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Show THE GIRL AT THEl HALFWAY HOUSE H A STORY OF THE PLAINS B BY B. IIOIIOII, AUTHOR OF THK HTOHY OP TIIK COWBOY M CetrrtfA ltd, IIOM. tr I). AlHtltn 6 Ltmmnr, A'ti Verk M CHAPTER I. H The Orazen Tongues. H Tho band major was n poet. Ills H namo Is lost to history, but It deserves H a place among tho titles of tho great. H Only In the boiiI of a iKict, a great H man, could there .have been conceived H that thought by which tho music of H triumph should pass tho little plnnaclo H of human exultation, and reach tho H higher piano of human sympathy. H Forty black horses, Keeping step; H forty trumpeters, keeping unison; H this procession, headed by a mere mil- H slclan, who none tho less was a poet, Hj a great man, crossed tho Mold of touts- H burg as It lay dottod with the heaps of H slain, and dotted also with tho groups B of those who sought their slain; H crossed that Held of woo, meeting only H hatred and despair, yet leaving bo- H hind pnly tears and grief. Tears and H grief, It Is true, yet grief that knew H of sympathy, and tears that recked of H other tours. H For a long tlmo tho lines of Invasion H had tightened about tho old city of H Loulsburg, nnd Loulsburg grow weak- H or In the coll. Tho wheat lay green H upon tho fields and tho odor of tho H blossoms of tho poach trees hung H heavy on tho nlr; but thero was none H -who thought of frultngo or of harvest H Out thero In front, whero tho guns H "were pulsing, thero went on that grim- H mor harvest with which tho souls of H all were Intimately concerned. The M jboys who throw up their hats to greet H 'tho Infantry woro fower than th'ey had H been bofore tho blossoming of tho H peach. Tho war had grown less par- H jtlcular of Its food. A boy could speed H 'a bullet, or could stop one Thero K wcro yet tho boys. 1 Of all tho oldtlmo families of this K .ancient llttlo city nono held iosltlon H raoro socuro or more willingly accord- K tod than tho Fairfaxes and the Henu- H hamps. Thero had always been a suckle, Had Mary Kllen's oyes not been hid beneath tho lids they might have seen a face palo and sad as her own. They sat sllont, for It was no time for human speech. Tho hour camn for parting, and ho rose. Ills lips Just lightly touched her check. It seemed to him ho heard a faint "good-bye." Ho stepped slowly down tho long walk In tho moonlight, and his hand was at his face. Turning nt the gato for tho last wrench of separation, separa-tion, he gazed back at a drooping form upon tho gnllery. Then Mrs. Hoau-champ Hoau-champ camo and took Kllen's head uj)on her bosom, seeing that now she was a woman, nnd that hor Bufferings had begun. CHAPTER II. The Players of the Game. When tho band major wns twenty miles away In front of toulsburg his trumpets sounded nlways tho ndvancc. Tho mnln lntrenchments erected In tho defence? of I.oulsburg lay nt right angles to tho road along which came tho Northern advance, nnd upon tho side of the wood nearest to tho town. In tho fields both tho wheat nnd tho flowers wero now trampled, nnd n thousand Industrious nnd complaining bees buzzed protest at the losing of their commerce. Tho defonses them-solves them-solves were but oarthworks, though skilfully laid out. Along their front, well hidden by tho forest growth, ran a lino of entangling abnttls of stakes and sharpened Interwoven boughs. In tho center of tho lino of defonse lay tho reserves, tho boys of Loulsburg, Louls-burg, flanked on either sldo by regiments regi-ments of veterans, tho lean and black-haired black-haired Georgians nnd Carolinians, whoso stoadlness nnd unconcern gave comfort to mora than ono bursting boyish henrt. Tho veterans had long playod tho gamo of war, Thoy had long slnco said good-byo to their worn- H Took Ellen' head upon her bosom. H Colonel Fairfax, tho loader at tho local H bar, perhaps tho representative In tho H legislature, or In some position of yot H 'higher trust. Tho Ueauchamps had H , always had men In tho ranks of tho H professions or In stations of rospon- H nihility, Thoy held largo lands, and H In tho nlmost feudal creed of tho H times they gave largo services In re- H It was considered a mnttcr of cnurso H that young Henry Fairfax, son of H Colonel Fatrfax, should, after com- B plctlng his studies at tho ancient Instl- H tutlon of William and Mary College H step Into his father's law offlco, oven- H itually to be admitted to tho bar and H (to become his father's partner; after (which ho should marry Miss F.llen Qeauchamp, loveliest daugbtor of a ijk ifamlly noted for Its beautiful women. H ' So much was this takon for granted, B , and so fully did It moet tho approval H of both families, that tho tldo of tho H young pcoj-lo's plans ran on with llttlo H to disturb Its current. Young Fatrfax H seemed so perfectly to represent the H traditions of his family, and his futuro H seemod to secure; and Mary Ellon her- H self, tall and ilonder, bound to bo H stately and ol ijoblo grace, seemed so H eminently fit to bo a neauchamp H beauty and a Fairfax brldo. H For the young peoplo themselves It H may bo doubted It thoro had yet awak- H ened the passion of gonulno, personal H love. They mot, but, under tho strict H code of that land and time, thoy never H mot alono. H For two years Colonel Fairfax had H bcon with his regiment, righting for H what ho considered tho welfare of his H country and for tho Institutions in H whoso Justice ho had bcon taught to H believe. Thero remained at tho old H Fairfax home In toulsberg only tho H wlfo of Colonel Fairfax and tho son H Honry, tho latter chafing at a part H which seemed to him so obviously Ig- H noble. Spirited and proud, rostlvo tm- H dor comparisons which ho bad nover H i, heard but always dreaded to hear, H Henry Fairfax bogged his mother to H I let him go, though still she saldr "Not H Hut the lines of tho enemy tightened j over about loulsburg. Then camo a H day a fatal day fraught with tho tld- H lngs of what seomed a doublo death. H The wife of Colonel Henry Fairfax H was grando iliimo that day, when sho H burlod her husband and sent away hor H pon. Thero wero yet traditions to sup H port. H Henry Fairfax said good-bye to Mary H Bllen upon tho gallery of the old homo, H f beneath a solemn, white-faced moon, Hr (-mid the odors of tho drooping honey & on. They had Beon how small a thing Is life, bow easily and swiftly to be ondod. In front of tho tronches woro other reglmouc nut ahead In the woods, unseen, un-seen, somowhero toward that place whenco camo tho steadiest jarring of artillery and tho loudest rattling of tho lesser arms. It wns vory hnrd to llo and listen, to tmaglno, to suspect, to dread. For hours tho gamo wont on, tho resorves at tho trenches hoarlng now distinctly and now faintly tho tumult of tho linos, now receding, now coming on. Those young men, who but lately had said good-byo to tho women of their kin, began to learn what war might moan. It had boen heretofore a distant, unmeasured, undreaded thing, conquerable, not to bo feared. It soemed so sweet and fit to go forth, oven though It had beon hard to say good-byo. Now thero began to appear In tho woods beforo tho tronches tho figures of men, at first scattered, then becoming becom-ing steadily more numerous. Thero camo men bearing other men whoso arms lopped loosely. Borne men walkod with a hand gripped tightly to an arm; others hobbled painfully. Two mon sometimes supported a third, whoso head, heavy nnd a-droop, would now and then bo kept erect with dlfllculty, the eyes staring with a ghastly, sheepish sheep-ish gaze, tho faco In a look of horrified horri-fied surprlso. This awful rabblo, tho parings of tho dofoated lino In front, dropped back through tho woods, dropped drop-ped back upon the young roserves, who lay thoro In tho lino. Somo of them could go no farther, hut foil thero and lay sllont. Others passod back Into tho Holds whero droned tho protesting bees, or whero hero nnd thoro a wldo tree offered Bhcltor. Suddenly nil tho summor nlr was flllod with anguish and horror. Was this, then, tho Wnr? And now thoro appeared jet other figures among tho treos, a straggling, broken lino, which foil back, halted, stood and fired nlwayn calmly, coolly, nt somo unseen thing In front of them. Hut this lino roBolvcd Itself Into Individuals, In-dividuals, who camo back to tho odge of tho wood, methodically picking tin if way through tho nbattls, climbing the Intervening fencos, and finally clambering clamb-ering into tho earthworks to take their places for tho final Btnnd. Thoy spoko with grinning rospoct of that which was out thoro ahead, coming on. Thoy threw oft their coats and tlghtned their bolts, making thomsolves comfortable com-fortable for what tlmo thero yet remained. re-mained. At last thero came a continued, hjnr-e, deep, choorlng, a roarlux w.n. at menace made up of llttlo sounds. An officer sprang up to tho top of tho breastworks nnd vnved his sword, shouting out somothlng wjilch no pno heard or cared to hoar. Tho lino In tho trenches, boys and vctoranB; roserves ro-serves nnd remnants of tho columns of defense, rose nnd pourod yolloy nftor volley, as thoy could, Into tho thick and concealing woods that lay beforo them. Nono tho loss, thoro appoarod soon a long, dusty, faded lino, trotting, trot-ting, running, walking, falling, stumbling, stumb-ling, but coming on. It swept llko a long serpent parallel to tho Works, writhing, smitten but surviving. It came on through tho wood, writhing, tenrlng at the cruel nbattls laid to on-trap on-trap It. It writhed, roared, but It broko through. It swept over tho rail tences that lay between tho linos and tho nbattls, and still camo onl This was not war, but Fato! Thero camo a cloud of smoko, hiding tho face of tho Intrcnchmont. Then tho boys of Ixiulsburg saw bursting through this suffocating curtain n fow faces, many faces, long rows of faces, omo pale, somu red, somo laughing, somo horrllled, somo Bhouttng, soma swearing a long row of facos that swept through tho smoko, following a lino of steel a lino of stool that flickered, flick-ered, waved nnd dipped. CHAPTER III. r T The Victory. The bandmnstcr mnrshalcd his music mu-sic nt tho head of tho column of occupation oc-cupation which was to march Into Loulsburg. Tho gamo had beon admirably ad-mirably played. Tho victory was complete com-plete Thero was no need to occupy tho trenches, for thoso who Jay In them or near them would nover rally for anothor battle. Thero was no longer need for hurry. Ucforo tho mlddlo of tho morning tho lines would start on tho march ot tho fow short miles. During tho delay a young officer of onglnccrs, Captain Edward Franklin by namo, asked permission of his colonel to ndvanco along tho lino ot march until ho camo to tho earthworks, earth-works, to which ho wished to glvo soma examination, Joining his regiment regi-ment as It passed beyond tho fortifications fortifica-tions on Its march. Tho colonel gavo his consent, not altogether willingly. "You may bqo more over tbero than you want to sco, young man," said ho. Frnnklln went on, following aa nearly near-ly as ho could tho lino ot tho assault of tho previous day, a track all to boldly bold-ly marked by tho horrid dobrls of tho tight. As ho reached tho first odgo of tho wood, whero tho victorious column col-umn had mado Its ontrnnce, It Hcemod to lit id that thero could havo been no such thing as war. Tho air was soft and sweet. Just cold enough to stir tho leaves upon tho trees and set thorn whispering Intimately. All about wns tho suggestion ot calm and rest and happiness. Surely It had beon a dream 1 Thero could havo been no battlo hero. This that had been a dream waa changed Into a horrid nightmare as tho young officer ndvnnced Into tho wood. About him lay tho awful evidences. evi-dences. Coats, caps, weapons, bit of gear, all marked and mphaslzcd with many, many shapeless, ghastly things. Hero they lay, theso Integers of the lino, huddled, Jumbled. Thoy had all tho contortions, all tho frozen ultlmato agonlei left for survivors to soo and romombor, so that they should no moro go to war. Again, thoy lay so peacefully calm that all tho lesson was acclaim for happy, painless war. Somo lay upon tholr backs where they had turned, thrusting up a kneo In the last struggle Somo lay faco downward down-ward as tho slaughtered fall. It was all a hideous and cruol dream. Surely It could bo nothing more It could not bo reality. Tho birds gurgled and twittered. Tho squirrels barked and played. The sky was Innocent. It must be a dream. (To bo continued.) |
