OCR Text |
Show THE MORMON LION from their four days and nights of deadly fear. But now they were smiling. The good Mormons had saved them from the savages. I looked down at the hideous paint-blotched face of Ankotash in frantic appeal. " Tell your bucksquick- not to strike! Order from Bngham not to kill the women! " "No got paper. Heap lie," he grunted. I spurred my horse, but he held the plunging beast fast by the bndle, and four of his warriors sprang to seize me by the arms and legs. Fortunately I kept my head- I realized the,!uhhty of str,~gghng. . " Listen Ankotash! I cned. M1ss Lucy 1s there with'them! She must be saved- Miss Lucy!" He stared at me, his face immobile under its painted grin. " Heap lie," he grunted. "No-- She wanted to get away! Brother Senby sent her-- Hurry! Save her! I'll give you a hundred dollars in gold! I'll--" " Give'um gun," he ordered. " Give'um gold." I released my grip on my rifle. At a word from their chief, the bucks permitted me to put a hand into my pocket. I drew out a " double-eagle " and tossed 1t to him. "There's one twenty," I said. " Four more if you save her-- Hurry! Tell them I She's disguised-;; painted. Her ha1r 1s brown-scar on her cheek-" Ugh," he broke in. "Git off. Show him me." Freed by my captors, I sprang off. I would have rushed out into the road had not Ankotash stopped me. Without his aid I could not hope to save Lucy. Unless he ordered his warriors to spare her, they would tomahawk her even in my arms. I obeyed h1s gesture to creep forward silently. We slipped through to the edge of the road and peered out at the line of women and children. . . I looked anxiously into their thin faces, wh1ch shll glowed with the relief and gladness of the1r rescue by the kind Saints. If Lucy was at the rear, she m1ght THE MORMON LION 285 be too far away when the signal for the butchery should be given. To my vast relief, I saw her less than a dozen yards back along the line, walking with the Fancher girls. Like their companions, all three were smilin~ with joy over their deliverance. " Look! ' I whispered to Ankotash. " That is Miss Lucy, between the two girls in red." "Lie- no him," he rejoined. " Yes, yes- look close! Her hair is dyed- painted -and her face also. She burned that scar on her cheek." "Ugh- see'um eye," he grunted, as Lucy raised her beautiful eyes to look at the tree top above us. Signing me to follow him, he crept back and gave a guttural command to the nearest warriors on each side. The buck who had taken charge of my horse and rifle handed me the weapon and dropped the bridle. Ankotash signed to me to wait, and slipped back towards the road at an angle that would bring him opposite Lucy. I caught up my horse's bridle and stood waiting, in an agony of suspense. One of the women began to sing the Twenty-third Psalm, and the others caught up the solemn chant. I thought I could distinguish Lucy's clear sweet soprano- " ' The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures : he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul : he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil ; for thou art with me. Thy rod--' " A crashing volley of rifles and shotguns roared out down the road and drowned the voices of the singers. The guard had opened fire on the men of the party. The butchery had begun. Instantly the ambushed Ind1ans rushed out on the women and children screeching their war-cries. ' Almost immediately the shrieks and screams of the |