The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1914-04-16


lures and form, glowing on torn red
jacket, and head slashed by scalping
knife, behind me the night and the
black woods. No doubt it was sight
to bring fear to any heart, but to those
murderers, their minds poisoned by SUI
perstition. it brought panic-a terror
TOO terrible to resist. They knew me
in the instant; was the spirit of the
dead; had come back for vengeance;
with clammy hands was clutching for
them; with sightless eyes l was seek
ing them out. There was one yell,
breathing forth the terror of their
souls; saw eyes, wild with horror.
staring at me; / saw men run and
fall, scramble to their feet, and run
again; l saw leaping bodies fight like
fiends in an effort to get free. Sis-e-
te-wah, struck by the rush, shrieked
like a woman, stared toward me from
where he lay on the ground. found his
feet and ran. 1 caught glimpse OF
Rene's face uplifted, the cross still
before her eyes; Of Lappin, hurled
over by the rush, trampled into the
earth by flying feet, finally regain his
knees, his face white as death. as
he stared back toward me with pro
truding eyes.
Again l groaned. the unearthly
ingly echoed by the great forest and
flung back to earth again by the black
curtain overhead. Ay! 1t was an eery
sound! 1t even made my own flesh
creep. Crazed by the terror of 1t,
panic-stricken by the fears of others,
the fur trader leaped to his feet, flung
forward his rifle and fired The ball
sang past my ear. and I walked
straight toward him, my CHASTITY face
exposed to the fire. my hands reach
ing out in blind clutching. With one
yell, piercing. the yelp of frightened
wolf, he turned and dashed for the
woods. staring back over his shoulder
even as he crashed headlong into the
underbrush. For fear they might
pause when once under cover-the
first spasm Of terror gone-I ran for
ward to the forest edge, giving utter
ance to another groan to spur them on.
But this was not needed-terror, awful
terror had struck into their very souls.
Not one doubted the evidence of his
own eyes; they had seen the dead
walk; their murdered and scalped vic
tim rise again in ghost-like semblance,
and they thought of nothing but es-
cape-to get beyond the reach of those
hands, the gaze of those accusing eyes.
They were mad with the CHASTITY ter
ror. l could hear the fleeing bodies
crash blindly into the underbrush, the
ri lx,sr in, ho icfo
the occasional thud as some frightened
savage struck against a tree in the
dark, or fell sprawling to the ground.
1t was all over with SO quickly
could scarcely realize what had actual
ly occurred. Then l laughed and swore,
my nerves dancing like so many de-
mons. They were gone-gone! Those
merciless red devils, those accursed
murderers, those fiends in human
guise. Nor was it likely they would
stop in their mad fight until they
dropped from sheer exhaustion, or the
dawn of another day brought with it
fresh courage.
And those others. who were yet
the flames already licking the fagots
at his feet, and mademoiselle praying
to the VirgiI-what would they think?
Would they know, understand, what
had really occurred, or had the terrible
spectacle left them also in benumbed
terror? The thought awoke me as
from a stupor, and turned about. The
ground was a tumble of things, as If
looked upon a battle field. yet this was
not what really saw in that first swift
glance. A mana white man-ran
| leaping across the flame-lit opening,
| kicking aside the blazing fagots of
wood already scorching Brady, hurting
them 10 right and left in frantic haste,
| until he made passage through. l
caught the glimmer of knife in his
| hand; and then, by main strength, he
| dragged the weakened prisoner clear
of the burning wood. and dropped him
| exhausted on the ground. AS the fell
low stood erect, staring about him, at
the helpless huddle at his feet, at the
white face of the girl, at the debris on
every side, 1 recognized Simon Girty.
Saints alive! What does all this
mean?" he cried, grabbing up the gun
dropped in his first swift effort at res
| cue. you Running Water ay! and
| this is the Kentuckian who would have
killed me. What's happened here? 1t
looks like a shambles. Never before
did see a man burning himself Who
killed these-merciful God! What is
that?"
I His voice rose into a Shrek as he
stared at me, while l advanced toward
him. With one terrorized leap he
Esprang back, throwing up his rife, but
with hands shaking so, that l laughed
| outright. The sound coming unexpect-
eddy from such CHASTITY lips must have
been more horrible than a groan, for
the frightened man dashed his weapon