The Red Cloud chief., 1905-03-31

stall. The sparse young corn that used
to nod and chuckle greenly stood rigid
In the fields. Up the Plattville pike
despairingly cackled one old hen. with
her wabbling, sailor run. smit with A
superstitious horror of nothing. She
bid herself In the shadow underneath
q rickety barn and was still.
Only on the Windy farm were therp
signs OF life. The old lady who had
sent Harkless roses sat by the window
oil morning and wiped her eyes. watch
ing the iorsemen ride by. Sometimes
they would hail her and tell her there
was nothing yet. About 2 o'clock her
husband ratified up In a blackboard and
got out the shotgun OF the late md
more authentic Mr.. Windy. This no
carefully cleaned and oiled In spite of
Its hammerlcss ana quite Useless con.
diton. sitting meanwhile by the win
dow opposite his wife and often look
Ing up from his work to shake his
weak fist at his n%eighbors' domiciIes
and creak decreplt curses and denun-
Citations.
But the Crossroads was ready. 1t
knew what was coming now. Fright
encd, desperate, sullcn. II was ready.
The afternoon wore on. and lcngthen-
Ing shadows fell upon a ~pcaceful-one
would have said n sleeping-country.
The sun dried pike, already dusty,
stretched It's serene length between
green borders fleckcd with purple and
yellow and white weed flowers. and
the tree shadows were not shade, but
warm blue and lavender CLOVIS In the
general pervaslon OF still. bright light;
the sky curving Its deep. unburnished.
penctrable blue ovcr all. with no sim
gle drift Of fleece upon II to be reflect
ed In the creek that wound along past
willow and sycamore, dimplcd but I'M
murmuring. a woodpccker's tclcgra-
ply broke the quiet like a volley Of
pistol shots.
But far eastward on the pike there
slowly developed u soft, white haze.
1t grew dcnscr and larger and grad
unlly rolled nearer Dimly behind 1t
could be disccrncd n darker, moving
nucleus that extended far back upon
the road.
A heavy tremor began to stir the air;
faint. manifold sounds. a waxing, In
creasing, multitudinous rumor.
The pike assembled a long. slight slope
leading west up to the Crossroads.
From a thicket of ironweed ut the
foot Of this slope was thrust the visage
Of an understood girl Of fourteen. Her
fierce eyes examined the approaching
cloud of dust intently. A redness rose
under the burnt yellow skin md col.
0red the wizened cheeks.
They were coming.
She stepped quickly out Of the tangle
and darted up the road. She ran with
the speed OF a feet little terrier. not
opening her lips, not calling out, but
holding her two thin hands high above
her head; that was all. But Birnam
wood was come to Dunsinane at last,
and the messenger sped. Out Of the
weeds In the corner Of the snake fence,
In the upper part Of the rise, silently
lifted the heads Of men whose sallOw.
ness became a slckish white as the child
few by.
The mob was carefully organized.
They had taken their time and had
prepared everything deliberately, know
ing that nothing could stop them. No
n had any thought of concealment;
1t was all as open as the light of day.
oil done in the broad sunshine. Moth
bag had been determined as to what
was to be done at the Crossroads more
definite than that the place was to be
wiped out. That was comprehensive
enough; the details were quite certain
to occur. They were all on foot, march
Ing in fairly regular ranks. In front
walked Mr.. Watts, the man Harkless
had abhorred In q public spirit and be-
friended In private. Today he was a
hero and a leader, marching to avenge
his professional oppressor and personal
brother. Cool, unrufiied and to out
ward vision unarmed, marching the
miles in his brown frock coat and gen.
erOus linen, he led the way. On one
the other was Lige Willetts, Mr.. Watts
preserving peace between the young
men with perfect tact and sang froid.
They kept good order and a simili-
tude of quiet for so many except far to
the rear, where old Wilkerson was
bringing up the tail of the procession,
dragging a wretched yellow dog by a
rope fastened around the poor ours
protesting neck, the knot carefully ar
ranged under his right ear. In spite OF
every command and protest Wilkerson
had marched the whole way uprOari-
0usly singing ".JOhn Browns BOdy."