Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1905-07-28
CHAPTER XX.-Continued.

oia man hGid on tiIOuBu illiSh anu iHlIl'
straight as an arrow to the mark; and
so we had never a sight OF the road again
till we came ont upon It suddenly at the
ford of violence.
Here / hou have been in despair for
the lack Of any ineligible hin 10 point
the way, and | think not even Jennitcr.
with all his woodcraft, could have read
the record of the onfall as Yates and the
Catawba did. But for all the overlapping
I tangle OF moccasin and hoof prints Meth
er Of these men OF the forest was at fault,
though ten minutes later even their skill
must have been baffied, inasmuch as the
first few splitting Taindrops were patter-
ing I'm the tree tops when we came upon
the ground.
That's Jest about what / was most
afeard Of" said the borderer, with a
hagty glance slIyward, Down on your
hunkers, chief, and help me read this sign
afore the good Lord takes to sending his
rain on the Jest and the u~ntest,'' and
herewith these two fell 10 quartering all
the ground like trained dogs nosing for Il
scent.
We stood aside and watched them, Rich
ard and /, realizing that we were of small
account and should be until, p~erchance,
Il should come to the laying on Of hearty
blows. After the closest scrutiny which
took account Of every broken twig and
trampled blade OF grass, this prolonged
until the rain was falling smartly TO wash
out all the footprints in the dusty road,
Yeates and the Indian gave over and came
to join us under the sheltering branches
OF an oak.
:" Tis a mighty curtis sign; most mighty
cur'is," qucth The hunter, singing the
rain drops from his fur cap and emptying
the pan of his rifle. not upon the ground,
as a soldier would, but saving every preci-
Gus grain. "Ez l allow, ! never heerd tell
of any Injuns a-doing that-away afore;
have you, chief? hey?"
The Catawba's negative was his gut
tural "Wah,' and Ephraim Yeates, hav-
ing carefully restored the final grain Of
the printing to his powder-horn, proceeded
to e%nlighten MS at some length.
Mighty curtis, ez was a-saying, Them
Injuns fixed up an adjustment, blazed in
a Volley at the closest sort o range, and
followed il up with a tomahawk and knife
rush-lessen that there Afrikin was too
plumb daddled to tell any truth, what
somedever. And, spite of all this here
~rampaging, they never drawed a single
drop o. blood In the whole enduring scrlm-
mage! Mighty curtis, that; amt it, now?
And that amt all: some o. them same
Injuns, or leastwise one of 'em, was a
wearing boots with spurs onto 'em. What
say, chief?"
Uncanoola held up all the fingers Of one
hand and two of the other. 'Sebben IN
jun; one pale face" he said, in confirma-
ton.
l looked at Richard, and he gave me
back the eye-shot, with a hearty curse to
speed 1t.
"Falconnetl" said he. by way of tail
piece TO the oath; and l nodded.
'Pwas that there same hoss-captain,
sure enough, ez 1 reckon" drawled Yeates,
Maybe one o. you two can tell what-all
he mought be arriving at"
J~onnifer shook his head, and /, too, was
silent. Twas out Of all reason 10 suppose
that the baronet would resort to sheer
violence and make a terrified captive Of
the woman he wanted TO marry. II was
a curious mystery, and the hunters next
word involved il still more,
"And yit that amt all. Whilst some o
the Injuns was a-whooping 1t up acrost
the creek. a-chasing the folks that was
making tracks for their city o. refuge,
t'others run the two gals off into the big
woods at the side o. the road. Then
Mister Hoss-Captaln picks UP the Afri-
kim, chucks him on a boss and sends him
a-kiting with his flea In his ear; after
which he climbs his boss and
makes tracks hisself-not TO ketch
up with the gals, ez you mought reckon,
but oft yon way pointing across the
creek and down the road to the south
ward.
Jennifer heard him through, had him
set 1t all out again In plainest fashion,
and after all could only say: "You are
sure you have the straight of it, Eph?"
The borderer appealed TO Uncanoola.
Come, CHER; give us the wo'th of your
Judgment. Has the old Gray Wolf gone
stun-blind? or did he read them sign like
they'd ort to be read2"
"Wah! the Gray Wolf has sharp eye
sharp no~se-sharp tongue, sometime.
sign no can lie when he read 'um."
Jennifer turned to me. what say you,
Jack? 'Tis all far enough beyond me,
I'll confess.
/ was as much at sea touching the mys-
terry as he was; yet the thing to do
seemed plain enough.
Never mind the b~aronet's mystery; tits
Mistress Margery's hazard that concerns
u.s." l would say. And then 10 Ephraim
Yeates: win this rain kill the trail,
think you?1
He shook his head obviously. 'T dunno
for s~artain; twin make a heap o. differ
II they was anyway anxious to hide it.
Ez II starts out, with the women a-hos~-
back, tits plain enough. for a blind man
to lift ON the rum
Then let us be at it, said I. 1--WE can
very we'll afford to let the mystery untan-
gle itself as we 60" And with this the
pursuit began in relentless earnest.
The trail of the two horses riddle by
Margery n her woman cut a right
angie with the road, turning northwest
along the left bank OF the stream; and,
despite the rain, which was now pouring
steadily even In the thick wood, the hoof-
prints were so plainly marked that we
could follow at a smart dog-trot.
In this speeding the old hunter and the
Indian easily outwearied Jennifer n
me. They both ran with a slow swing
ing leap, like the racking gait, half pace,
half gallop, OF a well-trained troop horse.
Mile after mile they put behind them in
these swinging bounds; and when, well
on ia the afternoon. we stopped to eat a
snack OF the cold meat and to slake our
thirst at one OF THE many rain pools, I
was faih TO follow Jcnnifcr's lead, throw
ing myself fiat on the soaking mold TO
pant and gasp and pay of the arrears OF
bleathIessness.
This breathing halt was Of the brief
est; but before the race began again,
Ephraim Yeates took time to make a
careful scrutiny OF the trail, measuring
the stride OF the horses, and looking
sharply on the briars for some bit of
cloth or other token of assurance, When
we came up with him he was mumbling
TO himself.
"Um-hm; jes' so. They was a-making
tracks along hereaway. s~artain. sure:
l%arruping them HOSES TO a keen jump,
~lckity-split. Now says ! TO myself,
what's the ~tarnation hurry? Amt they
got ali the time there Is to get where
they're a-going. immejitly. II not sooner 2.
Then he turned upon me. "Cap'n John,
can't you and the lay your
heads side and side and make out what-all
this here hoss-captain muuxht be UP to-
1t co look like he. had gome sort o.
| Ratchet to grind, ascending that Afrskin
back to raise q hue ana cry, and then
arletting his Injuns leave . trail like thu