Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-01-26
CHAPTER XII.

Okyada. my servant, entered my bed
room at 10 o'clock that very night, and
I crossed the landing 10 wake
Joan she did not answer me, nor could
my diligent search discover her 10 be
in the house at all.
were precious beyond all, reckoning.
Good God!" I cried, that I must
leave her to such men and to such q
Judgment"
For I knew that IT must be so. and
that by flight alone, and the perils Of
flight. would u salvation be won.
Okyada " been a man Of
many words. I think he uttered but
two that 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
time for passive flight had passed. I
nodded my head in 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 h nerves. Was 1t
possible that none 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
espy the lighted windows Of the bed
room had just left and the clear
shape of the silent chalet. The gardens
and he woods were SO many patches
Of black against an azure sky Of night.
The water below us flowed, in color q
deep indigo. between walls Of lightless
q breath of wind stirred the pines upon
h hillside. We could not longer see
n ocean without or the friendly lights
It showed to us. We might have been
fugitives upon a desert island: and this
deception would have continued possi-
shot awOke a thousand echoes in the
hills and shattered in a single instant
h dream of security we had found 60
pleasing.
Okyada sprang up al the sound and
began to speak with an earnestness Of
which he was rarely guilty.
They have found the honorable can
tain-qutck, master, we must go to
htm!" he said.
My answer was to point up to the
sloping lawn of the garden we had left.
There. in single file, the figures Of sew
en- men. crossing the grass boldly to-
ard the chalet, were clearly to be
discerned. I had scarcely observed
them when a movement in the shrllb-
berry Immediately behind us BETRAYED
h presence Of ~others-three in ali.
who came out to the waters edge at
q p10Sc uOI ~ yaTOS from Wnere we
stood, and, hating there q little while
to inspect the gully, afterwards made
off through the woods. as though to
Join h others above.
old Va gets such notions Into his
woolly cranium." said one. Of them a.
NJ. went; III there's any Englishman
going across there tonight, I'm derned
II he amt a-mermaid."
We listened to them, crouchfne low
to the rock. and with our revolver
ready to our hands. Had the most
trif1tng accident occurred, q falling peh-
BILE or q clumsy movement betraved
us. that, / am convinced, would have
been the whole story OF the night. AM
we lay az men long practiced IN the
arts of silence, and not until the tree
hid the men from our sight did Okvsda
stand up again n prepare to cross
tie. Gully.
"GoA irst. MASTER" he said: .here !.
the rope. Our friends. with tho hon.
orable captatn. wait yonder above. W.
Will bring them The good news."
Now ! saw that. as he spoke. he h.a
caught up q rope which had been dev.
tefously7fxed to Q bowlder upon the a..
posite bank Of the stream and ailowsi
to trail In the water while he went "a
fetch mo from tie house. Fixin9 IN