Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1905-10-26
/ THE MASTER OF APPLEBY|
BY Francis Lynde.

his TRAIL the mountain men are those
same two days behind him"
!, None the less, we shall hit him. :"
, said 1. Have you ever an inkhorn
and q quill in your cabin?
Both; at your service. sir. But /
t cannot understand"
! I'VE may call 1t the little maid 8
> judgment on those who have made her
> fatherless. But for her stopping of me
| should have come unIrepared into the
!, camp of the enemy. l am the bearer
= of letter from Lord CORVALLIS to
= this same Major Ferguson"
"You?-a bearer of Lord Corvallis
dispatthes?" The old man put q
: blades length between us and held the
little one aloft as If he feared 1
might do her a mischief. l laughed
and babe him be comforted.
{" lis a long story. and | may not
take the time to tell it now. But a word
will suffice. Like yourself. i made my
submission-and for the same purpose.
My lord accepted 1t and made me his
dispatch bearer because he thought 1
knew theway to Fergusoa when no one
else knew 1t. But enough of this; time
presses. Let ME have ink and the
II quill"
i The old man led the way into the cab
In and put his writing tools at my dis
rosal. Left to myself, l should have
broken the seal OF the packet; but my
Il Wise Ola any, cool ana corrected now,
showed himself u man of parts.
meath the wax. Opened and spread be-
fore us on the rude slab table, the let
ter proved to be the briefest of military
commands a peremptory order to Fer
guson to reioin the main body at once.
\ proceeding by forced marches IL need
full, and on no account to risk engage
ment with the -mOuntain men.
4 How to chang such an order to re-
verse 1t in effect. / knew no more than
IL yokel; but here again my ancient ally
shaowed himself man of parts.
! Dressing the pen to make it the fellow
of that used by my Lord CORVALLIS. he
| scanned the handwriting of the letter
1 closely, made a few practice potlooks
to get the initiative hang of 1t, and
wrote this sostscriptum at the bottom
of the sheet:
Since writing the foregoing l have
your courier and his dispatches. Lieu
tenant Colonel Tarleton, with 400 of
| the legion will take the road for you to-
night. If the battle is forced upon you.
make a stand and hold the enemy in
| check till reinforcements come.
"Cornwallis."
The old man sanded the wet pen
strokes and babe me say IL it would
serve. Twas most beautiful forgery
copied to a nicely, and of the two sig
natures / doubt if the earl himself
could have told which was his own;
twas the same circle &C." the same
printing n" the same heavy precision
| throughout.
Capital" said /. "Now, If the light
ming would but strike those pursuers
of mine. we would have the Scotsman
at bay in hands turn
"How?" said the patriarch; ARE you
| followed?"
told him ] was; told him of my
lords plot within plot-that three
light horse riders one of them a lieu
tenant bearing duplicate dispatches
| had been hard upon my heels all the
way from Charlotte.
| At this the old warhorse-I learned
afterward that he had fought through
| the French and Indian wars--wagged
| his beard and his eye flashed.
1--WE must stop them" he said.
Three of them, do you say?"
Three white men and an Indian
| trailer
"Ila! If 1T We're not for the little
maid. Let me think"
| He fell to pacing up and down before
| the fire on the hearth, and took the
small one on my knee to let her chat
| ter to me. Twas five full minutes be-
| fore my ancient gave me the worth of
his cogitations. but when he did speak
1t was much to the purpose.
These marplot rear-guards of yours
guson's camp either before or after
you. DO they know the majors pres
ent whereabouts?"
No more than did an hour ago AS
take 1t, they are depending on me to
show them the way"
well, then; dead men tell no tales"
But, my good friend, you forget
| there are four of them and only two of
us. We should stand little chance with
them in fair fight"
Again the old mans eyes snapped
and glowed as IL pent-flres were be-
hind them.
Was 1T fair fight when Tarleton's
men rode in upon Tom Sumter's rest
camp at Fishing Creek and cut down
the little maids father whilst he was
naked and bathing I'm the stream? Was
1t fair fight when King Georges In
dian devils came down in the dead of
night upon our defenseless house at
Northby? Never talk to me of fairness,
sir, whilst all this bloody tyranny Is
afoot.'
| thought upon 1t for little space.
Twas none SO easy to decide. On one
hand stern loyalty to the cause had
espoused passed instant sentence on
these four men whose lives stood In the
way, on the other common humanity
cried out and called 1T murder.
Never smile. my dears, and hint that
had found me a new heart of mercy
since that ambush killing of the three
Cherokee peace-men in the lone valley
of the western mountains. We did but
give the savages dole out of their own
store of cruel cunning and ferocity. But
as for these my crackers, three of
them, at least We're soldiers and men
of my own race. / could not do it,
NO" said ] firmly "Thcse follow
ers of mine must be stopped as you
say, else there is no need OF my going
ON. But there must be no butchers
work"
The patriarch frowned and wagged
his beard again.
"A true patriot should hold himself
ready to give his own life or take am
Others. quoth he.
TRULY; and l am most willing on
both heads But we have had enough
and more than enough of midnight
massacre
Where this argument would have led
us in the end, know not. since we
We're both waxing warm upon it. But
in the midst the little maid came run
ming from the open door, her blue eyes
wild in childish terror.
"Injnn man. was all she could say; I
but that was enough. Al bound /
reached the door. An Indian was at
my horses head loosing the halter, as
/ thought. Before he could twist to
face me the point of the Ferara was at
his back
Luckily, he had the wit not to move.
No Kill tncanoola,' he muttered, this
without the stirring of muscle, Then,
as IL he We're talking to the horse:
white squaw, she send UNI word; say
'goodby'"
My point dropped as If another blade
had parlied the thrust.
Mistress Margery, YOU meanp Do