
| ing down toward the road, ] saw through
| a small opening In the trees files Of cav
| airy passing by fours. They were too far
for me to distinguish whether they wore
| the blue or the gray. but IL made no DIFF
| ference, either side would be welcome.
| Seizing carbine. pointed II at the sky
| and fired.
The bugle and my shot produced a
magical effect on the guerrillas Without
waiting to gather anything but their
|