Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1911-02-23
cheeks. Then he turned quickly and

cneeKS. lneH ne turned quickly ana
held out his hands to the guards.
AS the young man knesled before
the post Nathaniel heard a smothered
sob at his side which he knew came
from Obadiah.
Come, dad" he said softly. Il
can't stand this. Let's get away"
| He showed the councillor hack. The
lash whistled through the air behind
him. AS it fell there came piercing
cry. 1t was a woman's voice, and
with snarl like that of a tortured
animal the old man struck down Ma
thaniels arm and clawed his way
! back to the edge of the line. On the
| opposite side there was a surging in
the crowd and as MacDougall raised
his whip a woman burst through.
MY God!" cried Nathaniel,
its
He left the rest of the words I'M
spoken. His veins leaped with fire.
A single sweep of his powerful arms
| and he had forced himself through the
! innermost line of spectators. Within
a dozen feet OF him stood Strangs
wife, her beautiful hair disheveled, her
face deadly white, her bosom heaving
as il she had been running. In a mo-
ment her eyes had taken in the situa-
tion-the man at the stake, the up
raised ashland Nathaniel. With a
sobbing. breathless cry. she flung her
self in front of MacDougall and threw
her arms around the kneeling man,
her hair covering him in a glistening
veil. For an instant her eyes were
raised to Nathaniel and he saw in
them that same agoniZed appeal that
had called to him through the kings
window. The striking muscles of his
arms tightened like steel One of the
guards sprang forward and caught the
girl roughly by the arm and attempted
to drag her away. In his excitement
he pulled her head back and her hair
trailed in the dirt. The sight was
maddening. From Nathanieps throat
there came fierce cry and in single
leap he had cleared the distance to
| the guard and had driven his fist
| against the officers head with the
sickening force of sledge hammer
| The man fell without groan. In
another fash he had drawn his knife
and severed the thongs that held the
man at the stake. For a moment his
face was very near the girls and he
| saw her lips form the glad cry which
! he did not wait to near.
He turned like an enraged beast to-
| ward the circle of dumbfouEded spec
| tators and launched himself at the
second guard. From behind him there
| sounded shout and he caught the
/ CLEAN of naked shoulders DIS the man
who had been at the stake rushed to
his side. Together they tore through
the narrow rim of the crowd, striking
| at the faces which appeared before
them, their terrific blows driving men
right and left.
This way. Neil!' shouted Nathaniel.
This way-to the ship"
! They raced up the slope that led
!! from the town to the forest. Even the
kings officer. palsied by the sudden
ness of the attack, had not followed.
From screened window i'll the kings
/ building two men had witnessed the
exciting scene near the Jail One of
| these men was Strang. The other was
| Arbor Croche. AT another window a
| few feet away, hidden from their
eyes by high desk and masses of
papers and books, Winnsome Croche
was crumpled up on the floor hardly
daring to breathe through fear Of be-
traying her presence. From these
windows they had seen the girl run
from behind the Jail; they had watched
her struggle through the line of spec
4 1 ttaators saw Nathanie! leap forward
saw the quick blow, the cleaning
knife, and the escape. So suddenly
had it AL occurred that not a sound
escaped the two astomshed men. But
the crowd and sped toward the forest
Strang's great voice doomed forth like
the rumble of gun.
"Arbor Croche, overtake those men
and kill them!"
l. With wild curse the chief of sher-
ifs ifs dashed down the stairway and as
! she heard him go the terror Of Winn-
sonle's heart seemed to turn her blood
/ cold She knew what that command
meant. SHe Knew lHal neI lalAei
would obey it. AS the daughter Of the
chief OF sheriffs more than one burn
ing secret was hidden III her breast,
i more than one of those frightful dag
gers that had pricked at the soul OF
her mother until they had murdered
/ her. And the chief OF them all was
this: That to Arbor Croche the words
of Strang were the words of God and
a that if the prophet said kill, he would
kill For full minute she crouched
in her concealment, stunned by the
horror that had so quickly taken the
place of the joy with which she had
witnessed the escape She heard
Strang leave the window. heard his
heavy steps in the outer room, heard
: / the door close. and knew that he, too
was gone. She sprang to her feet and