The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1920-01-08
CHAPTER XVII.
The Trail to Ottawa.

to darkness n silence as profound
as that of my former Inconsistencies
For the I'M / felt no certainty
even that / was actually alive, yet
slowly. little by little, reality con
quered, and / became keenly con
scious of physical pain, while memory
also began TO blindly reassert itself.
I could see nothing, hear nothing,
All about was impenetrable blackness
and the silence of the grave. ! found
myself unable to move my body and
when I desperately attempted to do
so. even the slightest motion brought
pain. I became conscious also of q
weight crushing down upon me, and
sitting my breath. One Of my arms
was free; I could move 1t about within
narrow limits, although IL ached as
from n serious burn. BY use Of IL
endeavored through the black darkness
10 learn the nature OF that heavy OBJ
ject lying acros my chest, feeling at
Ii cautiously. My fingers touched cold,
they shrank in horror, only to en-
counter a strand of coarse hair. The
first terror of this discovery was over
whelming, yet I ~persevered, satisfying
myself that IL was the half-naked body
OF an Indiana very giant of a fellow
immovable weight. Something else.
perhaps another dead man, held my
feet as though in a wise, and when /
ventured TO extend my one free arm
gropingly 70 n side, the fingers en-
countered a moccasined foot. Scarcely
daring TO breathe. / lay staring up
ward and. far above, looking out
through what might be a jagged. over
hanging mass of timbers, although
scarcely d~iscesnible, my eye caught
the silver gilmmer OF a star.
I was alive-alivel Whatever had
occurred in that fateful second to de-
fleet that murderous tomahawk, its
keen edge had failed 10 reach me. And
what had occurred? Then it was that
the probable truth came to me-that
fash and roar; that last impression
imprinted on my brain before utter
darkness descended upon me, must
have meant an explosion. an upheaval
SCATTERING the cabin, bringing the roof
down upon the struggling mob within.
the heavy timbers crushing out their
lives, And the cause, But one was
possible-the half-keg Of bias :
powder Kennedy had placed In the cor
ner as a last resort. Had Tim reacho,
1t In a final, mad effort to destroy, or
had some accidental flame wrought
the terrible destruction? Perhaps no
one could ever answer that-but was !
there alone. the sole survivor? Had
those others of our little party died
amid their Indian enemies, and were
they lying now somewhere in this
darkness, crushed and mangled In the
midst Of the debris2
Kennedy, Elsie Clark, the half
witted boy Asa Hall-thelr faces
seemed to stare at me out of the black.
ness. They. must be dead! Why, / had
seen Kennedy fall. the needless feet
crunching his face, and Asa Hall
tossed into the air and shot at as he
fell. Eloisel Eloise! I covered my
eyes with the free hand. conscious that
| was crying like q child-Eloise. My
God, Eloise! / wondc9 If / tainted: ]
knew so little after that: so little, x.
cept that I suffered helplessly. If ]
did not faint. then 1 must have been
upon the verge of insanity, for there
was a time-Gcd knows how long
when all was blank.
Some slight. scarcely distinguishable
noise aroused me. Yes, it was actually
a sound. as though someone moved In
the room-moved stealthily. as though
upon hands and knees, seeking a pas.
sage In the darkness. I imagined ]
could distinguish breathing. Who, what
could 1t be? A a |; a prowling wild
animal which had scented blood? But
for my dry, parched lips I would have
cried out-yet even with the vain
endeavor. doubt silenced me. VIII
could be there-who? Some sneaking
%cowardly thief; some despoiler of the
dead? Some Indian returned through
the night to take his toll OF scalps
hoping TO thus proclaim himself q
mighty warrior? More likely enemy
than friend. 1t was better that / lie
and suffer than appeal to such a fiend
for mercy.
The slight sound shifted to the right
OF where l lay. no longer reminding
me Of the slow progress of a moving
body, but rather as though someon
were attempting blindly to scrape to
gether ashes In the fireplace. I pressed
ny one free hand beneath my neck
and thus, by ar effort, lifted myself
so rs to see more clearly beyond the
shoulder Of the dead Indian. The frsI
tiny, Pickering spark of fire had caught
the dry wood, and was swiftly bursting
into flame. In another moment this
had illumined that STOPPING figure, and
rested In a blaze OF light upon the
lowered face, bringing out the features
as though they we're framed against
the black wall beyond-a woman's
face. the face Of Eloisei
gave vent to one startled. inarticu.
late cry, and she sprsng to her feet
the mantling flames gfrdling her as
though she were a statue. In that frsi
frightened glance she failed to SCI
me; her whole posture told OF fear. Of
I~fndecisiOu