Show F C A N by SAMUEL mccoy recounting e c 0 u the adventures and love which came into the t le liv lives c of david larrence and antoinette oban non 0 n in the days when pioneers were fighting red savages in the indiana wilderness copyright 1916 by bobba merrill co LOVE MAKING do you enjoy the spectacle of of a pretty girl coquetting with a man who loves her devotedly and d Is cut to the heart by her teasing then find stirring interest in this installment 0 it is the year 1811 and david larrence lorrence exiled english weaver comes to corydon indiana territory intending to kill an old enemy he makes friends with patrice obannon and charming toinette his daughter and with job cranmer and his daughter lydia recently from england he learns that cranmer is a spy against the united states when he overhears a war plot cranmer disappears the settlement organizes a militia davids regard for toinette becomes very warm CHAPTER VI 4 moonlight david was thoughtful while the light banter ran on Go governor harrlson harrison lie he said may I 1 have a word with you alone I 1 have some information that I 1 wish to lay before you the young governor bowed assent and led the way to a quiet corner din danid id told the story of the meeting between girty cranmer and scull harrisons Harrl sons face grew grave why did you not report this sooner he asked sharply 1 I wrote at once to john tipton at vincennes Vin connes david answered 1 I asked him to tell you immediately I 1 have had no reply from him but I 1 have supposed that he gave you the message johns handier with his rifle than with a pen governor harrison as you know yes smiled harrison its agony for him to write but I 1 fear that he has not received your letter even yet lie has been away on a hunting and scout scouting ng trip for weeks I 1 myself am going away tor for a while but I 1 shall inform general gibson who nho Is to have charge of the territory in my absence and shall direct him to have his rangers make a thorough search tor for these men As for tecumseh rumors that his brother the prophet is stirring the warriors to discontent have reached my ears rest hest assured mr larrence that we shall keep careful watch over these matters I 1 thank you for what you have told me david felt that a load had been lifted from his mind he had done his duty to the land that had received him with such simple hospitality 1 I know cranmer the governor went on but I 1 never suspected so honest appearing a fellow you say he went to I 1 am certain that he has not been there of late let me know it if he returns to corydon the whole northwest has teason reason to know that renegade girty but I 1 fear it Is li useless celess to hope for his capture now ile he knows the wilderness like an indian As well hope to find a wild bird in the tree trec tops by now he Is doubtless back in the british posts above erle erie you say that the third man was one known to you as acu the name Is a new one strange how lie ile disappeared well watch for him aim ile he returned to his friends with an added word of thanks davids face darkened as he thought once more of scull where was he be now how could be hide himself so completely the memory of tle mans be betrayal of davids father rose up in david anew and lie thought once more of the oath that he had sworn over the purple posy of the weavers brotherhood to averige avenge that wrong when the party had broken up at last in laughing good nights tol nette blackford and david strolled toward home together ike began humming a song as they walked along could you to battle march away and leave lc ava me here complaining A mighty fine evening it im sure atwould break my heart to say when you were gone campaigning trust a woman to S suit her own sweet will the song ike that oil oh a catch that we used to sing at princeton poor old billy paterson Pa torson wrote it years ago rest his soul the late attorney general class of 1703 1763 he added explanatorily ills rich tenor swung on into athe lilt of the chorus ali ah non non non gauvre St 31 adelon would never quit her rover kover ah non non non gauvre bl madelon adelon would go with you the wide world overt ile he broke oft on abruptly it be fine to have a wench hanging to your coattail co attall as you marched he said good night abruptly at door and went on when he had gone they two da vid and tobnette Tol nette lingered on they knew not why under the moon drenched trees and now BOW she said leaning toward him in the moonlight tell fell me how you like corydon as much as you know of us lie ile was so happy at seeing her that it was easy for him to fala fall into her own D lightness fitness lit ness of speech ali ah I 1 fell in lovo love with america years ago on the day I 1 reached corydon now I 1 am only bothered to know it if america likes me why of course she likes you look what she has lone done for you already her glance rested on ills his healthy vigorous form approvingly yes but her favors reproach me now I 1 am afraid I 1 can never accomplish what nhat this country expects of her young men she pretended to look nit at him thoughtfully no I 1 dont suppose you can ever climb very high she laughed teasingly HOW dodou like your work selling toys to the indians and laces to the ladles ladies not very romantic 1 I 1 should think the ladies would be romantic even it if the indians are not oh but they all want soldiers I 1 im only a weaver by trade that reminds me youve never told me about your life in england please filase do it now but wait ill tell you myself she half closed her eyes and began reflectively let me see im looking into the past you ton may not know it but im a real irish soothsayer she let the ghost of a delicious bit of brogue linger on her tongue im beginning to see your ancestral estates now gracious a ducal palace takes shape theres no doubt about your being fir an irish soothsayer david commented sarcastically the ducal castle was certainly there but unfortunately tuna tely it belonged to the duke of newcastle our ducal castle was behind st johns palace in bottle lane it had one room in it and no floor nothing to be ashamed of halt half the cabins in the woods here are no larger and their floors are earthen too ali ah but every settler here has as much land as the duke of newcastle air to breathe freedom freedo ml 1 you ton interrupted me be quiet or I 1 wont vont finish you idled about the estate all day long or you rode over the countryside with your hounds bounds ills his name was timon that one mongrel of mine he had friends who 1110 lived on him I 1 beg your pardon horrors will you be quiet and at night you lay on silken cushions in front of the great Il fireplace replace reading some tale of the court 1 I know it was wrong but one Is naturally idle after twelve hours at the loom I 1 did read a good deal with harry white who was harry white harry white was my best friend henry kirke white the son of sir mr white the butcher he was just my own age we worked together at a stock stocking jog loom when we were fourteen making stockings but the next year ills his father apprenticed him to a firm of f attorneys and you kept on as a weaver beav e 1 I kept on as a weaver but he be lent me his boo books at ile he was as poor as I 1 was and he drove himself into his grave with study ile he died when he was twenty one five years ago but sir mr coutley So utley ey tile poet laureate collected all the poems harry had written A poet A butchers son lie he had won a at cambridge when he was nineteen lie he had got his first poems printed the year before that was how he attracted sir mr Sou theys attention and hes dead I 1 oh im so sorry I 1 he told me once that a friend lie he had made at cambridge a boy named george gordon lord byron said that his poems would never die jie he was a poet too 1 I think so co ile he Is living yet iles hes only twenty three why youre only twenty six yourself dont talk like a grandfather 1 I feel like one 9 why the sympathy in her voice was as sincere as that in her eyes david had never known such a woman bad never known what it was to have the divine sympathy of womanhood ile he began to tell her of ills his life of ills his sufferings fe rings of his hopes for the future of his aspirations and through it all the girl listened a white rose in th the C moonlight and poured the balm of her pure spirit upon his head CHAPTER vil the course of true love corydon lay baking under the sun of august along the parched ground the waves of heat the lazy law bences danced maddeningly tol nette was rejoicing in the arrival of a great box from new orleans sent by flatboat to louisville hauled thence on a clumsy oak runner sledge jolted slowly over the rutty road by the patient oxen osen tobnette Tol nette cried out rapturously as she drew forth from the he gre great at chest walking dresses ot of white muslin a china robe of india twill a preposterously inadequate cloak ot of ct silk tiny slippers ot of white kid and rose colored silk and a precious packet containing a ferron lere a headband of flat gold links with a great pendant of pearls hanging from its clasp down on the forehead it was matrices Pat rices birthday gift for his daughter ordered through an old friend in new orleans there were to be two weddings in town that morning as tile the weekly newspaper put it mr air philip hell bell was to marry the agreeable miss rachel beson and mr istham stroud the agreeable miss patsy sands and tol toinette vacillated deliciously in her choice of a costume costume to grace the two occasions the weddings over she made her way home in her silken slippers swathed herself in an apron and prepared their dinner david had not been at either wedding she was thinking ot of him as she busied herself at the hearth and old patrice read happily from his beloved arcadia she drew the flat board on which the cornmeal had been baked to golden brown out from the fire set the roasted wild turkey on the table pushed bad back a flying lock of hair from her flushed face and roused her father from ills his book it was her happiest birthday feast in the new land in the evening the old gentleman jogged bogged off on horseback to general harrisons Harrl sons farm to pay his respects and be served with a glass of madeira toinette preferred to remain at home mr blackford would call perhaps david as well she finished her work and sat down to amuse herself with some embroidery a candle made of the wax of the myrtle berry throwing its light upon her flying fingers gers the summer dusk fell rapidly around her the night closed in heavy warm full of sleepy sounds of bird and insect So feet at the doorstep a hand rapped at the door Tol toinette nette lifted the latchmin latch pin it was david she swept him a curtsy one of the functions of womans comans dress Is to snatch a man out of his dull shuf flings upon earth and show him a world glorified that function was performed in n this case david saw madame Re camler he had heard of such a person curtsying to him in the house of patrice obannon madame Ke Re camler spoke and lol it was Tol toinette nette why dont you yon say how you like it it was evidently the gown of cobwebs that was meant exceedingly well excuse my asking but is that all of it imbecile the latest from paris its too bad to waste it on you well well david pretended a dry indifference Tol toinette nette turned up her nose why Nv erent you at the weddings I 1 was off on a hunt lucky no only a couple of deer the brides were sweet she sat down at her needlework once more and david seated in the dimly lighted room his high linen gleaming palely between his dark face and the somber blacks of his ern cravat vat and his coat watched her in silence when he spoke it was to introduce a new subject congress has voted to increase the army by twenty five thousand men 1 I J ida V governor harrison may I 1 have a word with you alone he said abruptly and has provided tor for tile the enlistment of fifty thousand volunteers in addition she let her hands fall to her lap does docs that mean war is sure not yet but they talk of it freely en england gland will 51 ilela eld to none of our requests she smiled proudly to herself at his use of tile the word our lie ile went on with his news mr air clay wants a stronger navy curious it that Xen kentucky tucky should be in harmony with the seaboard states in this yes they called us the wild men on the ohio last winter ile ho smiled at her flash of resentment are arc you still as eager for war as you were once toinette shuddered it was unnecessary to reply to the thrust david went on evenly well the whole time of the congress Is taken up with the debates thino things are at a breaking point the president seems likely to get whit what t his message asked for in the way of oe timber tor for toinette look ut at me she looked up tip startled at the change in ills his voice and saw what she had feared and vaguely longed for was about to come david had risen to his feet the room seemed suddenly filled died with a tremendous her heart beat uncontrollably she calmly threaded a needle anew do you know what wout failure is he flung at lier her the torrent of his heart rushed out with the words 1 I have struggled lie said harshly but I 1 give up now I 1 work from daylight to dark I 1 read at night at the law I 1 weary myself with arguing with ike blackford these things ought to world tor for but they VJ IU lui me aati VJ IU lui aati ibuki up dont there any world for me unless you lie ile checked himself then began anew 1 I think about myself I 1 go back over my life all its poverty every miserable line of its starved existence and then 1 I think about you I 1 want to know what right you have to make part of my world its not your world 1 I dont belong there why do you come into mine you ought not to be in my thoughts but you are I 1 cant drive you out of my mind you have been there ever since I 1 first saw you ever since his voice broke from the first wild challenge of his gaze she had averted her face and had listened with bowed head As lie he paused she threw a frightened glance at him and saw that the knuckles of ills his clenched clen clied hands were whitened with the strain she tried to speak but could think of nothing that she could say her hands bands picked aimlessly at the threads in her lap after a moment he be regained control of his lips and went on passionately as before but with an undercurrent of pleading that softened his words 1 I have been trying to believe that I 1 could conquer all this in myself that it was too preposterous to endure but instead of that it has grown stronger so strong that it Is now everything you are in everything ery thing I 1 do I 1 cannot keep si silent 1 I 11 exactly what do you want david it was a very cool little voice that broke in on him he was wounded to the heart for a moment the hurt look in his eyes struck her with pity but she steeled herself and went on im afraid I 1 dont know just what youre talking about do you mean that I 1 am wronging you in any way A wave of hot anger swept through him that she could choose to adopt so pitiful a misconstruction but tha girl was fighting with the weapons of her sex fighting to regain control of the situation he stood very proudly waiting to give her an opportunity to retract if I 1 have offended you 1 I have made a mistake he said haughtily 1 I see that I 1 have been ridiculous she shot a frightened glance at him had she gone too far she forced herself to go on still clinging to her makeshift armor still hiding behind her poor little defenses can you think that I 1 do not realize how hard life Is up here on the frontier it calls for all that is best and bravest in us to go on fighting against heat and cold and hunger actual want but it takes strong men men who endure and do not complain do you think I 1 am whining you know I 1 am not lie ile waved her cords aside impatiently it is something else lie |