The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-04-21

i will die" replied Thornhurst firmly,
with his eyes upon the pile OF finder
that was to feed the flames about ms
body. Il viii not Detray my own blood
even for LIES sake"
The scowl deepened on the Indians
bronzed face, but he laid his weapon
aside; no sound escaped the clrclet o.
warriors that surrounded him. Perhaps
a feeble wave of admiration fer the
white hero flowed 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 sllenced them
With a sensation strange to their innate
cruelty. At any rate, "anchese motion
ed the Indians to return with the pris-
Oncr TO his teepee. So Edward Tnornhurst
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
0 fthc past nights treachery ranked in
his breast. ''Wha 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
OF 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 a traitoress. He
remembered also that Gaspard de Vim
cent and Wanchese had been much to-
gcther 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 it's cradle was
not more helpless than he as he lay
there in his bonds. Without he could
hear the peculiar, animal-like cries Of the
Indians as they prepared for the expedi-
ton 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
4 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.
A. tact nipht cnff1oi dawn ,,nnn tho
Indian village-a dark, fearsome night,
hurtling with horrid sounds-and Thorn
hurst gave himshe1f 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
west).
The hours dragged slowly by and final
~ 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 vacillated in the dim light as
though II "IeSllpu VIII ltSell, Iutu, Will
two rapid CLEANS of a knife bent over the
prisoner-and he was free! 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-
tion. he started to speak his gratitude
aloud, but she quickly placed a finger on
her lips, and pointed in the direction Of
the river. 60, pale face, go!' she whis-
pered in broker English, "Avoca make
f1ee." But the white man stood silent,
gazing incredulously into the Indians
beautiful face. It was as if some lovely
e~nchantress of ancient Egypt stool be-
, fore him. Then she took him gently and
timidly by the hand and led him to the
river where a canoe was riding gracefully
on the moon-iit water that smote the
shore at the foot of a great cypress. AS
a realization Of what she had done swept
ever 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 village. 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 Longueville 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 car 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-
p%erience in that spot, he crept nearer
and halted behind a large tree. Peeping
cautiously around it, he discovered, by
the light Of the moon, that the speakers
were a man and a woman seated on a
log in front Of the fort. He was lust on
' the point of hailing them when he heard
the woman say: Are you sure the In
' dians captured him as We intended, Gas
t Iard?" T~hornhurst grasped the tree and