The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1911-04-07

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bush to bush. darted under the win
dow through which he had seen Ma
rion, leaped lightly up the broad steps
and sprang into the great room. his
pistol cooked in his hand. g
The room was empty. He listened,
but not q sound came to his ears ex-
cept the rustling of curtain in the
breeze. The huge lamp over the Ia
BILE was burning dimly. The five doors
leading from the room were tightly
closed. Nathaniel held his breath.
tried to still the tumultuous pounding
Of his heart as he waited for a sound
of life-a step beyond those doors. q
woman's voice, a child's cry. But
none came. The stiffness Of desertion
lowered about him. He went to one
Of the five doors. It was not locked.
He opened it silently. with the eau
ton of thief, and there doomed be-
fore him chaos of gloom.
"Hello!" he called gently. Hello
Hello"
There was no answer. He struck
a match and advanced step by step,
holding the yellow bit of fame above
his head. 1t disclosed the narrow
walls of hall and an open door lead
ing into another room. The match
sputtered and went out and he lighted
another. On little table just outside
the door was half burned candle and
he replaced his match with this. Then
he went in.
At glance he knew that he had
entered woman's room, redolent
with the perfume of flowers. On one
side was a bed and close beside it a
cradle with a child's toys scattered
about 1t. The tumbled coverlets
showed that both had been recently
used. About the room were thrown ar
ticles of wearing apparel; trunk had
been dragged from closet and was
half packed; everywhere was the dis
order of hurried fight. For a few
moments the depth of his despair held
Nathaniel motionless. The castle was
Decentralization was gone! He ran
back into the great room, no longer
trying to still the sound of his foot
steps, and opened second door. The
same silence greeted him, the same
disorder, the same evidence that the
wives and children of the Mormon
king had fled. He went into third
room-and then a fourth.
For an instant he paused at the
threshold of this fourth chamber. A
light was burning in the room at the
end of the hail. The door was closed
with the exception of an inch or two.
"Marion!" he called softly, and lis
tened intently.
He went on when there was no re.
ply, and pushed open the door.
A candle was burning on a stand
in front of mirror. The room was
as empty as the others. But there was
no disorder here. The bed was un-
used. the garments in the open closet
had not been disarranged. On the
floor beside the bed was a pair of
shoes and as Nathaniel saw them his
heart seemed to leap to his throat
and stifled the cry that was on his
lips. He took one of them in his
hand, his whole being throbbing with
| eXcitment. 1t was Marion's shoe
incrusted with mud and torn as he
had seen it in the forest. With her
name falling from his lips in plead
Ing cry he now searched the room and
on the stand in front of the mirror
he found lilac colored ribbon, soiled
and crumpled. 1t was Marion's. rib
bon-the one he had seen last in her
hair, and he crushed it to his lips as
he ran back into the great room, call
ing out her name again and again in
the torture of helplessness that now
possessed him.
Mechanically, rather than with rea-
son, he went to the fifth and last door.
His candle had become extinguished
In his haste and after he had opened
the door he stopped at the threshold
of the black hall to light it again.
There was a moments pause as he
searched his pockets for a match, a
silence in which he listened as he
searched, and suddenly as he was
about to strike the sulphur tipped
spllnt there came to his ears sound
that held him chained to the spot.
1t was the sobbing of woman; or
was it :. child? In moment he knew
that it was a woman; and then the
sobbing ceased.
There was nothing but darkness
ahead Of him; no ray of light shone
under the door; the chamber itself
was in utter gloom. AS quietly as
possible he relighted his candle. A
glance assured him that this hall was
different from the others; it was
deeper, and there were two doors at
the end instead Of one. Through which
Of these doors had come the sound of
sobbing he had heard?
He approached and listened. Each
moment added to his excitement. his
fears. his hopes, but at last he
opened the door on the left. The
room was empty: there was the same
disorder as before: the same signs Of
hurried fight. It was the room on
the right! His heart almost stopped
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