The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1905-05-19

l IL Z III HOuIh t'
feeble passes with the sword at the
man upon his back.
1t was my plotting captain who rode
me thus to earth. and when | thrust he
laughed and swore, and urned the
blade aside with his bare hand. Then.
pressing closer, he struck me with his
fist. and thereupon the night and all Its
happenings went plank as II the blow
had been a cannon shot to crush my
skull.
VIII.
IN WHICH I TASTE THE QUALITY
OF MERCY.
Two ways there be to fetch a
stunned man to his senses. as they Will
tell you who have seen the rack APP
piled. one Is to slack the tension on
the cracking joints me minister cor
dlals to the victim: the other to give
the straining winch a crueller twist. 1t
was not the gentler way my captors
took, as you would guess; and when I
came to know and see and feel again
q pair Of them were kicking me alive.
and l was sore and aching from their
buffetlngs.
How long u time came in between
my futile dash for liberty and this
harsh preface to their dragging Of me
back to the manor house, | could not
tell. 1t must have been an hou or
more. for now Il glbbous moon hung
pale above the tree-tops, and all around
were bivouac fires and horses tethered
to show that in the interval a troop had
come and camped.
The scene within the great fore
room of the house had been shift
ed, too. A sentry was pacing back
and forth before the 6oor-a Hes
sian %grenadier by the size and
shake of him; and when the two
| tynnnar hD M ffa tbryiaf ma In and 7 had
wlnked and blinked my eyes accustom-
ed to the candle light. l saw the table
had been swept of Its bottles and
glasses, and aroun 1t. sitting as In
council, were some half score officers
OF the British light horse with their
colonel at the head.
AS 1t CHANGED. this was my first sight
near at hand Of that British command
err whose name In after years the pa
triot mothers spoke to fright their chill
den. He did not look a monster. AS 1
recall him now, he was a short, SQuare-
bodied man, younger by some years
than myself. and yet with an old cam
%paigner's head we'll set upon agrees
sive shoulders. His eyes were black
n ferrety; and his face, well seasoned
by the Carolina sun. was swart as any
Arabs. A man. I thought, who could
be gentle-harsh or harsh-revengeful. as
the mood should prompt; who could
make w%ell-turned courtier compliments
to a lady and damn a trooper In the
self-same breath.
This was that Colonel Banastre Tar
Teton who gave no quarter to surrend-
cred men; and when l looked into the
sloe-black eyes l saw In them for me
a waiting gibbet.
sol" he raped out. when I was
hailed before him. you're the spying
rebel captain, Ell? Are you alive nOugh
to hang?"
His lack of courtesy rasped so sorely
that l must needs give place to wrath
and answer sharply that there was
small doubt Of 1t. since l could stand
and curse him.
back again as heartily as any fish
wife. Then suddenly he changed his
tune.
They tell me you were In the SER
vice once and left 1t h~onorably. l am
loath to hang a a who has worn the
colors. Would 1t please you best to die
a soldiers death. Captain %Ireton?"
l said 1t would. most surely.
He said l should have the boon II I
would tell him what a. officer on the
Baron de Kalb's staff should know; the
strength Of the C~ontinentals, the gen.
erals designs and dispositions, and 1
know not what besides. l think 1t vas
m laugh that made him stop and
damn me roundly in the midst.
by God, I'll make you laugh an
other tune!" he swore. You rebels
are all of a piece. and clemency Is
wasted On you!"
Your mercy comes too dear; you set
too high a price upon 1t. Colonel Tar
Teton. If, for the mere swapping of a
rope for a bullet. l could be the Door
caitiff FOUR offer implies, hanging would
be too good for me-"
IF that Is your last word But stay;
I'll give you ar Jour to think 1t over"
1T needs not an hour nor a minute"
I replied. IF l knew aught about the
Continental army-which l do not-I'd
see you hanged In your own stirrup-
leather before I'd tell you. Colonel
Tarleton. Moreover, I marvel great
ly-"
A what?" he cut in rudely.
A your informant's lack of inven-
ton. He might have brought me
straight from General Washington's
headquarters while he was about 1t.
'Twould be no greater lie than that he
told you"
He heard me through, then fell to
cursing me afresh, and would be send
ing an aide-de-camp hotfoot for Fall
comet.
While the messenger was going and
coming there was a ChanCe for me to
look around like q poor trapped ami
nal In a pitfall. loath to die with out
a struggle. yet seeing not how any
less inglorious end should offer. The
eye-search went for little of encourage
ment: there was no chance either to
fight or fly. But apart from this, the
probing Of the shadows revealed a
thing that set me suddenly In a fever,
first OF rage, and then of apprehension.
AS I have said. this gathering-room
of our old house was In size like an an
Client banquet hall. 1t had a gable to
itself in breadth and height. and at the
farther end there vas a flight of some
few steps to reach the older portion
of the house beyond. The upper end
of this low stair pierced the thick wall
of the older house. n in the shadows
of the niche thus formed l saw my
lady Margery.
She vas standing as one who looks
and listens: and my rage-ft blazed Out
upon the deserving Of a shadowy figure
Of a man behind her; a man I guessed
; in Jealous wrath to be the baronet-s
. ~reasonless suspicion. Sine the voluntee,
captain would certainly have made hi,
! presence known when his colonel hal
called for him. But while my heart wa
, yet afre my lady moved aside as IL t
have a better sight of us below: an,
8 then / saw it vas the priest benin,
/ her.
While I was watching her, and W
were waiting yet o the aide-de
: camps return, there was q stir withou
: and when it reached the door the ser
: try challenged. Some confab followe