Activate Javascript or update your browser for the full Digital Library experience.
Previous Page
–
Next Page
OCR
es)
‘ian eine: +
~
sam tr Yate rte arse 0 id
| la ai atin mamninionsine mire SHER NE ap ny
eae
‘quarters of ‘a mile.
sacha AO Saggy, MO nm tat crate ts ama a nent ne te a neh ‘attract etn str
: days.
THE LIBERTY BOYS AND THE TRAITOP . 9
. ters, and became engaged in a game of cards with three
others who, like himself, were inveterate gamblers.
They were the same ones who had bantered him to
play the night before when he had refused, giving as an
excuse that he had no money.’ Now, when he showed
some gold coins, they took him to task.
“Where did you get the gold, Ralston?” asked one.
“T didn’t know I had it last night,” was the glib re-
ply. “I found it this afternoon in the pocket of another
coat.”
The three accepted this statement as fact, and the game
went on. To tell the truth, they did not much care where
--the money came from, so long as their comrade had it, and
they had a chance to win it.
And while they played, Hardy, over at the headquarters
building, was.making his preparations to leave the en-
_ campment for good and all.
He packed up his clothing into as compact a bundle as
possible, and then left the building, stealing out by the
_ rear door, and a few minutes later he succeeded in-evad-
ing the sentinel and made his way down the hill, going
toward the southeast.
-When he reached the level ground, he found himself in
a road, and he made his way along this a distance of three-
Then -he turned aside and entered a
barnlot which came up to the road; a little farther on was
a good-sized farmhouse.
This was the home of Ethel Dover, the girl Ralston and
Hardy had talked ’ ‘about that evening—the girl Uardy
had tried to win, and had failed, owing to the fact that a
Liberty Boy by the name ‘of Martin Cole had come in. a
tween and cut him out.
“Now to secure Ethel’s horse, Selim, and mount and
away!” said Hardy to himself, as he made his. way toward
the stable.
He entered the stable, bridled and saddled the hors se, and
led him out into the barnlot.
As he did so the back door of the house suddenly opened,
and a stream of light shone forth, falling directly , upon
Hardy, who stood transfixed with surprise.
‘In the door stood a girl, and in her hands was a a rifle
such as was used to shoot turkeys and squirrels in those
“Stop, thief!” the girl cried, leveling the weapon “if
you try to get away I will shoot you!”
Hardy gave utterance to a cry of anger and discomfiture,
and started to run. As he did so there came the sharp,
whiplike crack of the rifle, and Hardy gave utterance to a
ery of pain and fell forward upon his face.
CHAPTER V.
THE END OF HARDY.
, Ethel Dover was a hardy farmer maiden.’ aE
" She was beautiful and possessed’ of? all ‘the traits ‘that
make maidhood lovely, but at the same time she was pos-
sessed of courage and resolution. She had spent many a
day hunting and fishing, and was accustomed to a great
deal of outdoor life and exercise; the result was that she
was healthy ‘and robust, and the possessor of abundant
courage and firmness.
On this evening of which we write she had een on
a visit to a neighbor, who lived half a mile away to the
southward. .
There was a girl there of about Ethel’s own age, and the
two were great friends; this girl had insisted on Ethel re-
maining to supper, and as it was’ dark when supper was
over she had come a piece of the way with her friend.
As Ethel came up to the front gate, she heard. the barn-
yard gate creak.
She had heard the gate opened so often—had opened it
herself many times, in fact—that’she was very familiar
with the creak, and knew, even though it was so dark she
could not see, that the gate was being opened by some
one,
The first thought that came to her was that her father
had been somewhere, and was returning; but not being:
sure of this she did not call out to him, as she otherwise
would have done. There had been a good deal of horse-
stealing going on in the neighborhood for several months
past, and the thought came to her that this might be some
one who was entering the barnyard with the intention of
stealing a “horse. .
She thought of Selim at once, and the fear that her pet
horse might be stolen caused her to hasten to the house,
and enter.
‘Her father, mother, and younger sister, Lucy, aged
twelve, were in the sitting-room, and Ethel was sure now
that some one was going to try to steal one or more of the
horses. She told her father her fears, but he laughed at
them, and said that the wind had probably blown the gate
and made it creak.
Ethel did not believe this, but she did not argue the
point. Instead, she went into the kitchen, without more
words, and taking down the rifle that she had often car-
ried when out hunting turkeys or squirrels, she proceeded
to load it.
When this had been accomplished, she went to the kit-
chen door, and opened it. There was a’candle sitting on
the kitchen-table, and it shone out through the doorway,
and reyealed to the girl’s gaze a man in the act of leading
a horse away. A glance was sufficient to show Ethel that
the horse was, her pet, Selim, and she had at-.once chal-
lenged: ;
“Stop, thief! If you try fo get away I will shoot you,’
Then Hardy had started to run, and the girl had sickly
leveled the rifle and fired.
She was a splendid shot, ‘and had many ‘a’ time brought
| down'a wild turkey on the wing with thesrifle, and when:
the would-be thief fell, she was snot surprised. She “had
expected to hit him. ° / noh
The: shot brovight’ “Mr, Mrs, ‘and Taey'D Dover into the