Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1905-04-13
CHAPTER XIII.

Nut0 tntg tUft III drSdlidht iiOu
my body and shattered him to
- death with their hatchets and
knives, pistoling him again and again
while he still quivered In the long
grass
As for me. l appeared TO be quite
dead. and whether to bury me there o.
In some kinder spot none could deter
mine. while the dear maid loved lay
senseleSs in Black Bettys arms.
Ny senseless sweetheart they bore e
the waiting chaise, and, my body stiB
retaining some warmth, they bore that
too. because they dared not bury me
before she had seen me dead with hei
OWL eyes.
All that day they rode west by north.
climbing the vast divide. halting 10 he
hidden when their keen ears heard
movements all unseen. pushing on 70
tear the path free while their axes
rang out among the windfalls Then
when the western sun sank beyond the
Ohio into the sea OF trees the winds of
the east nlled their nostrils. gnd the
bong divide had been passed at last
That night my dear love opened her
eyes. and the darkness that enchanted
hex fell, so that she crept TO my feet as
! Law in a corner OF the chaise and laid
her head on my knees.
That night they thought me surely
dead and watched without sleep lest
the rigidity OF dissolution surprise me
ere nay limbs had been laid straight
But the morning found me as l was.
and the FIRST shadow Of night revealed
mo change, nor was dead on the next
morning, nor on the next. nor yet the
neat
The fever which loosened every mus
Gle burned iercely all night long, and
my voice broke out from my body like
q demon mocking within me. A few
Of the Lenape, roaming near, followed
s:a shef 80 ss se~ara dawn, driving
Us north into the forest, where the
chaise was abandoned. the traces cut
and the horses loaded with corn.
AS for me | lived on through cold
and heat, storm and stress, seeing
nothing. hearing nothing. dumb save
when the demon hidden In my body
Knocked and laughed between my black
encd lips
Now. my dark soul. to hidden realms
addressed. returned TO me one night
and, listening. heard the demon scratch
ing az my bones. Then, weary and per
picked. inside my body crept my soul
and drew the lids of both eyes down
% that we might sleep together before
the busy demon knew.
Yet l, having my soul again. opened
my eyes to find a star was watching
me: then, content, lay closer to my
soul and slept. And thus the demon
found US and so fed back to the sleep
less bell from whence he came.
Then came morning when | knew
/ was In bed and very tired, too tired
TO see aught but the sheets and the
sunlit curtains beyond. That night,
however heard rain falling on a
roof and fell asleep. watching the win
dow for the hidden moon
Our old DIR Pierson came one day
and caught me watching him. They'll
soon have ma In the schoolroom now
l thought, though | do still play pos
sum all ! can, eating my Cruel. which
= strange servant brings. and pretend
ing not TO see her. Yet am wonder
Ing why the maid is 80 silent and that
her gown ID 40 dark and stifr.
The next day saw DIR. Person be-
okde me and asked for Sir william.
He said that Sir william was away
and that was doing well We often
spoke after that and he was ever busy
with my head. which no longer ached
save when he fingered It.
Day broke the bitterest day OF life
was u know. Why was the house 80
aisnt7 Why did all 60 about so quiet
". dressed In black? Was there some
one dead In the house below? Where
WAS Silver HeeIss Why had she never
come to met How came here?
where was Jack Mount and Cade Re
nnrd And Sir william. where was
~ that he came not near me who
had lain sick unto death In his service
and Tor bis sake7
Dread numbed me. I strove to call.
but nv dumb lips froze. strove to
~ and found my body wrecked in
~ without power. without sense a
kelpiess. inert thing between two
I mnst have cried aloud in my agony,
- ~ doctor came running and lean
t7 --. 4. Ss M. l . =. - y.