The Benson signal., 1917-03-31
"Save yourself" she murmured faint
D3

He kneeled and cut the thongs that
bound her ankles and then those of her
wrists. AS she tried to stand, she
swayed weakly and tainted. 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 them-the
marching column and the slow-mOving
wagons must be mile away by now.
He stumbled on with desperate exer-
ton. He reached the winding creek
again, laid down his unconscious bur-
den and dashed the icy water in TOi-
nette's face. Her great blue eyes,
shadowed by dark circles of exhaus-
ton, opened slowly, looked at him
blankly. "Father, help me!' 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 a 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 YETI" 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 a burst
of the sweetest music in the world:
the cheers Of a score of Harrison's
men, crashing through the woods a
hundred yards away.
The chase was suddenly reversed. At
the first shout Of the backwoodsmen,
the baff1ed Indians turned and fled.
The rescuing party pursued them but
little way. firing vainly at the fleeing
forms lodging among the tree trunks.
Young George Croghan, Harrison's
aid, was in command of the little
squad. They had heard Girty's shot,
fired at David, and a 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. I'm
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, sutrerv d
tormented by debt of gratitude due
one whose treason to his country must
forever bar him from her love.
Treason? Why was it, 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 a brother? Toinette strug-
gled all through the day with the
secret which she thought so horrible.
Little by little, she came to the con-
clusiOn that David had managed in
some way to win a 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 let that scene? Per-
haps Ike had prevailed on David to re-
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 as 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, a 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
smarting 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.sShe watched him striding