Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1904-04-07
unwilling to so on.
And by whom?" asked Law, quietly.
By-by the woman by madame!D
CHAPTER xxx.

There was sometimes praeticed
among the Iroquois game which bore
certain resemblance to the casting
of dice. as the latter is known among
civilized peoples The method of the
play was simple. Two oblong polished
bones, OF the bigness of mans finger,
were used as the dice. The ends of
these were ground thin and were rude
~ polished. One of the dice was
stained red the other left white. The
players in the game marked out line
on the hard ground, and then each in
turn cast up the two dice into the air,
throwing them from some receptacle.
The game was determined by the fall
ing of the red bone, he who cast this
colored bone closer TO the line upon
the ground being declared the winner
The game was simple, and depended
much upon chance. If the red die fell
tiat>upon its face at a point near to
the line, it was apt to lie close to the
spot where it dropped. On the other
hand, did it alight upon either end, it
might bound back and fall at some lit
tie distance upon one side of the line.
It was this game which, in horrible
fashion, Teganisoris now proposed to
play. He offered to the clamoring
medicine man and his ferocious disci.
pies one Of these captives, whose death
should appease not only the offended
Great Spirit, but also the unsated
vengeance of the tribe. He offered, at
the same time, the spectacle of a play
in which a human life should be the
stake. He used as practical execution
er the woman who was possessed by
one of them, and who, in the crude no.
lions of the savages, was no doubt
coveted by both. 1t must be the hand
of this woman that should cast the
dice, white one and a red one for
each man, and @e whose red die fell
closer to the line was winner in the
grim game of life and death.
Jean Breboeuf and Pierre Noir stood
apart, and tears poured from the eyes
of both. They were hardened men,
well acquainted with Indian warfare;
they had seen the writings of tor
tured victims, and more than once had
faced such possibilities themselves;
yet never had they seen sight like this.
Near the two men stood Mary Con-
nynge, the bright blood burning in
her cheeks, her eyes dry and wide open,
looking from one to the other. God,
who gives to this earth the few Mary
Connynges, alone knows the nature Of
those elements which made her, and
the character of the conflict which
now went on within her soul. Tell such
a woman as Mary Connynge that she
has a rival, and she will either love
the more madly the man whom she de-
mands as her own, or with equal mad
ness and with greater intensity will
hate. her lover with a hatred undying
and unappeasable
Mary Connynge stood, her eyes
glancing from one to the other of the
men before her She had seen them
both proved brave men, strong of arm,
undaunted of heart, both gallant gen
tlemen. God, who makes the Mary
Connynges of this earth, only can tell
whether or not there arose in the
heart of this savage woman, this wo-
man at bay, scorned. rebuked, mas
tered, this one question: Which? II
Mary Connynge hated John Law, or if
she loved him-a h, how must have
pulsed her heart in agony, or in Bit
terness, as she took into her hand those
lots which were the arbiters of life
and death!
Teganisoris looked about him and
spoke few rapid words. He caught
Mary Connynge roughly by the Shout
der and pulled her forward. The two
men stood with faces set and gray in
the pitiless light of morn. Their arms
were fast bound behind their backs,
Eagerly the crowding sayages pressed
up to them, gesticulating wildly. and
peering again and again into their
faces to discover any sign of weak
ness. They failed The pride of birth,
the strength of character, the sheer
animal yigor of each man stood him
in stead at this ultimate trial. Each
had made up his mind to die. Each
proposed, not doubling that he would
be the one to draw the fatal lot, to
die as man and gentleman
Teganisoris would play this game
with all possible mystery and impor-
lance. 1t should be told generations
hence about the council fires, how he,
Teganisoris, devised this game, how
he played it, how he drew it out link
by link to the last atom of its agony
There was no receptacle at hand in
which the dice could be placed. Te-
ganisoris stopped, and without cere-
mony wrenched from Mary Connynge's
foot the moecasin which covered IT.
the little shoe-beaded, beautiful, and
now again fateful. Sir Arthur smiled
as though i'll actual joy
MY friend, " said he, q have won!
This might be the very slipper for
which we played at the Green Lion
long ago"
Law turned upon him a face pale and