The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1911-01-19

DioWlng or whistles, the running to and
FRO OF excited men? More omnibus by
TAR was second rifieshot, awakening
crashing echoes In the mountains. This
believed one Of my own yachts COM
pany had fired. Plainly, our men had
either stumbled upon an ambush or
faiien In some snare set upon the road
we must follow. The truth Of the issue
could not but be momentous to us.
Either we must find them prisoners or
free men who stood In instant danger.
There could be no moment of delay
which was not hazardous, and we per-
mitted none, directly our foothold had
been secured and the rope drawn in.
Did you come alone, Okyada?" I
asked my servant presently.
He dissented as he gathered in the
coils of rope.
The honorable Scotchman, he is
waiting with the lantern, excellency."
smiled, but did not offend his sense
or ina which was due to so great q
person as Balaam, the Scotch boat
swain.
Would 1t be far from here, Okyada?"
That which your excellency could
walk In minute"
1 said no more but followed him I'D
the cliff side, scrambling and slipping
like boy upon holiday jaunt and no
less eager for the heights. To the
darkness Of the night and the quick
ness OF our movements my faithful SER
want and I undoubtedly owed our lives.
Remember that the valley now raised
the cry Of alarm from one end to the
other. Whistles were blown, bells were
rung, rifles fired wildly That the bull
lets struck the rocks both above and
below us. by ears told me Enthusiastically.
Had we been an open mark moving in
the clear light of day the suspense of
hn n
IL, had been easier to support. AS 1t
was. we went on blindly, our hands
clasping the rough powders, our feet
scattering the pebbles Of the path, and
conscious through II all that a wild bull
let might find a lucky billet, and grass
either of both Of us as though we had
been hares In a tricky covert Never
was man more thankful than I when
vast assure In the cliff side appeared
before US suddenly. Nature herself
had here cut path. and it appeared
to lead into the very heart Of the
mountain.
Now this path we followed, It may
have been. for some 200 yards In a d.
rection parallel to that Of the valley we
had quilted. Its gentle declivity brought
us, In the end, to a low cavern Of the
rock, and here we found the boatswain,
Balaam. sitting with his back to the
cliff, smoking his pipe and guarding his
ships lantern as calmly as though the
scene had been Rotherhithe and the
day seaman's Saturday. Hearing our
approach. he bestirred himself suff1-
ciently to fend the light and to ask a
question.
Would It be the doctor and the wild
mann" he asked; and without waiting
for an answer he ran on: II kenned
your step, doctor, and said you were
doing finely. There's firing on the hill
Sir, and we would be wise not to bide,
I'm no gleg at the running myself, but
yon nanny can take the LIGHT, and I'll
make shift for myself"
I told him to show the way and not
to talk, though I was glad enough to
hear the good fellows voice. His name
was Mackie, but a donkey ride at
Cowes christened him Balaam irrevoc-
ably aboard the White Wings. Very
methodically now, and with a seaman's
widening march, he set out to cross the
cavern, Okyada and I upon his heels
and all the mesh of subterranean won
der about us. Here, for a truth, man
might have feared to go at ALL lantern
or no lantern in his hand; for the
cavern revealed the source of the boil
ing springs, and there was one great
chamber of the rock so dreadful to
breathe in, so white with steam and
boiling spray, that my own courage
would have recoiled from it but for the
example set me by these brave fell
lows. They however, held straight on
without a word spoken and, coming to
a clearer air presently, they indicated
to me that we were approaching some
place Of danger and must now go with
circumspection. Then / saw that the
cavern roof narrowed rapidly, until we
stood in a passageway so regularly
nodded that the hand Of man
might have excavated 1t. And
beyond this was the Atlantic
moonless. Never did q glimpse Of the
open water cheer my heart so brave
ly! Liberty, home, my friends-a man
Is man upon the sea, though every
port but one be shut against him. And
the breath Of life is in his lungs, and
the desire of life at his heart. Nay,
who shall deny it?
A sharp exclamation from the
Scotchman, a sudden halt upon my
servants part, quickly tempered these
reflections upon liberty and brought
me back to a sense Of our situation
aHd it's dangers That which they had
seen L now perceived 20 be nothing
less than the figure q 2. man stand
ing with his back to the rock, as
though guarding the entrance to the
tunnel and there keeping watch, not
only upon the path, but upon another
figure which lay prone in the fair way
and was, l had no doubt whatever,
figure OF the dead. To come in
stantly to the conclusion that the dead
was one Of our own, and that he had
been killed by Une Of the rifles whose
report we had so recently heard, 1
found natural enough. Not only was 1t
my thought, but that of the others with
me, and together we halted in the
cavern and asked what we should do.
To be sure. we were not to be af-
frighted by single sentry, though he
carried a rifle in his hand; but the
certainty that others would be with
in call, and that a single cry might
bring them upon us. robbed us for the
moment of any clear idea and held us
prisoners of the cave.
"'Twould have been the firing that
l heard syne." the boatswain whis-
pered
1 turned to Okyada and asked him
what we should do. His own uncer-
tainty was reflected in his attitude He
stood as still as figure of marble.
1.-The master wait" he said present
ly. Il think thai l shall know if the
master walt. Let the lantern be COW
cred. / shall see by the darkness
i told him that / forbade him to go
and that ii was madness to suppose
that the sentry would stand there
ing Immediately upon his words, and
being lost to our view as completely
as though the earth had opened and