Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1904-01-02

shorter and more broken. n his heeu
| wagged drowsily. Ieuani Informed him
! that / should stay the night. and he In
| vited us to go to bed at once. Ieuan
declined, but went with him to learn
where we were to be quartered, and
then the door was made fast; and the
host and his family, a wife and two
shockheeded children, got to their bed
and left us by the fire. Dafydd had
long been asleep, stretched on a
bench.
Are you going to bed, Ieuan?" I
asked.
mo, I am not he replied; Il first
went to look, to make that man easy
in his mind. We will sit here inc sleep
a little till 1t ISIS time to start. We
shall be more sure not to stop too
long"
This was entirely to my mind, and I
took some fuel from a stack in the
corner of the room and ~replenished the
fire. We sat and talked for some time
again, and then the fatigues of the day
began to assert themselves; Ieuan be-
came silent, and, before long, I slid In
to a restless slumber.
OF o sudden / awoke, instantly and
completely. l had an uneasy feeling
at my Iwart that l had been Weakened
by a sound of danger. Yet all was still.
Ieuan hai dropped asleep in his chair,
anu WAS breathing HCdNlly. ~ IIC
had died down, and the room was dark.
There seemed to ring in my ears the
distant bark Of a dog.
From some farm close at hand"
though /, and stretched out my
7 cramped legs and resolved to sleep no
more. but watch the rest Of the night.
l was seated in the corner of a high
backed settle with the window behind
me. A faint glimmer seemed to come
! into the air, and / sprang to my feet.
with a beating heart / perceived the
window full of a red, dancing light.
1 ran 10 it. and, even as l did so, the
loud baying of a hound rang out In
the silence Of a MINDLESS night, and l
saw a plump of faring links not thirty
yards away. borne on at a run, and
heading straight for the house.
%"Ieuan,' l called quickly, but my
voice was drowned by q great hound
giving tongue furiously without. His
deep, hollow bark was followed by a
whine and a swift scratching at the
outer door.
| recognized the note with a bitter
sense of betrayal, though the poor
brute had lone it unconsciously. All
my doublings and twistinGs had been
in vain. Ranger had been set upon
my track, and had led my foes unerr-
ingly TO my refuge.
Ieuan leaped from his hair and ran
to my side.
Enemies said he, cool and wide
awake at once.
Yes" said 1. rs there a door be-
hind p"
The light of the torches flashed in
through the windows, and cast our
shadows before us as we sprang into
the passage.
surround the house" shouted a
voice | knew. 1t was done upon the
instant.
I, The whole building stood open and
naked 10 the moor without fence or
enclosure, and while we CROPPED u
way along a Uttered, pitch-dark, and
unfamiliar passage, Il foes outran us.
Here 1t ISIS" said Ieuan, laying his
hand on q bolt and half drawing 1t.
He grOwlcd something and shot II
back, as the light OF the well pitched
links shone red under the door and
through the creViccs Of it's i'll fitting
planks,
Il can see them" said Ieuan, with
his eye at a crack. There are four.
Two OF them carry a light and a sword,
and two have guns. They are stand
ing about five yards away, and the
guns are pointed at this door"
BY this time the knocking was fast
and furious at the front door, and the
landlord was crying out in alarm.
He will open when he knows who Is
there" said /, unless we stop him."
Continued Next Week.)