OCR Text |
Show ALICE of OLD HVINCENNES i Egg By MAURICE THOMPSON ;;' ItHHI l'W,lgk m' W BOWI-MUtMU. COMTAMT "Tain In the evening news came to Rousslllon place, where (inspunl Itoutt-slllon Itoutt-slllon was once more luippy In the midst of hli little family, that the In-fllau In-fllau Long Hnlr hurt Just lieon liroimlit to the fort ii ml would lie shot mi the following tlHy. A scoutlm: party cap-ttireil cap-ttireil him as he approached the town bearing at Ms holt tin fresh scalp of a white inn ii. lie would have been killed forthwith, hut Chirk, who wished to avoid n repetition of the savage vengeance venge-ance meted out to the Indians on the previous day, had given strict orders thnt all prisoners should he brought Into In-to the fort, where they were to have a fair trlnl by court martial. Both Helm and Beverley were at Housslllon place, the former sipping wine and chatting with (iasiinrd. the latter, of course, hovering around Alice Al-ice after the manner of a hungry bee nrouml n paitlculnrly sweet and dell-clotthly dell-clotthly refractory flower. It was rain lng slowly, the line drops coming straight dowu through the cold, still February nlr, but the two .voting people peo-ple found It pleasant enough for them on the vernnda, where they walked back and forth, making fair exchange of the exciting experiences which hnil befallen them during their long Depuration. Depura-tion. Between the lines of these mutual mutu-al recitals sweet, fresh echoes of the old, old story went from heart to heart, an amo'biean love bout like thnt of spring birds calling tenderly back and forth In the blooming Maytlme woods. Both Captain Helm and M. Itnussll-Ion Itnussll-Ion were delighted to hear of Umg Hair's capture and lertnlu fate, but neither of them regarded the news as of sutllclent Importance to need much comment. They did not think of telling Beverley and Alice, .lean, however, lying awake In his little bed, overheard tho conversation, which he repeated to Alice next morning with great circumstantiality. circum-stantiality. Having the quick Insight bred of frontier experience, Alice Instantly caught the terrible significance of the dilemma In which she and Beverley would be placed by I,oni: Hair's situation. situa-tion. Moreover, something in her heart arose with Irresistible power demand Ing the final, the absolute human sympathy sym-pathy and gratitude. No matter what deeds laing Hair had committed that were evil beyond fiveuess, be had done for her the nil atoning thing. Ho hnd saved Beverley and sent him back to her. With a start and chill of dread, she thought, "What If It U already too late'" But her nature could not hesitate. To feel the demand of an exigency was to nut. She snatched a wrap from Its peg on the wall and ran as fast as she could to tho fort. People who met her flying along wondeied, staring after her, what could be urging her so that she snw nobody, cheeked herself for nothing, ran splashing through the pud-I 11 M&l llKCJaVaglU WkmJM 7nW "The forUlt Mown uj)," dleH In the street, gazing ahead of her as If pursuing some Hying object from which she dared not turn her eyes. And there waa Indeed n call for her utmost power of flight If she would be of any assistance to Long Hair, who even then stood bound to a stake In tho fort's area, while a platoon of riflemen, those unerring shots from Kentucky and Virginia, were ready to make a target of him at a range of but twenty yards. Beverley, greatly handicapped by tho fact that flat fresh scalp of a white I man hung at Long Hair's belt, hud ex-i ex-i hausted every possible argument to I avert or mitigate the sentence promptly I spoken by the court murtlal of which I Colonel Clark was the ruling spirit. He had succeeded barely to the extent of turning the mode of execution from tomahawking to shooting. All the ofH-eers ofH-eers In the fort approved killing the prisoner, and It was dlttleult for Colonel Colo-nel Clark to prevent the men from 1 making outrageous assaults upon him, no exasperated were they at sight of the scalp. Oncle Jnzon proved to be mio of the most refractory among those who demanded de-manded tomahawking and calplng ai tho only treatment duo I.on , Hair. The rcpulstvo savage stood up before them itolld. resolute, defiant, proudly flaunting flaunt-ing the bndgo which testified to his uurrlhje ellleleuoy aati emlssury q! ifamllton. It h'ad been let? In hfs lielt by Clark's order as tho best Justification Justi-fication of his doom. "1 me hack Ms hend!" Oncle Jazou pleaded "t Jes' hankers to chop a hole inter It An", besides, I want 'la celp to hang up wl mine an" that 'u o' the lujuu what scelped me, H kicked me In the ribs, the varmint." Beverley pleaded eloquently and well, but even the genial Major Helm laughed laugh-ed at his sentiment of gratitude to a savig.e who at best but lelented at the last moment for Alice's sake and con-duiW con-duiW not to sell him to Hamilton. It Is due to the British commander to record here that he most positively and with what aimearcd to be high sincer ity denied the charge of having offered rewards for the taking of human scalps He declared that his purposes and practices were humane, and that, while he did use the Indians as military milita-ry allies, bis orders to them were that they must forego cruel modes of warfare war-fare and refrain from savage outrage upon prisoners. Certainly the weight of contemporary testimony i-eenis over whelmingly against him, but we enter his ileuinl. Long Hair himself, however, how-ever, taunted him with accusations of unfaithfulness In carrjlng out some very Inhuman contracts, and, to add a terrible sting, volunteered the statement state-ment that poor Barlow's scalp had served in Ills turn in the place of Beverley's. Bev-erley's. With conditions so hideous to contend con-tend -Against, Beverley, of course, hud no risible means of succoring the condemned con-demned savage. "Him a-klekln' yer ribs clean Inter ye, an' a-maklti' ye run the gantlet, an' here ye air a tryln' to save Ms life!" whined Oncle Jazon. "W'y man, I thought ye bed some senterments! Dast Ms InJIn liver, I kin feel them kicks what ho guv me till ylt. Ventrebleu! Que dlable voulez-vousV" Clark simply pushed Beverley's pleadings aside as not worth a moment's mo-ment's consideration. He easily felt the fine bit of gratitude at the bottom of It nil, but there wns too much In the other side of the balance. Justice, the discipline and confidence of his little lit-tle army and the claim of the women and children on the frontier demanded llrtnneMi in dealing with n case like Ixing Hair's. "No, no," he said to Beverley, "I would do anything in the world for you, I'Mtz, except to swerve an Inch from duty to my country and the defenseless de-fenseless people down yonder In Kentucky. Ken-tucky. I can't do It. There's no use to press the matter further. The die Is cast. Thni 'jute's got to be killed and killed dead Look at him look at that scalpl I'd have him killed if I dropped dead for It the next Instant." Beverley shuddered. The argument was horribly convincing, and yet, somehow, some-how, the desire to save ling Hnlr overlnire everything else in his mind. He could not cease his efforts. It seemed seem-ed to htm as if he were pleading for Alice herself. Captain l-'arnsworth. strange to say, was the only man In the fort who leaned to Beverley's side, but he was reticent, doubtless feeling that his position as n British prisoner gave him no right to speak, especially when every lip around him was muttering something about "Infamous scalp buyers buy-ers anil Indian partisans," with whom ho was prominently counted by the speakers. As Clark had said, the die was cast. Long Hnlr, bound to a stake, the scalp still dangling at his side, grimly faced his executioners, who were eager to lire. He appeared to be proud of the fact that he was gttag to be killed. "One thing I can sny of him," Helm remarked to Beverley --"he's the grandest grand-est specimen of tho nnlmal I might say the brute- man that I ever saw, red, white or black. Just look at his body and limbs! Those muscles are perfectly marvelous," "He saved my life, and I must stand here and see him murdered," the young man replied with Intense bitterness. It was'all tllat he could think, all that ho could say He felt inefficient nnd dejected, almost desperate. Clark himself, not willing to cast re-sonslblllty re-sonslblllty upon a subordinate, made ready to give the fatal order. M'urnlng to Long Hnlr first, he demanded of him us well ns he could In the Indian dialect, of which he hnd a smattering, what he had to sny nt his last moment. The Indian straightened his already upright form and by a strong bulging of his muscles snapped the thongs that bound him. Evidently he had not tried thus to free himself. It was rnthor a spusmodle "xpresslon of savage dignity digni-ty and pride. One nrm and both his legs still were partially confined by tho bonds, but his right hand he lifted, with n gesture of Immense self satisfaction, satis-faction, and pointed ut Hamilton. "Indian brave; white man coward" ho said, scowling- scornfully. "Ing Hair tell truth; white man Hot" Hamilton's countenance did not change Its calm, cold expression. Iong Hair gazed at him fixedly for a long moment, his eyes Hushing most concentrated concen-trated hale and contempt. Then he tow the scalp from his belt and flung It with great force straight toward the captive governor's face. It fell short, hut Uie look that went with It did not, and Ilainllton recoiled. At thnt moment Alice arrivea. net coming wa Just In time to Interrupt Clark, who had turned to the waiting platoon with the order of death on his lips. She made no noise, save the fluttering flut-tering of her skirts and her loud and rapid pantl.ig on account of her long, hard run. She sprang before I-ong Hnlr and faced the platoon. "You cannot, you shall not kill this man!" she cried In a voice loaded with excitement. "Put away those guisl" Woman never looked more thrllllngly beautiful to man than she did Just then to all those rough, stern back woodsmen. During her flight her hair had fallen down, and It glimmered like soft sunlight around her face. Something Some-thing compelling flashed out of her eyes, an expression between a triumphant trium-phant smile and a ray of Irresistible beseechmeut It took Colonel Clark's breath when he turned nnd snw her standing there nnd heard her words. 'Thls man saved Lieutenant Bever-ley's Bever-ley's life," she presently added, getting better control of her voice and sending Into It a thrilling timbre. "You shall not hnrm him; you must not do It!" Beverley wns astounded when he saw her, the thlug wns so unexpected, so during and done with such high, Im perious force. Still It wns but n real tuition of what he hud Imagined she would be UK)ii occasion. He stood gaz lng at her, as did all the rest, white she faced Chirk and the platoon of riflemen. rifle-men. To henr his own name puss her quivering lips In that tone and In that connection seemed to him a consecration. consecra-tion. "Would you be more saMige than your Indian prisoner?" she went on; "less grateful than he for a life saved? I did him ii small n very small service serv-ice once, and In memory of that ho saved Lieutenant Beverley's life, becausebecause" be-causebecause" she faltered for a sin gle breath, then added cleniV and with inuguetlc sweetness "been use Lieutenant Lieuten-ant Beverley loved me and liceausc I loved him. This Indian Long Hair slewed a gratitude that could over come his strongest passion. You white men should be ashamed to fall below his 'standard " Her wolds went home. It was ns tf the bentity of her face, the magnetism of her lissome and symmetrical form, , the sweet lire of her eyes and the passionate pas-sionate appeal of her voice gnve what she said a new and Irresistible force of truth. When she spoke of Beverley's love for her aud declared her love for him thera was not a manly heart In all the garrison that did not suddenly beat quicker and feel a strange, sweet waft of tenderness. A mother somewhere, n wife, n daughter, a sister, u sweetheart, called through that voice of absolute womanhood "Beverley, what can I do?" muttered Clark, his bronze face as pale us It could possibly become. "Do!" thundered Beverley. "Do! You cannot murder thnt mini. Hamilton Is the man you should shoot! He offered large rewards, he Inflamed the passions and fed the love of rum und the cupidity cupidi-ty of the poor wild men like the one standing yonder. Yet you take him prisoner and treat him with distinguished distin-guished consideration. Hnmllton offered offer-ed n large sum for me taken alive, a smaller one for my scalp. Long Hnlr snved me You let Hnmllton stand yonder In perfect safely while you shoot the Indian. Shame on you. Colonel Colo-nel Clark! Shame on ou If you do It." Alice stood looking at the stalwart commander while Beverley was pour lng forth his torrent of scathing reference refer-ence to Hamilton, aud she quickly saw that Clark was inovisl. The moment was ripe for the finishing stroke. They say It Is genius that avails Itself of opportunity. op-portunity. Beverley knew the tight wus won when he saw what followed. Alice suddenly left Long Hnlr nnd ran to Colonel Clark, who felt her warm, strong arms loop around him for n sin gle K)lnt of time, never to 1h effaced from his memory; then he saw her kneeling ivt his feet, her hands up-stretched, up-stretched, her face a glorious prayer, while she pleaded the Indian's enuse nnd won It. Doubtless, while we nil rather feel that Clark was weak to be thus swayed sway-ed by a girl, we cannot quite blame him. Alice's flag was over him Ho hnd heard her history from Beverley's cunning lips. He actually believed that Hnmllton was the real culprit, nnd be sldcfl ho felt not a little nauseated with executing Indians. A good excuse to have an end of It all did not go beg-Ring. beg-Ring. But Long Hulr was barely gone over the horizon from the fort, as free and as villainous a savage as ever trod tho earth, when a discovery made by Oncle Jazou caused Clark to hate himself for what he had done. The old scout picked up the scalp which I-ong Hair had flung nt II mill I-tou I-tou nnd examined It with odious curiosity. curi-osity. He hnd lingered on the spot with no other purpose thnn to get possession pos-session of thnt ghastly relic. Since losing los-ing his own scalp the subject of crown locks had grown upon hU mind until its fascination was Irresistible. He studied the hair of every person he saw as a physiognomist studies fnces. He held the grewsome thing up Wore him, scrutinizing It with the expression of u connoisseur who has discovered on a grimy ennvns the signature of an old master. "Sac bleu!" he presently broko forth. "Well, I'll 1h Look'ee yer, George Clark! Come yer an' look. Ye've been sold ag'In, Take a squint, ef ye plense!" Colonel Clark, with his bauds crossed behind him, his face thoughtfully contracted, con-tracted, was walking slowly to and fro a little way off. Ho turned about when Oncle Jazou spoke. "What now, Jnzon?" "A mighty heap right now, that's what. Come yer nn' let me show ye. Yer a fine sort o' eejlt now, ain't ye?" The two men walked toward each other and met. Oncle Jazon held up the sculp with one hand, pointing at It wlUUhe Ijutex tlngernf tliepther |