The Brussels Post, 1893-2-3, Page 22 T'HE BRUSSELS POST. FEB, ;3, 1893
BEYOND
CHAPTER, XXXV.
onrt Dolt Ent.' InAlti007Y.
After the lust paaseufte minaret of
grief, hey wife met 'silent, Due hand rooting
on the rock beside her, the other u0verin,e
her.dowucast eyes. I sheuid not have
known she Was crying still, but that I saw,
from time to time, e. teat, drop through her
quivertne fingers. They trade not the
slightest impression en ate. I neither re.
joined iu her sorrow nor pitied her. I
simply watched in stupid bewilderment.
She was more ineein1i'ehensible than evor
O It's rum, though," said I .at length,
giving expression to my thoughts, "I
can't make you out a bit." She made no
reply as she slid her hand from the rack to
her pocket for her handkerchief,
"I should. hate thought you'd have gone
,mot of your wits with terror at the prospect
of meeting Kit,"' I pursued. "And here
you ani breaking your heart with dfsap.
pointlnctt because 1 m not him."
She put her handkerchief up to her eyes,
With a long, collnnisit'e sigh.
• "One would think you loved hint," 1 add-
ed.
She raised her tear -stained faro, and after
lonking at me fol' to moment 10 silence, she
said—
"Yes; ono would think I leyed him.
Even you might if you could think at all."
"One flight waste a good deal of thought
on that sablect without votnmg to a satis-
factory col cbisioi,"
She rose and we walked towards the cot-
tage for some distance without ,peeking.
1 thought you were at work,'' she ex.
plained when we had gone a hundred yards.
And it the distsnce your figure looked
like his. He used to wear grey, too;"
"And supposing you had not been mis-
taken—supposing it hail been Kit and not
me —what should yon have done?"
"Whatever my heart prompted me to
do," she replied, with an impulsive move -
meat of her hands.
"You had no better plan in your bead
than that?"
"No; I think there is no better plan
than that at any time."
"Do you mann to say you have not pre-
pared an excuse ?" I asked, incredulously.
"I don't know what excuse yen think I
could prepare."
" It's difficult enough, I'll allow, consider •
-
ing how you have wronged him."
"If he loved me," she said, taking no
notice of my retort, "he would want no
excuse. If he did not love tae, he would
not believe anything I said in my defenee,"
"There's something in that: X wouldn't
believe you."
Her lips silently expressed the contempt
she had for my regard.
"Anil I'm mistaken in your hushend," I
contiuued, "if he believes you either. Bat
I warn you he will call you to account soon•
er or later."
' I eau but tell hint the truth."
" And you think that will satisfy him."
" Would it satisfy you if I told you the
truth ?"
The sarcastic tone in which she asked the
question suggested that it hada double
meaning.
"Oh, it's a matter of indifference to me,"
I replied, cavalierly.
"And in, it will he to him if he lids ceased
to lave me." The truth of this was ap-
parent to me, for I felt no desire to excel
an explanation.
"And in the other case ? I asked, curious
to have a decision that I could not forth for
myself.
She shisk her head, doubtfully, fixing
her eyes on the horizon,
"It is hard to put myself in his place,"
she said. "If I were told he had wronged
mc, 1. would beg him on niy knees to explain
all. .I would believe anything he told ine,
rather than anything 1 bad been 1014 by
others. Even if his explanatiou seemed im-
probable, 1 would try to think it true,
rather than accept the belief that he did
not love ine. Bit I have not suffered as he
has and I ani only a woman." She was silent
for uminute, then she said suddenly. "Oh,
I can imagine his feeling, with no one to
breathe hope into his heart." She stopped
short with a strained expression on herface
as though a terrible picture had been reveal-
ed to her; when she spoke again her voice
was hardly audible.
"He would not wait for explanation,"
she said ; " he world kill me without a
word."
" Yes," said I to myself, remembering
my purpose when I broke out of prison.
"If I loved you now as I loser you then ;
it's a good job for both of us that I have
got over that felly."
M i> R
I was glad to get to work again the next
morning. Hobe scarcely entered my
thoughts until tie dairy was finished, and
then I fetched her, tinder the pretence of
uncertainty as to where ahe would haus the
pane set; fn reality, I wanted praise for
what I had done, I was just hive a boy who
had made a rabbit hutch or cut out a boat.
"This is f"mous," said she, "1 eau stand
on tiptee without touching the top, and
what a good strong shelf."
"Nails all along the front here, you see
to hang things on.'
"Capital. I daresay I shall find some-
thieg to hang up. It won't break dowvn,
will it?"
"Oh, dear, no, Go and fetch the boot
ateak pie."
" Tloat won't break it," she said, with a
laugh. "You only lett a tiny piece, and I
have just put it on the tohlo for dinner.
Bat theta's quite a lot of things I can put
on. Shall I bring them now, or will you
oome in and have dinner?"
"Fetch km now, and 1'11 turn that pail
of new milk into the pans."
"Oh, Gregory," she eaid, turning back
at the door, ' there are three eggs this
morning ! "
"Pravo! You have 'em for dinner; I
don't want 'em. I can make np with 1
cheese."
There's a pudding as well; the roloy-
poley." w
I was so pleased that 1 nearly said i
' that's a good girl ;" bet I just stopped my '
self in time to substitute "thing" for
girl "
Still nthe best oftempers lwent intotlin- 1
nee, after oarefnlly washing my Molds and 1
face and brushing my trousers. The look
ofthedinnertableand the room, and apodor n
• of raspberry cam wafting cut from the bub-
bling pot on the stove, added to my setts -
faction, Hobo brought down liar pre -
clone table, It stood near the window with
o glass of wildflowers in the middle, oottons
and thread on the silo and my carving be-
fore the chair on whioh she had been sitting
at work. That flatterer) my vanity. 'Then
on a chair lay 00 apron already finished and
more stuff taking form, It pleased me to
see' that she lied not been idle, and I lifers.
it eight to encourage her. G
" That's a very geed apron," T said. "'
Sho made a monk onet.osy, while I looked
about enjoying the homely aspect.
'"IWant to get well on with myetftodling
.songeueeetsamssenestoonnosenvYlAMlk:`JrJR6c4•l'etr
REGAL,
R_C,�.L
Lt
to -day," she said, " for the bond won t
hast beyond \1'odites,lny, and we meet c00.
titinty try to hake seine toemorrow. l'nl
;detest cancel of it, though," she added,
shaking her head dubiously.
chat's all right," said I with fataoue
comideuce ; " I'll help you."
•hobo smiled. 1 thought then that alto
wesplensed at the prospoot ; now I don't,
" Do you think that we might turn the
enw and pony out on thetnoor?" she asked
diverting the conversation. "It seems a
shame to catlike tient in the dark stable on
such a beautiful day,"
"They do turn cotes and ponies oat, to
be sero. lsuppose thoeow would come in
at milking time."
" And I think I can answer for Kit comm
ing to me when 1 call hint. He whinnies
every time I go in. Where are you going,
Gregory ?'
" I forgot togive t
g 6 t the beast any food this
corning."
' But I gave trim same."
I nodded my satisfaction and contimed
eating.
After all, I reflected, it was better to
have a useful help than an insubordinate
prisoner to deal with, and far more rational
to slake the best of a ha•i job than to make
things worse. Already my seheme of vela
geance bad Met its heroic proportions, and
I was beginning to loop back upon my ter.
rible design with something like weeder and
contempt, as One in broad daylight regar.l,
the nighty projects of the night whist fade
away from the mind ou first awaking.
Tem creatures being turned oat of the
stable I gave the place a thorough clean up,
carrying the litter foto the enclosure, where
1 determfued to di; it in before long.
" There's no reason why we shouldn't
grow potatoes here,"saki 1 10 Hobo ; "they
to well enough in the pigeon grounds ; then
I shan't have to drag them ten miles when•
ever you want then,. And we might try
cabbages and onions."
I said this to please her, fancying that
she liked cooking from her readiness hi
taking to it. bet she let the work drop oil
her lap—she was seated near the open door
and I had just emptied the lest basket of
rtbbish—and looked at mo vacantly.
" Bit don't potatoes tante a long while to
grow ?" she ased.
" Te be sure they do—they can't be plant•
ed for months yet."
" Surely Kit will Dome before then," she
murmured almost plaintively.
"•\1'hy, shat depends. As he ain't turn-
ed up yet I shouldn't wonder if he's been
collared an 1 taken back."
"No no," she pleaded ; "it is ton soon
to expect hint yet, He may,be waiting un-
til there is less likellhood,,,of,,his being
roeoenizod,"
"1 don't know. I'm disposed te' think
he's nabbed. However, that's neither here
Dor there, There's no reason why wo
shouldn't turn the groan[ to 1150 in case he
doesn't 001110. And if he does come he'll
never want to leave this nice little house, I
know. .He'll be just as content as me to
stay here all the rest of his days, and 1'11
may with him if he is anyway companion-
able. If we all pull together we throe may
be as elueertul as crickets here."
Her fingers relaxed their hold upon the
stulland drappe'1 like lead by her sate,
while her eyed wandered vaguely across the .
desert before her.
As for me, I was so well pleased with the
idea of living in the manner f suggested
that 1 cvcrlooked her want of proper en•
thusiasm, and went back to my work.
After making the stable as neat ns a
prison cell, and promising it coat of white
wash before long, 1 set about clearing up the
loft. Igot the hay and straw neatly placed at
one end, resolving, at an early date, to make
a trap over the mangers, so that I could
<Irep the fodder delve instead of carrying
it by the ladder ; and then, having brushed
the floor and the roof and svelte clear of duet
and cobwebs, I Iaid down a neat little bed of
straw, with a lmnp evenly rolled for a hols-
ter, to terve for my own use at night.
That is better than throwing myself
down anywhere, and waking up with n1y
head in a bele," said I to myself, regarding
the arrangement I had made with pride,
Bet just as in developing a mechanical
ides„ one improvement invariably led to an.
other, my awakened sense of propriety aottld
not rest content with ono step iu advance,
and before I had used the bed that had
pleased me so much I was meditating some-
thing better.
" Weald it bo too late to plant some sear.
lee. r';uners along the front of the house ?"
m • wit easked at tea time. Seeing meabsorb-
ed 1 , ; bought she believed, I fancy, that
1 W I lwolliug on theggsrden scheme,
" Snsrletrunne's? Nn. I'll get some next
Hine. I gn into the town, and you can stick
'em in wherever yon like. I've got no time
for that just now ; I'in thinking about
something else.
"May 1 ask whet you are thinking
al>ont?„
"I'm thinking about a bedroom for my•
self,"
"Where do you sleep, Gregory ?
"In the loft, over the stable."
"Over the stable I" she repeated, with a
little accent of horror.
"It's hardly gentlemanly, is it 1'•
"It isn't Moe, certainly,"
"No, it isn't, And so I'm thinking if
I can't build a foam onto tate back
of the cottage, with a door opening
between the cupboard and the stove, and a
lean-to roof about Latelve foot by four."
"On, anything will he better than sleep-
ing over the stable. Mance a lean•to roof,
by ell means,"
"I will. And 1've got a notion for a bed-
stead, with a drawer underneath to keep
ny clothes in,"
"How ingenious you are, Gregory I" she
said in aloes tone.
I did not deny it, 1 felt I was a
genius. I was a boy again in this the.
,oginning of another life, and hal
the same sentiment of gratified vanity
that thrilled 100 in the old days
ion I overheard DIr, Northerto say
u a whisper of wonder to my mother,
Only tui 1 he'll be a great man, ma'am,"
"That is all the broad," my wife said, as
I out &nether hunch; " I tbinglie it would
mit till Wednesday ; but one eats so heart!,
y here."
This reminded me that bread had to be
mule next day, and that 1 heal promised to
alp,
I'll maks the paste to•night," said I;
" It ought to stand all night. I knot} that,
because I had & turn as bakehouse orderly
ono week. Oh f I know all about it. I have
only to see a thing once (lone to be toaster
of it."
Iia if I were going ie mix mortar, unit pour.
ed some amine fn rho middle.
" It's running out here, Gregory I" aricd
Hahn,
So it was, ou the other side ; however, I
worked in the Hoar before um011 more than
half a pint of water had escaped, and in a
minute my laude and wriel0 were glued Op
In the sticky Mass. The expression on
Hobo's Mee was piteous as $he watched me
dragging the paste off my fingere one by
one,
" Will you have the baking powder now?"
she asked.
You croft use baiting powder inbreed,"
said I, scornfully ; " bread was invented
thousands of years before such rnhbielt as
bakia>g powder wan thought of—salt now. I
must have some salt in it."
She brought me the salt sellar, and I
emptied it. "Dloro hair I" I Qulhod, work-
ing away at the dough.
It was indescribably etioky 1 and the way
in which it spread up toy arms and got on
to my clothes was anao;ountable; but by
dint of adding more and more flour I et
length got it into m tough consistency, But
the knonrjing it required before ell the
lumps of dry flour disappeared awtotislle,i
Us both.
„pr'M,"sslverseW 'M1Yne."A'R WrtosowsuosnualeMeOpetien Vrill1 gAM904171aosolda911.7o},FYiLWmL M,M,peOgp,yy,M191A9os:CY
0prisoner. I lenge:. stele her u het'
n r. uol rFa fastened e arenas
0(111; only for common pa:teetictl 1 lo.dted PIGH'I' W1T1 fl. BUITALU,
the lower doer et night ; blit net the day "
long she Was free to go where silo lilted. To A gaiter',i'x•rlbl" T,.ele w1tn on "x10:
bo sure, in her condition, es I had taken' 001!r, .1
pains to show, it was hardlyy possible that
alto could stake hoc way alone aortas the
moor ; but she was at liberty to try. " She
is dl0jros011 to tante adean taggoof my fedelg-
euce, 1 said to myself as I tltonglit the mat,
tor out on my bed in the loft, • 1 sha:l have
to be more severe with Ilei'." But Ode ream
Intion evaporated to the night.
"Supj oehmq," thought 1, in the morn'
ing Sup losing she (biers life here intol•
arable, and, despairing of her hnshatd's
coning, she should try to male told
succeed --what that? Shall I be just
as content then ? Shall I find the
secret of happiness In took ? " I woo
thunderstruck to perceive that I should
have no hie/Nation to wort: if she were not
utero to Minn re it. It teas a revelation.
"aupt;osing I should find the Hoot' epen
and the ]muse empty when 1 go down?' I
contained, pursuing this new train of Ideas.
1 stood with one Brill half way thrnugl the
sleeve of my cots, terrified at my own sag.
goetiole 11 was not Haat I feared to lose
the vengeance I hail promised myself during
There's ale thing," said 1, " we ahnn't six years—that lard gone from my thoughts
have to make bread again for a fortnight." in as 111011y days—but that I dreaded to lose
Indeed, the ,mss was tour tines aero the c01171/anion who in some way inscrutable
than 1 intended, h; oensoquence of having to 1np u.uleestrn'ling was making life more
to add so much flour to absorb the super- enjoyable than lite realization of 107'1000
tufty of wawa, .it wood have filled a bush passionate dremns. It was with a feeling
el baeket. " it arin work," safd I, bonding
my Inca t round to wipe the perspiration
from,ny -face on my shoulder. There was
paste thorn even ; I felt 10 caking on my
nose as 1 wont on. Ilebe had silently lit
the lamp before it was all over.
" We shall have to bake it in bateles,"
said she, regarding the neon and looking
the stove ; `It won't all go in the oven
one time."
Do you think it's going to be baked in
there , I asked derisively. •' What's the
oveuoutside for?"
"Twee afraid it night not be quite cies
ells suggested ; " and—and I don't think
know how to manage en0 of those ovens.
1 told her not to bother about that, as
could surely Mike the bread if I had mad
ft. And the next morning I swept out SI
oven, and fired it with some faggots
bushweod ; while Ole lire was burning en
I out np the dough in lumps -10 had go
sticky in the weight, and required mor
flour, and also it had not risen as 1 antic
pitted. But I was proud of sty loaves whe
I lied made them up and cut a fancy desig
on the top of each with a kuife. Hobe ate
else pleased with their look, and helped in
to carry them out to the oven when I ha
drawn out the embers with a spade.
Test before dinner I opened tie oven
Hobo standing by, and as eager as I to 56
nice brown loaves.
It was an odd spectacle that »tee ou
eyes. A pale, flat cake spread all over th
at
at
I
I
0
me
of
it
n
e
floor of the oven, whit ]fere and there
1 faint white trans of the ornament I had pu
I on my loaves. All their shape was gone
they formed one solid, flat lump. It stag
mired es both.
" It don't look quits cooked enough,
said Hobe, who was the first to find speech
I tried to break a piece off, for clearly i
couldn't be taken out in a lump ; it was lik
brick.
' Oh, it's cooked enough," said I. " Bu
there's eo' ething the matter with it,"
"Gro ory 1" cried she. "1 forgot tit
ei
14
speech
"Could not I do it?" asked my wife, with
a lingering remembrance, I expect, of my
work daring the afternoon,
" Yon ran clear the table mid get ort the
nm'; but it teo,l.v ua man to make broad ;
t has to be kncu led well."'
She canted the table fuel fet0lmd the
flour, while I took oft tiny cont rind armed
tip my sleeves. I mate f largo ring of flour,
do we did," said I, for I could not fl
all the blame on her. ' Never mind. • I'l
bo bound Kit will eat it with his bean
when it's brnkeu up."
But Kit couldn't eat it, and it had to b
soaked before the fowls would touch it.
0
CHAPTER XXXVI,
•
1 A.51 rrzzLnn ADOPT .11Y 111111 .1x11 MYSELF
The worst of it was filet I should have to
maks another journey now for bread.
Seeing that this added to the vexes ion, I
felt in my failure as a baker, Hebe offered
to try and make a loaf in her own way.
" There is still a little flour loft in the
other bag," said she, "and I think with a
little cream—'
"You can but try," said I, glad of an ex•
case to postpone the journey, for I was
horning to begin my building ; " if it don't
do 1 0011 have bacon for tea."
It never occurred to me that if it did not
do Helm would have nothing. I was as
selfish and thoughtless as a child, and not a
very nice child either.
However when tea time came there WAS a
fine brown loaf on the table that she had
baked in her own oven, besides a pat of
fresh butter that she had whipped in the
morning. The breach was excellent—light,
and sweet as Dake ; as for butter—a tlelioaey
I had ant seen for eleven year's•—I found it
more delicious than any I had evor' before
tasted.
These things she did with so little fuss
that I had not felt it necessary to help her
in any way. And so being in a rare good
humor, pleased with her and myself too (for
I had dole a lemons good afternoon's work,
cutting out the framework of my room, all
ready to lent together), I spent an hoar
after tea in making a stool kr my wife, in
order that she could begin milking the env
next morning, To sop this, instead of gning
back to my carpentry, I dug up a strip
along the trent of the house for sowing seer -
let runners, and nailed up a rough lattice to
train them upon. It was almost too dark to
see when I called Hobe out to admire what
I lead clone.
' You must be quite tired out," fey wife
said, when I came in to supper, and sat
down with a grunt of satislaotion,
" Tired 1 not I, A than tan never have
too much of a good thing. I Mel that I
could never have enough of it. And work
f0 a good thing ; it's the secret of happi•
n005,,'
I wanted Ilcbn to agree with me in that.
She made no response.
" For, after all," I continued, " happi-
ness is only another name for contentment,
and," I added, glancing from the flowers
under the lamp to the roll of butter and
the clean tablecloth, and thence to the work
neatly folded an the table by the window,
end baele again to my wife in her .pretty
(boss, " I am eon tented."
" I am glad to hoar it," slue said in her
quiet, grove way.
I wanted hor to say, "So am I," oreome-
thf 'g of that sort, Ae she slid not, I sought
to provoke discussion by repenting my
axiom, " Work is the soorotof happiness,'
and as elle was still silent, I nettled, " You
don't think so,"
" Not entirely," she replied, "Or one
might be happy in prison,"
That finished the argument, and put mo
out, I had not sufficient wit to defend my
proposition, but lust enough to draw an ma
pleasant conclusion from her objeotien. Sho
was a prisoner and therefore not happy
that was what her words implied clearly, I
didn't like it, It seemed to me that ole
ought 00 ho happy. (lousl;loving the treat -
mons I haul proposed to subject her to, my
present lenience, not to say kininess, rile•
sorverl a more grateful rr.cognitimi. It, was
hardly fair of her to hint that she was a
of intense relief that I fount the door as I
haul left it ; but my lnind was not easy
until my wife called me to breakfast, and
told me, with animation in her face, that
she had seeceoded in milking the cow.
Nothing 1 had done myself gave me greater
delight than this eahievement.
Nevertheless, I did not at once forget my
fright, and going over the moor that night
I considered how I might prevent her from
going away and at the sante time melte ex.
istense snore agreeable to her. the pony
was mofo heavily loaded than ever on the re-
tttrn•journey,
I was putting up a shelf ander the long
window in our living room when 1•Iobe come
down in the morning .
" Is that for my work?" she asked, cheer -
ft 1 y,
" You'll see whet it's for directly. Wait
till I've run another nail into this bracket."
Looking round for an explanation she
site erica in surprise--
" You have int the fiat 1"
" Yes, I've been thinking that lighting
?wee and fetching water is more of a man's
work than a woman's. There, now, that
will hold anything."
With that 1 threw down the hammer, ran
out to the shed where I had nnbm•dened the
pony over sight, and returned with half a
dozen pots of flowers in my arms.
"Olt, (~rogory 1" exclaimed my wife,
clapping her hands together as I entered,
my lead oak() hidden in the ream of bloom.
Wore, take 'em,"said I, "and set 'eel
of a row. That's a fuchsia, and that's a
pelargonium, and these two are roses and
these others 1 forgot their names, bat they
aro bine belle of some sort that 0000 to be
trained on a ammo. 111 snake you a couple
after brealtf„ot."
"Aren't tory beautiful? " she cried, pat-
ting them aeon with twitter caro, and
smelling eecl> one in turn. Her thin white
lingers absolutely trembled with pleas are
Don't spread 'on onttoe much," said 1,
"there's something Wrote to go on the shelf
at each end."
'•More tlnwors? Tell etc, what," she
pleaded, patting her hand en 111y arm ea
with a shake 0t the bead, I was going out.
It was tbo first time In our new life that
she had intentionally touched me, it was
almost ss if her touch had sot op a galvanic
current between ns. Our eyes met, and
for an instant neither of us spoke. I mild
not underst..nd myself nor her either,
livery particle of color had gone from her
Mee. The pupils of her eyes, dilated as if
to take in every ray refloated fruit mine,
seemed to penetra to to my very soul. Was
this merely the effect of mu•insil:y in regard
to tho things 1 had bought for her—o'
wbat?
"fell mc," mho tnurmur•ed, with a depth
of meaning that I dict not fathom.
"It's net en much after all." said I re-
gaining my senses. " You'll be disappoint•
ad if yon go expecting too much."
"Tell Die," site repeated, entreatingly.
" Why, it's like this," said 1; "l'vebeen
Chinking over what we talked about the
night before last. I hold that work is the
secret of happiness, And so 10 is, Only as
you can't work so much as I can iestands to
reason thorn must be a lot of time hanging.
heavily on you when you're likely to fall
into a fit of the blues. So I jest brought
yon something interesting to read."
"Is that all?" she said, in a tone of de-
jection, her hand dropping from my arm,
"There I told you you'd be disappointed.
What did you expect?"
"I thought 700 were going to toll mo
something about my husband."
" Wen, that's odd. 1'ye gob something
to toll you about ldrn, too. I saw it in a
paper at the inn whore I pot up the pony,
I've got bb somewhere," I pretended to
search my pocket for the paper, which, itis
needless to say, existed only in my imegina.
tion. "There, I must have dropped it coming
home, However, I remember itwell enough;
there were oily a couple of lines. The
young man accosted on suspicion of be
ing the escaped convict, Kit Wyndham
has been liberated.' That shows that we
may still expect to woo him hero some time
or other,"
Some time 1" she eoh0ed, dropping into
a chair.
I could not stand the look of her eyes,
and to escape them wentout to fetch the
interesting literature 1 had bought ; a oom-
plgte edictal of the British Encyclopedia fn
twenty-six quarto volumes.
(10 00 mm711Ixuoon.1
A Wise Snggeetion•
Tho young man had married the rich
man's daughter and wasn't killing himself
rvi1h work to support her. Ono day tie
father oallod him np to call hien dmvn.
"Look Imre," he said emphatically, "why
don't you go to work ?"
I don't have to," the eon-in•law replied
with brazen offroptory,
Well, you will have to."
"Why will I?"
"lioeause, sir, I can't always live to sup,
port you."
" But yen will leave us something ?"
t' Not mach, 1 won't. There Won't be
anything to leave,"
t,Cho son in-law was alarmed,
"Great Jupiter," he exclaimed, "you
don't mean to Loll iso that you hart nock•
ing?"
' That's about tie ate of it,"
The eon'm•law devotee
i hfmsolf 10 pro•
found thought for several s000nds,
"I have a suggestion to offer," be coal in
a businesslike manner,
" \\'bat is it?"'asked the old goat.
"Well, I suggest, that you tante out, say,
S100,000 life iisurmeo on yourself to Savo
wear end tear on ,ny ndnd."—[Dotroitl''reo
Press.
l:olievo that if 1 hail been called uprn to
speak, my language dcaeliblag ell this,
coder lieu's born mote, 0nm,relteneivo, more
Meal, perhaps, more scholarly than it evor
wee before or since,
Ttnaidnnte of
Bar the 1,11110 nnus Phu plunging and snorting of the bufalotole:,r'1thc•1tweeselnwho e0uu50yn,
haitstinn n t i l ,,Ht I strunghis
shooting from co.
end restless of wild bene" .forget that, he,
yang l,s head and hied to
has +t a>usin in Africa that in even n ulopr Plunge his horns auto his holnoter.y Ile hnoflst
4nngernus fns o msec foes 10
fare, 1\'at gunned to my+elf at the note tole must
he ft, lilts 100y Bo soar in time following wet house !laorwlothd to eonotthe mut oftuia moa
story, told 1>ytltalieetmeteor a schooner that (tick swnig to ami fro by a ohfid. P
in September, 1531, was bound mp the west.
cru comet of etfr100 from fort Natal and Cape
Town, The ship needing repaint, was lain
to in Woodfish jest at the mouth of the
Round and tomtit, up and clown the na-
r0(1', grnsa•ggrow space between the tress,
the deinot.like brute creed, dragging one
of ter 11!01
river Swnkap, what's were a few poor natives nett seeking at every opportunity
allose dream of bnpp{uos r anti gt•oaCost t0 pin 0n0 t0 tie earth wll'his long, 0110001
evil Is Medford rum, Wishing game, tem I'ltt lancaldhe ovo,s. \iy face nail right
teller of this story and two others wont shoulder were covered with the lint foam In
mistime to bout, What happened he thus his lolling jaw,, n hllehis hot 1) 00111 hunted
dcaeribos;
\\'e Rept pretty uloso together, we three,
until 150 Omrne to what appeared to be ;t
natural opening or °leaving in the forest.
Half an hour's walk brought u( 00 this,
wiueh WAS at le tat twenty acres in extent
and covered with a light brushwood,
' Look," said Bostwick, clutching my
oke a furnace Gro on my cheek.
At the end of five mfuutea, when any left
leg stung as if a thousand bees had buried
their little poigunrds in it, and which Was
owing to the 110,11 being torn off the calf in
great strips six inches long, laying the bons
hare, an inspiration can10 to n1e, I had torr
rowed a:heath lode from one of the then
arm as he turned mrmuul— ho was in the
on the .Shoup before I cause away. It was
lead—"yonder is a blooming shot, my lad ;
canyon make it. Timm"ler," he ejaculat-
ed in the same breath, " there's three of
them."
Almost before I knew it, Captain Warner
and Bostwick had chopped to a knee and
fired. Two brown bodies sprang into the
air and then, with a convulsed twist, drop-
ped
real 9+and on the 1ntlTalti s hotel, I plunged.
101 0 houndingins if it Thad while
icca shot fromhird
the knife almost np to the hilt in the right
a catapult, hal missed ,nu' shot. eye of the boast. Thu next instant I was
The game secured peeved to he a pair of ly!0ii p;0nc ou rho genas, wills (1 0 (0051101.
koo-clues, or twisted-ho•n antelopes. They Iible tear 1 evor hoard was tnulting the for -
are about the size of a 0lOtband pony, With eat ring. I had been thrown aide like a
white streaks running zobt•a-fashiu 1 over bit of cork by Gime brute, which wee charg-
ing to and fro and tossing its head ha en
backgron,nd• It is the choicest game foetid air"?' of pain, while a thin stream of ideal
anywhere in South Africa, ran r even and dripped from its muzzle.
00(1100x1 001 0:1110. ((01 :12' 1(000.
I felt greatly provoked over my lack of To save my life I renew that I must got
lucre, and while thoceptai0 and his passel]- away, but exhaustion, tho rending pain in
gore were trying tosecure vegetable wythee, my left leg, coda placid sort of acgnies-
with which to rte the fent of the animals 'fence ill what seemed to be my unavoidable
together for slinging over a pole, to trans.
pint to the coast, I wandered along the
000001n tido of the clearing, in search of
something to kill.' I had just about con -
hanging at my right code, Mustering every
bit of remaining strength 1 released the
hohl of my right hand on the buffalo's !mrd,
cud reached for the sheath knife. I got it
inose, and then with a feeling of revenge
whielt I can 1lot describe, but with feoon•
coivable pain I threw myself a little more
to the right, never releasing the hold of my
death, held me down, Iu 010 of his titres
the bntial° caught eight of me with his re.
maining eye, The knife, litre my gen, lay
ten feet away from me, Lind I WAS Absolute -
eluded to return when I caught e. gleam Of by helpless, I saw the groat head lowered
water through the trees, a little farther on, ter the attack that would end my existence
and, thinking it might furnish some water 0 ten I heart a 00100-0 was Bostwiek's
fowl, plunged throegh the forest toward it. and he seamed to whisper the words,
It proved only to he a narrow creek,
which b",alened out into a shallow p,ol,
and which uvidently emptied into the
Swakop. There was no sign of bird 0 boast
anywhere neat: it, and, pretty well disgust-
ed; 1 awned to go back lu that Mame I
heard a fierce snort, the rush of a huge
body, and the next moment 1 felt myself
flyieg through the 110, my gull klIOOlted
from sty hand and everything hovering ;n
chaos around ate. Tho instant I struck the
ground .f tune nn my. feet, 1 had an Minium
tine feeling that my life was tit state. ._
Au I navel myself there 00n10 reeling
upon me again that big dark body, but this
time it was 110 illdistillcu image ; it was the
huge form, the curling horns, .the glaring
eyes and thrashing teal of 0 Clepe buff'tlo, a
solitaire, an old bull driven hems the herd
and rendered deeporate by isolation.
Despite my critical condition I almost
laughed at myself, I bolt that I was the vie•
Um of an hallucination ; that I was only
dreaming, and that pretty soon I would
waken from the lorriblo eighth -lava and all
would be well. This feeling was the instan-
taneous outgrowth of an idem which swept
nu rife lake a flash. It could not be a Cape
buffalo, because Ode point was at least 1.110
miles from the Cape, and how 00u1d the
dreaded buffalo—and in its wild etate, a
solitaire, an isolated bull, especially, Doth•
ing is more drawled by the Boos and 11110157
neo—haws strayed away thus far? If this
wow a Cape bullate, he must be at least 250
utiles from his favorite haunts. This was
my idea but the reality dispelled it, for
there was the great brute with its !erns
forming a bone helmet 071 its forehead,
making for me with its heed dime, and
bent on any destruction,
although he asserted afterwards that it was
a ringing shout—say ;
"hoop cool and shut your eyes."
I did me I was hidden. In a dreamy sort
of way I closed my oyes ; there was the
roar of a gun, the sound of voices in my ears,
and then 1 dropped off to sleep.
\\'hen I awakened Bostwick and the
captain were bending over nue ; my neck-
c101h tuns all wet and clammy where they
had been dwelling water over nm to revive
ate, I ams unable to walls batik to the
month of the river, so four of the ship's
crew who were snmmmed by Captain
\Varner carried rile back.
The rest of the story is soon told. Boot -
wick Marl heard my cries and arrived just
in time to put an end to the Cape buffalo
before his final charge on me. I will curry
the scars of that encounter of my right leg
for life. Bostwick hits been my brother-in-
law for two years. 1 -Io doesn't lath much
itnont that serape, but when he does he al-
ways betrays his South African experience
by adding;
" 1 visci see how that bloody brute ever
got 00 far north n+ the Swnkop "
" Neither do 1."
Animal Paradoxes.
Perhaps no birds spend more of their lives
on the wing than parrots and pigeons, the
latter being 0100 among the most graceful
mei rapid of the inhale ten Ls of the air. 111
New Zealand a species of parrot is found
that, finding its food entirely ou the annual,
has lost the power of flight. 1t dfll'ees from
the rest of its family only intitiapartimiter,
and in being almost voio010ss.
Among recant breeds of pigeons is the
parlor tumbler which has not only lost the
1111911051''A,0 e ,1.0001, 01011200. power of flight, initiate veiny nearly lost that
I had no time to dwell on the rapidity of of walking as well, Its queer notions when
thought. ; how, after the first atutclt ancj in it attempts to walk have given it its name,
the few seconds interval before the second, the tumbler,
all Hasse things had come into my mind, " As thick as the hair on a dog's bank "
had boon duly discussed and then dismiss- expresses nothing in Mexico, for the &lexi-
ca ; what 1 had then to do was to escape can dog fs utterly devoid of hair on his back
that snorting monster, which had rushed or anywhere oleo. The hot climate having
open me front his slimy burrow or wash on rendered it superfluous, blether Nature
the edge of the creek. Without giving tn0 kindly divested inial of it, Nor does "the
a respite, the enraged brute was upon me little busy bee improve each shining lour"
once more, but I managed to leap aside in that country. On the contrary, it soon
just as the awful front, with its gleaming learns that, as there in no winter tiers,
eyes, like guns in velvet swept past me in there is no necessity for laying in a store of
impotent rage, honey, and degenerates into a thoroughbred
ltwas at dais junoture that Imade the man loafer.
telco which came nearly costing Inc my life. "As big as a whale" might be rather
1 endeavored t0 recover lily shotgun. It. had smell, as there is a species off the cetacean
be' n knocked from my hand et the first on. genus hardly three feet long.
shuigbt of the Imitate. The latter had been " As cunning 050 fox "wonld have sound -
lying in its lair on the bank of the steam, a eel idiotic to the discoverers of Kamsehntica.
characteristic of the irate, and sprang at They former foxes in largo 'numbers, but so
me a51 turned, stupid because they hada never before seen
Dazed by the attack, I had misoalpmlatod an enemy, that they could he Milled with.
the distance of my weapon. 1 reached it, chills.
but at that inetaht the buffalo was 01 me The "birds of a feather" that "flock
again, end, dropping tine gnu, I Itod only together" dn not belong to the penguin
time to seize enc of its longourved and bee family, ea they are entirely destitute of
like horns to save myself from being gored. , ?anthers, having for a covering % kind of stiff
In the ensuing two minutes I lived en age, tlowu. Another penguin peculiarity is that
To release nay hold on the horn of the mad- it swims not on, but under seater, never
dental animal was to precipitate myself to keeping more than its head 001, anti, when
death. To hang on meant that eoonee 01' fishing, coming to the surface at snob brief
Wee I would be trampled to death. I had and rare hutorvels that an ordinary observer
already experienced what this menet, fo', would almost certainly mistake it for a fish.
lying with my shoulders to the ground and Ducks swim the world over, but geese do
with the horn hold close against my breast, not, In ;teeth America n domestic species
my feet and legs were dragging along the is found that cannot excel au ordinary hen
side of the bn;tnlo, and in this fashion ono in equable accomplishments. It has lived so
of the hoofs of the brute had been planted long in a eomtryy whore water is only found
on my right foot with a fores that mads ane in wells that it has lost its aquatic testae
scream with pais, and led me to believe that and abilities entirely,
my foot had been crushed, "As awkward as a cab" does not apply
Day weight fortunately kept the buffalo's on some of the South See Islands, for moral:
11100010 close t0 the grotnitl. I was a dead is found there that not only runs as fast as
weight dragging him down, bob how long an average man, but climbs trees with the
could I sestain this unequal struggle? Then 0050 of &schoolboy.
I began to scream ail cry eland for help, — — at seemed allnost useless, for the dlstenee Emotions of a Motber•iti'Low Eisot,
was sa groat that did notoven than believe Tho declaration of love by the Welbfod
and all these thoughts passed through my man with a rd0;n0nd pin had a marlced of.
beam like Gro --that• Warner and Bostwick foot on the woman who was fast approa0h-
oould reach me in time, But I made the ing the meridian; of life,
forostring with inyshoute;they oven eaten- She burst into tears,
fished the bulhlo for he halted with lowered o Why o—.Anxiously ho loaned over. tlm
head, blazing eyos, and frothing mule, bowed and trembling figura—" why do yon
and for at lout a moment remained motion- weer.?''
leas, ease for a slight vaoillating movement '•'b'-f•for—boo, hon—joy,"
of the head, and with forefeet planted wide He was satisliod and hissed her hand, She
apart' raised her eyes and gazed ea ilini ineretha
1s' 000510 r�vlrtmlarta, lonely.
If you agile mo to oxphaiu ]tow it wvae " And (lo you really love me ?" she asked
all those minute details stood ottmocwnspto- in faltering tones.
enouely In my seeming (loath hour, I must " I do.'
reply that I oto not know. Possibly niy Sho felt that he meant la
brain was cleared by the impending presence "Then "—Her demeanor grow suddenly
of death, I have heard that In drowning rapturous---" yon carr 111010y my daughter.
persons SOO everything of moment in their Dlmmy a time cowl oft has she failed of mat -
past lives before then like apanoranla with Oniony Inman enhoesuitor couldn't love me."
awful distinctness of detail, Then she had clasped her hands doeout
In 01y ease ilk present Was in.Onaifio(1 thanksgiving, saying; "At last 1 Thank
By brain was clearer, my thoughts fuel heaven, at Met!"
ideas and sensations were intensified, and I And her emotions'ovoroamo ler afrosh.