Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-11-22
CHAPTER XX.

T~ fAVID BOND was on his knee!
 ill the bed of his wagon be
 R.s,5H%a meath the high board cross
 tsSEssxy Before him he held an oper
 Bible, but he was not reading. His
 head was uncovered. His beard was
 lifted. His eyes closed in prayer. Be
 side him knelt Squaw Charley, witt
 hands pressed together, as If reverent l with shoulders bent lower than theil
 wont, with shifting, downward look
 North of the barracks on the road
 that led from the steamer landing the
 two mad met in the carry hours to say
 goodby.
 Swift on the first hint of coming
 trouble the evangelist had made ready
 for his long journey to the west. Shad-
 rach was shod, his master fitting the
 plates to the shaggy hoofs. T'he run
 ners were taken from the green box
 and replaced by the red wheels. Can
 ned food, salted meat, hard tack and forage were boxed or sacked at the suffers. The harness was greased. A new nail was driven home through the
 base of the sagging cross.
 During these preparations the post joined in an effort to damp the aged preachers hopes and to check his go- ing. He was needed at Brannon, they said, so that the regiment could be rid of Matthews. His belief that he could talk peace terms to the hostiles was ludicrous. As for the Jamieson women, they were dead or they would have been returned long since to save the four condemned from hanging. And his own life was to be uselessly endangered. Already out upon the prairie Indian scouts were keeping watch. He might be able, though alone and unarmed, to pass them and reach the coulees beyond, but he would only fall into the murderous clutches of the savages swarming there
 David Bond smiled when they ar- gued. His faith was as firm as the bluffs that ramparted the fort, and his old heart was unafraid. With him against the rest ranged two men Robert Fraser and young Jamieson. They believed, as he did, that, know ing the tongue and having friends among the Sioux, he would be in no peril; that by now the captive mother and daughter were on American ground again and would be given over to his care more readily than to an- others; that the arrival of troops be- fore the enemy's camp would be fraught with risk for the defenseless two and that an attempt to take them by force would be their death signal.
 Colonel Cummings was narrowed by morshs of anguish and ill., ness and angered by the indifference and dawdling If the captors in the face of his demand and threat. His heart was set upon punishment now, not treaty. He felt that he was being played with, and he longed to find the red Sioux and thrash them soundly. | A word about the evangelists trip put | him out of patience. He regarded 1t IS futile and rash. Yet he did not for bid 1t. He dared not, for there was Jamieson's old-young face and whiten- ng head and a hidden spark of hope that would not die.
 He owed 1t to his conscience and po- 'ition, however, to discourage David Bond. There will be sharp fighting his summer" he told him. "A hun lred good men like you couldn't stop {. The cause lies too deep, and 1t is oo well founded. In the matter of he women you will also fail They lid not come as the price of four ,hiefs. Will they come because you Isk for them politely? They won't. And you will be slaughtered"
 Then shall die in noble cause"