The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1905-09-22
1.-THE MASTER OF APPLEBY|
FrNneis Lynds.
had led the captured horses In the

had led the captured horses In the
dusk.
This route promised all the perils Of
Q Eantlet-running, since by 1t we must
take the risk OF meeting h fleeing
fugitives from the convoy camp. IL the
explosion had spared any fit to lift
and carry the vengeance cry. But here
again there was nj alternative, and we
set us in order for the descent, with
Yeates and the Catawba ahead. the
women and Dick in the midst, and her
Apostolic Majesty's late captain OF hus-
sars. masQuerading as a British troop
er, to bring on the rear.
Once in motion beneath h blue
black shadows OF the pines, l quickly
lost all sense Of direction. After we
had ridden in wordless silence q short
half hour or less. and I supposed we
should be nearing the head Of our de-.
0cending ravine. our little cavalcade
grove Of the pines, and Ephraim Yeates
appeared at my stirrup to say:
Hist We on your nag, Cap'n John,
and let's take afar'well sQuinch at the
inimy whilst we cam"
Where? what enemy?" I would ask,
slipping from the saddle at his word.
why, the hoss-captain's varmints,
to be sure; OF what-all the amobination
o. desolation has left Of 'em. We amt
more than q cats jump from the edge
o' the big rock where we first sot eyes
on sem this morning"
I saw not what was to be gained by
any such long-range espial in the dark
ness. None the less. I followed the old
man to the cliffs edge. He was wiser
in his forecastings than I was In mine.
There was q thing to look at, and light
enough to see 1t By. One OF the missile
stones, 1t seems, had crashed into the
great fire, scattering the brands in ali
Al \ @,,~ A~~@~ ~h>l ~
tiers were ablaZe, and creeping serpents
OF fire We're worming their way hither
and yon over the year-old leaf beds in
the wood. Ever and non some pine
sapling in the path Of these fiery SER
penis would go UP In a torch-light
flare; and so, as I say, there was light
enough.
What we looked down upon was not
inaptly pictured out by Ephraim
Yeates's Scripture phrase, the abom-
ination of desolation. Every vestige OF
the camp save the glowing skeletons
of the troop shelters had disappeared,
and the swarded savanna was become
q blackened chaos-blot on the fair
woodland scene. / have said that the
powder-sheltering boulder was a cliff
for size; the mighty .upheaval, Of the
explosion had toppled 1T in ruins into
the stream, and huge fragments the
bigness OF a wine-butt had been hurled
with the storm OF lighter debris broad
cast upon the camp.
At first we saw no sign OF life in all
the f1relit pace But a moment la
ter, when three or four OF the sapling
torches blazed up together, we made
out some half dozen figures of human
beings-whether red or white we could
not tell-stumbling n Keeling about
among h rocks like blind men
drunken.
At sight OF these the old hunter
DOTTED his hat and fell upon his knees
with hands uplifted to pour out his
zealot's soul in the awful sentences OF
the Psalmist's imprecation.
" Let God rise, and let His inimtes
be scattered; let them also that hate
Him flee before Him. Like as the
smoke vanisheth, SO shalt thou drive
them away; and like as the wax melt
eth at the fire, SO let the ungodly per
ish at the presence of God. >"
-tsA-sEt --N E4eFf. Ve2