Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1909-11-11

pasture. Then, as the horses jumped
again, he pulled the shawl away from one
ear and listened.
He felt his flesh creep at the sound
which reached him-a long. wild wall,
like the cry of woman in the last ex-
tremity of pain or fear. II began with a
quivering, long-drawn sob which rose,
sweled to a cry Of mortal terror, and then
died away in thin note.
Closing the gate through which he had
dragged the terrified team, Eb sprang into
the sled and laid the whip furiouSly upon
the backs of his horses.
The hill rose abruptly from the spot,
but the team fairly flew up the short,
snowy slope and along the drifted road
way.
Not once did Ebenezer allow the slight
est decrease IN the speed until he reached
his own front door. There he drew rein
and turned-to find the back part OF the
sled entirely empty
Even the straw which had been Strewn
upon the bottom OF the bed was gone.
The absence of the end-gate attracted
his half-stupefied attention. 1t had been
removed so that the barrels of wood ash
es could the more easily be taken out,
and he had neglected TO put it in again.
Understanding came like binding
pain. When the horses so suddenly had
started up the hill by the gate where the
cry of the panther had terrified them, the
feather bed upon which Melissa had sat
had slipped out of the sled. Even if she
had called, he could not have heard her.
He did not stop fully to think it out.
With the first realization OF what had hap
pened, he had turned the horses heads
back toward the hill, and was shouting
wild imprecations upon their slowneSS,
plying the whip with the arm OF a mad
man.
He could crawl faster than they ran F!
Did they think he wanted them TO go to
sleep? Why did they not lie down in
their tracks and be done with il? His
frenzied rawlings at the horses were inter-
spersed will calls of "Lissy LisSy Pm
coming, LissyW
"God, can't You help ?" he cried.
Cant You see the horses amt movin'? ?
Do You want that little woman tore to
pieces ? Oh, please help me hurry !
Please let me get to her, God f! I'll do
anything for You, if You'll just let me
have her safe We amt movin'! We're
crawlin', Jest crawlin' wouldn't"
The words died on the mans lips as
they reached the top OF the hill, and in
voluntarily refining his team to walk,
Ebenezer sank slowly to his knees, star
ing dumbly between the horses heads
and wondering if what he saw were real,
or if he actually had gone mad, as he had
thought he should do during the founder
ing race over the back track.
When she started home from her ia
theirs house Melissa was tired, for she
had had long and an exciting day. In
the luxurious warmth OF the feather bed
and the log-cabin comfort, she curled
Up like well-fed kitten and went to
sleep.
She was awakened suddenly by some
kind OF a shock, the nature OF which she
could not determine at once. In fact,
she could not remember where she was.
Struggling to free herself from the weight
which hampered her, she drew herself to
her feet. The cold air and the snowy
scene wakened her thoroughly. She saw
the sled just disappearing at the top OF
the hill, and called her husbands name.
Before she could call again, there came
the terrifying scream that had sent Eben-
ezer so wildly hunyinghome. The hor-
ror of her situation seemed, for the mo-
ment, to stop the beating Of her heart.
Again the cry OF the panther came, and
this time nearer Melissa looked about
her. She had no weapon. Eb had his
revolver in his pocket Then her eyes
fell upon the package which her mother
had given her.
Throwing off her woolen mittenS, she
tore open the parcel and struck match,
with fingers which did not tremble, al
though the wailing cat was coming nearer.
She lighted candle and fixed il firmly in
the snow just beyond the edge OF her
feather bed. Another she placed a short
distance away from the first. Then a
third she lighted, and others, until she
had circled herself with the bits Of fire.
Her heart swelled with thankfulness for
the utter absence of wind. The tongues
of flame did not waver.
Seating herself, she waited, knowing
that her husband would turn back the
minute he missed her. Soon she saw the
dark, 1.-the figure of the dreaded animal,
sometimes low on the snow when the
trees were far apart, but leaping from tree
to tree when they were close together.
Occasionally the atgave utterance to the
mournful wall which is one Of the most
terrifying sounds in nature.
Melissa sat perfectly still, but kept her
eyes fixed upon her enemy, which finally
stopped on long, low-hanging limb OF
a tree not twenty feet away from the brave
little woman There it crouched, and
Melissa watched intently the fire of its
eyes, remembering that she had been told
that wild animals would not attack per-
son who kept his gaze unwaveringIy up
on the eyes of the beast She could see,
without looking, that the long tail was un-
ceasingly in motion, while the cat fre-
quenty sharpened its claws on the bark
of the branch upon which it crouched.
But the candles were burning down