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Show 192 It!CHAltD HUHDIS. cry for reli ef. lu a few minutes more I wns surrounded by a troop-n. halt:-dozcn at least-all fr iends-yet wltcrc wns 'Villiam Carrington, the dearest friend of nil-where 1 where 1 My demand was quickly answered. Colonel Grafton, who led the company, told his story, which was painfully unsatisfactory. JUy horse, freed from llis rider, had J.u·ought the only intelligence wltich Colonel Grnftou l1nd received. lie bad seen uotbiug of my friend . lie was 110t at home when the horse came to his gate, and the ::mimal was taken in Ly a SCr\'ant. 'Vhcn he did rctnrn, l1c immediately ]Jrocccded to my assistance i though not before calling up a patrol of such of his ncig!Jbors as he could rely upon, to assist ltim in an inquiry in which he not only feared foul play, but apprehended an issue with more than the one villain into whose clutches we had fallen. I was soon freed from my bonds, but how much more unktppy tlum 1 was before! How puerile had been my selfi sh apprehensions, compared to those which now filled my heart when I thought of Carrington! What had been l1is fate 1 where was h e~ H ow icy cold in my bosom did my blood run as I meditated these doubts, and dreaded the increase of knowledge which I was yet compelled to seek! Let me pass ovrr this dreadful interval of doubt, and lwrry on tl1e palsying conviction of the truth ·which followed. Our search that night was unavailing, but the next mol'lling the woods were scoured, nud it was my fo rtune to be the first to fall upon traces which led me to the body of my friend. I saw where he bad fallen-where the horse had evidently sltyed as the shot was given and the rider fell. The earth was still smooth where he had lain, for \Vebber was too much hurried, or too indifferent, to endeaYor to remove tl1e marks of the event. It was not now dif1icult to find the body. They had not carried it far; and I removed a clump of bushes which grew OYCr tho lwllow in which they had thrown it, und started with a convulsion of horror to find it lying at my feet. Cold, silent, stifl'there he lay, the friend of my heart, battered and bruised-his noble face covered with blood and dust, one of his eyes protruding from its socket, and the limbs, once so symmetrical and straight, now contracted and fixed in deformity by tl1e sudden spasms of death ! JOY-SORROW. 193 All my streng:t!J left me as this dreadful spectacle met my eyes. I sunk dowH beside it, intnpaLle of speech or ncliou. My kne<'s w<'re weakcu<'d-my yery soul dead within me. I could only sob and moan, :md my choking utterance mig:ht well l1ave moYed the wonder and pity of those about me, to behold 011e who seemed otherwise so strong aml bold, now s1mk into such a stnte of womnnl ike infirmity. Colonel Gral\on condoled witl1 me like :t father; but what could l1e, or any one, say to me in the wny of consolation 1 'Vho could declare the amount of my loss 1 nnd yet what was my loss to l1crs-the poor girl who wnitcJ for l1 is return 1 From me she was to hear that he never could retum !- that he by cold in his gore-his \·oice silent, his body mangled, his noLle fl. gnre stilrened into defo rmity! I shiYcred as with nn ague-fit when I remembered. that it was from my lips she was to l1ear all this. All examiuntion of the body proved two things which struck me with surpri se. ] t was found til at the fatnl wound hnd been received in front, and tl11tt it had been inflicted by n. rifle-bullet. llow to account for this I knew not. I had seen no rifle among the weapons cnrried by nny of the outlaws i and even if there l1ad been, how shou!J the shot have taken effect in front, he flyiJJg from them-evidently in rapid flight when shot, and they some distance behind him 1 rl'here was only one way at tbnt moment to account for thi s, and that was to suppose that some associate of the pursuers had either been statioued in front, or had, opportunely fOI' them, appeared tl1ere as he approached the point where he hnd fallen. Though sti ll unsati!>factory to me, aml perhaps to all , we were yet compelled, in the absence of all better knowledge, to content ourseh·es with a conjecture, which, though plausible enouglt, did not satisfy us. I felt that tl1ere was some mystery still in the transaction, and that ' Villiam had not been slain willingly by the pursuers. 'Vebber had headed them, and why should he have been so prompt to wurder one, and spare another-ay, even protect him from ]Jarm -who was so completely in his power1 '!'here was as little personal hostility toward 'Villiam in the mind of 'Vebber as toward me- and yet the blood, warmed by pursuit, might have grown too rash for the deliberate resolve even of one so habitun11y cool as the master-villain on this occasion. 9 |
