Love under Fire

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Love under Fire

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Love Under Fire, by Randall Parrish This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: Love Under Fire
Author: Randall Parrish
Release Date: April 14, 2004 [EBook #12015]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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Love Under Fire
by RANDALL PARRISH
AUTHOR OF MY LADY OF THE SOUTH;
KEITH OF THE BORDER ETC.
WITH FIVE
ILLUSTRATIONS IN FULL COLOR
by ALONZO KIMBALL
1911

CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I
BETWEEN THE LINES. II AFTER THE DESPATCH-BEARER. III A FRIEND RATHER THAN AN ENEMY. IV THE COMING OF DAWN. V ACQUAINTANCES, NOT FRIENDS. VI A BOLD FRONT. VII A WOMAN'S PRISONER. VIII THE COMING OF THE ENEMY. IX IMPORTANT NEWS. X MISS WILLIFRED INTERVENES. XI THE RETURN OF LE GAIRE. XII AN ATTEMPT AT ESCAPE. XIII I MEET LE GAIRE. XIV ACROSS THE RIVER. XV I MEET AN EX-SLAVE. XVI A CALL TO DUTY. XVII BEGINNING THE NIGHT ADVENTURE. XVIII OVERHEARD CONVERSATION. XIX LE GAIRE FORCES A DECISION. XX WE ARRIVE AT A CRISIS. XXI WE CAPTURE THE HOUSE. XXII MISS WILLIFRED DECLARES HERSELF. XXIII THE CHALLENGE. XXIV I BECOME A FAMOUS SWORDSMAN. XXV THE END OF THE DUEL. XXVI MISS WILLIFRED SURPRISES US. XXVII THE BODY OF LE GAIRE. XXVIII I FORCE BILLIE TO LISTEN. XXIX THE MYSTERY DEEPENS. XXX UNDER NEW ORDERS. XXXI THE DISAPPEARANCE OF BILLIE. XXXII WE REPULSE THE ENEMY. XXXIII MISS BILLIE REAPPEARS. XXXIV HER STORY. XXXV THE DEAD MAN. XXXVI THE LAST STAND. XXXVII THE MYSTERY SOLVED. XXXVIII THE COMING OF THE NIGHT.

ILLUSTRATIONS
She paused in the doorway, an exceedingly pretty picture.
"I won't stand this! You're hiding something. Is this Yank anything to you?"
I forced the door shut, and stood with my back against it, the black muzzle of my Colt staring them in the eyes.
"I--I will listen," she said falteringly, "to all you have to say".
We worked like fiends, firing as rapidly as we could lay hands to weapons.

LOVE UNDER FIRE
CHAPTER I
BETWEEN THE LINES
I had drifted slowly across the river, clinging with one arm thrown over a log, expecting each moment the musket of some startled picket would spit red through the dark, and scarcely daring to guide my unwieldy support by the slightest movement of hand in the water. The splash of motion might mean death in an instant, for keen eyes, sharpened by long night vigils, were on the stream, and those who had ventured the deed before me had failed utterly. Yet the southern bank remained silent, so black I could scarcely discern its vaguest outlines, while, by good fortune, the sweep of the current served me almost as well as a pair of oars. Thus, trusting to luck, and without exerting a muscle, I finally came to a full stop on a narrow spit of sand, so far out in the stream I could scarcely touch bottom, until the sweep of the current drifted my log inward, and thus left me flat on the wet sand facing the bank, the wood-covered crest, as revealed dimly against the slightly lighter sky, appearing almost to overhang the water.
This shadow served me well, yet did not invite to recklessness. There were surely pickets posted along here, because the gleam of camp-fires had been plainly visible during the early evening from the bluffs opposite, but there was nothing observable from where I lay, my head cautiously uplifted, peering across the log. It was several minutes before I even ventured to creep up the sand-spit into the denser blackness of the over-hanging bank, but, once there safely, I discovered the drift had landed me at the mouth of a narrow gully, apparently a mere crevice in the rocky shore-line. It was the occasional downpour of water after rain which had caused the accumulation of debris on which my log had grounded. At times the dry gulch would hold a roaring torrent, although now it was no more than a gash in the bank.
I was not altogether certain within half a mile of where I was, but this made small difference, so far as my present purpose was concerned. The lines of the enemy were extended from the upper ford east as far as Sailor Springs, and I was certainly well within those limits, probably somewhat to the right of the centre. However, that was a minor detail, as it made little difference where I succeeded in penetrating the cordon of pickets, so long as I returned with the information sought. If I had, through mere chance, discovered a weak spot, then God was good.
My heart beat