The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1905-07-20
IN WHICH WE STRIVE AS MEN TIC
RUN A RACE,

|-~+A y = jain IL ~ - ~
RUN A RACE.
It was some time before tho ~nffrighted
black could give US any connected account
or what had befallen; and when at length
the story was told, all save the principal
fact Of the carrying off Of Mistress Mar
gerry and her maid was hazy enough.
Pruned down to the simple statement of
the fact, and with all the foolish terror
gatherings weeded out, his news came to
this: the party Of homing jewellers had.
been ambushed and waylaid at the ford
ing OF a creek some miles to tho south
ward, and In the mellay tho young mis-
tress and her tlrewoman had been cap
tured.
So far as any actual witness of tho eye
went, the negro had seen nothing. There
had been a volley fire from the thicket-
belly of black darkness, a swarming at
tack TO a chorus of Indian yells, shouts
from the men. shrieks from the women,
confusion worse COMPOUNDED in which the
newsbearer himself had been endorsed
and trodden under foot. After which he
knew no more till some one-his master, as
he thought-kicl1ed him alive and babe him
mount and ride post haste on the back
ward track to Appleby Hundred, crying
the news as he went that Mistress Mar
gerry Stair and her maid had been kid
mapped by the Indians.
Plnned to the mark and questioned
~00S' 49, Sih " Jul " L i ~ VI lib
OWN knowledge that any one had been
Killed outright Pinned again, IT. proved
to be only a guess of his that the ono
who had given him his orders was his
master. In the darkness and confusion he
could make sure of nothing: had made
sure of nothing save his own frenzy of
terror and the wording of the message he
I carried.
When We had quizzed hin empty we
hoistcd him upon his beast and sent him
once more a-gallop on the road to Appleby
Hundred. That done, a hurried council of
war was held in which We four fell apart,
three against one. Jennifer was for In
slant pursuit, afoot and at top speed; and
Ephraim Ieates and the Catawba, ADAM
doning their own emprise apparently
without a second thought. sided indiffer-
emily with him. For my part, 1 was for
going back to prepare in decent order for
a campaign which should promise some
thing more hopeful than the probability
of speedy exhaustion, starvation and
failure.
We grew hot upon 1t, Richard and I; he
with a young lovers unrecklng rashness,
and with an old campaigner's foresight
to make me stubborn; and Ephraim
Yeates and the Catawba drew aside and
let us have 1t out. Dick argued angrily
that time was the all-important item,
and was not above haunting me bitterly,
fiinging the reproach Sf cold blooded age
IN my face and swearing holly that !
knew not SO much as the alphabet of love,
The taunts were passed in silence, since
l would set them over against the irrevoc-
able wrong had done him, saying In my
heart that nothing he could say or do
should again tempt me to give place to
the devil of Jealous wrath.
But when he would give me space T set
the hopelessness of pursuit, all unprepared
as we were, in plainest speech. The chase
might well be a long one, and we were
but ~scantily armed and without pro-
visions. The hunters rife must be our
sole dependence for food. and in the sum
mer heat We would be forced to kill daily,
On the other hand, with horses, q. bag of
corn apiece, firearms and ammunition. we
should be in scsne more hopeful case; and,
Notwithstanding the delay in starting,
could make far better speed. :
For all the good it did I might have
spared my pains and saved my breathA
J%ennifer broke me in the midst, crying
out that l was even now killing the,
precious minutes; and so our ill-starreA
venture had Its launching In the frenzied
haste that seldom makes for speed, One
small concession I wrung out Of his ina
patience-this with the help Of Yeates and
the Catawba. We went back to the break
fast camp, rek!ndled the fire, and cooked
what we could keep and carry Of the yen4
ison.
In spite Of this delay 1t was yet early IN
the forenoon of that memorable Sunday.
the twentieth of August, when We set our,
faces southwark and took UP the line of
march to the ford of the ambushment,
By now the sky was wholly overcast. and
the wind was blowing fresher in the tree
tops; but though as yet the storm held
off, the air was the cooler for the threat,
ened rain and this was truly a blessing,
since the old hunter put us keen upon our
4 M 4 o. r .EnnYN- roN@ 4 lt~.
Continued Next Week.}