The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1905-07-28

81. tie march; and when that Was spent
or spoiled we did as we could. being
never comfortably filled. /! think aud
oftener haggafd and eufechled for the
want of food. Since we dared not stop
to go aside for IN the Catawaa
would set overnight snares for rab-
bits. and for another shift w. cut
knohbad sticks for throwing and ran
keen-eyed along the trace. alert TO muir
der anything alive and 1T 10 eat. In
this iiapha2aTd hunting nothing ever
fell to Jennifer's S~lillcSs clubbing. OF to
mine: but the old borderer II the In
dian were better markStnea. and now
and then some bird or squirrel or rab~
bit sitting or its form came to the pot.
though never enough OF all or amy to
more than sharpen the famine edge of
hunger.
For all the sharp p%rivations OF the
forced march there was no hint on amy
lip of turning back. With Margery's
desperate need to key us to the un-
tiinching pitch, Richard II | would
so on While there was strength to set
one foot before the other. 81 for the
old borderer and the Indian there was
no such bellows TO blow the fire of
perseverance. None the less. these two
did more than second us. they set the
strenuous pace and held us to it; the
Catawba Spartan-proud and uncom-
planning; the old hunter no whit less
tireless and enduring. At this far-dis-
tant day l can close my eyes and see
the gaunt. leather~clad figure of t!ph-
RAIN Ieates. striding ON always in the
lead and ever pressing forward, tough,
why. and iron to endure, and yet withal
SO elastic that the shrewdest discour-
agement served only to make him re-
bound and strike the harder. Good
stuff and true there was in that old
man: and had Richard or l been less
determined, his fine and noble heroism
in Il cause which was not his own would
have shamed us into following where
he led.
We had been ten days in this starry
ing wilderness. driving onward at the
pace that kills and making the most OF
every hour of daylight. before Yeates
and the Indian began TO give us hope
that we We're finally closing in upon
our quarry
grew upon two conditions. From the
beginning the kidnappers We're able to
Increase their lead by stretching II the
days borrowing from the nights;
also, they We're doubtless Well provis-
Toned, and they had horses for the cap
tives and their impedimenta. But as
for us. we could follow only while the
ICY < lo So mt \ iIid u
we ran We'll at first. the lack of proper
food soon took toll of speed.
So now, though the hoof prints grew
hourly freSher, and We We're at last so
close upon the heels of the kidnappers
that their night camp fires We're scarce
ly cold when we came upon them. we
ran 40 longer-could hardly keep q
logged foot pace for the hunger pains
that griped and bent us double.
M 1,t 10, nc vol
was furnace hot. as We're all the fair
Weather days of that never-to-be-for-
gotten umme with q still air in the
forest that hung thick and l~ifeless like
the atmosphere of an oven; this though
we We're we'll among the mountains and
rising higher with every added mile of
WeStering.
The sun had passed the meridian.
and we We're toiling, sweaty-weak. up
a rock-strewn mountain side. when u
thing occurred to rouse us roughly from
the amin Stup and set us watch
fully alert. In the steepest part of the
ascent where the WOO scanted of root
ing ground by the .thickly sown strew-
ing of boulders, was open and free of
underground, FIphraim Yeates halted
suddenly, signed to us with uptiung
hand, and dropped behind a tree as one
shot,; and in the same breath the Ca
tawba, running at YeateS' heels,
lurched aside and vanished as if the
earth had CAPPED and swallowed him.
y moment later he twang
of a bow string buzzed
upon the breathless noontide stiffness,
and Jennifer clutched and dragged me
down in good time to let the arrow
whistle harmless over us. Then, like
q distorted echo Of the buzZing bow
string, the sharp crack of the old Dor
derer's rifle rang out smartly. setting
the cliff-crowned mountain side all
a-clamor With hooking repetitions.
Missed him, slick and clean, by the
eternal co~on-silnt" growled the old
marllsman, sitting up behind his tree
to reload. THAT there's what comes o.
being so dad-blame' hongry hat We
can't squinch fair atween the gun
sights. l reckon ez how ye'd better
bunker down and lie clost, you two.
'Twouldn't s'prise me none if that red
skin had a wheen more o. them sharp
| p'inted sticks in his The Lord be
praised for all His marcies! the chiefs
| got him."
But Uncanoola had not. He came in
| presently, his black eyes swapping with
disappointment. saying in answer to
Yeates' question that the yell was his
own; that his tomahawk had sped no
truer than the old borderer's bullet.
''Chelakee snake heap slick; heap
quick DODGE was all we could get out
of him; and when that was said he
squatted calmly on a fiat stone and fell
to work grinding the nick out of the
edge of the missped Ratchet.
CONTINUED Next Weekly
1t Was the Same Bunch.
Dan Hart, the playwright, was in
PittstOn a few evening ago during the