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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe East Huron Gazette, 1892-11-10, Page 7have both similar pro - is aborter of the head 'CSV persons ymmeCricai- Lion of the throat also ila,ge sep-tr- oftener de• in the two metry. le effects of meet must sbitual pos- alth of the hoot chiI- ioolgiris, to i sitting and ing all the produces a upper part side in or equilibrium. the spinal part of Cat 1 all the in - f their nor- >rce of gray - this result. 'e unevenly ialarcing of uma. Even aecome un- ci me, devel- the face. cal law that increase in to become m in carry- trom school, ble, or the nd the dis- bit slowly result, un - counteract bject than every age uenced by nds to the soles, or to posture. ually cause likely very aggrav tte art of fresh is the crust. to appreci- eat bread But that a when tap - it is done housekeep- Bread fit e days old. to the heat is to bake yen. They i1 they are t made in s in a state hereas new side, when s into one utside only t. On the t forms a hich these their work oast easily s the diges- s, etc. wormwood lications in eatment of that simple le hot water. approaches se in which reckers are rters ; and ooner their ot improp- for it is when an verts to the ood freight - In some uch greater he work of obstructed, ade up of were, for favorable one would -_ , at least, roved form , are often t ought to atment can e hand, the ving it, the into water lot there for must be hould have hese in turn erness has nd sprains, e far more her known he patients liniments, h injuries, eved, there cess of the is of water grave, even a compunc- h ave warred t that hes ,Vashington play being ns Theatre, - e to words, ding the ac- su tficien tly ords, and, ded to fight d effect for y have been , caused con- n any play niversal in eep a family t. Indeed, hich it has practised. tie adopts a often gives nth, or even f the family, dyb' , a son to succeed THE TIAH OF THE WHEEL I. "That be a relief!" exclaimed Micah Dag- gle as he threw down his hammer and drew hie sleeve across his forehead. It was striking one o'clock. They could just hear the quarters from the Stent par- ish church, about a third of a mile from the Rat hole. The other workers in Micah's shop also uttered exclamations of gladness. It was a blazing July day outside the shed. Inside the shed, where three fires were going, blown by bellows, it was as hot as it well could be without being unbearable. These other workers comprised Mrs. Daggle, Ruth Daggle, Adam Gray, and a boy. It was al- most a family affair, this chain -shop of the Rathole. Adam Gray, though ne relation, in fact, had won Ruth's heart, and was to marry her when— Bu, this brings us to the pathos of the place. Trade was extremely bad. It had steadily worsened for years. The big chain- f:a.ctories had swallowed up scores of the do- mestic workshops. Not absorbed them, giving compensation for so doing ; but driv- en them into extinction by the facilities they naturally obtained for underselling them. What became of them afterwards no one knew. The men and women left the neighbourhood some well•nigh broken- hearted. The Stent district, though spoilt by these factories, is not without attraction; and atter all, home is home, be it a palace in a shire, a hovel in Stent, or a single room in Whitechapel alley. The Dagg'es had come down in the world. Micah's father had been reputed a well-to- do man. The bankers of Stent had treated him with a certain deference that meant much in a pecuniary sense. His bills were always met, with never a word about ex- tended time. There was then, too, a cer- tam rude plenty in the old red house : meat on the table every day; and no lack of bones for the three white bulldogs which for fully ten years seemed to occupy almost too much of old Daggle's spare tune. But the old man died one day, with a queer sort of smile on his face. " Mebba, Micah, thou'lt be a rich man—mebbe thou won't," he murmured. This oracular statement did not affect Micah much at the time. But after the funeral—with abundance of feathers, and half Stent at their doors uttering exclama- tions of rapture—Micah betook himself to the bank in his sleek Sunday clothes, and asked the manager to please to tell him how much money he had inherited. The old man had been mightily reserved. Healways drew the wages himself, and attended to cheques and all commercial matters. His son was just a paid employee of his—rather more favoured than the rest of course, but little else. Bud the banker had merely lifted his eyebrows and said there was nothing in his hands to the late Mr. Daggle's credit. There had been once upon a time, he allowed, a matter of thousands ; but it had all been withdrawn. He rather fancied the chain - maker had invested it in land, was exceed- ingly surprised at the deceased man's re- ticence; and was sorry he could say nothing of a more satisfactory kind for Micah. Time passed, and affairs stood as they did on this particular day of disappointment. No one knew in the least what had become of old Daggle's money. Micah had questioned every lawyer within ten miles of Stent on the subject, had, in fact, become liable for an astonishing number of six-and-eight- pences quite to no purpose. And as the outcome, it appeared be was the heir to nothing in the world but the old workshop, the old red house adjacent, and a strip of soft ground behind, some twenty yards by five, which sloped towards a certain black brook between elder -bushes, famous for the sire and number of its rats. Hence the style of the immediate neighborhood : Rat - hole. Micah had married three or four years before his father's death, and Ruth was born. In compliance with local custom, Mrs. Daggle, when she was freed from the einbarrassmentsattendant upon little Ruth's birth, had entered the workshop and wielded the hammer with the rest. She was a large woman, of the common Stent type : fond of bright Paisley shawls and drooping feathers to her bonnets, with a very red face and great arms which made nothing of the ' ten -pound hammers. And she was not slow to pro- claim her opinion that her husband's father had behaved very shabbily in doing away with the money she, in common with others, believed had been saved up for the next generation. Since then, all sorts of discomforting events had happened. The first large fac- tory had been established—a huge haunting building of red brick with a tall chimney. Others had followed it ; and now daily you might see men and lasses in troops entering the gates of the various works. Trade bad languished, and the price of materials had risen, while the ability of Micah's customers to pay enhanced values had gone down. Little by little the old Daggle connection had died oft. It was not easy—it seemed almost impossible—to get new patrons. These were secured by the big works. Nor was it easy to get workers to grub and hammer in the pokey little domestic forge, when in the large establishments they got higher wages, better and a more extensive society, and where the sanitary conditions were better Fared frr. Thus, from eight paid hammerers, the workshop had fallen to one—young Adam Gray. The odd lad who took charge of one of the bellows was of small account. Adam Grey was an anomaly in Stent. He had none of the braggart, self-assertive ways of the other chainmakers ; nor did he care two pins about pigeon-flying,horse-racing, cours- ing, or poaching, which were the favorite holiday pursuits of the districts. He was a quiet, almost a moping sort of lad, with long hair and a reflective look. Mrs. Daggle did not think mach ot him ; but she forebore to tell him so, fearful lest he; like his pre- decessors, should straightway give notice. Micah, on the other, hand, had a cer- tain regard for the lad. There was some- thing in Adam's face and in such of his mind as he exhibited that convinced Mr. Daggle that his assistant was not, as Mrs. Daggle playfully expressed it more than once, " such a fool as he looked." Adam had a fine pain of brown eyes. He was, besides, strong in the arm and phenom- enally industrious. Ruth Daggle had entered the workshop in her tenth year. That was before state legislation made it penal to employ young girls at hard chain -work- She was a deli- cate little slip of maidenhood, and Adam from the fiat resented seeing her little arms bared to such work as shead to do. The attachment that grew up naturally between them increased with the years. Ruth, though distinctly pretty in a fragile way, was almost as shy a girl as Adam was diffi- dent among mankind. The two went about togegher, much to the amusement of Stent. Mrs. Daggle did not appreciate sneh a court - shin. But Micah said : " Let 'a be—the lad's a good un, and the wench loves him. I'll ha' no comm' between um." Tale was how matters stood in the Daggle household when Micah flung away his ham- mer and breathed with satisfaction. He adopted the conventional division of the day that Adam might have the less cause for discontent with the lower rate of wages he received, and, for Ruth's sake received willingly. All four left the workshop as if it were a Purgatory, as in truth it was that day. " Put on thy coat, wench," said Micah when he saw Ruth bare-armed to the shoulder, and with her dress open at the throat, inhaling the scant July breeze with avidity. Her little face was sadly pale, and her blue eyes seemed preternaturally large. - But ere Micah had finished speaking Adam had anticipated him. " I dunnot want it, Adan," murmured the girl as she fidgeted ender the cloak. " You'd catch a cold, else ; you are such a -one for colds, Ruth." A sudden rush of petulance took posses- sion of the girl. It was not wonderful. The poor lass had been worked beyond her strength. Chain -making is never an agree- able employment. The hot days of summer had told upon her. " I'd like rarely to ketch a cold as should carry me right away to the_churchyard— that I would," she exclaimed. Tears brolze from the blue eyes as she said these naughty, though not unpardonable words. Micah looked at his daughter in surprised and his face assumed an expression of griev- ous anxiety. None knew better than he, how little chance there seemed of excusing Ruth from the work she did in the forge. The bellows must be blown. The lad could not attend to two pair at once; nor could he, Micah, afford to pay another hand. Things seemed almost desperate with him. • " Come my wench," he said nevertheless, with a tone of tenderness that in the grimed and wrinkled man was very touching "keep up thy heart ; joy cometh in the morning, the Book says.—Bring her in, Adam, lad, to her dinner. I would'nt be surprised, not I, if there was to be a bit of pork on the table to -day. Thou wert allers a good little un for pork, Ruth." The girl surrendered herself to Adam. " I'm so tired," she whispered. " I did- na mean to bother poor feyther." Adam stooped and kissed the pale face, . where a tear was beginning to run. " Your father's right," he said. " Never fear ; it'll be better by-and-by. I had a black dream last night—it goes by contraries, you know, dear. I'll work the extra this evening, and you shall go at five." The tear -dimmed look that Ruth gave him was enough reward to Adam for his offer of self-sacrifice. Then they went in to dinner, which did in fact include some salt pork with the potatoes. Salt pork, potatoes, and bread do not make up a great meal ; but they dined worse three days in the week. Yet another shock was destined, how- ever, to come upon Micah Daggle that afternoon. They had hardly begun to work again when a black -coated young man ap- peared with a paper. " Mr. Branstone has sent me with this, Mr. Daggle," he said. " I'm sorry to have to bring it." " What is it, sir ?" asked the chain - maker, looking about for his iron spectacles. " There be no papers doe yet awhile " " It's about the mortgage. Those people want to build another factory ; and unless you can pay, I'm afraid they mean to fore- close, take possession, you know, and just pull down your place." " Pull down this 'ere house, which was my gran'feyther's ?" exclaimed Daggle. " That's just it, Mr. Daggle. But you must try and find the money." " I canna do that, sir. I'd as well hope to find a gold mine. Well -a -day, it be hard !—How much time do they give me?" " A month, Mr. Daggle." " One month—only a month. Well if the Lord dunnot provide in that time, they shall have their will o' me, sir.—I wish you good -day." IL .August opened very wet in Stent. The black brook of the Rathole surged in its bed with a riotous music that was never heard except ii?flood-times. For a week it rained daily—heavy tempestuous downpours, with big drops. It was good weather neither for farmers nor chain -makers. Micah Daggle and all in his shop were, however, less concerned about the weather than about the calamity that was impending over them. On the 14th of the month, if money was not found, they would have to go elsewhere. " It'll jest break my heart, though I win- ner say nowt about it," said Micah to Adam one day. To which young Gray made no reply. What reply could he have made? There were snatches of talk between them about America, or joining one of the large factories as paid hands. It would have to be one or the other. There was no , money for the passage to New York. The issue, therefore, seemed a foregone conclu- sion. But it was a sad come down for Micah, whose father and grandfather bad both been independent employers of labor themselves. "If only," began Adam one evening as they sat in the gloaming under a stunted old apple -tree, and listened to the tumult of the stream—` if only I could get some one to take up this idea of mine !" . - Adam had the self contained tempera- ment of the inventor. He had already made two or three clever improvements in he domestic machinery, which, from his gnorance of common protective measures, ad soon become public property. Of late, however, he had, as he fancied, conceived a plan by which chain -production might be increased m a very simple manner. He was so fearful that this also should get appropri- ated, that he let no one into the secret ex- cept just Micah and Ruth. Money was necessary to test it fairly, and he had nothing like enough money for the purpose. Hardly had he said these words,.when they both heard a cracking sound. Immediately afterwards Mrs. Daggle and Ruth came running down the little puddly green path. " Th' house's falling, Micah !" cried Mrs. Daggle. They stood all together by the ancient appletree and watched. A thin smile stole over Micah's face. "I knew," he said, " as my gran'feyther ud never let owl but Daggles have to do wi' t it." "Still, it would be such a pity if it was to break down now," added Adam. " It's the damp. There's been crownins' in all over Stent. You know that pub. by Rachel Row,the Gammon of Bacon. Well, it sank three feet last Sunday night, andnone on 'em knew about it till they got up and found the sitting -parlour windows level with the ground." Ruth had instinctively ranged herself by Adam, whose arm, also instinctively was around her neck. " Tales like then bean't over -comfort- ing," observed Mrs. Daggle snappishly. " It 'ud be fine and nice to be wi'out a roof to our heads—in this rain and all." They waited for half an hour ;. then,no further symptoms of collapse having de- clared itself, they slowly re-entered the house. " It's a mo'aul o' one side," said Micah with a forced laugh as he lurched against the right-hand wall. " But.that's nothing,'-' he added hastily. " There's a many houses in Stent as has been like that for years, an' years an' never the worse or it." Adatn looked dubious, and his eyes wav- ered between Rath and the tallow candle in the kitchen,which could be seen guttering at a considerable angle on the table. " I'll fetch Jake Carter," he exclaimed as he snatch- ed up his cap; "he'll know if it's safe." Jake Carter soon came, laughed at the idea that there was any real danger in a house so slightly tilted, and then went away, refusing the glass of beer that was offered to him. An hour after this the house was wrapped in utter darkness. The Davies and Adain were all abed, and the heavy rain and the noisy brook echoed about it. But Jake Carter's wisdom on this oc.;asion was at fault. Towards one o'clock, when the heavens seemed like to be wholly liquid- ated upon the earth, there was another re• sounding crack throughout the house, and in an instant the back part of the building, on the side which had already yielded, broke into the ground. The loss of equilibrium sent the chimney -pots flying; and one of the inner walls fell with a crash. The lesser noise of breaking china and sliding furni- ture could also be heard, followed by a scream from Ruth, and Micah's and Mrs: Daggle's voices intermingled. Adam slept on the ground -floor, in the room in which Micah's father had died. It was just here that the subsidence was most emphatic. He awoke with a sense of calamity upon liim, heard the clamour of the general ruin, and was then sensible that his head was much lever than his heels. In this uncomfortable position he heardsome- thingelse. If it was not the chink of gold pieces in numbers, then his recollection of the sound as he had heard it in the bank when he had changed a cheque for Micah was much disordered for the moment. However, he did not heed this agreeable music. He was much encumbered, and all his wits were necessary to enable him to get out of bed and grovel upon his hands and knees towards the door. Ruth's cries much stimulated him. An hour passed, and then all the four members of the household were reunited outside in the drenching night. -No one was hurt. _ Ruth had been merelyfrighten- ed. She was quite calm again, now that Adam had her in charge. They went to a neighbour's house, where they were given such accommoda- tion as was possible. . Here it was that Adam recalled to mind the noise of gold pieces. " Micah," he said, if there is not money in the house, my hearing is at fault. It was like bagfuls of it breaking against each other. At first the chain -maker made light of the matter. " Thou wert but half awake, lad, an' it was the glasses bursting thou heardst." Later, however, he suddenly be- came serious. "See," he whispered ; " the daylight is here, an' it doan't rain so much. What dost say—us two'll just step across an' look at the old place." Mrs. Daggle, too, wished to accompany them, mindful of her Sunday gowns, a favourite kitchen clock, and certain other articles she wished to secure from possible ruin. But Micah bade her lie down again and keep Ruth company. They had much ado to get into the build- ing, and could move in it only on their hands and knees. But the moment they were in Adam's room the truth of his tale was evident. A timber had started from the wall and knocked out several bricks; and with the bricks three boxes had come out. These latter lay in a heap in the sunken cor- ner with a nurnber of sovereigns still in them. As for the coins that had got dis- lodged, they were in double handfuls in the corner of the room. There was also anoth- er similar box still in the hole whence the others had tiiinbled, and this, too, proved to be full of gold. The two men sat on the floor and looked at each other. Adam was the first to spear!. "I knew that good would come of it, Micah ; though I'll allow I hadn't much hope how it would come." "It's my feyther's savings—there bean't a doubt in the matter," retorted Micah. "Praise the Lord, for sure good hev come from this evil." Then they set to work and collected the coins. They replaced them in the boxes, which were just ordinary workshop boxes for chain -litter, and without lids. And carrying thein in their arms, sweetly con- scious of their weightiness, they returned to the house, where Mrs. Daggle and Ruth lay awaiting them. "See what we've found, my dears," cried old Micah joyfully as he plumped his bur- den upon the floor. "We're rich for life—all four on us.—An' we'll hev your invention put up in Lannon, Adam, where they're all fine an' honest, I've heerd tell. An' you shall hev the wench here whenever she likes to say `I'll hev you.'" Adam laughed sotnewhat shyly. Mrs. Daggle was too much occupied with the gold to heed anything else. "I think, Master," said Adam, "I'll be wise to strike while my chance is warm. — Will it be 'Yes,' Ruth, if I ask you now this very minute?" He took the girl's hand, she assenting, with a happy light in her eyes. "I've loved you ever since you were a mite—you know I have," proceeded Adam. "Will you be my wife far better or worse, Ruth ?" The "Yes, Adam" of her reply was fully as cordial as the young men could have de- sired it to be. There ▪ were six thousand five hu• ndred sovereigns in the boxes—quite enough, as Micah said, to set up a big chain -factory if he had a mind to build it. But he preferred to live on the interest of it in a snug house outside Stent. The five hundred pounds that were appropriated to further Adam's invention turned out a remarkably good in • vestment. It did not result in a fortune, but it brought in a very comfortable living for Adam and his wife. The new British coinage will bear the Queen's head without her crown: - Adish-washing machine has been for some time in use in a London hotel. With two persons to attend to it, it washes one thou- sand dishes an- hour. The streets of London are cleaned between eight in the evening and nine in the morn • ing. Many of the carriage -ways are washed daily by means of a hose, and the courts and alleys inhabited by the poorer classes are cleaned once a day. - Perhaps the most striking thing about the new Paris fashions is their extreme sine- plicity; beautiful materials are used, but the cut is in every case innocent of any elaborateness, and the only trimming con- sists of plain, handsome embroideries or gold galoons. A French perfumer has been making teats of California roses, and discovered that they possess 20 per cent, more of the volstile oil than French roses. This means the develop- ment of a new industry for California. The French perfume factories of the town of Grasse alone give employment to 5,000 per- sons. It is said that fifty cents per pound YOUNG FOLKS. A STRANGE RETRIBUTION. BY EDMUND COLLINS. There are still in Canada and Maine vast stretches of primeval forest, in many parts of which the sound of the lumberman's axe has never been heard. Wolves have disape. peered almost entirely from these regions, out bears prowl through them everywhere. The lumberman andthe traveler, however, are not afraid of bears, for it is only in spring, when Bruin conies out of his den, lean and hungry, and cannot find insects, mice, buds and terries, that he will attack cattle or human beings. But there is a beast found over a wide stretch of territory which will sometimes, when not needing food, attack a man and tear him to pieces. He is an abiding terror to ail woodsmen, and the choppers and team- sters huddle close around the camp -fire on winter nigh.s, as some comrade relates a story about the vicious beast. This north - cru terror is known to every man who goes into the woods as the Indian Devil. The Indian Devil is a creature that sleeps and rests in the branches of tall piue, spruce fir, and other trees which have thick leaves. ale is really the tree panther, though descrip- tions of him in scientific quarters are very meagre. He is a great jumper, and can go for miles along. the top of the forest by springing i roni tree to tree. There are great bunches of muscles on his thighs and shoul- ders ; he has long, sharp fangs and cruel, rending claws, which he can draw in much as a cat does. His favorite method of seiz- ing his prey is to lie quietly hidden in the branches of a tree and spring upon the head of his victim. He gives no warning, but falls like death out of the top of a tree as you pass. The beast is so malignant and so fierce that the. Indians believed he was a real devil. Hence his name. In the region lying along the upper waters of the Northwest Miramichi, in the province of New Brunswick, was the hut of au old trapper who lived all the winter in the woods. He invited two lads, George and James Nelson, to come, and spend a fort- night in his shanty, promising them plenty of shooting. One day the boys set out alone from the hut on a moose hunt, and the old man went to examine his traps. The snow was deep, 'but they could travel swiftly on their snow- shoes. The tracks of a moose were soon discover- ed, and the brothers, with wild enthusiasm, set out to run the animal down. I may say that the way to capture a moose when the snow is deep in the woods is to -" run him down" on snow -shoes, for the animal sinks to the hips and shoulders in the deep snow. I consider the killing of - wild game taken at such disadvantage as this, hardly sports- manlike, but it is their way in these woods. So the boys riddled the fine animal with their bullets, skinned him, took each a por- tion of a hind -quarter, and set out for the trapper's shanty. When the sun was getting pretty low,and they were still three miles from camp, they came up a beaten road where logging teams had been passing all day. They had not gone far, when they saw two men coming after them, each having a pair of snow -shoes upon his back, and one of them a disabled fox -trap. The boys waited when the strangers shout- ed to them, but they -were sorry that they had done so, for they felt an instinctive dread of the men on scanning them closely. They were what is known in Canada as metis-- that is, part Indian and part French. They had dark, oily faces, hair as•black as the feathers of a crow, and sullen brown eyes. The older one, and the more evil -looking of the two, said, on coming up : " Live about here much ? George was spokesman, and replied : " No; we are staying a few days in Billy Rogers' shanty." You don't want only one of these quarters of meat," said the older men, walk- ing up to James. "Better let us have this one," laying his hand on the vension. George at once turned to the impudent fellow. "If you had asked properly, we should have given you some ; now you can't have any." The fellow walked back a few paces and glowered on the brothers ; then the two intruders spoke a few words in patois in low tones. The leaders, stepping up to the boys, then said: " We are vara poor men—vara poor. Perhaps the young m'sieurs would give us a quar er apiece to buy tabac at the store." George, who was very generous and could not resist an appeal like this, took out his pocket -book, opened it and probed around till he found four twenty-five cent pieces, which he handed to the man. - But he saw that he had made a mistake in letting the was see the contents of his pocket -book, which contained a roll of five - dollar bills and five or six sovereigns. The eyes of the swarthy stranger gleapi- ed when he saw the money, then, in an in- different way, he asked : - Going to stay to -night with old Bili Rogers?" " Yes ; we shall be with him for several days." - Jingling the quarters in his hand, the man turned away, and, bowing, said: -- " llferci, ,m'sienr, am mooch oblige; we go across troo de wood. " Whereupon the evil -looking pair ,put on their snowshoes and turned abruptly into a dense forest of spruce. It was now growing dark, bit the road gleamed white through the dusk and it was easy to follow. "I felt in dread of those men, " George said to his brother, as they - resumed their tramp. " I think they would nothesitate to steal or even commit murder. " " You should not have let them see your money, George.- The other one, who said nothing, actually took hold of his sheath - knife when he saw the gold ; but as soon as he knew I was watching him he removed his hand. I am afraid we shall hear from them before the night is over." " All right. If they attack us it will be the worse for them, They hive no guns now, and they must go to their shanty first before they can harm us. Billy says that they are a couple of thieves who live here and rob lumber camps when the men are away ; but their shanty is two miles off, on Black Gully. I don't think they would dare to attack us in Billy's lean-to. But hurry up, and let us get home, for these fellows can run like deer, and may get their guns and overtake ns if we don't mind." So they went onus fast as they could walk with their heavy loads. The road soon be- came almostas dark as the forest, and the cold . wind went whistling and sighing among the trees. The boys paused for a moment - to - get breath and eat a sandwich of otter steak which the trapper had given them,: but, be - is paid for some flowers. fore they had finished their hasty -bite, they were startled by a terrible cry. ' €iseen►o to come from the road about a gdar ger mile t fund them, and resemble htbe' high-pitched shrieking of a woman in gre distress. - The boys shuddered at the sound. Th it was repeated again and again, filling t forest with its terrifying echoes. " It is a woman, George," said James, his face grew white, "and I fear those tin men are doing her some Harm."' "Itis not a woman's voice," saidGeorg " Come on ; we have no time to lose no It is the screaming of an .Indian Devil." " Then, perhaps we ought to drop o loads and run!" If not, it will overtak us. "" Hold on, yet, for a little ! It is comm along the tree -tops, and has scented us, b cause the wind is blowing straight towar it. But I don't think it can catch up to u oefore we reach the Burnt Swamp ; the the beast will have to take to the ground where it cannot he half so danerous. when in the trees." - " I think, George, we ought to thro away one load and cut the -other in two We can hide one load, rig it in the snow and get it to -morrow." " A good idea ! We'll put it here." And in a few seconds, George's load wa thrust under the snow. Three or four cuts of the small axe, car ried for the moose hunt, and the othe quarter was divided. Each brother pushe his gun -barrel through a slit in the venison shouldered his lightened burden and starte off at a run. All the while the enemy kept up his cry ing, and the sound grew nearer and nearer The boys' could not keep up a runnin pace for long, as they ,had tramped fro sunrise and eaten very little food, but the were nearing the Burnt.Swamp now, wher their deadly pursuer would be obliged t run along the ground. I should here inform my readers tha guns were of little use to the boys, for +,h night was pitchy black, and it would b impossible to get a " sight" on an anima like that, which assaults his victim alway by springing upon it, Presently the edge of the wood was near ed, but the blood -curdling screeches of th terrible pursuer were also near at hand. Half a mile away lay the shanty of th trapper, but as it stood in the heart of grove of tall spruces, the greatest dange was threatened there, as the animal would at once take to the trees on leaving the burn land and drop. The boys hurried more and more, but soo heard a crunching sound in the snow, abou fifty yards behind them. " Off with our loads, James ! Let us pu them in here. Now we must defend our selves. It was the work of only a moment to thrust the two large haunches under the snow, so that teamsters should not see diem in the daylight, and to get back to the beaten road. There was no sound, however, now ; but the two brothers paused every minute or so in their mad run to listen. George grasped James' arm. " What is that black thing, just there ? See, it moves !" That's he ! Look ! He has gone under the brush. Be careful ; he is sure to spring on us. We must keep looking. I doubt if we'll get a chance to fire, but I may be able to settle him with the axe." The guns were muzzle -loaders, and to strike the brute with the stock would likely explode the cap, and for this reason George depended on the axe. " Of course," George added, " we may have a chance to shoot." Both' ran again, not speaking a word, and, still hearing no sound, they began to believe their pursuer had abandoned the chase, when a dark object shot from the bre branches. of a hackmatack, with a horrible shriek, striking George on the head in his fall, but failing to seize him. The blow, however, knocked the boy down and'stunned him for a few seconds, the at- tacker meanwhile hiding somewhere near on thepath-side. - James knew that his brother was not ser- iously hurt, so he stood, with his gun cock- ed, watching for the animal. - Something moved out from the deep shad- ow. It had two phosphorescent globes of fire, and the younger brother fired at it. Another piercing cry, and the terrible beast disappeared. It went so swiftly that it bed evidently not been hurt, but only frightened. George got to his feet, just as his brother fired, and he had an ugly wound in his neck, made by one of the panther's claws. They ran again, and in a minute saw a light shin- ing from the one window in the shanty. As they approached they noticed two men run hastily away from. the door, but they were in too much terror of the wood pan- ther to follow and see what it meant. Billy Rogers heard their story about the Indian Devil with the unconcern of an old trapper ; but when they told him about the metis and the two figures they saw hurry- ing away he became more grave, and put a heavy load of buckshot in his gun. He also drew the charges from the boys' guns and loaded them again with buckshot. " We'll keep them in our bunks to -night, boys," the old man said, in an indifferent way ; " but if these thieves come into this little place we mustn't spare 'em. Fire straight ; there'll be a light here all night." -All then ate a supper of otter steak, wil- low grouse and shanty -made bread. They then turned in. I have said that- the lean-to, which was built of heavy logs, stood in a thick grove of spruce and the branches of a large tree spread over it. It wastwelvefeet high at the back, and eight in the front, the rafters running at an angle of sixty-three degrees. In the top of the lean-to was a large open- ing which served as a chimney, and it was large enough to enable a man to pass through it. Near to this extended a pine branch from which -any one could easily reach the slant roof. The trapper, before going to bed, barri- caded the door, pat oil in the lamp, placed the guns in the bunks, after which all retired and it was not long before the trapper and the two tired boys were snoring soundly. A little after midnight the wary woods- man was roused by a cry which even in his sleep he knew ; then he heard the voice of a human being in deadly distress. He touched the two boys, whispering : " LTp ! Take your guns ; something strange happening on the roof." The brothers rubbed their eyes and jump- ed out of bed ; then the trapper turned out the light and took the barricades from the door. It was inky dark outside, but the three stepped out with their guns cocked. They could not make out the objects on the roof, but there were human cries and the frightful screaming of the tree panther. " Blaze away there, boys !" shouted the,ii old man ; " then run in." The three guns were reified, three shots rang out, and there were more yells, human and brutish. . " Now we'll stay awake in the dark till daylight," said the old man, sententiously. `• Some one has been hurt, but let prowlers like that take the consequences." � cry at en : he as 0 e. w. ur e g e- d $ n a w 8 r d a g m y e 0 t e e 1 9 a e a r t n t t some . one, -indeed; was hurt, for :there_ fere_ Severe fitful moaiiiugs all night around the 'shanty, and the dawn revealed one of the metis, With a load of buckshot in his legs, e eviithing in the snow and unable to get away. . The other evil -looking companion had fled, leaving his friend to his fate. Close by the shanty an Indian Devil, nearly six feet long, lay dead upon the snow. The beast had followed the boys to the shanty and gone into a tree close to be ready to spring when one of them eame out. The metis had also followed them, and were about descending through the smokehole when the panther dropped upon one of the villains. This was the cause of the violent yell, but it probably saved the lives of the inmates of the camp. SOME VENEZULA SUPERSTITIONS. women, it is Believed, Rring Death to a Snake -bitten Person. Has any one ever heard of the snake men of the Alto Orinoco? In Venezula there are all manner of snakes, from the deadly twelve -inch coral snake, whose bite is death, to the tiger -striped hunting snake and the boa constrictor. Most persons know the habits of the boa constrictor, but know noth- ing of the tiger hunter, which is quite as remarkable in its way. Nothing will better illustrate the point than the story of an act- ual occurrence in this modern age of science and civilization, - While the English railroad from Tucacas to Barquisimeto was under construction an Englishman holding an important position in the work was bitten by a rattlesnake (here known as the culebra). The man was forthwith taken to the English quarters and put to bed. While the English doctor was being summoned the wives of the hEnglish- men at work on the roadhustled about and tried to do what they could toehelp the suf- ferer. In the midst of the confusion a na- tive came running in with the kind-hearted intention of curing the man. " Turn all the women out," said he. " What the devil!" said the Englishman's friends. " What for?" "Their eyes are death," explained the na- tive. " The man will not live if they look upon -him." With that the Englishmen turned the na- tive out of the house, and the bitten man himself declared that if the English doctor could not cure him no superstitious native could. The physician came in hot haste and worked until the perspiration ran down his face in littlestreams. The women hover- ed around and did what they could. In ex- actly two hours and a half the man was dead. The kind hearted native heard of it, shrugged his shoulders, and went his way. On the following day a native laborer was very badly bitten by a rattlesnake near the same place. He was not of sufficient account for the well-paid English doctor to bother with, so the native laborers carried him off to a house and turned all the woman out and sent for herbs and leaves and such things. - They worked at him for an hour or so in the way that the natives and Indians know,and the next day he was back at work as though enothiug had happened. The Englishmen could not explain this, and they cannot do so even to this day. - - - Here is another story on the same sub- ject : A native woman's ten-year•old son was bitten most frightfully by some sort of 'venomous serpent, Did she rush to him, clasp him in her arms, and try to cure him? Not she. The only thing that she did was to send forher husband, and to hide herself and her female servants far away from the suffering lad's presence. Her husband and a neighbor or two bustled about and looked after the boy, and it was only on the third day that she looked upon her son. If she had looked upon him while the snake's poison was in his blood the natives had no doubt her eyes would have caused him to vomit blood and die. Yet this woman loved her boy with all a mother's devotion. When the exposition was held at Caracas in 1SS3, the year of the Bolivar centennial, two men from some remote inland place had on exhibition a box full of exceedingly venomous reptiles. Merely to look at these poisonous snakes was enough to make one shudder. One day when the place was crowded the box was overturned, and five of the ugly things got cut and began to run about in a remarkably lively sort of way. A tiger let loose would not have created half the excitemeu t and confusion. People went raving mad in their desire to get away. Tables, chairs, and show cases were overturned by the frantic mob, and for a time it looked as though half the crowd would be bitten to death or trampled under foot before they could get away. - The man who told this story pulled off his coat and threw it over one of the snakes, and the two snake exhibitors caught the others in their naked hands. One of the men was bitten several times—so badly bit- ten, in fact, that it seemed to be impossible that he could live twenty minutes. His companion knew just exactly what to do and did it. In the first place he called for blankets or pieces of cloth or anything that he could get, and with feverish haste he wrapped up his bitten companion com- pletely out of sight. This was done with a haste that well nigh amounted to madness. Then the helpless man was carried across the street to his hotel and put to bed. His companion worked over him for two hours, and at the end of that time rested, with a sigh of relief. . " Why did you wrap him up in such haste!" asked the man who told this story. To keep him away from the eyes of the women," replied the snake exhibitor. " What was the danger ?" " If women had looked upon him he would have vomited blood and died before we could have got him half way across the street." This strange superstition is not confined to Venezuela by any means. The same thing t is found in the Dutch island of Curacoa, in the further West Indies, and also in the - republic of Columbia. A Senator of the United States of Columbia said to an Ameri- can visitor that although the fact was as familiar to him as the commonest detail of every -day life, yet he could not say why it was so. He added, however, that he believed the danger lay mostly in the case of women with child. As to the snake men of the Alto Orinoco that is another matter. An American who once lived in the house of an adopted mem- ber of the fraternity or tribe, novice though - he be, can render a snake =conscious for many hours merely by blowing his breath on its head. A drop of his saliva will kill a snake almost instantly beyond all hope of resurrection. In arranging ribbon belts, remember that the ends and loops can be tied in any place save at the back. The ocean is more productive than the land. An acre of good fishing ground will yield more food than an acre on the best farm. - - The Boston girl never hollers "hello" at the mouth of a telephone. She simply seyss as she puts the receiver to her ear, "1 e the liberty of addressing you via w -wire surcharged with eleotrisity." -