The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1917-03-03
"Save yourself" she murmured fain

He kneeled and cut the thongs that
bound her ankles and then those or 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-tne
marching column and the slow-moving
wagons must be 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-
nette's face. Her great blue eyes,
Swallowed by dark circles of exhaus-
ton, opened slowly, looked at him
blankly. Father, help met" she cried.
He shook her by the shoulders.
stand up! Try!" The light of con-
seriousness came back into her eyes;
she rose tremblingly and tried to walk
They found a place where the water
gurgled over a 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 feet. 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 burst
of the sweetest music in the world
the cheers of 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 baffied Indians turned and fed
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
J fred at David, and little later. Da
yid's shot; and had come back from
the troops with all speed. Toinett'
: had sunk to the ground, laughing ant
e sobbing; they gathered around ne
2 with wild hurrahs, torrent of cage
: questions.
$ They bore her on their shoulder
t back to the marching men. How tn
. cheering ran along the line as the me-
c caught sight Of her I! General Harrison
and his staff galloped up one by on
e and shouted like boys. Old "Wash
I Johnston leaned over and kissed ne
+ face, stained with happy tears. TT
Y old enough, my dear" he said.
I. And the men cheered again.
A dozen times she was obliged
tell the story Of her captivity; doze
times the men lifted David on the
: shoulders and cheered him to the ech
: But through oil the rejoicing and tn
Y thanksgiving, David's heart RENAME
:, heavy; for the breach still seemed In
" possible to bridge. She, too. suffered
tormented by a debt of gratitude dt
one whose treason to his country mu
forever bar him from her love.
Treason? Why was 1t, then, that d
yid seemed such q hero to all his cor
| rades among the militiamen? WI
had all of them received him into the
hearts like brother? Toinette stru
gled all through the day with Il
secret which she thought so horriDl
Little by little, she came to the co
clusion that David had managed
some way to win pardon from Go
ernor Harrison, before the trip to {
Prophets camp had been begun.
She went back over the circu
Y stances of that tragic meeting In Col
don, when she and Ike had confront
David and found the proofs OF treat
l.ery upon him. What had happen
after she had left that scene? r
haps Ike had prevailed on David to
uounce his allegiance to England. r
haps, then, he had interceded WI
Governor Harrison in his friends
half. She pictured the stern you
governor as saying that David's
n must depend on his faithful service
W the territory In the future. Ike
n never spoken one word to her abb
David from that day on Little by
3 tie, as she went over each point in
heart, sense that she had bt
&c tricked out of her love grew on her
sense that somehow she had chea
the herself. In the sleepless hours OF
NJ night that followed. she felt her e
md smarting with tears. What could
the do? What could she do2 The wn
He world seemed against her!
She could not bring herself to ve
her inward trouble to anyone, least
the all to David. She watched him strid
in along, among his comrades, jest
his with them as only men who b
,oul passed Though death together ,