Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1905-12-13

The children were sleeping easily. The hush that had hung like pail over the valley had not lifted. Had they done it2 Was it over yet? She went t" the door and listened. Surely the si- lence that wrapped the valley was a thing apart. It was as no other silence that she could remember. It was still. still. and yet there was vibration to it. like the muffied roar within shell. She strained her ears. Was that the sound of horsemen going down the trail? No, no, it was only the beating of her foolish heart that would not be still, but beat and fiuttered and would not let her hear. Yes, surely that was the sound of hoofs It was over then. They were going.
 Slic would go and look for him. Per haps it would not be too late. She had beard of such things \ dynamic force consumed her. She had no conscious ness of her body. Her feet and hands did things With incredible swiftness- \ lighted lantern, selected a knife, ran to the corral for all old ladder that had been there when they took possession ofsthe deserted house-and through all her frantic haste she could feel this new force, as it were, lick up the red < blood in her veins, burn her body to ashes as it gave her new power.
 It was dark in the valley, but the menacng stiffness seemed to be lift ing. The range cattle had again taken X up their plaint. the sounds of the des- ,rI, ~ of the canyon Aida knew that it must have happened at the dead cot ton woods There were no other high ' trees about for miles. Again she lis y tened before advancing There was no { sound of hoof or champing bit or men moving quickly They had gone their Z wa into the valley. She ran swiftly. < her lantern throwing it's beam across < the scruDby inequalities of ground. but flor her there was no need of it's bea- con. Tonight she was beyond the halt x ing, stumbling uncertainties of tieia ito which man is subject. There va magic in her feet and ill her hands x and brain. Like the wind she ran. the wind on tie great plain where there are no foothills to hinder it's course. x The blac.. dead trees stood out dis sstinctly against the starry sky. an 1rom d cro~s limb of one of them dan sSGied something with head awry, like :; \ broken jumping jack, something tha had once been d man-and her hu" MbanG. She could touch the feet of thj ss5 ss5ffdghtful thing and feel it's huma.i SeRrmth. X wind came up from tfe sasdesert and hlp-s across the canyon #f0cky wa, X illto the vale. and the 4narody of q man swayed 10 it.
 sIFS She had been expecting this thing SsN pr weeks the ;,G&ge of it had bee: Ss Haven on her heart. Siee. ing or wax &~g she lla, scc.i Hoth.H" but his dan-
 ng body from the e ,ss limb. Yet With M e actual e9l4.5t... ..i.....9n I@fore he: e fe.t It's ni,,eolls novelty as thoug.! : were unexpected. At sight of it the ice that had borne her up throug,s
 h&ppel,iagS of that day went out
 her and as sine stood with the knife
 the ros1e that she had brought i'll
 hope of cheating the lynchers dan
 ng from her nerveless hand her help SneSs overcane her.
 B9G1g # Tar down the trail she could hear gal.or of horse coming closer,
 mingled with the sounds of its
 hns feet was a voice urging the
 se to greater speed in the shrill
 balistic "Hi-hi-h-ki.' of the plains
 n. What was it: One of them re-
 ming to see that she did not cheat
 rope of it's cue? To hang her beside
 as an afterthought. as they hang
 Kate Watson beside her man? Let
 m. She was standing near the
 Pying thing when horse and rider
 ned the ground beside her, and
 at was left to her of consciousness
 de out that the rider was Judith. pointed to it and stood helpless
 70 the dangling rope in her hand. |4 are we too late?" Judith almost Cnprad CEn <,olfl