The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1921-11-03

against the brutal Carver. For John
to play q desperate game and carry
Lorna OF would but incite the Doonea
to wreak revenge upon the country.
side with fire and sword. At times he
swore to smoke out this nest Of ras-
Gals, but the timid farmers, overawed
by their savagery, would promise no
support. " -
Meanwhile an unparalleled winter
had set In. Day after day the snow
fell steadily and. blown by the wind,
almost smothered the low-eaved cot
tages. Desperate for some word Of
Lorna, John made his way IN snow.
shoes into the very heart Of Glen
Doone, unobserved in that feathery
fog. John found Lorna's hamlet. stifled
her EXPLANATIONS Of surprise with
kisses, and felt his heart swell with
anger on learning that she and her
maid, Gwenny Carfax, were kept In
confinement and deprived of food by
order OF Carver Doone until Lorna
should consent to be his wife. Not for
naught was John Ridd a giant-and
in love. Throwing discretion to the
winds he carried Lorna and Gwenny
away upon his sledge that very night
to the warm refuge of his mothers
ireside.
The Doones, though so openly set at
defiance, bided their time. With spring
the roads were open and one moon
light night, with an arrogance worthy
Of Carver, they attacked Plover's Bar
rows in force. John Ridd, nothing
daunted, defended his Preside and
loved mes with spirit, meeting the at
tackers squarely with a handful Of
men and putting them to speedy flight.
A murderous attack by the Doones
was bad business enough, but to
Johns honest soul a worse trouble
followed.
His Lorna was discovered to be no
true Doone, but the niece Of the great
Lord Dugal, kidnapped as a child To
London and the protection of her noble
uncle she was summoned, her heart as
we'll as her lovers torn by the separa-
ton. The thought that he might never
again behold his Lorna plunged him
into misery.
"After ALL" he asked himself, ''who
am I but a simple farmer, who dares
lift his eyes to the niece Of an earl2'
But this was no time for repining,
for the .%ill-starred rebellion Of Mon
mouth famed out, catching John Ridd,
innocent though he was, in its tolls.
But all came to a happy issue when
John, summoned to London, frustrated
| the intended murder of Lord Dugal,
! captured the attackers, and turned
them over for punishment to the ter
rible Lord Jeffreys. Events moved
swiftly; his exploit made London ring
he was knighted by King James, and
when the earl of Dugal died soon aft
er, a well-directed bride secured JEFF.
freys' permission to let Lorna, his
ward in %chancery, wed the redoubtable
Sir John Ridd.
Back to Exmoor and Flowers Bar
rows went John Ridd, knight, to lead
the farmers Of the countryside who, in
furiated by a new outrage committed
by the Doones, took the law into theil
own hands and swept the robbel
stronghold clean with fire and sword
Only the scheming old counsellor
and his son, the brutal Carver, escape
a bloody death. -,
Now at last the great day dawnet
for John and Lorna and they made
their way to the little country church
to be wed while all the neighborin{
farmers came to applaud the event
Scarcely the sacred words Of thu
service pronounced when a shot rams
through the church and Lorna, he1
dark eyes dropping, her wedding gow1
stained with blood, sank into her hus
bands arms. John Ridd never forgo'
the agony of that moment and yet hi
seemed strangely calm. Only Carver
Doone could have done this dastardly
deed and as John dashed off in ho1
pursuit he swore that the world was
too narrow q place to harbor him ant
his enemy another day. For Carver
on his jaded horse there was no es
cape. His pistol missed fire, and a,
last in a narrow defile fanked by
wood and q stretch of bog the two mer
came to grips. They spoke little ant
that grim duel was fought with neither
knife Q pistol but body to body a.
became two giants. "a. !
John felt q lower rib crack beneath
Carvers' terrible embrace, but his iror
hand ripped the muscles of his assail
ants arm from the bone like an orangt
pulp and he flung him, crushed ani
bleeding, upon the ground. In an In
slant the black lips Of the bog fastened
upon Carver's huge limbs, swiftly
silently, and John Ridd had scarce
time to get his own feet upon firm sol
before his enemy was sucked dow1
into those grim depths, his face dis
torted with agony, but his quiverini
lips uttering no sound. "
Loves true course does not alway,
run awry and both John and Lorna
Il voUOxy0rn1 hn - xr,ov,hf- hoe n~a -