The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1919-10-17

Sai Soou Sdl I'LL Simon give ner II
Jean Petitjean. Simon d baC
man. Me kill him one day"
/ saw a glimmer of hope now
though of what 1 hardly knew; or per.
haps it was only the desire to talk OF
J~acqueline and hear her name upon
my lips and Pierre's.
"Pierre, / came here to save Mile.
Jacqueline," / said.
"No can save him." he answered.
"No can fight against Simon" .
"What, In the devils name, Is his
power, then?" I cried. 9.
lie diable," he replied. He may
have misunderstood me, but the an
swer was apt. "No use fight him." he
said. Cali finish now. Old times, him
finish, and my gal. too. Soon Pierre
Caribou, him finish. No can fight
Simon. Perhaps old Pierre kill him,
nobody else" He looked steadily at
me. II poison him dogs" he added.
What? / exclaimed.
Simon, him tell me long ago no.
body come to chateau. So you finish,
too, maybe. What he tell you, you
go?"
"Lacroix is going to take me to Pere
AntOine's cabin tomorrow morning"
The Indian grunted. "Shmon no
mean to let you CO." he said. HE
mean kill you. You know too much.
Sometime he kill me, too, or 1 kill
him."
"Pierre," 1 said, taking him by the
arm, "what is the Old Angelic Well
Anger"
He stared stolidly at me.
"Why you ask that?" he said.
Because Lacroix has been instruct
ed to take me by that route" I an
swered.
Pierre shook the ashes out Of his pipe
and rose. "Come with me-" he said.
II show you-because you frien' Of
Ma'm'selle Jacqueline. Come"
I followed him out of the hut. A
large noon was just rising out Of the
east but it was not yet high enough
to cast much light.
We traversed perhaps a mile OF
ouLNL pidShliCSS. liz Il DGSdu W SGC
a CLEAN Of moonlight in front Of me,
and though / had not been conscious
of any turn l discovered that we must
have retraced our course completely,
for l heard the roar Of the cataracts
again.
Then we emerged upon a tiny shelf
of rock some forty feet up the face
Of the wall and quite invisible from
below. 1t was a little above the level
Of the chateau roof, about a hundred
yards away. Below me / could see the
main entrance to the tunnel.
We had a foothold of about ten
feet on the level platform, which was
slippery with smooth black ice, and
laundering over us, so near that J
could almost have touched it had ]
stretched out my hand, the whirling
torrent plunged into that he'll below.
Pierre caught my arm as I reeled,
sick with the shock of the discovery.
and yelled into my ear above the din.
lie Well Angel" he cried. "This
way Simon mean you to go tomorrow.
Lacroix him tell you: Get down, WI
find the road He take you up here
and push you-so."
He made a graphic gesture with his
arm and pointed. 1 looked down,
shuddering. into the black, foam
crested uater, bubbIing and whirling
among the grotesque Ice pillars that
stood like sentries upon the brink.
"What you do?" he asked. "You go
to Pere Antoine tonight? What you
do now?"
1 took the pistol from my coat
pocket.
"Pierre," I answered, II have two
bullets here and both of them are for
Simon. Tonight I had him in my
power and spared him. Now / am go
ing back and I shall shoot him down
like a dog, whether he is armed o.
defenseless."
Pierre's face was twitching. "You
no go back !" he cried. "Simon he kill
you. No use to fight Simon. Him
time not come yet. When him time
come he die"
"When will 1t Gomez" I asked, look
ing at the mans features, which were
distorted with frenzied hate.
~ not know" exclaimed Pierre. 81
try ind-cards tell me. No Indian
in this part country remember
how tell me. In old days many coulo
tell. Now I wait. When his time
come old Indian know. He kill Simon
then himself. Nobody else kill Simon.
No use you try"
I shook the Indians hands away ant
plunged forward into the tunnel again.
I heard him calling after me; but /
think he saw that I was not to be de-
tered, for he made no attempt to
follow me.
cTo BE coNTINUED1