Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-10-25


plan, for, did the household favor 1t,
they would never have sent one
armed man swinging into space when
the back stairs and the back door were
unguarded, and guards or sentries OF
any kind there had been none, so
sacred was the word of Chiffon. No;
as he still pondered owes the question,
the hands of his watch crept to half
past IL, and horse, somewhere out
in what appeared to be a lane or alley
behind the barn, neighed impatiently;
and, surely as he could hear the tick
of his watch, the beating of his own
heart, Benton caught the sound Of a
! low, gruff voice almost directly under
meath his window, and then the dull,
sudden tramp of hoofs on rain-soaked
sod. Then-then there were two horses
or two parties-one in the dark lane,
one here almost at his feet.
"Lose not moment" said the note
he had crumpled in his hand, yet here
had he lost 20 in childish hesitancy.
Again he read the clearly penciled
lines. Again he recalled Rosalie's ca
gerness to see the previous note, and
her contemptuous confidence as to its
authorship. Burn this, too," said the
second missive; and, in honor, was
he not bound to shield one who so ca
gerly, unselfishE sought to aid or res
cue him? Yet Rosalie wished to see,
and-good God, how he longed once
more to see her and satisfy himself
that she would approve, condone, for
give if he seized this chance of es-
cape!-to satisfy himself, moreover,
that she no longer held him as she
had-in rank disfavor, that possibly
possibly But that thought was
madness!
And then, though his door stood a
trifle ajar and he had been listening.
listening for any sound that would tell
of her presence near him-that he
might, even at so late an hour, have
one word with her; though not the
whisper of football had reached his
ears, something, light as down and
barely audible even to him, was softly,
stealthily tapping on the panel.
Marvelling. he tiptoed to the door,
and a little scrap of paper waved before
his eyes. Not finger was visible. He
took the paper with his one unfettered
hand; threw open the door by quick
twist of the foot, and something with
long, duslly masses of hair trailing be-
hind it sped away in the dim light from
the lower hall. A board or two
creaked. There was faint swish of
skirts, Whit of fragrance like that of
the wild violet, but that was all. On
the floor below the hall lamp still
burned, and the doctor, busy in his
sanctum, hemmed loudly and stirred
as though to hail or speak. A door
closed across the wide landing-her
door as Benton could judge by the
southland then he was alone with
this second note.
Bearing it to the dressing-table, he
read:
: Precious time wasted! Go-or 1t
may be too late. Rely implicitly on
, first guide you find"
, And this, at least, was not from the
, hand that penciled the other
Again the sound of horses hoofs
J beneath the window, and low-toned, re-
, bukeful, yet almost imploring remon-
STRANGE. A darkeys voice surely.
CANT 20 keep him still?" it asked
! and Benton crept to the open window
: and peered down into the dim depths
} below, and then came the soft hail
, in tones he felt sure he knew>-Black
! Dan's-Dan whom he had heard sing
;. ing and doing chores about the sheds
. and gardens for days past: GO Gawd
1 Marse Benton, f you doan come quick
e dis horsell Spite de whole business
p Then another voice-a mere whisper
half drowned by the sweep of the vino
in the trees-Pomps quavering tenor
"Yo doan need fotch nawthin,' Marse
Benton. We've got everythin' hyuh.
Then came sudden scurry without
Tor midway to the barn soft, 10y
;, whistle sounded, and almost Instant
= Benton heard the sound of hoofs agaiI
a They were hurriedly leading horse
or two horses-away. A lantern swun
8 impatiently at the corner of the BARI
r. Somebody was surely signalin.
q Something prompted him by way {
y answer to blow out his candle, to thrus
the notes-both scraps of paper-int
O convenient pocket, then to kneel
: the window and watch and listen.
O Almost instantly the lantern dis
: appeared, and there were five minute
8 of silence. Then, as he knelt an
i watched and waited and all was sti
y without and his darkey aides-de-cam
n made no further hail, suddenly h
e heard the creak behind him of doc
:. cautiously opening, and, looking owe
: his shoulder in the dim ghostly ligt
e sitting through the balustrade from tn
floor below, he was able to discern
n tall, slender form coming noiselessl.
n cautiously, straight to his now wild,
it open door. Rosalie beyond a doub
q and she believed him gone!
l. Go then he must! Athlete that /
a had been, ever since boyhood, it W;
y no trick at all to swing, even on.
" handed, on SO thick rod. His heav
o gauntlet was already on, and, just as l