The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1909-11-11
1909. by Stanley J. weyman..
CHAPTER xI-Continued.

oct, sure, where IL will be best for
|you," Og replied, with a leer.
Both OF us?' the Colonel asked. in
s the anne hard tone. ,.. 49,.
Faith, and why'd we be separating
you I'd be asking?" ..r.+
Colonel John liked neither the mans
ttone nor his looks. But he was far
above startin~ at shadows. and he
guessed that resistance would be use
n less. Very good,'' he said. Lead on"
"Bedad, and IL youn be doing that
same, we will" O'Sullivan answered.
n with q grin. =, So
The Colonel and Bale found their
4 hats they'd been allowed to bring
nothing else with them-and they went
down the stairs. In the gloom before
"A the door OF the tower waited two
sturdy fellows, barefoot and shock
q headed, with musquetoons on their
q shoulders, who seemed to be expecting
them. Bound the smouldering embers
n OF the hre q score OF figures lay sleep
ing in the open, wrapped in their
n frieze coaus. The sun was not yet up
and all things were wrapped in a mist
that chilled to the bone. Nothing in
all hat was visible took from the
ominous aspect of the two men with
the firearms One for each, Bale
N Thought. And his face, always pallid,
showed ifvid In the morning light.
Without q word the four men formed
up round their prisoners, and at once
n C'Suilivan Og led the way at q brisk
pace toward the gate. Colonel John
was following, but he had not taken
three steps before a thought struck
n him and he halted. Are we leaving
the house at once?" he asked
I'VE are. And why not, Pm asking"
"Oniy that v a message for The
McMurrough 1t will be well Tor him TO
have" 49,.
sure" o'Sullivan Og answered, his
manner nalf wheedling, half truculcnt,
n and the like now, Colonel. No time at
a all, I tell u Ye can see that for
yourself, I'm thinking, such a morning
n as this."
"Tm thinking nothing of the kind
n the Colonel answered, and he hung
back, looking toward h house. Fortu-
nately Darby chose hat minute to
appear at the door. The buffers face
was pale and showed fatigue. his hair
u hung in wisps, his clothes were ill
fastened. He threw a glance of con-
tempt at the sleeping figures lying here
and there in the wet. Thence his eyes
d Travelled on and took in the group by
y the gate. He started and Wrung his
hands in sudden, irrepressible distress.
1t was as II a spasm seized the man.
The Colonel called him. Darby" he
cried. Come here. my man." =.
O'Sullivan Og opened his mouth; be
was on the point OF i~nterposing. but he
thought better of it, and shrugged his
shoulders, muttering something in the
Erse.
Darby" the Colonel said, gravely,
1--WE a message for the young master,
and It must be given him in his bed,
Will you give it?"
Il will, your honor"
You will not fail?"'
II win not, your honor" the Old SER
want answered earnestly.
Tell him. then. that Colonel Sullivan
made his will as he passed through
Paris, and t Is now in Dublin. You
mind me, Darby?"
The old man began to shake-he had
an Irishman's superstition. II do, your
honor. But III saints be between us
and HARM he continued, with the same
gesture of distress. Who's speaking OF
wills2"
Only tell him that in his bed" Col
onei John repeated, with an urgent
look. THAT Is all"
And by your leave, 1t is now we'll be
going" Og interposed sharply. 1--WE
are late already for hat we've to do
There are some things" the Colonel
replied with a steady look, (which 1t is
well to De late about"
Then, without further remonstrance,
he and Bale. with their guard, marched
out through h gate and 0 the road
along the lake-that same Dad by
which the colonel had come some days
before from the French sloop. The men
with h firelocks all beside them,
one on either flank, while the pikemen
guarded them behind, n O'Sullivan
Og brought up the rear.
They had not taken 20 PAGES before
the fog swallowed up the party. and
henceforth they walked in q sea of
V0fcf ltln man Y,1nHyinr In IN niphtT ~ a ra
from which they cannot awake. The
clammy vapor chilled them to the bone.
while the unceasing wailing of sea-
gulls. borne OF the Tough. the whistle
of an unseen curlew on the hillside, the
hurtie OF wings as some ghostly bird
swept over them-these were sounds to
depress men who had reason to sus-
pect that they were being led to a
treacherous End.
The colonel, though he masked his
apprehension under an impenetrable
flrmness, began to fear no less than
that-ard with cause. He observed
that O'Sullivan Og's followers were of
the lowest type of kerne. Islanders
In all probability, and half starved;
men whose hands were never far from
the skenes, and whose one orderly in
stinct consisted i'll a blind obedience
to their chief. O'Sullivan Og himself
he believed to be The McMurrough's
agent in his more lawlesS business;
a fierce, INSCRIPTIONS man, prospecting
on his lack Of scruple. The colonel
could augur nothing but Ill from the
hands to which he had been entrusted,
and worse from the manner in which
these savage, half naked creatures,
stumbling beside him, stole from time
to time to glance at him, as If they
fancied they saw the winding sheet
high On his breast.
Some so placed. and feeling them
selves helpless, isolated by the fog. and
entirely at these men mercy, might
have lost their flrTnness. But he did
not; nor did Bale, though the servants
face betrayed the keennesS Of his anX-
iety. They weighed indeed the chances
of escape; such chances as a %headlong
rush into the fog might afford to UNI
armed men, uncertain they were. But
the colonel reflected that it was possible
that hat was the very course upo
which O'Sullivan Og counted for a pre-
text. And, for q second objection, the
two could not. SC closely were they
guarded. communicate with each other,
After all, The MCMurrough's plan
might amount to no more than their
detention in some secret place among
the hills. Colonel John hoped so.
He could not but think i'll Of things;
OF O'Sullivan Og's silence, Of the mems
stealthy chances, Of the uncanny hour.
And when they came presently to q
point where a family marked track left
ther road, and the party at a word from