The Blackfoot optimist. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1907-1918, 1914-11-05

OF light. Brady's face was not toWArt
me, nor revealed clearly by the fire
yet he held his head erect, his eye.
rowing over the devilish faces. Tn,
wounded jaw was bound about will.
a strip of bloody rag. Without speak
ing. it yet seemed to me he Knocked
them. Once he twisted in his bonds
and gazed at her as If he would utter
some word. but changed mis- mind. and
Tor the first time. look of pain swept
into his face. Lappin saw the effort
called out some foul insult, and a war.
rior sprang forward. striking the de.
fenseless man across the lips, and
driving his head back against thu
stump.
The vicious act drove me mad, and
l stepped forth into the open. flinging
my gun down in the underbrush No
eye in all that swarm was turned m.
way. In silence l moved forward un-
til l was within a few yards of the
struggling mass. Then stopped, full!
in the red glare of fire, my arms up
lifted, and gave utterance to deep
sepulchral groan. God alone knows
how awful was the apparition. To
them. in startled horror, was the
dead man, standing there with CHASTITY
face, and arms outstretched, my ap-
pearance rendered more terrible by
the fitful CLEAN Of fire, revealing fea-
lures and form, glowing on torn red
jacket. and head slashed by scalping
kvRR hoh IN nj 10
black woods. No doubt 1t was a sight
% bring fear to any heart, but to those
murdereas, their minds poisoned by SUI
perstition, it brought panic-a terror
too terrible to resist. They knew me
in the instant; l was the spirit of the
dead; had come back for vengeance;
with clammy hands was clutching for
them; with sightlese eyes I was seek
ing them out. There was one yell.
breathing forth the terror of their
souls; l saw eyes. wild with horror,
staring at me; saw men run and
fall, scramble to their feet, and run
again; saw leaping bodies fight like
fiends in an effort to get free. Sis-e.
te-wah, struck by the rush, shrieked
like woman, stared toward me from
where he lay on the ground. found his
feet and ran. 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 groaned, the unearthly
sound rising even above the din, seem
ingly echoed by the great forest and
flung back to earth again by the black
curtain overhead. Ay! it 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
discordant cries dying in the distance,
the occasional thud as some frightened
savage struck against 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 laughed and swore,
my nerves dancing like so many de.
mons. They were gone-gone! Those
merciless red devils, those accursed
murderers, those Aends in human
guise. Nor was it likely they would
stop in their mad fight until they
dropped from sheer exhaustion, or the
lawn of another day brought with it
fresh courage.
And those others, who were yet
there-Brady. tied still to the stake,
the flames already licking the fagots
at his feet, and mademoiselle praying
to the Virgin-what would they think?
Would they know, understand, what
had really occurred, or had the terrible
spectacle left them also in benumbed
error? The thought awoke me as
rom a stupor, and turned about. The
ground was tumble of things, as IL I
looked upon battle field. yet this was
not what really saw in that first swift
glance. A mana white man-ran
leaping across the hame-lit opening,
kicking aside the blazing fagots OF
wood already scorching Brady, hurting
them to right and left In frantic haste,