Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1905-10-10
CHAPTER XIV

Harvey watched the approaching
cloud with both hands gathered above
his brows, and on a sudden he discerned
a female figure on horseback. who came
toward him at a break-neck pace 1t
was hidden here and there in a hollow
of the field, and streaming behind it
came band Of mounted men. His heart
rather than his eyes assured him that
the figure in the van was that of Con-
stance, but he asked himself in wonder
if her presence here were possible, and,
granting that it were possible, what it
might portend.
As the headlong river breasted the last
hollow, and rose above it a quarter of a
mile away, his doubts vanished, and he
ran to meet her. 1t was Constance
beyond question, and at the very instant
at which he knew her he was aware that
he himself was recognized. The two
raced toward each other, alike impetu-
GUS and before the horse she rode was
fairly arrested in his pace Constance
was in Harvey's arms. The men who
folowed-dusty. sun-burned fellows, in a
sort of rough uniform of boots and cords,
slouched hats and shirts of red flannel
swept right and left as they passed,
and formed in an irregular ring about
them.
What brings you here?' gasped Har-
vey, sobbing, half with emotion and half
with lack of breath
I'VE came to Rio Janeiro," she an
swered, father and I, for a mere Holt
day, but there we learned that you were
being followed; that the funeral at Bar
ton had been a mockery. We guessed
the worst. But oh, Harvey, you're safe,
you're safe.'
Safe, dear|' he answered in Devil
derment. 'Of course I'm SAFE
They forgot the crowd about them.
They forgot everything but each other.
He took her in his arms and kissed her
tenderly and gravely. Then she remem-
bered, and pushed him away until he
stood at arms length.
I'VE are in time" she said to the
horsemen gathered round. This is nv
husband Captain billiard Harvey. this
is Captain Hilliard, of the Mounted Po-
lice. l cannot tell you how good he has
been to me. But you are safe, dear.
you are safe"
She grew little hysterical just then,
and one freckled, unsburned fellow
among the troopers put in a word of
sympathy.
Erode like a brick, sir" said the
freckled man. "Thirty-fve miles from
her last corn"
Another sunburned fellow, halfway be-
tween tears and laughter, said:
Three cheers for the ladyw And the
cheers were given.
noise died away. who's that yonder?"
wouldn't give twopence for that fell
lows neck, the way he rides"
"Whyr' cried Harvey. that's my I'M
Gle! What possesses him?"
We return to Jethroe the elder. He
stood unmoved, and then, clambering
leisurely up the bank, he mounted his
horse again and rode leisurely away, con-
sulting his watch at the first pace. BY
and by he looked at the watch again and
Quickened his speed. Then he drew rein
cnce more and listened with backward
ear and eye.
Too soon," he said to himself TOO
soon. I'm growing as nervous as a
girl He consulted his watch again.
Twenty minutes yet. Come. | shall
hear that bang easily enough. How fast
will the stream travel? | shall have
three-mile start in seven. That ought
to do it."
Again lie set out at trot. still with
that backward ear and eye, and once
he went so unwatchfully-the pony
stumbled, and was almost down with
him into breakneck hollow. This mar
row escape made him more careful. and
he rode wider from the brink of the old
watercourse. But he listened as if his
soul were in his ears, and at length his
lmpatience and anxiety so mastered him
that he sat stock still, watch in hand. to
await the expected sound. How the
minutes crawled!
Boom. The SCATTERING roar shook the
air even where he sat and made a
wind about him. Now he turned and
rode as if for life, with a keen eye on
the untracked ground before him. but
always with that listening ear. What
was that? Could he really hear IT, or
was it fancy? That low roar-did the
wind make it on his ears, or his own
pulses? Or was it drawing nearer. !ond-
er, wilder? He rode like mailman. At
times the forward-plunging waters-for
he was sure of their manifold voices
now-traveled with such swiftness that
they seemed to overtake him. At others.
where the bed of the old stream ran
level. or even for a time opposed its
breast to the oncoming food, the ad-
vance WAS stayed.
But when ne had reached the land
mark fey which be lad FASTENED his
pony faitered and seemed barely to re-
cover itself when with slip it fell.
Jethroe threw himself clear and tore
sfoot to the edge of the river stream. 1t
was deep, and down below men were