Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1916-11-17
CHAPTER XVI.
The Words Of Love.


His eyes frightened, and his hand
sought mine.
"The spirit of the old days; the
words of a soldiers daughter. hey,
Barbeauw
"a La Chesnayne could make no
other choice" he answered loyalty.
"But we have no time to waste here
in compliment. You know a safe pas
sage. you sayT"
mot a safe one. yet a trail which
may still remain open. for 1t Is known
to but few. Let us aboard, and cross
to the opposite shore, where we will
hide the canoe, and make our way
through the forest. Once safely afoot
yonder. Will make my purpose clear"
A dozen strokes landed us on the
other bank, where the canoe was
drawn up, and concealed among the
bushes, while we descended a slight
decllvlty, and found ourselves in the
silence of great wood. Here D'Ar-
tigny paused to make certain his
sense Of direction.
81 will go forward slightly in adj
vance," he said, at last, evidently hav.
ing determined upon his course.
"And we will move slowly, and as
noiselessly as possible. No one ever
knows where the enemy are to be met
with in Indian campaign, and we are
without arms, except for Barbeau's
gun"
II retain my pistol" interrupted
"Of small value since Its immersion
in the lake; as to myself. must trust
to my knife. Madame, you will fol
low me, but merely close enough tc
make sure of your course through the
woods, while Barbeau will guard the
rear. Are both ready?"
perhaps it might be well to explain
more clearly what you PROPOSE" said
the soldier. 'Then If we become sep
arated, we could figure out the proper
direction to follow"
mot bad thought, that. It is g
rough road ahead, heavily wooded
and across broken land. My route Is
almost directly west, except that we
bear slightly south to keep well away
from the river. Three leagues will
bring US to a small stream which
emptles into the Illinois. There is o
faint trail along its eastern bank
which leads to the Rock, where it is
possible for one knowing the way tc
attain the palisades Of the fort. II
we can attain this trail before DARK
we can make the remaining distance
by night. Here, let me show you,
and he drew with a sharp stick 9
hasty map on the ground. "Now you
understand; If we become separated
keep steadily westward until you
reach stream flowing north"
In this order we took up the march
and as l had nothing to bear except q
blanket which l twisted about my
shoulders, I found little difficulty IL
following my leader. At first the un
derbrush was heavy, and the ground
very broken, so that oftentimes 1 lost
sight entirely Of D'Artigny, but as he
constantly broke branches to mark hi:
passage. and the sun served as guild
ance, had small difficulty in keeping
the proper direction. To our right
along the river appeared masses Of
isolated rock, and these we skirted
closely, always In the shadow and
silence Of great trees. Within hall
an hour we had emerged from the re
tarding underbrush, and came out int
an open wood, where the walking wa,
much easier.
The sun had not entirely disap
peared when we emerged from ths
dark wood shadows into a narrow
grassy valley, through which flowed
a silvery stream, not broad, but deep
Assured that this must be the water
we sought, l sank to the ground, cage
for moments rest, but D'Artigny
tireless still, moved back and forward
along the edge of the forest to assure
himself of the safety OF our surround
ings. Barbeau Joined him, and Ques
toned.
"We have reached the trail?"
"Ay, beside the shore yonder; SCI