The Richmond palladium. (Richmond, Ind.) 1906-1907, 1906-03-31

And suddenly, In voice that caused
the wild fowl to rise in thunder from
the Saltings beneath. Wulf shouted the
old war cry that had rung on so many
Darcy. meet DEATH
Goodwin smiled grimiy, but answered
nothing; only Rosamund said:
so. my cousins, you would be away,
perhaps to return no more, and that
will part u. But"-and her voice broke
somewhat-"such is the woman's lot,
since men like you ever love the bare
sword best of all, nor should 1 think
well Of you We're it otherwise. Yet,
cousins, / know not why - and she
shivered q little-'it comes into my
heart that heaven often answers such
prayers swiftly. l am afraid-of
know not what. Well, we must he 60
ing, for we have nine miles to ride, and
the dark is not so far away. But first,
my cousins, come with me into this
shrine and let us pray st. Peter and
st. Chad to guard u.s."
Then they turned and entered the old
in Britain, rough built of Roman stone
by the very hands Of Chad, the Saxon
saint, more than 500 years before their
day. Here they knelt awhile at the
rude altar and prayed, each of them in
his or her own fashion, then crossed
themselves and rose to seek their
horses, which were tied i'm the shed
hard by
Now, there were two roads, or, rather,
a mile or so inland that ran through the
village of Bradwell, and the other, the
shorter way, along the edge of the Salt
ings to the narrow water known as
Death creek, at the head of which the
traveller to Steeple must strike inland,
leaving the priory Of Stangate on his
right. 1t was this latter path they chose,
since at low tide the going there IS good
for horses, which. even in the summer,
that of the inland track was not. Also
they wished to be Mt home by supper
time lest the old knight Sir Andrew
Darcy, the father Of Rosamund and
the uncle Of the orphan brethren, should
grow anxious and perhaps come out to
seek them.
For the half of an hour or more they
rode along the edge OF the Saltings, for
the most part in silence that was bro
ken only by the cry of curlew and the
lap Of the turning tide. No human be-
ing did they see, indeed, for this place
was very desolate and unvisited save
now and again by fishermen. At
4 ,1 t~a 30 t,,I~
they approached the shore of Death
creek, a sheet Of tidal water which ran
mile or more inland, growing ever
narrower but was here some 800 yards
in breadth. They We're we'll mounted
all three Of them. Indeed. Rosamunds
horse, a great gray, her fathers gift to
her, was famous in that countryside
for its swiftness and power, also be.
cause 1t was so docile that a child
could ride 1t, while these of the breth-
rem were heavy built but we'll trained
war steeds.
Now, the ground lay thus: Some sew.
enty yards from the shore OF Death
creek and parallel to 1t tongue Of
land, covered with scrub and a few
oaks, ran down into the Saltings. its
point ending on their path, beyond
which were a swamp and the broad
river. Between, this tongue and the
shore Of the creek the track wended its
way to the uplands. 1t was an ancient
track. Indeed, the reason of its ex-
istence was that here the Romans or
some other long dead hands had built
a narrow mole or quay Of rough stone
forty or fifty yards in length out into