Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1902-05-17

sea-, nor had / returned thence empty
handed. There lay the schooner, clear
at last from n READY Tor
u own men to board and get TO sea
again. / had nothing nearer my fancy
than to get home to the stockade and
boast of my achievements. Possibly i
might be blamed a bit for my truantry,
but the ~recapture Of the "Hispaniola"
WAS n clinching answer, and / hoped
that even Captain Smollett would con-
TESS l a not lost my time.
So thinking, and in famous spirits, I
began to set my face homeward for the
block-house and my companions. l re-
membered that the most easterly OF the
rivers which drain into Captain Kids
anchorage raj from the two-peaked
hill upon my left, and ! bent my course
in tina direction THAI ! might pass the
stream While IL was small. The wood
was pretty open, and, keeping along
the lower spurs, / soon turned the cor
ner of that Hill, and not long after
waded TO the mid-calf across the water
course.
This brought me near to where / en-
countered Ben Gum, the maroon and
L walked more circumspectly, Keeping
an eye on every side. The dusk had
come nigh hand completely, and, as l
opened out the cleft between the two
peaks, l became aware or a WAIVER
ing low against the sky, where, as l
Judged, the man Of the island was
cooking his supper before a roaring
fire. And yet / wondered, in my heart,
that he should show himself so care
less. For If 1 could see this radiance,
might II not reach the eye or silver
himself where he camped upon the
shore among the marshesY .
Gradually the night fell blacker; 1t
was all / could do TO guide myself ever
.-..~Il. aptAI - 1n0tfnn finns fhA
double hill behind me n the Spy
glass on my right hand doomed faint
and fainter; the stars were few ana
pale; and in the low ground where ]
wandered / kept tripping among the
bushes and rolling into sandy pits.
Suddenly a kind OF brightness fell
about me. / looked up; a pale glim-
mer Of moonbeams had alighted on the
summit of the Spy-glass, and soon ar
ter l saw something broad and silvery
moving low down behind the trees ano
knew the moon Il risen.
With this TO help me ! passed rapid
" over what remained to me OF my
Journey; and, sometimes walking.
sometimes running, impatiently drew
near to the stockade. Yet. as began
TO thread the grove that lies before 1t
| was not so thoughtless but that
Stacked my pace and went a trifie war,
lily. II would have been a poor end &c
my adventures to get shot down by my
own party I'm mistake.
The moon was climbing higher and
higher; It's light began to fall here anc
there In masses through the more
open districts OF the wood, and right II
front OF me a glow of a different color
appeared among the trees. 1t was rec
ana hot, and now and again 1t was @
little darkened-as II were the embers
of n Onnre smOldering.
For the life of me L could not think
what il might be.
At last | came right down upon the
borders of the clearing. The western
end was already stepped in moonshine
the rest, and the block-house itself, still
lay I'm a black shadow, ~checkered will
long silvery streaks Of light. On the
other side of the house an immense fire
had burned itself into clear embers, anC
shed q steady, red reverberation, con.
trasted strongly with the mellow pale.
ness of the moon. There vas not &
soul stirring, nor n sound beside The
noises Of the breeze.
CONTINUED next week.)