The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1905-08-17

CHAPTER xxIV.-Continued.

On each hand the mountains rose
precipitous, the one on the left swell
ing unbroken to a bald and rounded
summit, forest covered save for its tom
sured head high in air, while taat or
the right was sleeper and lower, with
a line of cliffs at the top. AS we Jared
on, the valley narrowed to a mere
chasn, with the river laundering along
the base OF the Ionsufed mountain, AND
the Indian path hugging the cliff on
the right.
In the gloomiest depths of his defle
we came upon the hunters stumbling
block. A tributary stream, issuing
from a low yer in the right-hand
cliff, crossed the Indian path and the
chasnl at q bound II plunged nosily
into the flood of the larger river. On
the hither side Of his barrier stream
the trail of the powder convoy led
plainly down into the water. and, so far
as n might see, that was the end OF
1t.
AS we made sure, we left no stone
unturned in the effort to solve the mys-
terry. No horse, ridden or led, could
have lived to cross the pouring torrent
of the main river, or to wade up OF
down it's bed; and If the 'cavalcade had
turned up the barrier stream its prog
ress must nave ended abruptly against
the sheer wall of the cliff at the ell
trance to the low-arched tavern whence
the tributary came into being. But If
Falconnet and his following had ridden
neither up nor down the bed of the
barrier stream, 1t seemed equally GER
tain that no horse Of the troop had
crossed it. The Indian trace, which
held straight on up the gorge and pres
emily came out above into a high up
land valley, was unmarked by any hoof
print, new or old.
- .rxry-1J 10Y - 49, l1aS "a 4LI-
: here amt about the beatin'est thing I
ever chugged up ag'inst," was
the old borderer's comment. when we
had hogged our wits to small purpose
IN the search for some clue to the mys-
terry. Whats your mind about it, hey.
chief?"
Uncanoola shook his head. Heap
plenty slick. Nc go upstream, no go
down, NJ cross over, no go back. Meb-
be go up like smoke-w'at?"
The hunter shook his head and would
by no means admit the alternative. "Ez
I allow that would ak for a merricle;
and I reckon ez how when the good
Lord sends a chariot O fire after sech
a clanjamfrey as this'n O. the hoss-cap-
tain's, It'll be mikhty dadblame' apt to
go down stead of up"
We were standing on the brink of
the barrier stream no more than a fish
erman's cast from the black rock
mouth that spewed 1t up from it's I'M
foreground nav. While the hunter was
speaking, the Catawba had lapsed into
statue-like listlessness, his gaze fixed
upon the eddying flood which held the
secret of the vanished ca~Valcaue. Sud
denly he came alive with a bound and
made a quick dash into the water.
What he retrieved was only a small
piece Of wood, charred at one end. But
Ephriam Yeates caught at it eagerly.
Now the Lord be praised for all His
marcies!!" he exclaimed. 1T do take
an lnjun to come a,running whenst
everybody else is plumb beat out! Meier
another one Of is had an eye sharp
enough to ketch that bit O. sign a-float-
ing past. What say, Cap'n John?'
I shook my head, seeing no special
significance in the token; and Dick
asked: What will it be, Ephriam, now
that 1t is caught?"
The dc man ooked his pity for our
aullard wit, n then set a moiety of
1t in words.
well, well, now; I'm fair ashamed
Of We! What all dye reckon black
sned the end O. this bit O. pine
branch?"
why, fire." says Richard, beginning,
as I did, to see some glimmering Of
light.
In course. And it come from yon-
der, didn't it?" pointing to the cav
ern under the cliff. More than that,
twas cut wi a hatchet-this fresh end
Of it-no longer ago than last night,
at the furdest; the pitch that the fire
fried out'n it Is all soft and gummy, yit.
Gentlemen all; whenst we find where
this here creek comes out into daylight
again we're a-going to find the boss
captain and the whole enduring passel
D redskins and redcoats, immejitly, If
not sooner!!"
What comment this startling an
nouncement would a V evoked I know
not, for at the ONE of it's utterance
the Catawba went fat upon the
ground, making most urgent signs for
us to do likewise. What he had seen
we all saw a fitting instant later; the
painted face Of a Cherokee warrior as
a setting for a pair of fierce basilisk
eyes peering out of the low-arched
cavern whence the stream issued, an
apparition looking for all the world like
q d~israembered head floating on the
surface Of the out-gushing flood.
Twas the old borderer who took the
Initiative in the swift retreat, and we
followed his lead like ~well-drilled SOL
diers. A crook in the stream, and the
thickets underwood. screend us for a
moment from the basilisk eyes; and in
q twinkling we had rolled one after
another into the mimic torrent and
were quickly swept down to it's mouth.
Here death lay in wait for US in the
mad plungings Of the main river; but
we made shift to catch at the over
hanging branches of the willows in
passing, to draw ourselves out, to
scramble up the gorge and to gain a
great boulder on the mountain side
whence We could look down upon the
scene of our late surprisal.
By this we saw, from the wings, as
1t were, the setting Of the stage for a
tragedy which might have been ours.
One by one a score Of heads with paint
ed faces ficated silently out of the
spewing rock-mouth. One by one the
glistening, bronze-red bodies appertain-
Ing thereto emerged from the water,
each to take its place in an ambuscade
encloing the stream-crossing of the
Indian path in a pocket-like line of
crouching figures, with the mouth of
the pocket open toward the lower val
ley.
Ephriam Yeates chuckled under his
breath and sznote softly Upon his thigh.
They tell ez how the good Lord has
a mighty tender care for chillern and
simples,' he whispered. "Whenst we
was a-coming a-rampaging up the
trace a our r two ago, I saw the moe
casin track O. that there spy, and was
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