The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1905-06-30

NeP1is o1a'e dnG tlnkllng drops became
a grooming lullaby to blot out all the
years that lay between. and make me
once again a little child sinking asleep In
my young mothers arms.
XVI.
HOW JENNIFER THREW A MAIN
WITH DEATH.
TITS a sure mark of healthful sleep that
It never makes account of time. No odds
now long the night. it's but a moment
from the lapse of consciousness to its re-
covery in the morning. But this deep
sleep that crept upon me as l lay in the
pirogue, listening to the tinkling drip
from Jennifer's paddle. was not of health
full wear!ness: and when I came awake
from 1t there was a dim and troubled
vista of vague and broken dreams TO
measure off the longest night l could ever
remember.
The place OF this awakening was a bur-
row in the earth. My bed Of bearskins
over fragrant pine tufts was spread upon
the ground, and by the pickering light OF
a handful of fire I could see the earth
walls of the burrow, which were worn
smooth as If the place had been the we'll
used den of some wild creature. But over
head there was the mark of human &C.
cupancy, since the earth-arch was sooted
an4 blackened with the reek of many
ilies. u r. --s So
When I stirred there was another stir
beyond the handful of fire, and Jennifer
came to kneel beside me, taking my hand
and chatting 1t as a tender-hearted woman
might, and asking If l knew him..
Know you? Why should i not?" l
said, wondering why the words took SO
many breaths between.
20 Jack!' was all l had in answer; but
when he had found a tongue to babble out
his JOY, l learned the why and where
fore. Once more grim death had reached
for. me, lying await In the twirled toma-
hawk that set me dreaming of my moth
er's lap and lullaby. For a week l had
lain here upon the bed of pine tufts, poised
upon the brink Of the death pit Will only
my dear lad to hold and draw me back.
IA week." I queried. when he had
named the interval. And you have been
here all the time?"
I've never left you, save to forage for
the pot" he admitted. II dared not leave
you. Jack"
But where are we?' I would ask.
IN a den on the rivers edge, a mile or
more above your sacked cabin. TITS some
dodge-hole followed out by the Catawbas
long ago and shared since by them and the
bears. Judging from the sinking reek of
1t. Cncanoola steered me hither the night
of the raid"
Then the chief came off safely?" I
said, falling into a dumb and impotent
rage that the saying of two words should
scant me so of strength to say a third.
Right as a trivet-scalps and ALL
laughed Jennifer. He'll be the envy OF
every warrior in the tribe when he vaunts
himself at the Catawhas' council fire."
! let 1t rest q while at that. casting about
for words to shape a hungrier question.
Have YOU no news?' l asked. at length.
Little or none he answered shortly.
But you have had some word-some
news-from Applcpy Hundred?" l stam-
mered fcebly.
Nothing you'd care to hear" he re-
joined, evasively, ] thought. Ills as you
left it, save that Tarleton whipped away
TO the south again as suddenly as he
came. and our cursing baronet has made
the manor house his headquarters in fact,
lodging himself and all his troop or Mr..
Stair. From his lying quiet and keeping
the C%herokecs in tow. there Will be some
deviltry afoot, III warrant
knew that Falconnet was waiting for
the powde.: cargo. but another matter
crowded this aside.
"But-but Margery?" I queried, on
sharpcst tenter-hooks to know how much
or little he had heard.
thought his brow darkened at the ques-
ton. but mayhap it was only a shadow
cast by the Pickering fire. AT any rate.
he laughed hardly.
She is well-and well content, I dare
S"Soi was olIS yesterday l saw her
taking the air on the river road. with
Falconnet for an escort. You told me once
he had a sure hand with the women and
it made me mad: but, truly, l nave come
to think you drew 1t mild, Jack"
Now though l could ply a decent ready
blade, or keep a firing line from lurching
at a pinch, l had not learned to put a
snafhe on a laundering tongue, as I have
said before.
Damn him as you please, Dick, and
he'll warrant it. But you must not Judge
the lady over harshly, nor always by APP
p%earances. She may have houted you as
a boyish lover, and yet l think"
stopped in sheer bewilderment, shot
through and through with keenest agon-
les of remorseful recollection. For at the
moment | had clean forgot the gulf i'm
passable I had set between these two.
SO l would have lapsed into shamed ST.
lence. but Jennifer would not suffer it.
We'll, what is it that you think?" he
demanded.
she thinks well of you, Dick" l ~blundcred
on. seeing no way to put him off.
He gripped my hand, and in his eyes
there was the light of the old love re-
awakening.
Don't lift me up to fling me down
again, Jack! How can you know what.
she thinks OF me?" he broke in, eagerly.
l should have told him then all there
was 10 tell. He had been trice my savior,
and his heart was soft and malleable on
the side of friendship. l knew it-knew
that the pregnant moment for full confess
sion had arrived; and yet l cou'd not force
my tongue TO shape the Words Indeed,
4, l saw more clearly than before that never
any word of mine could make him ul,aer-
stand that l was not a fa:thless traitos in
intentio:. So I paltered with the trueh,
like any wretched coward Of them all.
You forget that l have come to know
her weu,' l said. II was a month or