The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1907-05-14
LHlIN THE UNKNOWN DARKaA

BY CHARLES q. d. ROBERTS.

Here she caught on boulder, tipped
up until she was nearly on her gun
vale, and pitched the little animal
clear overheard.
AS the clumsy craft swung loose
the very next instant, the colt was
| dragged along in her wake. and
would have ended his adventures
then and there but for the readiness
of the man. Forgetting for an in
slant his own terrible plight, he drew
| his knife and slashed the rope. Thus
released, the colt got his head above
water and made a valiant struggle
toward the shore, which was now not
five yards away.
All that he could do in the grip of
that mad food was, needless to say,
very little, but it CHANGED to be
enough, for It brought him within
the grasp Of a strong eddy. A mo-
ment later he was dashed violently
into shoal water. AS he fought to
footing, he saw the scow wallowing
away down the torrent Then he
found himself, he knew not how, on
dry land.
The rapids roared behind him.
They might, it seemed, rush up at
any instant and clutch him again.
Blind and sick with pain, he dashed
into the woods, and went galloping
and stumbling straight inland. with
no thought but to escape that awful
voice. Not till the roar had quite
died out did the strength of his terror
desert him. Then he sank trembling
In the deep grass of a little brook
side meanow.
Being of sturdy stock, the brown
colt soon recovered his wind. Then,
feeling nervous in the loneliness of
the woods and the deepening shad-
ows. he snatched few mouthfuls Of
grass and started to try and find his
way home. Obeying some deep-seat-
ed instinct. he set his face in the
right direction, and pushed forward
through the thick Growths.
His progress. however, was slow.
Among the trees the twilight was now
| gathering, and the dark places filled
his young heart with vague but
| dreadful approximations, so that at
every few steps he would stop and
stare backward over his shoulder.
| Presently he came out upon another
open glade, and cheered by the light
he followed this glade as long as it
seemed to lead in the right direction.
Once a wide-wlnged, noiseless
| shadow sailed over his head, and he
SHE'D with loud snort OF terror. He
had never before seen an owl. And
once he jumped back wildly, as a
foraging mink rustled through the
heritage just before him. But for all
the alarms that kept his baby heart
| quivering, he pressed resolutely for
ward. longing for the comfort Of his
mothers flank, and the familiar stall
In the barn above the ferry
AS he reached the end of the glade
his apprehensive ears caught a curl
Gus sound, a sort of dry rustling,
which came from the fringe of the
underground. He halted staring anx-
iously at the place the strange sound
came from.
Immediately before him was the
PROSTATE and rotting trunk of an elm
tree, its roots hidden in the brush
wood, its upper end projecting into
the grass and weeds of the glade AS
the colt stood wondering, a thick-set,
| short-legged .grayish-colored animal,
covered with long bristling quilts,
emerged from the LEAKAGE, and came
crawling down the trunk toward him.
| 1t looked no larger than the black
and-white dog which the colt was ac-
customed to seeing about the farm
yard, but its fierce little eyes and its
formidable quilts made him extreme
| ly nervous.
The porcupine came directly at
him, with an ill-natured, squeaking
grunt. The colt backed away a foot
| or two, snorting, then held his
/ ground. He had never yielded ground
| to the black-and-white dog. why
| should he be afraid of this clumsy
| little creature? But when at last
| the porcupine drew so near that he
| could have touched IL with his out
| stretched nose, instead of making any
] such great mistake as that he flung
his head high in air. wheeled about.
and dashed out furiously with his
hinder hoofs.
One hoof caught the porcupine
| fairly on the snout, and sent It whirl-
| ing end over end into the thicket.
where It lay stretched out lifeless. as
/ a feast for the first hungry prowIer
that might chance by. Not greatly
elated by his voctory. the magnitude
of which he in no way realized, the
colt plunged again I'm the woods and
| continued his journey
BY this time the sun had dropped
| completely behind the wooded hills.
and here in the deep forest the dark
| seemed to come on all at once. The
! colts fears now crowded upon him so
thicky that he could hardly make
/ any progress at all He was kept busy
staring this way and that, and partic-
! ularly over his shoulders
A mass Of shadow deeper than
the rest-a stump. moss grown
| would seem to- his fright
| ened eyes a moving shape. just about
| 20 spring upon him He would iump
TO one side, his baby heart pounding
between his ribs. only to see another
/ and huger shadow on the other side.
and jump back again The sudden
| scurrying of wood-mouse over the
! dry spruce-needles made his knees
/ tremble beneath him
At last, coming to two tail. straight
trunked saplings growing close to-
| gethor just before the perpendicular
face Of a great rock, he was vaguely