Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1912-12-26

unWupreciy -ppeargu-nS nHd looked
upon her without the throb Of pulse,
as he might upon a picture. She was
not for him even to admire she was
Major McDonald's daughter. whom he
had been sent to guard. That was all
then.
Yet he knew that somehow it was
different now-the personal element
had entered unwelcomed, into the
equation. Sitting there in the dark,
Gonzales body crumpled on the floor
at his feet, and Moylan lying stiff and
cold along the back seat, with this
girl grasping his sleeve in trust, she
remained no longer merely the Ma
jor's daughter-she had become her.
self. And she did not seem to care
and did not seem to realize that there
were barriers of rank, which under
other circumstances must so utterly
separate them. She liked him, and
frankly told him SO, not as she would
dismiss an inferior with kindness,
but as though he was an equal, as
though he was a gentleman. Some
how the very tone of her voice, the
cllnging touch Of her hand, sent the
blood pumping through his veins.
Something besides duty inspired
him; he was no longer merely a sol
der, but had suddenly become trans
formed into man. Years of repres-
sion, of iron discipline, were blotted
out, and he became even as his birth
right made him. Molly Mcdonald"
Molly Mcdonald" he whispered the
name unconsciously to himself Then
his eyes caught the distant flicker of
agely.
There was something else to do be.
sides dream. Because the girl had
spoken pleasantly was no reason why
he should act the fool. Angry at him
self, he gripped his faculties, and
faced the situation, aroused, intent
He must save himself-and her! But
how? What plan promised any pos.
sibility of success? He had their sur.
roundlngs in map before his eyes.
His training had taught him to note
and remember what others would as
naturally neglect. He was soldier
or experience, a plainsman by long
training, and even in the fierceness OF
the Indians attack on the stage his
quick glance had completely visual
lied their surroundings. He had not
appreciated. this at the time, but now
the topography of the immediate re-
gions was unrolled before him in de.
tail; yard by yard it reappeared as
though photographed. He saw the
widely rutted trail, rounding the bluff
at the right a hundred yards away,
curving sharply down the slope and
then disappearing over the low hill to
the left, slight stream trucking
along its base. Below, the short buf.
falorgrass, sunburned and brittle, ran
to the sandy edge of the river, which
lowed silently in broad, shallow,
yellow flood beneath the star CLEAN.
Under the protection of that bank, but
somewhat to the left, where a handful
of stunted cottonwood trees had found
precarious foothold in the sand,
cleaned the solitary Indian fire.
About its embers, no doubt, squatted
| the chiefs and older warriors, feast.
! ing and taking council, while the
younger bucks lay, rifles in hand,
! along the night-enshrouded slope,
their cruel. vengeful eyes seeking to
! distinguish the outlines of the coach
I against the black curtain of the bluff.
This had proven thus far their sal.
vation--that steep uplift Of earth
against which the stage had crashed
IN Its mad dash-for its precipitant
front had compelled the savages to at
tack from one direction only, slight
overhang, not unlike roof, making 1t
! impossible even to shoot down from
] above. But this same sharp incline
! was not likewise a preventive of es-
! cape. Hamlin shook his head as he
! recalled to mind its steep ascent.
i without root or shrub to cling to- No,
1t would never do to attempt that not
with her. Perhaps alone he might
scramble up comehow, but with her
the feat would be impossible He dis.
missed this as hopeless, his memory
OF their surroundings drifting from
point to point aimlessly. He saw the
whole barren vista as it last stood re-
vealed under the glow OF the sun-the
desolate plateau above, stretching
| away into the, dim north, the brown
level OF. the, plains. broken only by
sharp assures in the surface, treeless,
extending for unnumbered leagues. To
east and west the valley, now scarcely
more green than these uppes Plains.
bounded by its verdureless bluffs, ran
crookedly. following the river course.
Its only sign of white dominion the
rutted trail. Beyond the stream there
extended miles of white sand-dunes,
fantasttcally shapen s.by the wind
gradually changing INTO barren plains
OF alkali. Between crouched the Wig
liant Indian sentinels. alert and re-