The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-04-19

patiently, swinging a tomahawk furious
ly in his powerful right hand.
Il will die" replied Thornhurst firmly,
with his eyes upon the pile of finder
that was to feed the flames about his
body. 81 will not betray my own blood
even for life's sake"
The scowl deepened on the Indians
bronzed face, but he laid his weapon
aside; no sound escaped the circlet of
warriors that surrounded him. Perhaps
feeble wave of admiration for the
white hero flcwed through their slug
gish souls-for even a savage may feel
the warmth of that gulf stream of pa
triotism which flows through the greater
sea of human kind-and silenced them
with a sensation strange to their innate
cruelty. At any rate, Wanchese motion
ed the Indians to return with the prs-
| oner to his teepee So Edward Thornhurst
was more firmly bound with thongs of
deer skin, carried back to his prison and
| left TO contemplate his fate. And it
was by no means a pleasant one for a
man of four and twenty-or of any age,
| for that matter--to face. The memory
o fthe past nights treachery ranked in
| his breast what part had the fair
Louise de Longueville in that devils
work." Had she kept tryst with him
only to betray him with a kiss?" What
| interest could the Indian Wanchese have
in his capture?" These questions fairly
buzzed in Thornhurst's brain as he lay
or his back and gazed at the ridge pole
of Wanchese's teepee. Suddenly the
thought flashed over him that it was
Gaspard de Vincent's scheme to torture
him not only with captivity and awaited
death at the hands of the Indians, but
also with the thought that Louise de
Longueville had been traitoress. He
remembered also that Gaspard de Vim
cent and Wanchese had been much to-
gether on the voyage. There was some
hidden mystery which he could not solve
some machination of the willy French
man and the no less willy Indian to de-
stroy the colony. He groaned as he
thought of the fate that awaited the
Innocent and unsuspecting victims of
their treachery But what could he do
to avert it? A babe in its cradle was
not more helpless than he as he lay
there ia his bonds Without he could
hear the peculiar, animallike cries of the
Indians as they prepared for the expedi
tion against the handful of Englishmen
on the morrow. Then he strained madly
at his letters until they cut into the
flesh, but to no purpose.
Several times during that long, awful
day Indians came and peeped in upon him
like beasts gazing upon a beast, and
once a maiden, slender and graceful,
stared at him a moment with something
o. compassion in her great dark eyes,
then went on her way in heathenish for
getfulness of his suffering. He cursed
her for her cruelty, though he knew not
why, except, perhaps, that cruelty SEEM
ed incompatible with her strange wild
beauty.
At last night settled down upon the
Indian village-a dark, fearsome night, |
hurting with horrid sounds-and Thorn
hurst gave himshelf over to despair. The
Indians, confident of his inability to es-
cape, and anxious to obtain sleep against
an early rising on the morrow, had neg
lected to provide a guard for him. (The |
reason why they had chosen that especial
time to attack the colony was because
Manteo, the friend of the English, was
to leave that morning to hunt in the
vest.
The hours dragged slowly by and final |
ly quiet reigned in the village of Wan
cheese. The moon, rising up over the !
forest, dropped a lance of silver light /
through the solitary crevice in the teepee |
OF the prisoner, revealing the pathetic |
hopelessness of his white face Suddenly !
a shadow yacillated in the dim light as |
though it wrestled with itself, then, with |
two rapid CLEANS of knife bent over the !
prisOner-and he was freei He saw at a |
glance that his deliverer was the Indian /
maiden who had stared at him during the |
past day. Forgetting his perilous posi-
ton, he started to speak his gratitude |
aloud but she quickly placed finger on |
her lips, and pointed in the direction of |
the river, go, pale face, go!" she whs
pered in broken English, "Avoca make |
free" But the white man stood silent, |
gazing incredulously into the Indians |
beautiful face 1t was as If some lovely |
enchantress of ancient Egypt stood be-
fore him Then she took him gently and |
timidly by the hand and led him to the |
river where q canoe was riding gracefully |
on the moon-lit water that smote the !
shore at the foot of a great cypress. As |
a realization OF what she had done swept |
over him, Thornhurst. with an impulse of
gratitude, sought to kiss her, but she
sprang from him like a frightened doe |
and disappeared among the shadows of /
the villageb Then he entered the canoe ,
and, taking up the paddles, sent it swift
ly down the stream. The desire to warn
the colony ran hot in his veins, as did !
also his purpose to unmask Gaspard de |
Vincent He clenched his teeth and
bent manfully to his task as the thought |
Of what Louise de Longuevlle had doubt
less suffered on account of his absence |
rose in his mind. He had determined not
to connect her with his capture.
With the current in his favor he swept |
onward like an arrow. At last, the IA
miliar shore of Roanoke appeared in the |
distance, and, running his boat into an
eddy that made toward the shore, he |
soon landed and started for the fort He |
had not gone far, however, before his |
practiced ear caught the sound of voices
speaking in low, confidential tones. They |
were familiar to him, though he could |
not for the moment determine their own |
ers Being wary after his former ex-
perience in that spot, he crept nearer |
and halted behind large tree. Peeping |
cautiously around it, he discovered by |
.f.-