The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1905-09-01
cipline. But thai is neither here nor
there. Having my masters order for
It, I climbed to the foot of the powder

cipline. But that is neither here nor
there. Having my masters order for
It, I climbed to the foot of the powder
rock.
Here the bare sight Of all the stored
UP devastation set me athirst with a
fierce longing for leave to snap a pis-
toll in the we'll laid mine. For If these
enemies of ours had planned their own
undoing they could. never have given
a desperate foeman a better chance.
To hold the pine bcughs of the rude
shelter in place they had piled a great
loose wall Of stones round and over
the cargo; and the firing of the pow
der, heaped as it was against the back
ing cliff of the boulder, would hurl
these weighing stones in a murderous
broadside upon the camp across the
stream.
But since my dear lady would also
share the hazard of such a b%roadside,
1 had no leave to blow myself and the
powder convoy to kingdom come, as I
thirsted to-could not, you will say,
having neither pistol to snap nor flint
n steel to fire a train. Nay, nay.
my dears, / would not have you think
SO lightly of my invention. Had this
been the only obstacle, you may be
sure I should have found a way to
grind a firing spark out of two bits Of
stone. d
D0G pCluS OllGIWlSe ouJOlHeu, as l.
say, I urned my back upon the
temptation and held to the business in
hand, which was to reach and recross
the stream higher up and so to come
among the horses.
AS I had hoped to find them, the sad
dies were hung pom the branches Of
the nearest trees, Margery's horse fur
nishings among them. At first the
black mare was shy of me. but a gen
Ting word or two won her over. and
she let me take her by the forelock and
lead her deeper into the herd where I
could saddle and bride her in greater
safety.
My plan to cut her out was simple
enough. Trusting to the darkness
the horse meadow was far enough from
the fires to make a murky twilight of
the ruddy glow-I thought to lead the
mare quietly away up the stream and
thus on to the foot of that ravine by
which We hoped to climb to the old
borderer's rendezvous on the plateau.
But when all was ready and I sought
to set this plan in action, an unfore-
seen obstacle barred the way. To keep
the horses from straying up the val-
ley an ndian sentry lin vas strung
above the grazing meadow, and into
this I b%lundered like any unlocked
knave Of a raw recruit.
Had l been armed, the warrior who
rose before me phantom-like in the
laurel edging of the meadow would
have had a most sharp pointed answer
to his challenge. AS it was-I had left
my sword with Jennifer because the
captured trooper whose understudy I
was had left his sword in camp-I tried
no word of English, nor I of Cherokee;
but that deadlock was speedily broken.
A cultural call theirs Of the
horse keepers, and among them one
who spoke a little English.
ugh! What for take white squaw
horse?" he demanded.
"'Tis the captains order" I replied,
lying boldly to fit the crisis.
At that they gave me room; and had
I FASTENED, I a doubtless gone at
large without more ado. But at this
very apex point of hazard I must
\ needs play out the part of unalarm to
the fools envoi, taking time to part
the mares fetlock under the headstall,
and looking l%eisurely to the lacings of
the saddle girth.
This ~foolhardy delay cost me all. and
more than all. I was still fiddle-fad-
ding with the girth strap, the better
to imposeeupon my Indian horse guards,
when suddenly there arose a yelling
hubbub of laughter In the camp be-
hind. I turned to look and beheld o
thing l%aughable enough, no doubt, and
| ~ ~ otA ~ OuOb1 vi III IL LII liz
Half way from the nearest forest
fringe to the great fire a man, white
of skin and clothed only in a pair Of
trooper boots, was running swiftly for
to the nearest pine bough shelter,
shouting like an escaped Bedlamite as
he fled. 1t asked for no second glance,
this apparition Of the yelling mailman;
twas our captive soldier, foot loose and
racing in to raise the hue and cry.
Now you may always count upon this
failing in a cautious man, that at a
crisis he is likely to do the unwisest
thing that offers. This cutting out of
MarSery's mare was none so vital a
matter that I should nave risked the
marring of Ephrainl Yeates's plan upon
it. Yet having done this very thing,
I must needs make a bad matter In
finitely worse.
Instead of mounting to ride a charge
through the camp, n SO to draw the
pursuit after me toward the cavern en-
trance, as I should, I slapped the mare
to send her bounding through the guard
line, snatched a saddle from its oak
branch peg to hurl it in the faces of
the sentry group, and darting aside,
plunged into the laurel thicket to come
by running where l could and creeping
where 1 must to that place where I
had left Richard Jennifer.
All hot and exasperated as / was,
twas something less thar cooling to
find Dick a-double on the ground, hold
ing his sides and laughing like a yokel
at his first pantomime.
Continued Next Week.l
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