The Ozark spectator., 1917-02-21
Save yourself" she murmured faint

1e kUeeleu dllu cut lHe tIioHSS tHdt bound her ankles and then those of her wrists. As she tried to stand, she swayed weakly and fainted. There was no time to lose he lifted her limp form upon his shoulders and ran stag geringly in the direction of the troops. He could never Overtake then-the marching column and the slow-moving wagons must be a mile away by now. He stumbled on with desperate exer- tion. He reached the winding creek again, laid down his unconscious bur den and dashed the icy water in Toi nettes face. Her great blue eyes, shadowed by dark circles of exhaus- tion, opened slowly, looked at him blankly. Father, help mel" she cried.
 He shook her by the shoulders. "Stand up! Try" The light of con sciousness came back into her eyes; she rose tremblingly and tried to walk. They found q place where the water gurgled over stony bar, ankle-deep; crossed it and struggled up the bank on the farther side. AS they reached the top there came to their ears the dreadful exultant yells of the Indians, three hundred yards behind. David put his arms around the girls shoulders and they ran on with palsied limbs. They seemed to be struggling on in that nightmare where the feet are leaden and the pursuers fleet. Nearer and nearer came the fierce yelping.
 At last David and Toinette stood still and looked at each other. David drew his knife. She nodded, silently praying him to deliver her with that swift death from the tortures of the savages. "Oh, God, not yet" he cried; and drew her on in blind haste. Twice he shouted, with all the strength of his gasping lungs. Was it an echo, or an answering shout that came back? And then there came q burst of the sweetest music in the world: the cheers of a score of Harrison's men, crashing through the woods hundred yards away.
 The chase was suddenly reversed. At the first shout of the backwoodSmen, the baffled Indians turned and fled. The rescuing party pursued them but little way, firing vainly at the fleeing forms lodging among the tree trunks. Young Georgie Croghan, Harrison's aid, was in command of the little squad. They had heard Girty's shot, fired at David. and little later, Da- vid's shot; and had come back from the troops with all speed. Toinette had sunk to the ground, laughing and sobbing; they gathered around her with wild hurrahs, torrent of eager questions.
 They bore her on their shoulders back to the marching men. How the cheering ran along the line as the men caught sight of her! General Harrison and his staff galloped up one by one and shouted like boys. Old "Wash" Johnston leaned over and kissed her face, stained with happy tears. 'Tm old enough, my dear" he said.
 And the men cheered again.
 A dozen times she was obliged to tell the story of her captivity; dozen times the men lifted David on their shoulders and cheered him to the echo. But through all the rejoicing and the thanksgiving. David's heart remained heavy; for the breach still seemed i'm possible to bridge. She, too, suffered; tormented by a debt of gratitude due one whose treason to his country must forever bar him from her love.
 Treason? Why was 1t, then, that Da vid seemed such hero to all his com rades among the militiamen? Why had all of them received him into their hearts like brother? Toinette strug- gled all through the day with the secret which she thought so horrible. Little by little, she came to the con- clusipn that David had managed in some way to win pardon from Gov ernor Harrison, before the trip to the Prophets camp had been begun.
 She went back over the circum- stances of that tragic meeting in Cory don, when she and Ike had confronted David and found the proofs of treach- cry upon him. What had happened after she had left that scene? Per a"pS ihS iiuu pitNutieu ou DdNlu to It. uounce his allegiance to England. Per haps, then, he had interceded with Governor Harrison in his friends be- half. She pictured the stern young governor us saying that David's life must depend on his faithful service to the territory in the future. Ike had never spoken one word to her about David from that day on. Little by lit- tie, as she went over each point in her heart, n sense that she had been tricked out of her love grew on her, a sense that somehow she had cheated herself. In the sleepless hours of the night that followed, she felt her eyes smarttng with tears. What could she do? What could she do? The whole world seemed against her!
 She could not bring herself to voice her inward trouble to anyone, least of all to David. She watched him striding along. among his comrades. testing