Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-10-28
cHAPIER .lx--cohtinued.
81 SeM esss HSas !ssa Sa 3 al,


the full tight of day. The sincere hon
esty of her plea-tlIe knowledge that
she actually meant it-only served to
draw me closer, to strengthen my de-
termination not to desert. Her face
was ever before me aas-I advanced-a
braveIy pathetic face, wonderfully
womauly In its girlish contour -ap-
pealIng to every impulse Of my NAM
hood. / admitted the truth Of what
she saidAit had been largely love OF
adventure, the rash reckIessness Of
youth, which had brought me here.
But this was my inspiration no longer
I had begun to realize that something
deeper, more worthy, now held me to
the task. What this was i made ne
attempt to analyze- possibly I did not
dare-but, nevertheless, the mere con.
ception Of deserting her In the midst
of this wilderness was too utterly re-
pugnant for expression: No, not that;
whatever happened 1t would never be
that. - ~
The last few rods Of our journey
lay through thick underbrush, and be-
meath the spreading branches Of Inter-
lacing trees. Suddenly emerged
upon the bank Of the creek, With the
rude log whaff directly before me. ]
stopped trnnsdxed, staring at the wa
ter-n46hing else greeted my eyes;
both the boats weregone,
This unexpected discovery came to
me like a blow; the very breath
seemed to desert my lungs, 2s I
stared down at the vacant stream. We
had been outgeneraled,, tricked, landall
our theories as to what had occurred
were wrong. The duty we had per
formea to the dead had cost US our
own chance to escape. Instead Of be-
ing alone, as we had supposed, We
were i'm the midst of enemies; we had
been seen, watched, and while We
loitered ashore the murderers had sto-
len our boat and vanished. leaving US
there >heiplessly marooned.' All this
was plain enough now, when It was
already too late to remedy the evil.
The struggling girl emerged through
the tangle of shrubs and paused sud-
denly at my side, her lips giving ut
termce to a cry of surprise.
"The--the boat! 1t is not here?"
"No; there is not sign of it. Those
fellows must be still In the neIghbor-
-hoed; must-have1 seen us when. we
6rst- came"
"But what are we to doT'
had mo- ready answer. yet the echo
Of utter despair in her voice stirred
ME to my own; duty, as swiftly as
though she had thrust a knife into my
side. Do? We must do something!
We could not sit down Idly there in
the swamp. And to decide what was
TO be attempted was my part. If Kir-
by and whoever was with him had
stolen the missing boat, as undohbt-,
edly they had, they could have pos
sessed but one purpose escape. They
we're inspired to the act by desire
TO get away, to flee from the scene
Of their crime. They must believe
that we were left helpless. unable to
pursue them or create alarm. Yet if
It was Kirby why had he fled so
,wiftly, making no effort to take Rene
captive also? 1t was she he was seek
ng; for the purpose Of gaining pos
session of her these murders had been
committed. Why, then, should he run
away when he must have known the
girl was already In his grasp? The
same thought apparently occurred to
her.
"You--you believe that Kirby did
.his? =
"What other conclusion Is possible?
We know that he passed, US on the
steamer-Sam saw him plainly. 1t
was his man, Carver, whom we found
dead In the hut. 1t could haYe been
40 one else."
"But," she questioned, unsatisfied,
.he would have only one reason for
being here-hunting me, his slave.
That was his one purpose, was it not?
If he saw us then he must have known
Of my presence, that was here with
sou. Why should he make no attempt
10 take me with him? Why should he
steal our boat and run away?"
zone theory is as good as another"
said, "and mine so far have all been
wrong. What do you make Of it.
Sam?
--i I.I-
"Who, sab? Me, sah?" hI. Is
"Yes, take q guess at this"
"'Pears like" he said, deliberately,
rubbing his ear with one hand, "as
how it 'mought have happened dis yere
way, sab. All amt a-sayin' it wus-
it mought be. Maybe Massa Kirby
Gebber got no sight OBJ us tall, an
wus afeerd fer ter stay. Vie just
knowed q party wus yere-likely
'nough sum Black Abolitionists, who'd
be huntin' him If he didn't cl'ar out,
just so soon as dey foun' dat Amos
Shrunk wus dead. Here wus his
chance, an he done took it."
He bent suddenly forward, his
glance at the edge of the log. "Dey
amt took but just de one boat, sab,
fer de Odder am showed under dar
,tn