The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1907-05-21
IN THE, UNKNOWN DARK

BY CHARLES q. d. ROBERTS.

= - y M1EA
rocks and sluices close by the shore.
Here she caught on a 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 a
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, 1t 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 filed
his young heart with vague but
dreadful apprehensions, 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 1t
seemed to lead in the right direction.
Once a wide-winged, noiseless
shadow sailed over his head, and he
SHE'D with a 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 quills,
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 it's
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 1t 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 in 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
thickly that he could hardly make
any progress at all. He was kept busy
staring this way and that, and partic-
ularly over his shoulders.
mass Of shadow deeper than
the rest--a stump, moss grown
! would seem to his fright
oned eyes a moving shape, just about
to spring upon him lie 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 a woOd-mouso over the
| dry sDruce-needles made his knees
Il A.. d. IN