Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1931-04-03

tepSS, near TIE river, anu TIE 4 du
Man and Shindas were guarding him.
He watched her depart with Wood
Pigeon and Odd. Then she might have
seen a change in him, change which
came when he knew he was alone.
Toinette was breathless when she
came to All De Bah's home, which the
hunter had set apart from the others.
The Tall Man stood motionless before
the door with a rifle In the crook of
his arm, and Shlndas sat on the ground
near him. Both saw her coming. She
paused a few PAGES from them with
her mind struggling against a chaos
Of uncertainty and dread. What could
she say to Hepsibah Adams? How
could she help him when Tiaoga and
Shindas and All De Bah were eager
for his death?
Shindas spoke a word to the Tall
Man and advanced toward her. He
seemed to have expected her, and
pointed to the tepee. All De Bah did
not look at her as she entered. Neither
appeared to notice Wood Pigeon or
the dog.
She found Hepsibah stretched out
like a dead man, and knelt on the
earth at his side. He was scarcely
conscious of her presence until she
touched him. She felt the buckskin
cords at his wrists; then her hand
found his sightless face.
ho IoaDand n
she whispered:
"Hepsibah-Hepsibah Adams-I am
Toinette Tonteur."
Shindas waited with All De Bah as
the gloom thickened about them.
After a time, they saw Wood Pigeon
going toward the circle of fires. Shin
das stopped her, and in answer to his
question she told him Toinette was
weeping beside the white man and
that the dog was with her.
A fresh outcry told them that at
last the time had come, and All De
Bah went to the tepee and held back
the flap. He spoke to Toinette, call
ing her Sol Yam Makwun. There was
no answer. He spoke again and en-
tered After a brief interval, his
voice rose in demand for Shindas,
and the young Seneca answered 1t.
All De Bah was hunting like an ami
NAL in the blackness. The tepee was
empty. Toinette and Hepsibah Adams
were gone.
Shindas did not speak. There was
no light to reveal his face as he went
to the edge of the river and saw that
a canoe was gone. He grunted his
wonder when the Tall Man joined him.
The canoe had been launched within
fifty PAGES of them, and they had not
heard a sound. Words of self-abase-
ment fell from All De Bah's lips. He
and Shindas were like two children,
and every man and woman in Chenuf-
sio would taunt them because of the
ease with which the escape had been
made. But the missing canoe could
not be far distant The fugitives, one
of them blind, could not possibly sue
coed in their flight. The night would
see the white man given to the stake,
and now that Silver Heels had proved
herself a serpent in the tribe and
traitor to Tiaoga, she would probably
die with him.
All De Bah made queer sounds
in his chest as they ran to Tiaoga
and the expectant people with him.
He was not as calm as Shindas
when they arrived. It was Shin
das who announced the deception of
the stranger whom they had accepted
as the true spirit of Sol Van MAXIMUM.
Tiaoga was coldly and terribly still.
His face changed before their eyes.
The burrows in it grew deeper, and it
became as hard as stone In the fields.
Then words came weighted with the
decision of death, rising until they
swelled in a passion that was like
fire consuming everything in its path.
He declared that his honor and the
honor of his people lay In his hands.
He called on Shindas and All De Bah
to go with him to recapture the fugi-
tives, for this was duty imposed on
him first of all. Before the night was
much older, the fire stake should have
its triumph. He had forgotten the
blind man, for man without eyes was
already dead. He would give to the
flames the white girl who had be-
trayed them.
(To BE coNTINUED.)