Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1911-01-27
CHAPTER XII.

Okyada, my servant, entered my bed
room at 10 o'clock that very night, and
when I crossed the landing to wake
Joan h did not answer me, nor could
my diligent search discover her to be
in the house at all.
And III minutes Of my opportunity
were precious beyond all reckoning.
Good Godl" I cried, that I must
leave her to such men and to such a
Judgment"
For 1 knew thai 1t must be SO, and
that by flight alone. and the perils Of
flight, would our salvation be won.
Okyada has never been a man OF
many words. I think he uttered but
two hat night as we crossed the val
ley garden and made for the river
bank. Shoot, MASTER" he said, mean
ing that IL any barred the way the
tine sc- passive aisht had passed. /
nodded .ny head & answer and pressed
closer upon his heels as he entered the
maze Of shrubs which defended the
gully. The silence about us had be-
come a burden to the nerves. Was 1t
possible that lone Of Imroth's men
watched the garden? Indeed, for a mo-
.ment that appeared to be the truth.
We gained the bank Of the whirl-
pool OF yesterday, and for a few min
'utes lay fiat in the shadow of the
great boarder Of the rock which rises
up above the gully. Behind us we could
feSDY lIIo lIStltu lliuO" Va liz DOu-
room I a just left and the clear
shape Of the silent chalet. The gardens
and h woods were so many patches
of black against an Zur sky of night.
The water below us flowed, In color a
deep indigo. between walls OF lightless
rock, in a bed Of polished stone. Not
q breath Of wind stirred the pines upon
the hillside. We could not longer see
the ocean without or the friendly lights
1t showed to us. We might a been
,fugitives upon a desert island: n this
deception would have continued posi-
bile, until the SOUND of a distant rifle
shot awoke a thousand echoes in the
hills and shattered in q single instant
the dream Of security we had found so
pleasing.
Okyada sprang up at the sound and
began to speak with an earnestness of
which he was ra-eiT guilty
They have found the honorable cap
itain-quick, master, we must go to
Ihim!" he said.
My answer was to point UP to the
lsloping lawn Of the garden we had left.
There, in single file, the figures of sew
en- men, crossing the grass boldly to-
ward the chalet, were clearly to be
ldiscerned. I had scarcely observed
them when a movement In the shrub
berry Immediately behind us betrayed
the presence of others-three in all,
who came out to the waters edge at
a place not 10 yards from where we
stood, and, hating there a little while
to inspect the gully, afterwards made
off through the woods, as though to
join the others above.
''Old Val gets such notions into his
lwoolly cranium," said one OF them as
ne went; IF there's any Engiishman
going across there tonight, Pm derned
Iif he amt mermaid"
We listened TO them, c%rouching low
to the rock, and with our revolvers
ready to our hands. Had the most
trifling accident occurred, a falling peb-
BILE or q clumsy movement betrayed
us, that, i am convinced, would have
been the whole story of the night. But
we lay as men long practiced in the
arts OF silence, and not until the trees
hid the men from our sight did Okyada
stand up again and prepare to cross
the gully.
@ first, master" he said; here Is
the rope. Our friends, with the hon
orable captain. wait yonder above. We
will bring them the good news"
Now / saw that. as he spoke, he had
caught up a rope which had been dex-
~terously fixed to a bowlder upon the OPP
Iposite bank of the stream n allowed
to trail In the water while he went tc
fetch me from the house. Fixing this
as cleverly to the rock upon our side
he made q bridge by which any strong
la.d could have crossed with the poo
as low as II then was. and no sooner
had he given the signal than / SWUNG
myself out and almost imrnediatel!
FOUND a footing upon the farther shore
His own passage. when first he crossed
must have been very p%erilous. ] though
and I could but imagine that he hat
thrown the rope over first n trusted
TO the graphing iron affixed to the emf
upon the garden side. This. however
wa but a speculation. He crossed nov
a. I had done, and together We cas-
the knot from the 5owlder and threw
the rope In. II all our acts were coo
and collected. I set the fact down u
a.. ln..tA~. that ma vyAra rfsignunr