The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-01-04


courage it might be called, was bred
of fanatlcsm. The courage of Stock
ard and Bill was the adherence to deep
rooted ideals. Not that the love OF lie
was less. but the love of race tradition
more; not that they were unafraid TO
die, but that they were brave enough
not to live at the price of shame.
The missionary rose. for the moment
swayed by the mood of sacrifice. He half
crawled over the barricade to proceed to
the other camp. but sank back, a trem-
bling mass. wailing.
Bill reached over. plucked him to his
feet, and shook him, fercely, silently.
Then he dropped the bundle of quivering
nerves anr turned his attention to the
two converts. But they showed little
fright and a cheerful alacrity in pre-
pairing for the coming passage at arms
Stockard who had been talking in I'M
dertones with the Teslin woman, now
turned to the missionary.
Fetch him over here, he comm 49,. ID
of Bill.
Now" he ordered, when Sturges Owen
had been duly deposited before him,
make us man and wife. and be lively
about it, Then he added alphabetically
TO Bill: mo telling how it's to end, so
[ just thought Ia get my affairs straight
ened ""
The woman obeyed the behest of her
white lord. To her the ceremony was
meaningless. BY her lights she was his
wife, AMI had been from the day they
first foregathered. The converts served
as witnesses. Bill stood over the mis-
sionary, prompting him when he stum-
He'd. Stockard put the responses in the
womans mouth and when the time came,
for want Of better ringed her finger
with thumb and foreEnger of his own
kiss the brlde!" Bill Numbered, and
Sturges Owen was too weak to disobey.
Now taptize the child"
Meat and tidy" Bill commented.
Gathering the proper outfit for new
trail the father explained, taking the
boy from the mothers arms. If the wo-
man and the kid cross the divide tonight
they might as well be prepared for pot
lGck. long shot, Bill, between our
selves, but nothing lost II it misses"
A cup of water served the purpose, and
the child was laid away III secure cor
ner Of the barricade. The men built the
fire, and the evening meal was cooked
The sun hurried round TO the north,
sinking closer to the horizon The heav-
ems in that quarter grew red and bloody
The shadows heightened, the light dim
med, and in the sombre recesses of the
forest life SLOWLY died away. Aven the
wild fowl in the river softened their
raucous chatter. Only the tribesmen in
creased their clamor. war drums booming
and voices raised in savage folk songs.
But as the sun dipped they ceased their
tumult. The rounded hush of midnight
was complete. Stockard rose to his knees
and peered over the logs. Once the child
walled in pain and disconnected him. The
silence was interminable, profound Then,
Of a sudden, the robins burst into full
throated song. The night had passed.
A flood of dark figures boiled across
the open. Arrows whistlod and bow
thongs sang. The shrill- tongued rifles
answered back A spear. and a mighty
cast, transfxed the Tcslin woman as
she lowered above the child. A spent
arrow. diving between the logs, lodged in
the missonary's arm.
There was no stopping the rush
StUrges Owen fed to the tent, while
the men were sweput from their feet,
buried beneath the human tide. Hay
stockard alone regained the surface,
finging the tribesmen aside like yelping
ours. He had managed to seize an axe
dark hand grasped the child by a
naked foot and drew it from beneath its
mother. At arms length it's puny body
circled through the air, dashing to death
against the logs. Stockard Glove the
man to the chin and fell to clearing space
The ring of savage faces closed in, rain
IN i'm
barbed arrows. The sun shot up, and
they swayed back and forth in the Grim
son shadows. Twice. with his axe blocked
by too deep blow. they rushed in; but
each time he flung them clear. They fell
under foot. and he tramnled dead and
dying, the way slippery with blood. Then
they drew back from him in awe and he
leaned breathless upon his axe.
Blood of my sou1!" cried Baptiste
the Red. But thou are man. Deny thy
God, and thou shalt live yet"
Stockard swore his refusal.
Behold A woman!" Sturges owen had
been brought before the half breed
Beyond scratch on the arm he was
but his eyes roved atou: him
in an ecstasy of fear. The heroic figure
of the blasphemer. bristling with wounds
and arrows, leaning defantly upon his
axe, Indifferent indomitable, superb,
caught his wavering vision. And he felt
a great envy of the man who could go
down serenely to Lne dark gates of death.
Surely Christ. and not he, Sturges Owen,
had been nodded in such manner And
why not hc' He felt dimly the curse
Of ancestry, the feebleness of spirit which
had come down to him out of the past.
He had been raised IN to serve the Lcrd
only that he might be cast down. He
had been given faith without ITO strength
of faith. 1t was unjust.
where, now. is thu God?" the half
breed demanded.
Il do not know" He stood straight and
rigid, like a child repeating catechism
Hast thou, then. God at all?"
II had"
"And noW9"