The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1920-05-13

lowered face, bringing out the features
as though they were framed against
the black wall beyond woman's
face, the face Of Eloise!
I gave vent to one startled, inarticu-
late cry, and she sprang to her feet,
the mantling flames girdling her as
though she were a statue. In that first
frightened glance she failed to see
me; her whole posture told of fear, Of
indecision. =..,,
"Who was it spoke? Who called? II
someone alive here?" E
The trembling words sounded
strange, unnatural. I could barely
whisper, yet I did my best.
1T is Steven. Eloise-come to me-"
"Steven! Steven Knox-alive! Oh,
my God; you have answered my
prayer"
She found me, needless Of all the
horror in between, as though guided
by some instinct, and dropped on her
knees beside me. I felt a teal fall On
my check, and then the warm, eager
pressure of her lips to mine. I could
with my one hand. T.
"You are suffering" she cried.
"What can I do? Is it this Indians
bOdy?'
eyes" I breathed, the effort CT
| speaking an agony. "He lies directly
across my chest, a dead weight"
It taxed her strength to the utmost,
but, oh, the immediate relief! With
the drawing of a full breath I felt a
return of manhood, q revival of life.
Another body pinned my limbs to the
floor, but this vas more easily dis
pos I'd of. Then I managed to lift my
self, but with the first attempt her
arm was about my shoulders.
"No; not alOne-let me help you. Do
you really think you can stand? Why,
you are hurt, dear; this is a knife
wound in your side. 1t looks ugly, but
is not deep and bleeds no longer. Are
there other injuries?
my head rings, and this left arm
appears paralyzed, from blows, no
doubt; there are spots on my body
which feel like burns. No, I am not in
bad shape. Now let me stand alone;
that's better. Good God, what a
scene"
The fire, by this time blazing bright
ly, gave us a full view of the entire
dismantled interior. The cabin was a
complete wreck, the roof practically
all gone and the upper logs of the side
walls either fallen within or dangling
in threat. Clearly enough it had been
the sudden plunge Of heavy timbers
and the d~islodgment Of those upper
logs, which accounted for this havoc
of death. There were dead there
pierced by bullets and Drained by rifle
stocks. but the many had met their
fate under the avalanche Of logs, and
amid the burning glare Of exploding
powder.
Only between arched timbers and
sections of fallen roof could we move
at all, and beneath the network Of
this ENHANCEMENT the majority of the
bodies lay, crushed and mangled. I
saw Kirby, free from his bonds, but
dead beneath a heavy beam. His face
was toward us and the flicker of flame
revealed a dark spot on his forehead
his life had never been crushed out
by that plunging timber which pinned
him there; it had been ended by a bull
let. My eyes sought hers, in swift
memory of my last order, and she must
have read my thought.
NO." she said, mot that. Steven.
1t was the boy who shot him. Oh,
please, can we not go? There is light
already in the sky Overhead-see. Take
me away from here-anywhere, out
side"
I'm a moment; all these surely are
dead, beyond u aid, and yet we
must not depart foodless. We know
not how far it still may be to Ottawa.
Wait, while I search for the things we
need"
"Not alone; I must be where ! can
touch you. Try to understand. Oh,
you do not know those hours I have
spent in agony-I have died a thou
sand deaths since that SUN went
down."
"You were conscious-all night
long?"
Conscious? Yes, and unhurt, yet
prisoned helpless beneath those two
logs yonder, saved only by that over.
turned bench. Elsie, poor thing, never
knew how death came. it vas SO swift,
but I lay there. within a foot of her
body unscratched. I could think only
Of you, Steven, but with. never a dream
that you lived. There were groans at
first and cries. Some Indians crept
in through the door and dragged out a
few who lived. But with the coming
of darkness all sound ceased and such
silence was v more dreadful than
the calls for help. Oh, I cannot tell
fh1,