Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 July 1911 — The knight of the Silver Star [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The knight of the Silver Star

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By PERCY BREBNER

CHAPTER XVII. -fTTHAKE him alive!” came the cry. Yes, weakness meant Segal "The roof. There is only the sentinel.” Bridget’s words pat new courage Into me. I stayed another rush and then sprang backward. I was almost at the top of the stairs now. “Let me pass.” I knew the voice. Sword in hand, O’Ryan pushed his way through the crowd below, jumped across the body of the last man who had fallen and came at me. Had a dash to the roof meant absolute safety at that moment I do not think I should have taken it. My greatest enemy in the world was before me. Revenge and death poised the scales equally. It was his life or mine now. Those below seemed to recognize the supreme moment. They did not follow, but gave the captain free fighting room. I had the advantage in position, but his arm was fresh. Engaging me swiftly, he pressed me sorely. My mad longing for revenge drew an oath from me as he parried my thrusts skillfully. I had never seen him handle his weapon so well before.

With his eyes fixed on mine he watched his opportunity. With a swift stroke he put my sword aside and sprang at me even to the step on which I was standing. “For heaven’s sake wound me, Terrain” he whispered. I had done so almost before the words were spoken, how badly I did not know. He fell back into the arms of his comrades so Leavlly that I thought death had ended our acquaintanceship. My sword slipped from my hand, but I drew my dagger and ran to the roof. Bridget stood in my way a moment, but I pushed her aside and was on the roof before my enemies had time to follow me. I flung the curled rope over the wall and then jumped forward to meet my last enemy, the sentry. He was unprepared and knew not how desperate a man be had to deal with. He struck one blow at me and then— Ah, it was most awful work to do! The dagger passed in softly underneath his.

“A SWIFT SLASH OF MY DAGGER CUT THE ROPE ABOVE MY HEAD.” arm, and be pitched from the wall like a log thrown out into space. My foes reached the roof as I grasped the rope and went over. “A rope—cut it!”

“No! After him!” shouted a dozen voices in answer.

I had slipped down halfway, I suppose, when the words arrested me. A dozen could follow by the rope. I could fight against odds no longer. Only a dagger was in my hand, a useless weapon against odds. The rope above me swayed. My first adversary was already sliding toward me. I was prepared; he would not be-all the difference in a fall. I drew my limbs together and then, with a swift slash of my dagger, cut the rope above my head—and fell. ,

It was well for me that I landed on soft turf. I was cut and bruised, but escaped a worse fate. The man who followed me struck the ground with a sickening thud. He yas not dead, but could not rise. I reached-the river and dropped my coat of mail and dagger into the water. I struck out sore as I was. Soon I became conscious that I was being followed—at least I thought so. I felt a touch from a human hand. I saw a naked man close upon me. I grasped his throat and wrenched it Then be sank. He was dead. I reached the shore prostrate and insensible. A gray dawn was glimmering over the mountains of the east when consciousness returned to me. I remembered things slowly. I sat up, and then t remembered all that had happened

last night, tor the same current that had brought me to land bad later brought my ghastly companion. He lay at my feet at the edge of the water, his face upward, his open, sightless eyes staring at the gray sky. The • thought carried my mind to that other death—that death of creaking winches and toothed machinery—and the possibility that occurred to me made me look at the man more closely. His limbs seemed long and loose. One arm was evidently broken. Could It be a prisoner who had made a friend of the executioner and had died so easily? There was a blue mark round his neck where a rope had been. Had not Costa said tbat the weight tied to a corpse slipped sometimes? This man. too. had escaped from Yadasara. but by the way only dead men took

I sprang to my feet. I was a fool to wait here, so close to tbat terrible' fortress. It was light now. Safety for me .lay only In the woods. _ My enemies might know the set of the currents in the river and seek for my body in this very spot. I bathed my arms and legs and then made quickly for the woods behind. It was well that I was wise in time, for even as I entered the wood I saw a party of horsemen coming from the bridge. Some went along the river bank, while the others spread in two* and threes fanlike over the country. They did not intend me to escape. I plunged into the wood, keeping from trodden paths, and broke off a stout stick tb help me to walk and to serve as a weapon in case of need. It would be a poor defense if I were once seen. I came out from a thick piece of undergrowth on to a broad turf path and then <Trew quickly back again. Three soldiers had dismounted not two dozen yards away and were lying upon a bank. From my leafy ambush I saw two other horsemen turn into the path. “Not found yet?” called out one of the three I had first seen, “No. and never will be,” was the answer, and I recognized Costa. “I’d give a good deal to lay my hands upon him. I took a liking to him, and it’s hard to know that one has loved a traitor.”

“This traitor’s a man at least,” said one. “I shouldn’t have taken a liking to him if he hadn’t been. I think he Is dead.” “We ought to have found his body.” “The river has that,” was, the answer. "It didn't keep the prisoner who died yesterday,” said his companion. “He was lying on the bank, a sorry sight enough.” Presently all five mounted and rode Blowly up the path, and I crept throngh the underwood again. Perhaps I should have been safer had I stopped where I was, but inaction was impossible. Besides, hunger and thirst were prompting me. A few berries might be found and a stream. I must have wandered far out of my way, for I came suddenly upon a small clearing. A hut built of stout logs was there, and before it was an old woman facing half a dozen horsemen. “You’ve searched,” she was saying. "There’s not a hole where a man could lie concealed. What have Ito do with your fighting?” “You have seen no man pass this way today.” “No. I was within, and the door was shut.”

“Mark you, dame, there is a man wandering in these woods, and he’ll want food. Maybe he’ll ask you for it If you give it this hut will be without an owner. Were he your son even you should not escape!” “Maybe not, but I’d chance that and give him food if”—

The horseman muttered a threatening oath, turned and left the old woman standing at her hut door. As soon as they were out of sight she shook her fist at them. The action made me wonder if I could trust her. Within the hut doubtless were food and drink, and both I sorely needed; perhaps, too, a corner where I could rest a little. She stood'at the door for a few moments and then came to the side of the hut to pick up a bundle of sticks. It was risky, but I was almost fainting for want of food. Holding up my hand in warning. I stepped into the clearing. She saw me and let the sticks fall, but she did not utter a sound. “They are for the king,” I whispered. "I am for the princess. Who is your son for?” “The princess.” She beckoned me to follow her, and I entered the hut “You shall eat first and, if you will, tell me the tale afterward.” It was frugal fare she set before me, such a pottage that at other times my stomach might have turned against but now enjoyable as the dainty feast of an epicure, and then I told her a garbled- version of my story, true enough in particulars, but wanting in detail.

“YouTe a brave man,” she said. “My son would have acted so, for he is a brave man too. Now let me look at your wounds. Living in the woods, we old women find strange herbs.” She could not have used me more tenderly had I been her son. In the midst of her work she stopped suddenly. She had quick ears. “They are returning.” “Good mother, give me some weapon and my life shall stand between them and you.” “There is a better way,” she answered. “Come with me."-= =%= She led me into a small back room and, pushing'some faggots back from a corner, opened a trap. "It’s a well,” she said, “but it’s something more. Catch hold of the rope, hang at arm's length and your feet will feel a ledge. It is the floor of a little

hiding p!ace and safe enough. I warrant- yuick: tbey are at the doorP*

She replaced the lid of the trap, add 1 heard her sweep the fagots over it as I swung myself into the hiding place, a fair sized kind of cellar under the hut. By the noise above I could hear that several men had «nter«L 1 could hear the murmur of their'voices, but could catch no words. The hut was evidently carefully searched again, the trap was even opened, but the hole was so clearly a well that none suspected a hiding place. For three days 1 lay hidden, chiefly in the well, but sometimes climbing into the hut when the woman thought it safe for me to do so. More than once the men paid surprise visits, once

nearly catching me, and so well was the wood watched that even at night it was not safe for me to start.

On the fourth night 1 set out upon my journey. The king's men had withdrawn. convinced that I was not concealed in the wood. The woman told me which path I should take to reach the open country toward my destination, and she provided me with a short dagger, the only weapon she had. I was in the princess’ country, but I shunned habitations and avoided a village as the plague. I went carefully day and night, keeping to the woods as much as possible, choosing to make a roundabout journey rather than go direct with the chance of being seen. It was on the sixth or perhaps the Beventh day, for I took little heed of the passing of time, that I neared my goal. To gain the private door by which I escaped and by which I intended to return I had to cross in front of the camp and climb the opposite hill spur. No sentry disturbed me. Only a light here and there was visible. Something had happened. If a large part of her army had deserted, which would explain why the king’s troops had wandered unchallenged over the country, the sooner the princess and I set out to find the exit from Drussenland the better.

I found the secret door and opened it With my dagger in my hand I groped my way along the dark passages. not certain of my direction. There was not a sound. The palace seemed deserted, and my heart failed me. At last I came to the corridor in which the princess’ rooms were. There was no light in it, not a sound. I stood still and listerfbd. Not a soundyes, a little sound, the slight creak 01 armor. Friend or foe, he was too near the princess for me to wish to avoid him. So I went forward, taking no further care to step lightly. 1 “Who goes?” “A friend.” “That name may stand for a foe now.” he answered. I heard him strike a door with his sword. It was the princess’ door, and at his summons two men came out bearing torches. “Yerrall!” one exclaimed. ‘You come too late, I fear.” . “Too late!” “The princess is gone.” “Gone!' Where?” “Toward Yadasara.”

“To her death!” I cried, and I pnt out my arm to the wall to support myself.

(To be continued.)

There is more Catarrh in this section of the country than all other diseases put together, and until the last few years was supposed to be incurable. For a great many years doctors pronounced it a local disease and prescribed local remedies, and by constantly failing to cure it with local treatment pronounced it incurable. Science has proven catarrh to be a constitutional disease and therefore requires constitutional treatent. Hall’s Catarrh Cure, manufactured by F. J. Cheney & Co. Toledo, Ohio, is ~ the only constitutional cure on the market. It is taken internally in doses from 10 drops to a teaspoonful. It acts directly on the blood and mucous surfaces of the system. They offer one hundred dollars for any case it fails to cure. Send fqr circulars and testimonials. Address: F. J. CHENEY & CO., Toledo, Ohio. Sold by druggists, 75c. Take Hall’s Family Pills for constipation.

For The G. E. Murray Co’s. July sale we have npt bought uo a lot of cheap stuff, but will offer our regular lines of dependcble merchandise.

“QUICK; THEY ARE AT THE DOOR.”