The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1905-05-12
CHAPTER VI.-Continued.

I
You may be sure / questioned him. and,
| If you know the blacks. you'll smile
and say ] had my labor for my pains
the which l had. His place was at
| the quarters, and Of what went on
within the house he knew no more
| than |. But this he told me; that COM
pany surely was expected. and that
some air Of mystery was abroad
| When he was gone | ate a soldiers
| portion, knowing of old how Ill a thing
| it is to take an empty stomach into
battle. For the same cause | drank a
| second cup of wine-'twas old madeira
! of my fathers laying-in-and would
have drunk third but that the bottle
would not yield 1t.
1t was fully dark when l had finish
ed, and. thinking ever on my plan,
! would strive afreSh to weld its weakest
| link. This was the hazard of the weap-
/ n-getting. With full blood health and
strength I might have gone bare hand
ed; but as it was. l feared to take the
chance. SO with a candle | went a
| Drowling in the deep drawers Of the old
oaken clothes press and in the es-
critoirc which once had been my moth
er's, and found no weapon bigger than
a hairpin.
1t was no great disappointment. for
had looked before with daylight in the
room. Besides. the wine was mount
Ing, and when the search was on the
hazard seemed the less SO | could
rush upon him unawares and put my
knee against his back. l thought the
Lord of Battles would give me strength
to break his neck across 1t.
AT that ! capped the candles, and
taking post In the deep bay Of the WIN
dow. set myself to watch for the light
Ing of the great room at the front.
This had two windows on my side and
while | could not see them, l knew
that 1 should see the sheen of light
upon the lawn.
The night was clear but moon
Of the oaks and hickories rose
a wall of black to curtain
half the hemisphere of starry sky.
AS always in our forest land. the hour
was shrilly vocal. though to me the
chirping din of frogs and insects hath
ever stood for silence. Somewhere be-
You'd the thicket-w an owl was call
ing mournfully and I bethought me Of
that superstition-old as man, for aught
l know. And then l laughed, for surely
death would come to one or more Of
those beneath my fathers roof with the
compass of the night.
Behind the close drawn curtain,
though l could see 1t not, the virgin
forest darkened all the land; and from
afar within it's secret depths l heard,
or thought 7 heard, the dismal bowling
of the timber wolves. Below. the
house was silent as the grave, and this
seemed strange to me. For in the time
of my youth a wedding was joyous
thing. Yet l would remember that these
present times We're perilous; and also
that my bridegroom captained but a
tlittle band of troopers in a land but
now become fiercely debatabe.
nSf hnl, fn
before the sound of distance muff1ed
hoofbeats on the road broke in upon the
chipping silence of the night. l looked
and listened, strainng eye and ear,
hearing but little and seeing less until
three shadOwy horSemen issued from
the curtain wall OF black beneath my
window.
1t was plain that others watched as
well as |, for at their coming sheen
of light burst from the opened door be-
low, at which there We're sword clank-
ings as of armed men dismounting, and
then a few low-voiced words of well
come. Followed quickly the closing of
the door and silence; and when my eyes
grew once again accustomed to the
gloom, l saw below the horses standing
head to head. and in the midst man to
hold them.
Sol l thought; but three in all,
and one of them a servant. Twill be
scantly. guested wedding" And then
1 ragged within again to think Of how
my love should be thus dishonored in a
corner when she should have the world
to clap it's hands and praise her beauty.
At that and while l looked the
lawn was banded farther on by two
broad beams of light; and then l knew
my time was come.
Feeling my way across the darkened
chamber l softly tried the door latch.
1t yielded at the touch, but not the
door. pulled, and braced myself and
pulled again. Twas but waste Of
strength. The door was fast with that
contrivance wherewith my father used
to bar me in what time l was a boy
and would go raccooning with our
negro hunters. My enemy was no fool.
He had been shrewd enough to lock
me in against the chance Of interrupt
ton.
I wish. you might conceive the help
less horror graphing with me there be-
hind that fastened door: but this, in
deed, you may not, having felt it not.
For one dazed moment l was sick as
death with fear and frenzy and know
not what besides, and all the blackness
of the night swan sudden red before
my eyes. Then, in the twinkling of an
eye. the madness left me cool and sane,
as If the fit had been the travail-pain
| OIL some he" DlTln OIL SOUL. ana aIter
| that, as l remember. l knew not rage
! nor haste nor weakness--knew no other
| thing save this; that l had set my
self task to do and l would do it.
My window was in shape like half a
cell Of honeycomb. and close beside it
on the outer wall there grew an ancient
ivy vine which more than once had held
my weight when l was younger and
would evade my fathers vigilance.
l swung the easement noiselessly and
clambered out with hand and foot in
proper hold as if those youthful fittings
Of my boyhood days had been but yes
ternight. A GREATNESS minute later l
was down and afoot on solid ground
and then thing CHANGED which /
would had not. The man whom had
called servant turned and saw me-
Halt! Who goes there?" he cried.
"A friend said 1, between my wish
! ings for weapon. For this servant OF
my preflgurings proved to be trooper
booted, spurred and armed.
BY God, l think you lie" he said;
and after that he said no more, for he
was down among the horses hoofs and
upon him. kneeling hard to scant his
breath for shoutings
It grieves me now through all these
years to think that did kneel too hare
upon this man. He was no enemy Of
mine, and did but door seek to do
his duty. But he would fight or die
land ] must fight or die, and so it end.
ed as such strivings WILL with some
grim cracking of ribs-and when