Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1906-09-27


yonder.s-he jerked his thumb over his
shoulder in the direction of the town
below them that at first thought it
must BE he"
What spy?" Baverstock lost color
slightly. It was not comfortable to
hear that one Of ones own calling has
met with the common misfortune
which threatens the trade. Il don't
know what you are talking Of; for q
moment he thought it was thrust at
his own occupation.
A man named Winstanleyan Eng
lish of1cer-he was caught three days
ago. He had secret dispatches on him
very important. He was trying to
get them through to Ladysmith. He
was tried this morning, and he's to be
shot at dawn. You are so like him that
you might be his brother. Is he any
relation of yours? 2" #
No, confound hint" 1t was hard to
say what upset him-the shock Of the
news or the suggestion that there
might be a relationship. "He deserves
it, anyhow with a furtive glance into
the imperturbable face Of the other
for any hint of thought that there
was another with deserts. I'm Eng
land, lots Of us look like each other.
There's nothing in that"
This likeness is so remarkable -
well, that happens often enough,
too. He's no kin of mine, tell you, so
you needn't hammer on at it. l sha'n't
have to wear mourning for him."
With that grim pleasantly he put
spurs to his weary horse and rode on
over the slope, down toward the camp
nestled in the sheltered hollow below.
He looked unmoved, and he even
whistled, but his heart within him was
in NLifl. Captain Winstanley
doomed to die by the death that hung
above his own head deadly, hourly,
like the sword of Damocles! Never to
go back to the girl down at Wynberg;
the girl he had held in his own arms
that night at Government House! New.
er to have her tell him she loved him
and press her soft brown head against
him, as it had once been pressed
against his own heart. He was to die
the death Of traitor, and She sha
would not be mis- any more. Then there
came the memory of her face in the
moonlight, and her voice of pleading,
as she begged him for her sake. He
had promised he would do what he
alone could do, in giving back Win.
stanley's honor to him. Now it could
be of little use to make him the pres.
ent, if his life were taken instead.
If his life were taken; the life that
was priced by the girl down at Wyn.
berg! Would she break her heart
when the news came to her, and she
knew what had come to pass? II she
knew Of his doom, would she cry to
himself to save him, as she had i'm.
plored him to clear the shadow from
his name? He rode on. thoughtfully
and sullenly, to the camp in the hol.
low below. The thin blue smoke that
curled from the Uncovered huts hard.
IL stirred in the air, it was so light and
SO silent. One would have said there
could be nothing but peace down there.
And yet a man had been tried for his
life today, and that life was to go out
like quenched spark at to-morrow's
dawn. It was not death that moved
Baverstock's compunction-he had
seen enough Of it since he came to
South Africa, and his feelings were
never delicate-but there was some.
thing about the death Of this man that
had strange trouble for him.
1t was the man whom he himself
had injured more surely and more
deeply than he had ever injured any
man, and the man who had been limo.
cent of all offence to him. Baverstock
had never minded when he got the bet.
ter Of an enemy, even if it were to that
enemy's total loss. He had killed a
man before now, but 1t had always
been in q fight when his passion was
hot. This man had never done him
the shadow ola harm he did not
even know him. All the instincts that
were born in him, and blunted by his
training and traditions, awoke now,
and cried out in protest against this
last wrong to- the man he had meanly
destroyed.
ITO Be contlnued.)