The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-07-06
CHAPTER VIII.
(COntinued.)

. Slc DllIltUS6u lliS "a VIII bAhSi
from my shirt, and tied it round with
sackcloth from her own dress. Twas
all most gently done; and then found
her arms under me, and myself lifted
aS easy as q baby.
LEFT arm round my neck. Jack; an
sing out if it's hurtin' thee"
1t seemed but six steps and we were
out on the bright hillside, not fifty
PAGES from where the plow yet stood
in the furrow.
ing the softest turf and moving with
an easeful swing that rather lulpd my
hurt than jolted it. l was doing,
even, when a strange noise awoke me.
Twas a high, protracted note, that
seem'd at first to swell up toward us,
and then broke off in half a dozen or
more sharp yells. Joan took no heed
of them, but seeing my eyes unclose
and hearing me moan, stopped short.
Hurts thee, iad?"
"NO. Twas not my pain but the
sight of the sinking sun that wruns the
exclamation from mel was thinking
/ muttered.
Don't; it's bad for health. But bide
thee still awhile, and shalt lie pom q
soft bed"
BY this time we had come down to
the road and the yells were still going
on, louder than ever. We cross'd the
road, descended another slope. and
came al, at once OR a pile of low build
ings that q moment before had been
hid. twas but three novels of mud,
stuck together in the shape Of a head
less cross, the main arm pointing out
toward the moor. Around the whole
ran q battered wall, patched with furS,
and from this dwelling the screams
Were issuing
JOAN" the voice began, "Joan-Jan
Tergagle's a clawin' my legs-Gar-rout,
thou devils cat-Blast thee, let me zog!
Pull'n of J~oan-Jo-an"
The voice died away into q wall, then
broke out in a racket Of curses. Joan
stepped to the door and flung it wide.
As my eyes grew used to the gloom in
side, they saw this:
A rude kitchen-the furniture but
two rickety chairs, now toss'd on their
faces, an oak table, with legs sunk into
the earth, q keg Of strong waters, tilted
over and draining upon the mud floor,
a ladder leading up to a loft, Il in
two Of the corners a few bundles of
bracken strewn for bedding. To the
left, as one entered, was an open
hearth; but the glowing peat-turves
were now pitch'd to right and left
over the hearthstone and about the
floor, where they rested, filling the den
with smoke. Under n Of the chairs
q black cat spat and bristled, while in
the middle of the room, barefooted in
the embers, crouched q man. He was
half naked, old and bent, with matted
gray hair and beard hanging almost to
his waist. His chest and legs were
bleeding from q score of scratches, and
he pointed at the cat, opening and
shutting his mouth like a dog, and
barking out curse upon curse.
No way upset, Joan stepped across
the kitchen, laid me on n Of the
bracken beds, and explain'd:
That's feyther; he's drunk"
With which she turn'd, dealt the old
man q cuff that stretched him senseless,
and gathering up the turves, piled them
afresh on the hearth. This done, she
took the keS and gave me a drink of
it. The stuff scalded me, but I thanked
her. And then, when she had shifted
my bed q bit to ease the pain of lying,
she righted a chair, drew it up and
sat beside me. The old man lay like q
log where he had fallen, and was now
snoring. Presently, the fumes of the
liquor, or mere faintness, mastered me,
and my eyes closed. But the picture
they closed upon was that Of Joan, as
she leaned forward, chin in hand, with
the glow of the fire on her brownish
skin and in the depths of her dark
eyes.
But the pain Of my heart followed
into my dreams. 1 woke with q start
and tried to sit up.
Within the kitchen all was quiet.
The old savage was still stretched on
the floor; the cat curled upon the
hearth. The girl had not stirred; but
looking toward the window hole, ! saw
night outside, and q frosty star spark
ling far down in the west.
Joan, what's the hour?"
"Sun's been down these four hours"
She turned her face to look at me.
1--WE no business lying here"
"Chose to come, lad; none axed thee,
that I knows by"
"Where's the mare? Must set me
across her back, Joan, and let me ride
Oh"
Mares in stable, wi fetlocks
swellcd like puddens. Chose to come,
lad; an choose or no, must bide."
"'Tis for the General Hopton, at
Bodmin, l am bound, Joan; and wound
or no, must win there this night"
And that's seven mile away; WI q
bullet in thy skull, and 4 peat quag thy
burial"
But go I must" cried I; and here
apon I broke out with all the trouble
that was Oh my mind, and the instant
need to save these gallant gentlemen of
Cornwall, ere two armies should com
bine against them. ] told Of the Kings
letter in my bre2Tt. and how l found
the Lord Stamford'S men at Launces
ton; how that Ruthven, with the vail
guard of the rebels. was now al
Liskeard, with but Il bare days march
ing between the two, and non but lc