The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1909-06-24
The House Of the Black
= !. ! s.... Ring e.,,e.... 20.
cHAPTER xIY-contlnued.

Iona ne burst u p~aSslonateIy
.grell me about it-now: Lona'
promised She glided suddenly from
him and disappeared into the rhododen-
dron. 1t was dusk where he stood; the
night vas creeping on rapidly; the
shadow OF the mountain lay heavily
over the little glen.
"But, Iona he cried forgetting ey-
erything and springtng after her, mot
yet not Just yet He caught a glimpse
or white ahead and ran toward IL.
Iona" he cried in real alarm.
~twhere are you, Iona? Let me go
with you. It's dark" There was no
eound save the echo of his voice In
the hollow gap. He rushed hither and
thfther In the dusk amid h rocks and
the scrub oaks, calling her name.
Then he leaped upon a jut of wealth
cred limestone and listened. No sound
save the snarl OF the Run and the
defky strain of a ~whippoorwil in the
nSar gap. There was not a breath OF
satr. The fragrance of clover fields stole
NIP to him mingled with the mist Of the
evening. brook. Then right below him
lnftheygiuom he saw the old cabin of the
HeIlers, black and silent. An involun-
tary shudder, a fear of he knew not
what, made a clutch at his heart. But
1t was only for q moment. Was that
q flicker Of white down near the house?
He leaped from the rock. crying,
Iona"
A moment and she was right by his
elbow as il she had sprung from the
Please. don't" she pleaded in awful
earnestness. ''Hush-h-h-h-h! You
promised. You must go-quick. It's
death TO stay here another minute"
II don't care If it is. I'm going to
stay-with you," he cried recklessly.
I'D Gle for you, Iona"
ON, no, no, no, no. she gaspeo'
don't say that. Hush-h-h-h. Now go,
Tom. please. For my sake. Tom, 60"
There was no mfstaking ner tone He
saw her wayer a moment, then cast a
shuddering glance behind her, and
again. Sc had vanished. A mad reck-
lessess was on him; he had but a single
thought. He ran hither and thither,
eagerly, insanely. He looked behind
every bush and rock and projection.
In vain. She had disappeared like a
moth. "..
He ran to the old cabin; the door was
locked. She could not nave been there;
he would nave seen her cross the open.
He stopped and listened intently. He
was within the black ring, though he
did not know 1t. ~ ...
There was a sound like a stealthy
rustic near him. n al he turned he
caught a glimpse of q white face-a
face as of the dead, framed in intense
black, right within two feet of him. 1t
was pressed against the window pane
from the inside, and the eyes were
sharp and glittering. A sickening fear
gnpped him, but he sprang forward,
'Lonaln he cried.
The face disappeared like q flash.
Was that Iona Heller's face? He
tried the door impulsively, then he
threw his weight upon 1T, In vain. In
q sort of frenzy he looked about him
for a stone; he ran back a little. Then
he heard a penetrating whisper from no
particular direction, but seemingly right
In his ear, #".
Don't, Tom. For my sake, CO."
He looked about him dizzily. 1t might
have come from the shrubbery or the
cabin. 1t was impossible to tell which.
II was Lona's voice, but there was a
tone in 1t that was new to him. The
dead silence of the. night, the atmos-
phere OF mystery, the face at the win
bow, the voice-what did it mean?
Then a feeling of terror over which he
had no control began to creep upon
him. He was no longer capable of
thinking clearly. A moment n he
was on his way home, walking faster
and ever faster, looking fearfully
straight before him.
Luke one, that on a lonesome road.
Doth walk with fear and dread,
And having once turned round walks on,
And turns no more his head; .
Because he knows a frightful fiend
Doth close behind him tread.
It was a ~sleepless night that he spent,
Ind his bedfellow, Jim, was s~leepless
TOO. And neither spoke a word during
all the night. There are some things
Mat part even brothers.