The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1907-07-12
CHAPTER XVI-Continued.

ndu quickly uIeu low dS IL tue NlCJlm
were being smOthered; and now cOul(
be heard only the single scream 0
some woman caught in flight,
deSpairing screams, and others tina
seemed to be cut ShOrt-stranged a
their height.
Joel Rae found himself on the line
after the first volley, drawn by some
dread power he could not resist. Yet
one look had been enough. He shut
his eyes to the writhing forms, the
jets Of flame splitting through the fog
Of smoke. and turned to fee.
Then in an inStant-hOW it had
come about he never knew-he was
struggling with a man who shouted
his name and cursed him,-a dark
man with blood streaming from a
wound in his throat. He defended
himself easily, feeling his assailant's
strength already waning. Time after
time the man called him by name and
cursed him, now in low tones, as they
swayed. Then the Saint whose al
lOtted victim this man had been, hav-
ing reloaded his pistol, ran up held it
close to his head, fired, and ran back
to the line.
He felt the mans grasp of his Shout
derS relax and his body grow sudden
ly limp, as if homeless. He let it down
| to the ground, looking at last full
upon the face. At first glance it told
him nothing. Then a faint sense of
its familiarity pushed up through
many old memories. Sometime, some
where, he had known the face.
The dying man opened his eyes
wide, not seeing, but Convulsively, and
then he felt himself enlightened by
something in their dark color,-some-
thing in the line of the brow under
the black hair;-a face was brought
back to him, the handsome face of the
jaunty, militia captain at Nauvoo, the
man who had helped eXpel his people,
who had patronized them with his
airs Of proteCtor,-the man who had
1t did not come to him until that in
Btant-this man was Girnway. In the
fash of awful comprehension he
dropped, a sickened and nerveless
heap, beside the dead man, turning
his head on the ground, and feeling
for any sign Of life at his heart.
Forward there, where the yells of
the Indians had all but replaced the
screams of frantic women-butchered
already perhaps, subjected to he knew
not what infamy at the hands of saw
age or Saint-was the yelloW-haired,
pink-faced girl he had loved and kept
so long imaged in his heart; yet she
might have escaped, she might still
live-she might even not have been
In the party.
He sprang up and found himself
facing white-haired boy, who held
a little crying girl by tight grasp of
her arm, and who eyed him aggres.
sively,
What did you hurt Prudence's
father for? He was a good man. Did
you shoot him."
He seized the boy roughly by the
shoulder.
Prudence - Prudence - where is
she?"
Here"
He looked down at the little girl,
who still cried Even in that glance
he saw her mothers prettiness, her
pink and white daintiness, and the
yellow shine of her hair.
Her mother, then,-quick!"
The boy pointed ahead.
up there-she told me to take care
of Prudence, and when the Indians
came out she made me run back here
to look for him" He pointed to the
still figure on the ground before them.
And then, making a brave effort to
keep back the tears:
IF | had a gun Id shoot some In
dians; I'D shoot you, too-you killed
him. When grow up to be a man,
I'll have gun and come here"
He had the child in his arms, and
called to the boy:
Come, fast now! Go as near as you
can to where you left her"
They ran forward through the gray
smoke, stepping over and around
bodies as they went. When they
reached the first of the women he
would have stopped to search, but the
boy lead him on, pointing. And then,
halfway up the line, a little to the
right of the road, at the edge of the
cedars, his eye caught the glimpse of
great mass of yellow hair on the
ground. She seemed to have been
only wounded, for, as he looked, she
was up on her knees striving to stand.
He ran faster, leaving the boy be-
hind now, but while he was still far
OFF, he saw an Indian, knife in hand.
run to her and strike her down. Then
before he had OWNED the intent, the
savage had gathered the long hair
nto his left hand, made a swift cir
ling of the knife with his right,-and
he thing was done before his eyes.
lie screamed in terror as he ran, and ,
low he was near enough to be heard.