Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1904-04-19

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bis palace sits the royal governor his
majesty is pleased to put over his colo
malls. levying on their leaf and sheer
Ing at their buckskins."
The Earl Of Dunmore?"
AYE, my lord the earl. Think YOU he
knows one whit more of this Virginia
than does the king. thousand leagues
away! He drinks in his palace and
drives his white horses and DULLES his
burgesses, the representatives whom
the people have elected. They must
pleasure him or he dissolves them. The
king has forgot that the virginans are
Englishmen and that Englishmen love
freedom"
And Englishwomen, too" he said.
I'VE can do little," she went on "NNe
wear no swords. All we can do is to
hope and to wait"
"Little!" There was a thrill in his
tone. Little! You call such a hope,
such feeling, small? You think it val
ueless or weak? All, mademoiselle,
Know you what makes lady adorable
70 mans heart, what makes him
worship her? 1t is that she inspires
him; that is it-not to dress for her or
bow or sing her little songs. but to
toll. to struggle. to fight, to die maybe
something high like the stars. Man
has a want for two things-a cause to
night for first, and then-then a one,
perfect one. loved face, to wait and
smile on him when he has won.
with this man could do miracles
All, 1t could make of poor nobody a
dng, an emperor! 1, even l, mademoi-
selle, stranger from another land-I
could fight so well for these great
things, for this Virginia of yours, if
Lii p
He paused. There was a tense mo-
ment.
Then the air filled itself with long.
dull sigh, and on it's train came a sud-
den swapping of dead boughs, an un-
jointed. cracking report, and both look
ed up startled.
A strange faraway circumstance had
had part in this. Indians had not been
used to fell trees as did their white
conquerors. Instead they cut deep
rings into the bark and let nature be
axman. These trunks fell when dry
rot had done its work, sometimes in
storms, often when no wind stirred,
crashing in forested silence. A quar-
ter century before perhaps a Malta
pony brave had thus girdled great
pine with his tomahawk, and it was
this dead tree, its limbs now white as
bleached wolf bones, which was now,
after its time, leaning to its fall from
the roadside.
A shrek burst from Annes lips as
she saw the topping bulk through the
window, and she started to her feet.
simultaneously came howl of terror
from Rashleigh and leaping Jerk
from the horses as he tried to lash
them to safety.
There was an instant when the huge
bole seemed to hang motionless in the
air above them, an instant in which
Anne frenziedly wrenched open the
door and made rs If to leap out. The
same instant Armand seized her. drag
ged her back and threw himself and
her against the rear wall of the char
lot.
She struggled. but he forced her back
and held her as the grooming mass
came to earth with crash that rocked
the ground.
Anne. conscious even in her ecstasy of
fright of sense Of safety in his arms.
felt the body of the coach crush like an
eggshell. She had hidden her face on
his breast and shut her eyes, waiting
the end. The whole world was splin-
ter of glass, ripping of boarding. a
sickening tumble of thuds, through
which stabbed the agonized squeals of
the horses.
Then there was stiffness, broken by
Rashleigh's sobbing scream:
"De good Lawd. Mis- Anne! De good
Lawd! Is yo' daidY
She opened her eyes and looked up.
The riven trunk lay right athwart the