Williams news., 1922-10-06
THF INDIAN DRUM
 By William Mactiarg and Edwin BaImer rebyt

Mot alone, you're noti" His heavy voice had a deep tone of menace in 1t; he seemed to consider and decide | something about her. There's farm house about a mile back; I'm going to | take you over there and leave you with | those people," l "I will not go therel" He swore. "In carry you, then '" She shrank back from him as he | lurched toward her with hands out stretched to seize her; he followed her. and she avoided him again; if his | guilt and terror had given her mental ascendency over him, his physical l strength could still force her to his will and, realizing the impossibfl1ty of evading him or overcoming him,
 she stopped.
 l "Not that l'' she cried. Don't touch mel"
 "Come with me, thenp he command | ed: and he went to the door and laid his snowshoes on the snow and ?. stepped into them, stopping and tight
 ening the straps; he stood by while | she put on hers. He did not attempt | again to put hands upon her as they l moved away from the little cabin to-
 ward the woods back of the clearing; | but went ahead, breaking the trail for
 her with his snowshoes- He moved |
 had wished three feet to every two
 that she could cover, but he seemed
 not wishing for speed but rather for
 delay. A deep, dull resonance was Il booming above the wood; 1t boomed
 again and ran into rhythm NO | longer was 1t above at least it was not
 only above; 1t was all about them
 here. there, to right and to left, before,
 behind-the booming of the Drum. | 1ff hot rld
 of the Drum beating the roll of the dead
 | Henry had stopped in front of her, half turned her way; his body swayed
 and bent to the booming of the Drum , i as his swollen lips counted its souno- , ings. She could see him plainly in the t moonlight, yet she drew nearer to him as she followed his count. Twenty , one" he counted-"Twenty-tw The
 drum was still going on. Twenty , | lfour-twenty-hve-t would ? l he count another?
 l He did not; and her pulses, which f had halted, leaped with relief. He f | moved on again, descending the steep f side of a little ravine, and she TOT l. lowed. One of his snowshoes caught e in a protruding root and, instead ol l slowing to free it with care, he pulled f if violently out and she heard the dry | SeASOn0Q l., swore: saw that the wood was not , broken through and went on; but as # he reached the bottom of the slope, she l., | leaned downward. from a little hefgh' d | behind him and crashed down upon ms ,t trailing snowshoe just behind the heei @ The rending snap of the wood came
 beneath her feet. Had she brokeI l. through his shoe or snapped her own t. She sprang back, as he cried out aIi'
 fa oCrl ,e lunged to follow her, and she ran '. few steps away and stopped At hi ,s | next step his foot entangled in th' in mesh of the broken snowshoe, ana h & stopped, cursing, to strip 1t of1 ah' r, hurl it from him then he tore off tn
 one from the other foot, and threw
 away. and lurched after her again; bu now he sank above his knees and fioun
 dered in the snow. She stood for
 moment while the half-mad, hall
 drunken figure struggled toward he | along the side of the ravine; then sh
 ran to where the tree trunks hid ne
 from him. He gained the top of.'th
 slope and turned in the direction sh had gone; assured then, apparent! Nh that she had flown in fear of him, n ! started back more swiftly toward tn
 beach, She followed, keeping out
 his sight among the trees.
 nJ To twenty-six, he had cOunted-t M twenty-six. each time! That told thf VI he knew one was living among thoS I who had been upon the ferry! Whi II one? It could only be one of two XI dismay him so; there had been on two on the ferry whose rescue ne ha W feared: only two who, living, he wou g have let lie upon this beach which T had chosen and set aside for his p A trol. while he waited for him to die!
 She forced herself on, unspar1ngi as she saw Henry gain the shore al
 as. believing himself alone, he hurrl'
 northward. She could not rest; sl
 could not let herself be eXhauste
 Merciless minute after minute s IL raced him thus A dark shape-a
 ure lay stretched upon the ice ahea
 Beyond and still farther out, son ted thing which seemed the fragments in- a lifeboat tossed up and down whe the the waves thundered and gleameo the the edge of the foe. one Henry's pace quickened; hers qult had | ened desperately, too. She le1t [ ent. shelter of the trees and scrambl
 down the steep pitch of the olt as shouting, crying aloud. Henry turn the about and saw her he halted, and Han | passed him with a rush and got fed. tween him and the form upon the eat. before she turned and faced him. ,ore Defeat-defeat of whatever purpt
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