Jaquelina. Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller
patiently in the stall.
The mare was gentle, and quite accustomed to Jaquelina. She saddled her with deft, skillful fingers, led her out, and vaulted lightly to her back.
Then in the dim light of the waning moon, the girl rode out of the stable-yard, and set forth at a swift gallop for the town a mile away.
There was something weird and strange in that midnight ride through the lonely wood to Jaquelina.
Her heart beat fast as she guided the mare through the thick woods where the tall pines stood around dark and grim like silent sentinels.
The moon had gone down, and she had only the faint light of the stars to guide her on her perilous way.
Every moment she expected to be confronted by the outlaw band, of whom she had heard such terrible stories.
A foreboding dread lent her fresh impetuosity. Black Bess was panting and covered with perspiration, when her rider at length emerged safely from the woods and found herself on the outskirts of the town.
A few minutes brought her to the physician's neat residence. Her loud halloo soon brought him to the window. He promised to dress and come to the baby's assistance immediately.
"If you will wait a few minutes, Miss Meredith, I will ride back with you. The road at night is lonely and dangerous for a woman," the old doctor said, courteously.
But having come over the road safely, Jaquelina's courage had risen.
"Aunt Meredith will, perhaps, need my assistance with the child," she said, "so I had better ride on at once. I do not think there can be any danger, but if you ride fast enough to overtake me, I shall be very glad of your company."
She turned as she spoke and galloped away. A sudden storm was rising.
A cool wind blew into her face, and for a second the face of the heavens was divided by a keen flash of lightning that glittered steely blue, like a sword point, against the darkness.
Two or three drops of rain swirled down on the uncovered head and face.
"It was fortunate I did not wait," she thought, "I shall barely escape the storm if I do my best."
She urged Black Bess to her highest speed.
The wind increased. It blew Jaquelina's short, soft curls into her face, and across her eyes.
The strong, sweet breath of the pines mixed refreshingly with "the scent of violets hidden in the green."
Jaquelina never forgot that hour. It came back to her in after years—dark years, when memory was a nameless pain.
"The smell of violets hidden in the green,
Poured back into my fainting soul and frame
The times when I remember to have been
Joyful and free from blame."
She had reached the thickest part of the woods in safety when suddenly Black Bess came to such a sudden stop that her rider came near being thrown over her head.
In the next moment a vivid flash of lightning showed Jaquelina a tall, masked outlaw clutching her bridle rein.
CHAPTER IV.
Before the lurid flash died away, Jaquelina saw a second masked figure emerge from behind a tree with a bull's-eye lantern. She heard a voice exclaim in profound surprise:
"By Jove, it's a woman!"
"Yes," cried the girl, bravely, "and if you are men you will suffer me to pass. Only cowards would molest a woman!"
The second man flashed the light of the lantern into the pale, yet spirited face.
"By Jove," he said again, "what a pretty girl! Well, miss, we suffer neither man nor woman to pass without taking toll."
Jaquelina's heart sank. Would they take Black Bess, her uncle's favorite?
These were the horse thieves, of course. She could not repress the quiver in her voice as she asked faintly:
"What toll do you demand?"
"We usually take a horse, miss," said the last speaker, coolly, "but seeing that you're such an uncommon pretty girl, we'll take the mare, and you shall give us a kiss apiece, besides."
The man had reckoned without his host. The words were scarcely out of his mouth before a shower of keen and stinging blows rained down upon his head and face from the little riding-whip the girl carried in her clenched hand.
"You infamous coward," she cried, indignantly, "take that, and that, and that! For shame! To insult a helpless woman who is in your power!"
"Yes, you're in my power, and I'll make you pay dearly for those blows," cried the ruffian, plucking her from the saddle like a feather, and in an instant she was struggling on the ground beside him.
But the man who had held the mare's bridle-rein all the while now interfered sternly.
"Come, come, Bowles, you're transgressing orders. The captain's order is to allow no violence. But of course we'll take the mare."
"And the girl, too," said Bowles, shortly and sharply, still smarting under the indignity of the stinging blows the brave girl had rained upon him so furiously.
"We've no call to take the girl," said the other. "Orders are for animals, not persons. Turn her loose, and let her walk home."
"No," said Bowles, with an oath, "I'll give her a scare, anyway. I'll take her to the captain, and he shall say what punishment she merits. I'll not let her go! My head and face are burning with the jade's blows!"
"I will not go with you!" Jaquelina cried out, trying to break from his tight clasp. "You have no right to detain me! Let me go at once!"
But her struggles and cries were silenced effectually by a stout handkerchief the man bound over her mouth.
Then he sprang to the mare's back, and, lifting Jaquelina before him, galloped quickly away through the increasing darkness and the rain, which now began to pour down in large, heavy drops, that speedily wet the girl's thin garments through and through.
Jaquelina was beside herself with terror and fear of the ruffian who held her in that rough, tight clasp.
A thousand conflicting thoughts rushed over her mind.
She thought of her Uncle Charlie, to whom the loss of Black Bess would be so severe at the present time; she thought of the sick child at home, and of the hard, selfish woman who had sent her forth to encounter this terrible peril.
Every moment while she was borne onward in the storm and darkness seemed an eternity of time to her bewildered mind.
She had no idea where she was going, or in what direction. The gloom and darkness hid every object from her view, and she was too terrified to reason clearly.
At last they stopped. Jaquelina felt herself lifted down from the mare's back, and borne rapidly in Bowles' arms along what seemed to be a perfectly dark passage-way, long and winding. The wind and rain had ceased to blow in her face, and a damp, earthy smell pervaded the atmosphere.
Jaquelina instantly decided that they were in a cave, of which there were several in the neighborhood of her home.
Presently her captor paused, and gave a low, peculiar whistle, several times repeated.
"Enter!" she heard a deep, musical voice exclaim.
Bowles seemed to push aside a thick and heavy curtain. The next moment a blaze of light shone around him as he entered a large apartment, pushing his frightened captive before him.
Jaquelina was blinded a moment as she