Show tr this is a story of pioneer days in TID CA no I 1 L 4 indiana when courageous frontiersmen J LA L A fought the redskins red skins and the ahe by SAMUEL mccoy wilderness and won vast territory copyright 1916 by robbe bobb merrill co s CHAPTER XV continued 9 with a bound lie reached the of arf the stream leaped down ben beneath en th Ds friendly shelter and ran on dolse gass moccasins along the ridge back toward the quarter from which uie the shot had bad come it if he were pursued it would be better to let the chase pass him than to try to outdistance iE the indian runners at last he fie stopped and inch by inch crawled mp to the top of the bank until he be goold lift his head with infinite cau azon tzon and peer through the tufts of lefts wefts no sound broke the stillness elor an eternity of time he lay clutch tog rz his rifle in readiness but the only was the querulous calling of the ettle woodpecker high overhead lie ile waited waited waited futy fifty yards away a twig snapped under onder a slow SIOW moving foot david gr arcely breathed A head rose above a a fallen giant of the forest and a 1 crouching shadow flitted flirted from tree to tree nearer nearer david ased his rifle ever so little ue he saw the face of the dread hunter peering with quick motions of the abad from side to side watchful as tome brown water snake nearer ho he came the garb was that of an indian the face a white mans I 1 david was about to cry out with relief when the glittering eyes were turned full toward sam though they failed to pierce the aSi eUering covert and with a sickening forror da dald tid recognized the face of simon onion girty the renegade on the instant david lifted his rifle and d fired full at the crouching figure from girtys gertys lips broke the roar of 2 an n infuriated animal he staggered back with the impact of the shot but he did not fall nor yet did he lift his weapon to his shoulder and david saw that his shot had struck only the sock lock of girtys gertys rifle rendering it useless but leaving the man unharmed with with a bellow of rage girty garty bounded toward him swinging the broken weapon like ilke a club there was no time to reload david leaped to the top of the bank and braced himself for the onset As the clubbed rifle of the outlaw rose above his head david swung lis own upward to meet it they crashed cra ched together and splintered with a shock and in the same second flinging the broken stock away the mighty arms of simon girty flung themselves around david with the strength of bf desperation david strove to oppose the terrible sinews back and forth over the frozen grass the two men fought like beasts heaving struggling stumbling roots locked in an embrace as deadly as that of odthe the cougar but betit it could not last long david felt his strength ebbing under the terrific strain nand and his breath grew short and gasping when suddenly the earth gave way beneath their feet fedt and with a last despairing effort david twisted himself above as they toppled aver over the low bluff and the fight was over girty sailing falling underneath had struck his head upon a stone and his arms relaxed their hold david stood up panting girty lay very still but david anew that he must make sure that the was ivas dead before he could be safe himself Sini self he felt in his girdle forathis C 0 They Crashed together and splintered with a shoe shock k Cor suite ilfe but it had bad fallen out during the struggle clambering up the bank again he saw it lying on the ground and as his fingers closed upon the handle ho he thought he heard a sob ile he turned his head quickly To lactic I 1 toe the name burst from him in tile the of his astonishment in the file revulsion of his despair i in his mighty joy like the cry of the soul itself Tol toinette nette was leaning against the log from behind which girty garty had risen ex ei by the effort she had made to cas fx herself from the thongs that bd her feet and hands A sob had come from croni lips drawn in utter aearl 0 ness and despair jle was ira beside 1 sir save yourself she murmured faintly there are indians coming he kneeled and cut the thongs that bound her ankles and then those of her wrists As she tried to stand she swayed weakly and fainted there was na no time to lose lie he lifted her limp form upon his shoulders and ran staggeringly gerin gly in the direction of the troops lie ile could never overtake them the marching column and the slaw moving wagons must be a mile away by now ile he stumbled on with desperate exertion he reached the winding creek again laid down his unconscious burden and dashed the icy water in tol bettes face her great blue eyes shadowed by dark circles of exhaustion opened slowly looked at him blankly father help me Is 1 she cried ile he shook her by the shoulders stand cupl tryl the light of consciousness ness came back into her eyes she rose tremblingly and tried to walk they found a place where the water gurgled over a stony baraan ile deep crossed it and struggled up the bank on the farther side As they reached the top there came to their ears cars the dreadful exultant yells of the indians three hundred yards behind david put liis his arms around the girls shoulders and they ran on with palsied limbs they seemed to be struggling on in that nightmare where the feet are leaden and the pursuers fleet nearer and nearer came the fierce yelping at last david and Tol toinette nette stood r still and looked at each other david drew his knife she nodded silently praying him to deliver berwith her with that swift death from the tortures of the savages oh god not yet he cried and drew her on in blind haste twice ho he shouted with all the strength of his gasping lungs was it an ec echo ho or an answering shout that came back AL aau then there came a burst of the sweetest music in the world the cheers of a score of harrisons Harrl sons men crashing through the woods a hundred yards away the chase was suddenly reversed at the f first shout of the backwoodsmen backwoods men the baffled indians turned and fled the rescuing party pursued them but a little way firing vainly at the fleeing forms dodging among the tree trunks young georgae croghan harrisons Harrl sons aid was in command of the little squad they had heard girtys gertys shot fired at david and a little later davids shot and had come back from the troops with all speed To toinette luette had sunk to the ground laughing and sobbing they gathered around her with wild hurrahs hur a torrent of eager questions they bore her on their shoulders back to the marchl marching ng men how the cheering ran along the line as the men caught sight of herl her general harrlson harrison and his staff galloped up one by one and shouted like boys old wash johnston leaned over and kissed her face stained with happy tears pm im old enough my dear he said and the men cheered again A dozen times she was wag obliged to tell the story of her captivity a dozen times the men lifted david on their shoulders and cheered him to the echo but through all the rejoicing and the thanksgiving davids heart remained heavy tor for the breach still seemed impossible to bridge she too suffered tormented by a debt of gratitude due one whose treason to his country must forever bar him from her love treason why was it then that david seemed such a hero to all his comrades among the militiamen why had all of them received him into their hearts like a brother Tol toinette nette struggled all through the day with the secret which she thought so horrible little by little she came to the conclusion that david had managed in some way to win a pardon from governor harrlson harrison before the trip to the prophets camp had been begun she went back over the circumstances of that tragic meeting in corydon when she and ike had confronted david and found the proofs of treachery upon him what had happened after she had left that scene perhaps ike had prevailed on david to renounce his allegiance to england perhaps then he had interceded intercedes Inter ceded with governor harrlson harrison in his hia friends behalf she pictured the stern young governor as saying that davids life must depend on his faithful service to the territory in the future ike had never spoken one word to her about david from that day on little by little as she went over each point in her heart a sense that she had been tricked out of her love grew on her a sense that somehow she had cheated herself in the sleepless hours of the night that followed she felt her eyes smarting with tears what could she do what could she do the whole world seemed against herl her I 1 she could not bring herself to voice her inward trouble to anyone least of all to david she watched him striding along among his comrades jesting with them as only men who have passed through death together can jest and her torment almost maddened her what a sorry tangle she had bad got herself into I 1 what a little foot fool she had been I 1 but david too she told herself had been just ILS as onrea she caught glimpses of 0 him when he thought himself unseen by bv her and the filat like set of his jaws jaw s convinced her that he be was unendurable in his fixed fired resolve not to forget what had bad gone cone before why he be sensible and talk to her as if nothing had bad happened 9 As tor for herself she would die before she bogged begged his forgiveness gi gl veness and so matters stood when they reached fort harrlson harrison on the homeward journey at fort harrison they found ike blackford sound and strong again tobnette Tol nette had dreaded meeting him ue lie came toward her his face bright with joy but clouded when he realized that david and she had not yet settled their silly quarrel ike was miserable but he kept silence he knew better than to thrust his paw into that fire the wounded were transferred to the boats at fort harrlson harrison and the journey to vincennes was soon accomplished shed there they found the lady mule priscilla and when the march to corydon was resumed tobnette Tol nette was ferried on the jennys patient back while ike strode beside her and ike laughed striving to make her forget but strove in vain 1 on the twenty fifth of november they reached corydon runners had gone on before with the news of victory and the whole village came out to meet them as they neared the town women ran among the men even as they marched and flung their arms around the necks of brothers fathers husbands though some sought in vain for those who would never return or threw themselves with weeping beside the bodies of those who lay upon the litters but a hundred hearts were happy and thanked god and happiest of all was wag a little old man patrice obannon who strained his daughter to his breast and kissed her again and again with tears mingling with his kisses for she had been brought back to him as from the grave CHAPTER XVI the poison lingers linger david stayed behind in vincennes going back to his work at the trading house of francois vigo but he stayed there only a week or two before his loneliness made existence without a sight of tobnette Tol nette an existence not to be endured he hated the sight of the ill smelling store with its heaps of green skins its crackling bundles of furs hated bated the sight of the cheerful hoosiers Hoos Hoo lers and french who thronged thron ged the streets of the old capital and loathed the wretched Plank eshaw indians who slept in the doorway suddenly one morning he told old vigo that he must leave and the next day found him once more in corydon where ike welcomed him with beaming face still the breach was open I 1 it Is so hard tor for young men and maidens to lay down their pride 1 to tobnette Tol nette the days were almost unbearable david acted like a bear with a sore head she thought it was just what she might have expected she told herself it Is perfectly silly to be so big and flinty she was sure david had never spoken ten words to her at any one time since the day he had knocked everything into a cocked hat by telling her he be loved her people who loved each other act as they did she knew why whenever they had been together she felt as though something tremendous something bigger than she was was in the very air around and on the point of exploding she approve of explosions plo still less of things nameless forces that were bigger than she was when she had talked to david in the old days it was like talking to the heart of one of those terrible creatures of steel about which mr livingston had written her father that great throb being caldron which they fed with logs and which palpitated with fury and drove a boat from pittsburgh to new orleans in a month it was bigger than she was and unmanageable and it was not at all her idea of love whenever she thought about it it that Is to say about the atmosphere which was immediately and mysteriously evolved butof out of common day whenever david and she encountered her eyes if filled with tears of vexation As for being sorry that was another matter it if david wished to be flint she was perfectly capable of being steel yet she thought about him every day her father for the first time in her experience f failed ailed to be of any help to her at home in new orleans she had gone to him with the story of each boy who had danced attendance upon her and he had seen them as she did and together they had laughed each cavalier into oblivion but she found it impossible to discuss this new problem with him it was no use telling her father that she was afraid of something she name it if it was true that she had trembled from head to toot foot when bhea she felt that the sparks which flashed back and forth from her steel and davids flint were dangerously near a powder mine somewhere inside her that was her affair and she aho would have to drown it with her own contempt as best she might accordingly the little old gentleman who was sincerely troubled by t the he evident breach between his daughter and david got small satisfaction from tobnette Tol nette when he stuck a cautious finger into the difficulty there was nas nothing wrong and she was perfectly happy and it if david chose to be a lipar bear aith ith a zore ore halid that was his concern and not theirs and sir air obannon wisely forbore further attempts attempt a to effect a reconciliation ike blackford Blaek tord who remained a stanch friend to each was likewise constrained to remain in troubled silence he had opened a well meaning mouth to each in turn and had got no cakes to fill it at either fair and at last her happiness was so perfect that she resolved to endure it no longer she waited until she found him alone in the shop the little room which had once meant to him the beginning of lifes joyousness and lifes hopes and which was now a prison house whence ghosts of yesterdays mocked him with their memories lie ile was about to close its doors for the day toilette tobnette Toi Tol uette nette summoned all her strength the tower of pride was tottering it can be sent down in ruins so easily when a girl throws down the v weapon capon of her sex I 1 1 I cant stand it any longer david she said breathlessly to see you suffer I 1 know you are suffering because I 1 because I 1 because it hurts me so what a glorious crash the tower made I 1 david took a quick step toward her ills pulses throbbed ungovernably toinette Tol nette what do you mean his face was glorious have Ilav eyou you dodou do you believe in me now you have blotted out nil all the past david she said simply the joy suddenly left his face but bul the past he said in dread of what her answer might be the past have you forgotten why you drove me from you have you forgotten what treason you charged me with she waved the words aside that is all past now david it Is the future that is everything and I 1 know now what you mean to me ile he clenched his hands at his side ile he would be patient was it |