The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1905-07-28
THE MASTER OF APPLEBY|
k-- BY Francis Lyndo. --
BY Francis Lyndo.

here that any toW-head boy from The set
Elements could follow at a canter."
Richard said he could never guess the
meaning of 1t all: and my mind was &c
the full as blank as his. | made sure
some deep-laid plot was at the bottom OF
the mystery; but We had measured many
weary miles in the Wilderness, and the
plotter's trap had been fairly ba,ted, Sc
and sprung, before the lightning flash OF
explicat.on came TO show us all it's devil.
ish ingenuity.
But now "Forward." was the word, and
we fell In line again. and again the tire
less running Of the two guides stretched
and held us on the rack OF WEAKNESS,
Happily for US two who were out of
training. the ralny-day dusk came early:
ana though Yeates and the Indian, run
ming nov with their bodies bent double
and their noses to the ground. held on
long after Richard JennIfer and were
bat-blind for any seeing of the hoof-
prints, the end came at length and we
bivouacked as we were, firelcss, and with
the last Of the cooked ration of deer's
mca, for = sCanty supper.
After the meal, which was swallowed
hastily In the silence of utter fatigue. we
scooped a hollow IN d last years leaf
bed and lay down to sleep, wet TO the
skin as any sour half-drowned water rats.
ana to the full as miserable.
Tagged as | was, twas "A long time be-
fore sleep came to make me forget; a
weary interval fraIght with dismal men
tai miser,es to march step and step with
the treadmill rackiugs of the aching mus
cleS. What grievous hap had befallcn
my dear lady? and how much or how lit
tie was ! to blame for this kidnapping Of
her by my relentless enemy? Was IL a
sharp forebOding of some such resort to
savage violence that had tortured her into
sending the aDDeal for helm
WIN this, ] fell to dwelling arresh up
on the wording of her message. hungcring
hV.d!y for some hint to give me lea We to
claim II for my own. Though I made sure
she d!d not love me--had never loved me
as other than a make-shlft confdant,
whose race and age would set him far be-
yond the pale Of s~entimrnt-yet | had
hoped this fri~endship-love would give her
leave to call upon me IN her hour OF
need,
Was / the one to whom her message
had been sped? Suddenly | remembered
what Richard had said; that the arrow
was the Catawba's. IF rncanuola were
the pearef or the parchment, he would
surely know to whom he had been CONT
His burow in the leaf bed CHANGED 10
be next to nine. and | could hear his
steady breathing. light and long-drawn,
IKE that or some wild creature-as. truly
he housekeeping with all the senses alert
10 spring awake at a touch or the snap-
ing OF a twig. A word would arouse him,
ahd u single question might resolve the
doubt.
l thought OF all this, and yet, when T
would nave Weakened the Indian. a slHlk-
ing ague-ft of poltroon cowardice Gave
me pause For while the doubt remained
mere was a chance to hope that she had
sent to me, making the l,ttle crv for helm
a token, not Of love. perchance hut of
some dawnihg of forgiveness for nv des-
perate wronging of her. And In that
hesltant moment 1t was borne in upon
me that without his slender chance
TOR nope | should go mad and become a
"retched willing at a time when eyerv
iacuity should be superhuman sharp and
strong Tor spending in her service.
so | forehore to wake the Indian. and
lollowlng Out this thought Of service fit
ness, would force myself to 20 tn sleen
and 50 to gather fresh Strength f,, tha
new days measure. ~