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mass coining along the road, evidently horsemen on
the march; The Englishman turned his field glasses
that way. " Looki me like Cossacks,' he said ; ' but
1 tbesureattl distance If they are Chinese
..utluws, too, we are in a fix very tidily. The <!«.'■ ;1>
will make short work if they catch us."
"LefeVre was a very level headed fellow and ad
seen much service in Africa with irregular troops. I
.isked him what he thought we'd best do. He i">r
rowed Bickerdyke's glasses, and then said:
■"Well, monsieur, the band ahead are pretty
surely brigands, and will cut us <>rT now if we go tor
ward". If those behind are Russians, of course we
should po to meet them; but it is not likely any
troops are on the march in this direction; and with
madam in the pan making a little bow to the pirl
.tnd raising his cap, it will not do t<- take risks I
propose we go <rt <>n this road to the left,' pointing
to a sort of country road that crossed the highway
mar where we were halted. 'i! these are regular
troops' they will keep to thi main road and pay. no
attention to us: if brigands. They may chase us; but
• )iir horses might to outrun their ponies."
"That .idvi.e looked .L'«-od enough, and we lost no
time in going off as fast as we could gallop. We lost
sight of the band in front behind the hill; but those
coming up from the rear at once split into two par
ties, <>ne of thei driving hard up the Harbin road
and the other going off to the left on a line parallel to
• nirs. and traveling as fast as we. That oi • iurse
settled the question whether we were pursued, and
equally of com ethatthej were bandits and not Rus
sian troop If you know anything about those
('hinese outlaws, you will know that death i: hettei
than falling int< their hands, especially when there's
,i woman in the party; so all we could do was to out
run them and lose them if we could Our horses
were retty good, and it seemed wemighi do it: but
where the chase would land us was mighi y uncertain.
The two coolies soon lagged behind and slipped ofl
somewhere^' taking the pack ponies along
"'So there we were, driving along hea' knows
ere, without guides; and nobody had the ghost
LUCY ELLEN MONOLOGUES — ON DOMESTIC AFFAIRS
Y\S*M, we'se goi I f a fam'ly
That 's whal come oi -■ ' mah'ied
Pears lak jes' soon as peoples gits mah'ied, t hey -
a passel ol chillun a i omin' I air 111 1 .
to mah'ied I gits tied lookin' afteh Maw's
< hillun, an' I don' An Ma •
men's all alike, an" I ceri ny don' wani to
:.• ,!i oi no man lak Paw
Mistah Wash'n he don' I lieve in |
'ied. Cose boun' to git mah'ie«l.
he mah'ies '« m . bui he ain'l mah ied
elf to no woman Mistah Wash n don' lak
men he won't even look ai 'em They do ay
thai one time a woman ast him to tnah'y huh.
in' he tole ouh :i the Lawd wanted him tc gh
mah'ied, he'd do h bul !!-• iin'l done give
hnii no ordehs yit. No'ndeed m, I reckon he
ain'l gwine to botheh wif no woman, le n
Lawd "bleeges him to
Classy cert'ny does have scan lou sin gol
to runnin' afteh the boys She's ole nufl t<
know betteh, too She don' look ole Sh< the
liTes' thing; but she's oldeh'n all of us chillun
ceptin' Samuel She's naihly seventeen yea
ole bui she ain't no biggah'n Minnie Wilson
yo' kin tell by thai whai a runty chile she
,-. She's Paw's chile; bui she ain'l Maw';
Paw he was mah'ied two three times 'fore Maw
jw.t holt ot him Well, Paw's done whupped thai
chile till it seem lak she'd bre*k in two, but
it iii >n' do no good.
Now 1 reckon, if Aunt Ann Reed had .i In it
of Classy awhile, she'd mak< .. good chile oi
huh. Aunt Ann Reed she's ;.''>* a aiff'nt way ol
whuppin' ehillun f'um anybody. She ties em
up in a bag, yas'm, a lonj,' bag, long's^yo 1 is,—
the km' of a bag yo' gits a 1 tin- mill wil cawn- „
meal in, re-el strong. That's the kin 1 ol i bag
she takes Then she strips them chillun ofl
j.nt s "em in the bag, an lies up the top of it
wif a rope Then she ties the rope to tin limb
of a tree Afteh that she makes a fire n^ht
un'er that bag an' lets it smoke jjooml an' Strong,
an' whenever them chillun wiggles or keeks she gi 1 • -
'em a cut Yell! Yo' could beah thai 'Lisha holler
clar down yere! Yo' knows huh boy Joshua Well,
he aster be jes' bad as that thah 'Lisha, an 1 Aunt
Ann Reed kep' on tyin' him up afteh he goi so big
she couldn't never have whupped him no otheh way
now he's a preachih a 1 Zion!
Bui Classy ain't good fo' nothin'. I 'sped --he's
ies' nachelly mean. Octobah she's the bes' chile
Maw's got. June he ain't SO bad. June's name is
Junius, case he's bawned in June Annison an'
the res' is too li'l to be very good; but Glassy's jes'
sassy all the time White folks won't have huh
roun', ease she's that sa
/"\\l-" ni^ht at chapel, when we'se praitisi:.' fo'
the ex'bition. ail the ehillun was a-settm' roun'
the aidge of the platfawm, case they's no place
else to set when the seats is all lull — an' Classy
a-settin' thah. too When we'se practisin', they
ain't so pe'ticulah; but when we has ex'bitions.
Jaws! ev'rythin's got to be jes' so. Las' time 'twas
SUNDAY MAGAZINE FOR APRIL 4. 1909
. . i t. In 1 '
•ink- The eouni ry gn •
turn* ■ ■ ' • ■
earinps
which ent 1
.-.•. set grimly I: •
to hin • My God! D supp< >se r
:us all this way ' I didn'l
We had got h try that look
. thepursuei
■
inexorably
Finally 1
• the party runninj
I n the
, . eft th( ■ ■
■
• g us were « vi oi
and our h< ■ >
We galloped hard in the hiD and
It was noi n the
■.«■ were pulled up sh( ■:" Rq
. with pre< rpitous sides oi
. ■... k •■■' k running down sheer a hundred fee*
wtth a mountain stream boiling and bubbling
. • the boulders at the bottom It was impossible
■ ■: it. and we could see that it
hed oui .. lons •-..• to righi and feh bending
.a< k both ways We were m a trap, dead SUTe Ai
i.t i. vre's suggestion, we rode back quickly through
the wood to the < rest of the hill . but there on the
j lain below were the bandit-., spread oui wide and
coming on hard There was no outlet thai way
'The Frenchman turned in his saddle, with .
bravado that somehow sal gracefully on him,
and spoke out with almost a lilt of gaiel
By Ida Little Pifer
1 Gits Tied L.H>kin Afteh Mbw'i Chillun
fifty peop!< took pant, oi,c ritjht afteh ';
Ya- >ti. it 'I'll take richt mucb time We only yot
.i hour's sleepin' ; but I could jes 1 stay wake all night
to hear them nice speeches
Weil. Lucindy Reed got up to say huh speech,
Classy a-settm 1 righi by huh fed When we makes
<>uh speech we Stan's up so an puts ouh hai.
on ouh stvunmick, an' ben's oveh this way so
Lucindy gits jes 1 that fah, when Classy slips huh
ban' "in undeb Lucindy's skyiri an' 'gins to pinch
huh laigs. Yas'in. Classy's jes 1 thai bad' She done
kep' thai up all the time Lucindy was sayhV huh
speech, Lucindy a-wiggfin 1 an 1 squirmin' !ak she
was a snake, an da-sent say a wud. Yeptin' The
Lawd is ma Shepherd " She say she felt ies' lak
fallin' thoo the Ho,' stan'in' thah — wit" all them
men a-lookin. an' (Massy longside huh a-pmchin
of huh laic's. Well when --he u r ot Classy out'n that
chu'eh. if she didn'l keek huh £'**!' But. ' laws '
Classy don' mm' that. She's done gofl uster that.
Now she's pot to runnin' afteh them boys an
they don' lak that. You knows Isaiah Cooper? He
"Messieurs, there is nothing left but to die as ': r^\ e
men should. Shall it be here, or back there .-.: :he
ravine?'
'At that, the Russian gave a violent star- .-.A
looked wildly at the girl, who leaned toward him
with a gesture of appeal infinitely pathetic in the
face of a hopeless situation. It struck a chill to i ne's
heart to think of that radiantly beautiful w ■• an
confronting a horrible fate; and the prim des<>!ate
r.ess of the landscape, by the force of contrast I :; -
pose, brought up in an instant a picture of a crowded
ball room with its lights and music and this lovely
girl floating through it in all the triumph and witch
ery of her charm.
TJUT just then the Englishman, the o.< .le>: the
•*■* party, drawled out in perfectly even tones which
pave no sign of nerve tension, 'i saw a fallen "ree
across the ravine, a bit up. I fancy some of p •:: may
get over. Those beggars won't get here for ten ■ r
fifteen minutes'
" 'Allons.'' cried Lefevre. and back we tumbled.
'As we came out of the wood again. Bickertlyke's
Waler stumbled and fell heavily on his knees, send
ing Bickerdyke over his head. ' The <>!d man ' - -
heavyweight and rode clumsily, with toes and elbows
out and pounding his horse at every jump ::- that
lorn: gallop so that the nag was nearly done up. The
Waler rosi with broken knees and dead lame. Jick
erdyke ha I a nasty fall, and got up looking sick and
shaken, but he walked on. leading the horse : ;■ :he
bridle rein.
"The treetrunk. fallen across, spanned the ravine
cleverly: but was only about a foot thick and str.i oth
and bare Biekerdyke pulled his papers, watch, and
money from his pockets and handed then: to 1 c
"'lt's no good, JennisonJ he said. 1 can never
gel over on that th:: Send these to my pa: er ror
me. 111 die here!
"My own head always swims on the edgi I a
brink, and it seemed hopeless to attempt that nam m
slippery passage; the very sight of the sheer descent
Ccr.t~.nuej on pagt 2i
■
common j
day he Stuck a pitvhfo "
therm' htm rotn
It made a hoie 'bou' I
Pears lak Classy ■
n't i
da] M
■ -
Maw comes
hail wif ! ;
• Fto chu'i
t< ouh bous
• . breth'n was ti\::
Classy a
tahmilk
thai chu'n M.m .
shins an made h;:i
■ beh folks does Ch
thoughi bout doin' It that a- Way
Classy wants to gh mah ied: bni 1
ody s gwine x<
they gits 'quainted wif huh
SAM I'LL he's :
gil mah ted jes' when they wai
is diff'ni f'um women Sam he's I'aw -
an' he ain'l Maw"s;bul Slav taksl
d< ( lossy . but shi
Sam he mah'ied Aunt Maria's g]
She- boi-.T as ole a- Maw. Man. la b
r,ot two three i hillun foTC San -■
Yas'm, they had a re.il nee weddin
Maria's cabin Cose they ain'l onrj
so Aunt Maria take- them > hillun up n
un'ei the ro..t what yo' goes '.::
laddch outside the cabin. They waa
Aunt Maria could look down An see wbai
ot. when the ptcachali was a-nal
Manda was all dressed on :n huh bes' dn
Sam a-stan'in 1 side huh. an' all the;.
could git in was a em, an' ti>
bin' an' peefcin' m thoo the
as the preachah was a-mah'in' em. them vhilHm
set- up a squaJL a-hollerin' fo' Manda Aunl M.' r; -'
•oilers down thoo the h<>le:
Manda, yo' c op yen
Bnah' I cam t do not':
I'sc fraid to rassk much wil him op ye
make i<ie >lrap disherc baby down th.
Yo ie- come up yere ,tr.' jrit this chile
to that 'Mijah'" ,
An' Manda was bleeped to climb Of) I
laddeh wif huh bes' dress on. an' hole thai
while Aunt Mana took a switch to thai
nothin' Htiah. They wasn't no n
that weddin'. ease when Aunt Mai
'en they s pot to mm.' .
No ndeed'm. 1 ain't never gwine to git mah MO.
Them chillun t>i Maw's is 'nurT fo' me.
There's that lunuis now a-wadin' out in tb<
i.er, wit the watch up to hes neck, afteh :hein *«
of yourn.
Yo Junius. jes' yo' wait till I ketches JO I
