Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1914-09-02

aHu uTnplng Hurdles were swiftly
dragged out and placed in a manner Of
ring.
This one is very close to the bank"
SAID Lucy Hampton, standing by Blue
bird and watching as the negroes
placed the bars. IF a horse refused
and turned sharp and was foolish, he
might go over. And the bank is Steep
Lucy, you are a grandmotherly per-
son." Clifford Stewart-who was an
other girl-threw at her. You would
like them all to ride in wadded Wool
dressing gowns, an dto have a wall
padded with cotton batting to guard
Them And Lucy smiled and believed
herself -overcautious.
The excited horses came dancing up
to- the barriers and lifted nj We're
over, with or without rapping, but not
one, for the first round, refusing. Then
the bars were raised six inches: six
inches In mid-air is a large space when
one must jump it. Caperton Bayly
went at it first; his mother watched
erect, intense, his young eyes cleaning.
e Went his great horse Traveller,
and owe the next and the next-all
of them; but the white heels had struck
the top bar twice = h beautiful,
spirited performance was not perfect.
Harry Hampton came next; all of the
kindly multitude gazed eagerly. hoping
that the boy to whom life had given
less than the others might win this
honor he wanted. The first bars with
out rapping; the second: and a sup
pressed sound of satisfaction. which
might soon be a great roar of pleasure,
hummed over the field. Black Hawk
came rushing, snorting, pulling up to
the third jump. the jump where Lucy
stood. And as he came a little girl,
high in a carriage. a chariot as one
said then, flourished her scarlet parasol
in tho oi~ 0,nl 1oc< 1o1J Of ~ nn1 If
flew like a huge red bird into the
course, close to the hurdle. And Black
Hawk, strung to the highest point of
his thoroughbred nerves, saw. and a
horror of the flaming living thing. as
it seemed, caught him. and he swerved
for the steep slope.
people; the boy was dashing to death:
no n stirred; every muscle was rigid
the spectators We're paralyzed. Not
all. Francois from his babyhood had
known how to think quickly, and these
boys were his pride and his care; he
had thought Of that possible danger
which Lucy had foreseen; when the
jumping began, mounted on his mare
Aquarelle, he was posted near the head
of the slope. not 20 yards from the
hurdle, to be at hand in any contin-
gency. When Harry's horse bolted. one
put kA4oCii III iAASO wv 1AhO
a line of brown light h dashed at
right angles to the runaway-a line
drawn to intercept the line of Black
Hawks flight. There vas silence over
the feld-one second-two seconds
the ines shot to the angle-then II
Black Hawk, rushing. saw the other
coming and swerved at the last mo-
ment-too late. The animals collided,
not with full force, yet for a
it looked like nothing but death for
riders and MOUNTS. Harry Hampton
was thrown backward to the level field;
Black Hawk galloped off, frantic and
unhurt, across it; Aquarelle, one saw,
lay on the very edge of the drop and
was scrambling to her feet With nVe-.
illness enough to assure her safety; OF
Francois there was no sign. In half a
minute the breathlesS still crowd was
in an uproar, and 100 men We're jost,,
ling one another to reach the scene Oh
the accident.
1t was two minutes, perhaps. before
Caperton Baylv with a negro hoy at his
heels, with Jack Littleton and Harry
Wise and a dozen other lads racing
back of him, had plunged over the drop
of lane where Francois had disap-
peared. Two minutes are enough some-
times for a large event. In that two
minutes Lucy Hampton, without con-
scious volition, by an instinct as Simple
and imperative as a birds instinct TO
shield her young, had slipped from her
horse Bluebird and flown across the
level and down over the step bank till
she found herself holding Francois
dark head in her arms n heard her
own voice saying words she had
said even to herself.
81 love you, 1 love you" she said,
and if all the world heard she did not
know or care. There was no world for
her at that minute but the man lying
with his head against her heart-dead
it might be, but dead or alive, dearest.
IT love you-love YOU love you" she
repeated, as if the soul were rushing
out of her in the words.
With that the luminous great eyes
opened, and Francois was looking at
her, and She knew that he had heard.
And then the training of a lifetime, of
centuries, flooded back to her, and
womanly r%eticence and maidenly shame
and feelings and attitude which are
not p%ri.neval. as she had been primeval
for that one mad moment. She drew
back as she felt him trying to lift him
self, n left him free and was on her
feet, n then with a shock she was
aware of another presence; turning she
looked up into the angry glow of her
cousins eyes. He was not looking at
her out at the man who, dazed, hurt,
was trying painfully to pull himself up.
Harry Hampton glared at him.
We will settle this later" he
brought out through his teeth. II hope
I can kill you" And Lucy cried out:
"Shame!" h cried. HE has just
saved your life!"
damn him!" said Harry Hampton.
II do not want my life at his hands.
1 hate him more for saving me. Damn
him!"
And Francois. clutching at a bush,
things Keeling about him unsteadily,
looked up, friendly. wistful, at the boy
curSing him.