The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-06-14

ally Of ours was ever known to make; and
having made it he went dumb again, save
| for his urstnss Of Us forward But present.
| IL both he and I had our hands full with
the poor lad The swift transition from de-
SPAR TO Joy proved too much for Dick; and
besides. the fever was In bis blood and he
was grievousiy burned.
So We went STUN bling on through the
| cloUd-darkened wood locked arm In arm
| like three drunken men. tripping over root
| sLarss and brarn6ls nets spread for our
feet, and getting well sprinkled by the drip
| ping foliage. And at the last, when We
reached the ravine at the valleys head,
Dick was uutterins In the fever delirium
and We were well-riSh carrying him dead
| weight between Us.
Twas most hea-tbreaking business, get
ting the poor lad up that rock-ladder Of es-
cape In the darkness; for, though had
come out OF the fire with fewer burns than
| the roasting OF me warranted, the battle
preceding It had opened the old sword
wound In my shoulder. So, taking It all In
all. was but short-breathed second to
the faithful Catawha
None the less, We tugged It through after
some labortous fashion, and were glad
enough when the steep ascent gave place to
leveler going, and We could sniff the fra
GRANGE Of the plateau pines and feel their
wirelike needles under foot.
By this the shower cloud had passed and
the stars were comm 6 out, but IL was still
pitch black under the pines; so dark that
started like a nervous woman and went
near to panic when q horse snorted at my
very ear, and voice, oodtless, as 1t seemed,
said: Well, now: the Lord be praisedl II
here amt the whole enduring
What Ephratm Yeates would have said or
did say. was lost upon me. For now my
poor Dicks strength was quite spent, and
when the chief and were easing him to
lie full length upon the ground there was a
quick little cry out OF the darkness, a swish
OF petdcoats, and my lady darted In to fall
upon Richard in very transport Of pity.
Oh my poor Dick! they have killed xour'
she soooed; oh, cruel, cruelT' Thu she
dashed out at Us. Why don't you strike q
Light? How can I find and dress his hurts
In the DARK
Your pardon, Mistress Margery." I said,
tbs only that the fever has overcome him
He has no sore hurts, as believe save the
fre-scorching''
"A light!' she commanded: IT must have
. light and see for myself
We had TO humor her. though It was
something against prudence. Ephraiu found
dry punk in rotten log. and firing it with
the Mint and steel Of q great Kings musSet
-one OF his reaviuss from the enemy-soon
had pine-knot torch for her. She gave 1t
to the catawoa to hold; and while she was
cooling over her patient and binding up his
burns In some siDples gathered near at
hand By the Indian. had the story OF the
double rescue from the old hunter.
Set forth in brief. that which had come as
a miracle to Dick and me figured as q dar-
ing bit OF strategy made possible by the
emptytns Of the Indian camp at our torture
spectacle
Yeates and the Catawba, following out the
plan agreed upon. had come within spying
distance while We were In the midst Of that
hopeless back-to-back battle and had most
wisely held aloof- But later, when every
Indian Of the Cherokee band was busy at
our torture tree, they set to work
With no watch to give the alarm, twas
easy to rifle the Indian wigwams OF the ire
arms and ammunition. The latter they
threw Into the stream: The muskets they
loaded and trained over a fallen tree at the
northern edge OF the savanna. bringing
them to bear pointhlank upon the light
horse guard gathered around the great fire.
The next step was the cutting out of the
women: this was effected while the Baronet
Captain was paying his courtesy call on u.s.
Like the footing of the Indian camp. twas
quickly planned and daringly done: It asked
but the quoting Of the two trooper guards