The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1905-05-11

CHATTER vl.-Continued.

aud say | had my labor for my pain.
tho which | had. His place was a
the quarters, and OF what went or
within the house he knew no NOR,
than i. But his he told me; that com
pany surely was expected. and thA
some air of mystery was abroad.
When he was gone l ate a soldier
portion. knowing OF old how i'll a thins
II is to take an empty stomach int,
battle. For the same cause l drank !
SeTond cup of wine-'twaS old maderia
OF my fathers lay~ing-in-and would
have drunk a third but that The bottl,
would not yield it.
1t was fully dark when I had finish.
ed, and. thinking ever on my plan
would strive afresh to weld its weakes
link. This was the hazard OF the weap.
on-getting. With full-blood health anC
strength | might have zone bare hand.
ed; but as 1t was. l feared to take tho
chance. So With a candle l went a.
proving III the deep drawers of the ole
oaken clothes press and in the es.
c%ritoirc which once had been my moth.
cr's, and lound 10 weapon bigger thar
a hairpin.
1t was no great disappointment. for ]
had o before with daylight in the
room. Besides. the wine was mount
ing, II when the search was on the
hazard seemed the less. So l could
rush upon him and put my
knee against his back, l thought the
Lord of Battles would give me strength
TO break his neck across it.
At that l capped the candles, and.
taking post in the deep bay OF the win
dow, set myself to watch for the light
ing OF the great room at the front.
This had two windows on my side and
While l could not see them, l knew
that / shout see the sheen of light
upon the lawn.
The night was clear but moon
less, and the thick-leafed masses
of the oaks and hickories rose
half the hemisphere of starry sky.
AS always in our forest land. the hour
was shrilly vocal, though to me the
chirping din of frogs and insects hath
ever stood for silence. Somewhere be-
yond the thicket-wau an owl was call
ing m~ournfully, n I b%ethought me Of
that superstition-old as man, for aught
| know. And then l laughed, for surely
death would come TO one or more of
those beneath my fathers roof with the
compass of the night.
Behind the close drawn curtain,
though I could see it not, the virgin
forest darkened all the land; and from
afar within its secret depths l heard.
or thought I heard, the dismal bowling
of the timber wolves. Below, the
house was silent as the grave, and this
seemed strange to me. For in the time
of my youth a wedding was a joyous
thing. Yet l would remember that these
present times We're perilous; and also
n a my bridegroom captained but a
little band of troopers in a land but
now become fiercely debatable.
1t must ave been an hou or more
before the sound of distance muftled
hoofbeats on the road broke in upon the
chirping silence of the night. l looked
and listened, straining eye and ear.
hearing but little and seeing less until
three shadowy horsemen issued from
the curtain wall of black beneath my
window.
1t was plain that others watched as
well as l. for at their coming a sheen
of light BURST from the opened door be-
low, at which tk1are were sword clank-
ings as of armed men ~dismounting, and
then a few ~low-voiced words of well
come. Followed quickly the closing of
the door and silence: and When my eyes
grew once again accustomed to the
gloom, saw below the horses standing
head to head, and in the midst a man TO
hold them.
So" / thought; "but three in all,
and one of them a servant. Twill be
a scantiy guested wedding" And then
l ragged within again to think of how
my love should be thus ~dishonored in a
corner when she should have the world
To clap it's hands and praise her beauty.
AT that, and while l looked, the
lawn was banded farther on by two
broad beams of light; and h I knew
my time was come.
Feeling my way across the darkened
chamber l softly tried the door latch.
1t yielded at the touch, but not the
door. | pulled, and braced myself and
pulled again. Twas but a waste of
strength. The door was fast with that
contrivance wherewith my father used
to bar me in what time 1 was a boy
and woul go ~raccooning with our
negro hunters. My enemy was no fool
He had been shrewd enough to lock
me in against the chance of Interrupt
ton.
l wish you might conceive the help
less horror graphing With mesthere be-
hind that fastened door: but this, in
deed, you may not, having felt it not.
Fol- one daZed m I was sick as
death with fear and frenzy and I know
not what besides, and all the b%lackness
of the night swan sudden red before
my eyes. Then, in the twinkling of an
eye, the madness left me cool and sane,
as If the fit had been the travail-pain
of some new birth of soul. And after
VAC ~ - AL ID L !
nor haste nor weakness-knew no other
thing save this; that I had set my
self a task to do and l would do it.
My window was in shape like half a
cell of honeyconnb, and close beside it
on the outer wall there grew an ancient
ivy Vine which more than once had held
my weight when l was n and
would evade my fathers vigilance.
l swung the easement noiselessly and
clambered out, with hand and foot in
proper hold as if those youthful Fittings
OF my boyhood days had been but yes
ternight. A breathlass minute later I
was down and afoot on solid ground;
and then a thing CHANGED which
would had not. The man whom 1 had
called a servant turned and saw me.
Halt Who goes there?', he cried.
a friend" said I, between my wish
lngs for a weapon. For this servant of
my prefigurings proved to be a trooper,
booted. spurred and armed.
,1~iod, | think you lie" he said;
anf,f fter that he said no more, for he
wac Town among the horses hoofs and
| upon him, kneeIing hard to scant his
breath for shoutings.
1t grieyeS me now through all these
years to think that I did kneel too hard
Upon this man. He was no enemy of
mine, and did but door seek to do
his duty. But he would fight or die.
land | must fight or die; n so it end
ed as such strivings will, with some
Ii Crf ~ on - ia ~ H.. ~ - A-ttL ~ ElLu =