The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1905-08-10

Inc Ulu 1IdH CHUchIed Il VI libtl
laugh, though what food for merrimen
he could find in the hopeless prospec
was more than I could understand.
"Ho! no! Cap'n John; | reckon e
how ye're a-taking that word from
yonder down-hearted boy of our'r
Wait a spell till ye're ez old ez 1 be
then you'll never say die till yer
plumb dead"
Now, truly, though I was dismal.
disheartened, l could reassure him OF
the point of perseverance. IT'S al
Ireton failing to lose heart and hop,
when the skies are dark; but this /:
counterbalanced in some of us by {
certain quality of unreasontng persist,
ence which WIFI go on running long att,
er the race is we'll lost. My father hac
this stubborn virtue to the full; and sc
had that old Ironside Ireton from whom
we are descended.
That's the kind O. talk" was the old
mans comment. Now We'll set &c
work in sure-enough arrest. EZ l said
a spell back, my stumnick is crying
cupboard till I can't make out to hear
my brain a-sizzling. Maybe you took
notice o me a~-praying down yonder
that the good Lord'd vouchsafe to give
us scalps and ~provender. For our on
faithfulness He's seed fit to withhold
the one; but maybe Well find a raven
r two, or a widder's mite r meal-bar'l,
sonewheres in this bowling wilderness,
yit.'
So saying, he summoned the Cataw-
ba with a low whistle, and when IN
canoola Joined is, told him to stay
with Jennifer whilst we should make
another effort to find the ford.
There's nobody like an Injun for a
nuss when a mans chin-deep into
trouble" quoth this wise old woodsman,
when we We're feeling our way eau
tiously along the margin OF the swift
little river. III Cap'n Dick rips and
roots, the chief'll only say. 'Wah!' If
he sits up and cusses till he's black in
the face, the chief'Il say, UGH And
that's just about all a man bankers
for when his sores a%-running in the
night season, and all Thy waters have
gone over his head. Selah!"
Now o are to remember the sky
was overcast and the night was pitchy
dark, and how the old borderer could
read a sign of any sort was far beyond
my comprehension. Yet when we had
gone a scant half-mile along the river
brink he stopped short, shifted the air
and stopped to feel and grope on the
ground like a blind mar seeking for
something he had lost.
Right about here-away Is where
they made out to cross" he announced;
Lie "iOle SIluullllS pdSScl Ol Gll, 6Z
l reckon-our seven varmints and the
hoss-captain's powder train. Give me
the heft O. your shoulder till we take
the water and projec' round a spell
on t'other side"
We squared ourselves, wholly by the
sense of touch, with the rivers edge,
locked arms for the better bracing
against the swift current, and so es-
sayed the ford. 1t was no more than
thigh deep, and though the water
dashed and foamed owe the shoal like
a torrent in flood, there was a clean
bottom and gooda footing. Once safe
stream, and In a little time came to the
deserted glade with the embers Of the
kidnapers' fire glowing duly in the
midst.
Here a sign Of some later visitants
than Falconnet's horsemen set us war
lily on our guard. The tepee-lodge OF
dressed skins, which had been left I'M
disturbed by the sham had
vanished.
"Umph! The redskins nave been
back to make sure O. what they left be-
hind" said Yeates, in a whisper. II
jung! that's jest the n thing I was
a-hoping they'd forget to do. l reckon
ez how that spiles our last living
chance O. finding anything that mought
help slack off on the belly-pinch."
So he said, but for this once his wis
favored us. When we had found the
covert in the bushes where the two
horses had been concealed we lighted
upon a precious prize. Twas a bag
of parched corn in the grain; some
share Of the provision of the captive
party overlooked by those who had
returned to gather up the leavings.
With this treasure-trove we made all
haste to rejoin our companions. And
now behold what a miracle of reanima-
ton may be wrought by a few hand
fuls of bread grain! In a thrice the
Catawba had found a water-worn
stone to serve for a mortar, and an
other for a pestle. These and the bag
of corn were carried back to a shell
tered ravine which we had crossed on
our late advance; and here the Indian
fell to work to grind the corn into
coarse meal, whilst Yeates and I kin
died a fire to heat the baking-stones.
In these preparations for the break
ing of our long fast even Richard be-
stirred himself to help; and when the
cakes We're baked and eaten-with
what zestful sharp-sauce of appetite
none but the famished may ever know
We were all in better heart, and bet
ter able to face the new and far more
desperate plight In which our lack of
common foresight had entangled us.
For now, since we knew the full
measure of the peril menacing our dear
lady. there was need for swift deter
mination and a blow as swift and sure:
a coup de main which should atone in
one shrewd push for the sleeveless
failure of the night. So we would grip
hands around, even to the stolid Indian,
and swear a solemn OATH to cut the
women out or else leave our bones to
Whiten in the forest wilderness.
You'll laugh@at all these yowings and
handstrikings-IA dare sayzan protest
there was a deal of such fustian he
roics IN your doddering old chronicler's
day.
Mayhap there was. But, my dears.
/ would YOU might remember as you
laugh that we of that sinple-hearted
elder time lived by some half-century
carer to that age of chiyalry you dote
on--in the story books. Also, I would
might mingle with your merriment
q little of the saving grace of char
1ty; letting it hint that, perchance.
these you call .heroics" were but the
free, untrammeled folk-speech of that
sincerer natural heart which you have
learned to silence and suppress. For
] dare affirm that now, as then and al
ways, there will be some spark Of the
Promethean fire In every Heart OF mar
or maid, else this would indeed be a
sorry world to live In.
so, aSl say, we ii struck lands