Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 September 1912 — My Lady of the North [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

My Lady of the North

z TBIIOVE STORY OF A GRAY JACKET

by RANDALL PARRISH

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CHAPTER VI. A Struggle in the Dark. I have seldom been more deeply embarrassed than at that moment. I Knew not what to say or now best to approach this yotmg woman, leit so strangely to my protection. The very fact, which I now realized, that she was both young and fair, added some indefinite burden and complicated the delicate situation. I saw no safety for us but in careful hiding until Craig could return, a squad of hardriding troopers at his back. To permit the girl to venture forward alone through the desolate country we were in, overrun as I knew it to be by irregular bands whose sole purpose was plunder, and whose treatment of women had made my blood run cold as I listened to its recital, was not to be so much as thought of. There was no help for it, and but

one way out, disagreeable as that might prove to my lady. She stood there before me, motionless and silent as a statue, exactly where she had alighted when the sergeant took her horse, and it seemed to me I could plainly read righteous indignation in the indistinct outline of her figure and the haughty pose of her head. To her at that moment I was evidently a most disagreeable and even hated companion, a "Rebel,” the being of all others she had been taught to despise, the enemy of all she held sacred. “Could any good thing come out of Nazareth?” “The time has come when It becomes my duty to look after your comfort and safety,” I said, striking to disguise all self-consciousness. “Every moment we delay now merely increases the danger of our remaining here.” “I Imagine I might very eastly dispense with any further care on your part.” Her reply nettled me, and lanswered with an earnestness which she could neither ignore nor check: “Possibly you may think so, but if you do it is merely because of your utter ignorance of the disorganized conditions which prevail in these mountains. Your pride is almost ridiculous under all the circumstances. You have no just cause to feel that I am forcing myself unnecessarily upon you. Our being compelled to take you in charge has proven as disastrous to us as to you. Personally I can say that nothing will relieve me more than to be able to place you uninjured inte the care of your own people. I would willingly assume great risks to that end. But while you remain here and in my care, I shall perform my full duty toward you as though you were my own sister. Now please listen to me, and I assure you I shall speak nothing for the mere purpose of alarming you, but simply that you may better comprehend the facts which must Influence our present relationship. I have sent forward Sergeant Craig with the message especially intrusted to me for delivery, and thus, if it falls to reach its destination, I have laid myself open to the charge of a grave military crime. In doing this I have not only periled my own future.

but the lives of my comrades and the faith of my commander. Yet I have deliberately chosen to do so because I feel the impossibility of leaving you here unprotected, and because I was unwilling to trust you alone with my companion. I dare not permit you to traverse these roads alone. The mountains all about us, deserted as they now appear, are filled with wandering bands of desperate and hunted men whose tenderest mercy is death. Any roqk may be the hiding place of an outlaw, any dark ravine the rendezvous of as wffif a gang as ever murdered for plunder.” “But the Sergeant said there was a Federal picket post at the crossing of the White Briar.” Her voice trembled as she spoke. “He merely supposed there would be; but even if it were true, we have no positive means of knowing that the men stationed there would be of the regular service. Doubtless those

thieving, murdering bands —such as that headed by Red Lowrie, of whom you may have heard —are sufficiently organized to keep patrols posted, and may, Indeed, be utilized at times by both armies for that purpose. Were yflu to go to them you might be simply w’alking into a den of wolves.” “But could you not go with me?” I smiled at the naive innocence of her query. “I wish you to feel that I have never thought so much about my own danger as about yours,” I returned quietly. “But w'ould it be a pleasure even to you to behold me swinging from the limb of a tree, hung as a spy without trial, merely because I ventured to walk with you into a Federal camp?”

I could see her eyes now resting full upon me, and much of the hardness and doubt seemed to have gone out of them as she scanned my uncovered features in the dim light. I scarcely think I was ever considered a handsome man even by my friends, but I was young then, frank of face, with that about me which easily inspired confidence, and it did me good to note how her eyes softened, and to mark the perceptible tremor in her voice as she cried impulsively: “Oh, no! Not that!”

“Your words yield me new heart,” I replied fervently, determined, now ttat ice was partially broken, to permit no excuse for its - again forming, “for if you but once fully realize our situation you will certainly feel that I am merely endeavoring to perform plain duty.” “I will, of course, bow to the inevitable, sir,” she said, “ant! shall endeavor to adapt myself to the requirements of my unfortunate situation. May I venture to inquire what you now propose to do?” To the right of where we stood the ground sloped rapidly downward until the dense darkness at the foot of the steep defile shrouded everything from view. The 1 descent appeared rocky and impracticable, and I could distinguish the sound of rapid water far below. On the opposite side stood a dense wood, the outer fringe of overhanging the road, and through the waving leaves the moonlight checkered the ground with silver, while the dense mass beyond seemed to flow back up the steep side of the mountain, thick with underbrush. Just below us, and possibly fifty feet from the highway, I could perceive a small o”e-story log cabin, as silent, gloomy, and deserted to all Qutward appearance as were the somber woods of which it formed a part. “There seems small choice,” I said, ftpeaking as cheerfully as possible. “But I propose to investigate the log hut yonder, and learn if it may not afford some degree of shelter. If you will rest here, in the shadow of these trees, I will soon discover whether It has inmates or not.” She followed me in silence across the road to the spot designated, but as I turned to leave her seated upon the grass, and well protected from prying eyes, she hurried quickly after me, and in her agitation so far forgot herself as to touch my sleeve with her hand.

“Oh, please do not leave me here alone. I am not naturally timid, yet everything is so gloomy I cannot stand it Let me go with you, if you must go!” “Most assuredly you shall if you desire,” I returned heartily. There appeared before us a dim, lit-tle-used path leading in among the trees, and following its erratic curves we were soon before the cabin, which grew even more uninviting as we drew near. As I paused a moment before the closed door, in order that I might listen for any possible sound within, I could hear her quick breathing, as though the terror of the moment had driven all else from her mind. The wooden latch yielded readily enough to my pressure, and, pushing wide open the door, which creaked slightly upon its rusty hinges, I stepped across the puncheon threshold onto the hard earthen floor. There was no window visible, and the slight reflection of moonlight which crept in through the doorway scarcely revealed the nature of that dark interior. I could dimly perceive what I believed to be a table directly in front of me, while certain other indistinct and ill defined shadows might be chairs pushed back against the wall. At least this room was without occupants; yet it was with every sense alert that I entered, pressing slowly past the table toward where I felt . the fireplace would naturally be, knowing that my companion was yet with me, her hand clutching my arm. » * “Oh!” she cried sharply in terror, "what was that?” It was something certainly—a deadened, muffled, shuffling sound directly in our front, followed by a strange noise of scraping, as if with a dull knife on wood. “Walt here,” I said sternly. "Probably it is nothing more dangerous than a rat,”

I felt my way carefully around the table, a revolver ready in my hand. There was nothing to be found there —nothing, indeed, in the room; for from my new position I could look backward and distinguish in the moonlight the details of that simple, squalid interior. I ran my hands along the rough logs of the further wall. Ay! here was a break, doubtless a door; and groping along the crack I found the latch.

was no longer -any noise audible, and I drew the door inward, never dreaming of danger. Suddenly, with a fierce, wild spring out of the dark, a huge body hurled itself directly at my throat, striking with such headlong impetus that I went, backward as if shot, crashing against the table, then to the floor, dropping my weapon as I fell. There w r as no noise, no sound, while for an instant, with strength of sheer desperation, I held back the snapping jaws that breathed hot fire into my very face. With a bound backward of its great body the beast jerked free from my grip, and the next instant had sunk its dripping fangs, deep and hard, into the flesh of my shoulder. As the intense pain shot through me, my right hand, driven with atl the force I could muster, caught the monster once, twice, full in the throat, but tighter and tighter those clinched jaws locked, until it seemed as if every bone between them must be ground to powder. Even as I grasped the lower jaw, seeking vainly to wrench it loose, I heard the girl scream in sudden afrlght. “Quick!” I gasped desperately. "Get my revolver there on the floor, and use it —but for God’s sake keep down; don’t let the brute see you.” She must have heard, but there was no response, although her crying ceased. Yet my own struggle to rid myself of that crushing weight and those iron jaws drowned all other Bounds, drove all other thoughts from me. Every muscle of my body began to weaken from the strain, my eyes blurred, faintness swept over me, I felt my brain reeling, when there burst a vivid flash of flame within a foot of my face, singeing my forehead; then followed a deafening report, and the huge brute sprang backward with a snarl of pain, his teeth clicking together like cogs of steel. Then he stiffened and fell prone across me, a dead, inert weight, pinning me breathless to the floor. For the moment I could do no more than lie there helplesb, gasping for breath, scarce conscious even of my deliverance. Then, as sufficient strength returned for action, I rolled the body of the dead brute off me, and lifting myself by aid of the wall against which my head rested, looked about. Two broken chairs overturned upon the floor, and the shapeless, huddled body of ffiy late assailant, alone spoke of the violence of that deadly struggle; but the cabin was yet full of smoke, and I could perceive the figure of the girl leaning against the frame of the open door, the revolver still grasped in her hand. Her posture was that of a frightened deer, as her terror-filled eyes sought the dark interior. “It is safely over,” I said weakly, for my breath yet came to me ?in gasps. “The brute is dead." I could scarcely mark her coming across the narrow streak of moonlight, moving toward me as a frightened bird might, startled at everything, and passing as far from the lifeless mass on the floor as the small space would allow. As She bent anxiously over me her face was so in shadow that I could distinguish noth, ing of its features. "What is It? Are you Indeed severely hurt?” : "Not seriously, I think, yet I have lost some blood, and am in great pain. There is brandy in the inner pocket of my jacket, but I am unable to move my arm in order to reach it. Would you endeavor to draw the flask out?”

I felt her bend over me, her soft breath coming almost in sobs upon my face, as with trembling fingers she undid the buttons of my trooper’s jacket and extracted the small flat flask I had been thoughtful enough to store away there. The fiery liquid seemed to put new blood into my veins, and with it there returned all my old-time audacity, with that intense hopefulness in which I had been trained by years of war and self-reliance. “I trust you realize,” I said, “that I am neither thoughtless nor ungrateful. Years of war service make one careless of life, but I know it was your shot that saved me. You are a brava girl.” Her overtaxed nerves gave way at my words, and I knew she was crying softly. The sobbing was in her voice as she strove to speak. “Oh, no, I am not; you do not guess how great a coward I am. I scarcely knew what I was doing when I fired. That horrid thing—what was it?” “A huge mastiff, I imagine; one Of the largest of his breed. But whatever it may; have been, the beast is dead, and we have nothing more to fear from him.” “Yet I tremble so,” she confessed, almost hysterically. “Every shadow frightens me.” I realized that no amount of conversation would quiet her nerves so effectively as some positive action; besides, I felt the hot blood constantly trickling down my arm, and realized that something needed to be done at once to stanch its flow, before weakness should render me equally useless. "Do you think you could build a fire on the hearth yonder?” I asked. “I am afraid I am hardly capable of helping you as yet; but we must

have Tight in this gloomy old hole, or it is bound to craze us both. Take those broken chairs if you find nothing better.” She instantly did as I bade her, moving here and there about the room until she gathered together the materials necessary, but keeping carefully away from where the dead dog lay, until in a brief space of welcome flame leaped up in the wide black chimney, and cast its red glare all over the little room The activity did her good, the light flooding the gloomy apartment yielded renewed courage, and there was a cheerier sound in her voice as she came back to me. “The great ugly brute!” she exclaimed. looking at the form in the centre of the floor. “He was certainly heavy enough to have been a bear,’ I replied, clinching my teeth in pain, “and sufficiently savage.” 1 viewed her now for the first time clearly, and the memory will remain with me till I die. How distinctly that entire picture stands forth with the mist of all these years between! The low-ceiled room, devoid of all furniture save of the rudest and

most primitive kind; the bare logs forming the walls, unrelieved in their rough ugliness, except as here and there sundry unshapely garments dangled from wooden pegs; the rough deal table, with a few cheap dishes piled upon one end of it; the dead dog lying across the earthen flpor; and over all the leap of ruddy flame as the newly kindled fire gathered w r ay, leaving weird shadows here and there, yet steadily forcing them back, and flooding the whole interior with a cheerly glow. She had flung aside the blue and yellow cloak which, during the long hours of cur night ride had so completely shrouded her, and stood before me dressed in some soft clinging stuff of a delicate brown color, so cut and fashioned as to most become her rounded, graceful form. About her neck a narrow strip of creamy lace was fitted, the full throat rendered whiter by the contrast, while at her wrists a similar ornament alone served to relieve the simple plainness of her attire. The flaming fire lighted up her face, making it seem to flush with the dancing glow, which sparkled like diamonds in her eyes. Hers was a young, fair face,—a face to love and trust forever, yet with a pride in it, and a certain firmness also that somehow was good to see. All thW I noted with one quick upward glance, and with a sudden thrill of the heart such as I had never known before. (To be Continued.)

"Let Me Go With You."

There Burst a Vivid Flash of Flame Within a Foot of My Face.