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The Brussels Post, 1890-8-15, Page 2THE b'R USSELS POST. sesselleala ONE NIGER IN THE BUSH, hns'e coned le 110 doubt about it tory Alec: ---I had lust my way in the bush. The ,1milt wheel marks, which for the hast two Miles had served wafer a track, had sudden- , . re nisi). ed udd •n- renisited altogether', They 11101 leen Ili�'111t el I0 ) tofollow wIi t u 1 in elle failing light 19111 ono lost, it was 'It ossilr o to hal them , a tip 1 t 11111 .again. 'I hunted diligently, but Minted inted in vain. Nor did. I quite abandon the search man the darkness was complete, and by that tide illy mare ryas so obviously knouts - sal np that 1 dismounted and bather. II was art unpleasant predicament, of eooes0. There was, however, no real danger in the situation, I was in no uniUhabited region ; I waa within 70 miles, in a north. easterly direction, of 14elbourne-the Mel- bourne of today; The district abounded in emelt holdings end free selections, Stopper Dead a blanket, in some small hen>eatead, 111 -ere merely a question of time. All I had ata do was to boar steadily in ono direction and I should most certainly strike some )fence within a mile or two. 13y following the first fence I came to, sooner of later I must reach a gate. There I should find a track of some sort, and the track would lead me to a house, and I should be all right, A little patience was all that leas required ; L11OU1ing more. I had been rifling all day, mo that it was rather an agreeable change than otherwise to get off and walk for a while. In any ease, 1 pushed on ohoerfully enough to begin with. It was a cold night in late autumn. The white stars froze i,1a clear, slaty sky. Rain had fallen heavily early in the week, and the grass under foot was still very wet. I wore thin, side -spring boots, of a pattern tench in vogue in the bush ; they are nice light boots 110 ride in, but if you walk in :chem through wet grass, they let in the mois- ture at once ; so, of course, my feet became wet. 51.0 cold. This natnl:ally interfered 'avith my good spirits. But it was not until 1 descended from the broken, sparsely- tilnbzrsd, airy cotultry, in which. I had dis- mounted, into a low-lying and (homed forest ofdead gumtrees, that I beeline positively xlisniruted, These weird. w oodlen118 are only too .common in Victoria. These trees remail] standing after death; the smeller branches -call away with the leaves, but the principal limbs are deft, to grow white and smooth am dead men's bones, to overhang you t;lnenteningiy as you ride, or to point sky- ward in silent imprecation. Silence and the .;cont of slow decay are in their ]nicest. The winds of heaven drew but hoarse groans from the swaying skeletons -they know not the miter tones of living trees. The impression aspen the imagination is that of a vast cham- ber of gigantic spectres -a kind of grotesque sylvan 1. alhalla. The effect upon the nmud is ,.:pressing in broad daylight; but at night, if you are at all nervous, it is little short of terrifying. I an not exactly nervous, but I .nsufess to more than one inward shudder as 11r3 sed. toy tired mare through the horri- bid place, I own that I was thankful to get fit, was still more thankful, however, when est last I actually struck the fence welch I bad made sure of finding sooner or later. Sint my good fortune was only beginning, 1 had followed the fence barely a 100 yards vase descried a light, diem ,rad far away, atrongh the trees on the other side of the £coca ; but au =mistakable light. The fence was of brushwood. I succeed- ed lm finding a low place, which I .del not ;scruple to make lower slit', and then I con- trived to get the mare across. Then I re- mounted, seeing that the end was near, and ltr'ssel on toward the light as eagerly as gun please. Ten minutes ago I had been full of misgiving, which, no doubt, was liable to return any moment ; but now, at :any rate, I thought only of the light, and of the cheer that awaited me beyond the ,light. I did not know at all where I was. Very possibly that light was within no great dis- , 1ane0 of the tuvenship which was my proper destination. Ira that case I should, of course, posh cnnwithout delay. But unless it was a really short distance, I knew that it would be beyond t118 present powers of my exhausted hack. There would then be nothing for it but to spend the night at the homestead that showed this kindly light. :Nor would there be anything out of the way lin that; for, in the bush, hospitality is sought -and dispensed pretty much ae a matter of course, and, formy part, I was not in the snood to refuse anybody's hospitality that nights In anticipation I amounted it grate - watching the light. That light, I •dared swear, sprang from a grand log fire ...roaring up a great, square, wooden chimney. i enjoyed the cheerful scene in advance. I 'warmed myself at the fire and listened to `the welcome hissing of boiling water in the •"thirty." I am a young clan still -I was a -very young man then, and proportionately sanguine -but if there was one thing of which I had right a to be cocksure, it was a traveller's welcome in the bush. `6Vhen, however, I came close enough to my guiding light to frame it in the square outline of a window, either the fire within bad burnt low or had overestinmteclits quality in my first elation on beholding it. The light was dim, but steed)'. No doubt then that I had miojud$ed its quality, it was probably mere lamplight after all. T now struck a picket fence, which I fol - Lowed until I cane to the gate. As I open. ,e1 the gate, the inevitable chorus of barking dogs burst forth. I made out the dark out. line of a long, low roof against the star -lit •sky. I rode up to the veranda. A man's voice ,vas quieting the dogs, I could not distinguish the man himself ; ho did not cone directly between me and the dim ;square of the window, or the flood of faint light that proceeded from a door newly op- ened ; and the rest of the veranda was in deep darkness. I rode up quite close to the veranda before speaking. "Am I far from the township ?" I then asked, There was a somewhat chilling silence : and no movement in the veranda, though I knew there 40,aa some one there. At length a hard, metallic voice answered me. "What township?" I gave the township its name. The same atuaoco0ntable pause preceded the reply. "You are seven miles from there." Th6 Cones' were monotones as well as 055001110.., booing that the talking was to be all one 81(10, I hastened to explain my post tion, "I have been off the track since sundown. About ttundown I was shown a short cut by sa &)''over, and this is the result of taking it, It was an old, faint, disused track, and im- piosdible to follow after dark, If I hadn't been fool enough to take his advice, but had only smelt to the main road, I should have been in the township before now. As it le, hero Ian, with my mare dead beat, She. isn't 1)11110 either.; T am taking hor clown to 'Melbourne for a marl, We have come from Rose to 11111'05 to -day, and she's just off the 'graes, and a bit soft .She cannot possibly Itravol(oven more miles; while, as for me, I'm famishing," I spoke impulsively; but I was really very hungry, 118 we11 as 011111ed to the bone. There should have been but one answer Vposeibl'e, and that a ready one, TO my eta - pates a 11 vexation, there Was 110 111181V00. at all) bet an boon longer pause titan before. 1 hooka tete 8111nte myself this' time, and asked abruptly;; WtIl.you kindly tell me where I eau get aenom0n ale tion 1" Promptly, by cenlpariann, 1 reamed the cheering utiurnnlaliot that there was . -111" plum but that. And there W -as not the faintest 1100011t of invitation in the strange, told, uveal tours, "Theta," said 1, with ex Halle warmth. c1n0nlerhng the customary treatment of strangers hi't•Ie bush, "I see that I ant to. camp nut trader some gum time. Perhaps, at any rate, you are often to a bargain for something tv cat and drill: ?" "Let one think 1 ,you Want aceonmunlation for• elan and !arse," said the voice, very slowly, as though the Hutu were trying hard to realize the inconccivallu. "You want accommodation -in any house," "Not necessarily in your house," I took ;tial up, shortly. "I want nothing that is not willingly given, and, nothing that I can- not pay for." "But -let me think ; you might not want to go away first thing in the morning ; and, if you did not go away flrst thing-•-" "Thanks 1" that's quite sufficient," I said. "I'11 trouble you no further. I'll go away now, this moment, if I have to walk every inch of the seven miles," A short, square figure stepped cloven from the dark veranda, a handl grasped my bridle. "You will do nothing of the kind:" "What do you mean?" I said, angrily, " What I say: you will do nothing othe kind; you will stop, and put up with the best I can give you. It is not much; but you shell have it. Clet oft'. I'll take your horse to the stably Hospitality at last -in the mere words. There was none in the voice. The voice was unaltered. As I dismounted, the man tuned from me, crossed the veranda, entered the dimly - outlined door, and returned with a kerosene 1 lamp in his hands. The 10111110W and the door were now both invisible. The lamp the 1, had been the onlyli.ht after all -there leas no tire Iet I had ciistinetiy head the man exchange words with some one when he went to itch the lamp. That person, whoever it was, was now left in total dark- ness. This seemo,1 odd -but not more odd than two people should be sitting up without a fire on step an exceedingly cold night. I followed my host to the stable, still more puzzled. In the stable, he bid me hold the lamp, obserlvtg 11;at he would soon snake all snug for the mare. He was as good as his word ; he stripped her of e1•erthhrg, gate her the best stall, brought her water in. a bucket, and a first-rate feed of chaff and oats, all of which he did with his own hands, with a slow deliberation, more like mechanical action than mere "puttering," and without spooking a Word. Meanwhile, I held tho lamp m several positions, each of which facilitated a separate ecrutitty of my host's face. I examined 10y strange, silent host from several different points 0f view. I had seen outside that he was short and com- pactly built : but his voice, hard and strange, though it was, had sounded to my ears like the voice of middle age, whereas I now perceived that the man was au old man -00, or thereabouts. His ,beard w'as gray end flowing, and the farrows upon his sal- low face were worn deep ey time. Hhs fea- tures struck meas thin and sharp-nmlatur- ally so, for ho was by no means a thin 1111111, G but rather thick -set. His eyes however, I remember best. Indeed I shall never forget then. There 1008 as most strange expression in his pale bene eyes. It was a w'fid, far- away, distracted expression, 111te the eyes of madness ; it was a still and stony ex- pression, like the eyes of the dead. There was nothing positively disagreeable in the cold, hard eye ; there hal been nothing absolutely unpleasant in the hard, cold tones ; but there was something that I did not like in the combination of the two. We returned to the front of the louse. Front and back the house was now in corn• plate darkness, Apart from the darkness, It seemed to me that a palpable gloom en- veloped the premises. Wo crossed the veranda, and then the threshold of a long and lofty room, in which the light of the lamp we carried, after striking upward upon the t'afters, seemed to lose itself in a starless sky. And to me the room seemed colder than the open air. Before the hearth knelt' a woman, I saw at once that the miserable task that engaged her was an attempt to re• snsoitnte a fire which had scarcely a spark of life remaining. She turned her head as 11.0 entered, and then I saw that her face was white and wan. Teen sho bent forward again to her forlorn task. Nothing was said, The man placed the lamp upon a bare wooden table in the centre, and sat down without a word upon an old horse hair settle on the farther side of the table. Tho silence was intolerable. I, at least, found it so. I went over to the woman and offered to make up the fire for her. Imme- diately she rose, with a slow, languid move- ment, and I knelt down. The ashes were cold as well as white, and beyond resurrec- tion; so I asked for fresh wood, and when tine young woman fetched it I quickly kin• died the fire, The fire was blazing famously, and roaring up the groat square wooden chimney, when I got tip from my, knees. Already I discovered a slight ohange in the melancholy connteuanoes of my entertainers. They were watching the fire, the woman standing, the man from his seat on the set- tle, There was, though small, indeed, )'eta perceptible increment of intelligence sir the man's dell gaze, and the wretchedness in his companion's pale face was less starkly 0011- s iotous. Whatever Wright be tiro reason of their profound gloom, tho fire was evidently waruung those Baits. This impression was confirmed when the woman suddenly turned her book 441)00 it and went swiftly -oven hastily -to a cupboard, from which sho pro. duood tea•things; and when the old man opened his lips and exclaimed, "Tea 1" there woe in that dommonplace monosyllable a human ring which I welcomed even more than the material blessing which the word promised. I had almost forgotten my hunger during the few minutes I had spent in that cold, sepulchral 1.00111, But now the room wag grafually warming, and 80, it seemed, were the people. I even conversed with the people. woman while.she made the tea. She Waal young, evidently the old man's daughter, tltohgli her eyes were dark, But for the extreme pallor of her face, and its haggard contour, sho might have been haul some, And she talked to me amiably, mak, ing a desperate effort to seem oho' eolith though grief was always in her voice, Itriod also to draw the old int 1 into the eonvcr- sation ; hut all to no purpose, Iia took the tea that was handed to Ilion and drank it eagerly, bat after that ho relapsed into his former condition, The firelight somewhat softenedhis hard, fixed glance ; but that was all, indeed, it became more and more a vacant stare, until it decided me ae to what the old man's condition really was. "Mad 1" T said to myself, "Melameholy mad, perhaps, Harmless in any case ; but mad I No wonder the girl looks sad and wan ,and olrl beyond )Ler years, withandl a ellarge 50 this 1 But, to be attro, she cannot be entirely la to ,with hint ; there Hurst be 'm 11" "110 ,'11', toolisafter the selection." .1111 so there 1058, 1 10(10 fi111011ing a bendy awl orthodox neral ;of uutt11ou and damper, when a hoary tread sonuded in the veranda, and a youn 6s 15011 011 010.d. It was al ane•e p11t!u that the new -comm and the girl 1.0(0 141,411e0. (41111 sisl,'r. `111(1)' had tete ' same ,lark eyes and hal ; they had also the same palm', and a minima cad nes8 of expression. 'Phe beel e:1' appcated to be the younger ofthotwo, I000h1net help see- ingglanee, pass between them, and theymtng loan nod in answer to some unlerodood woes. Gem A few brief :undertones also passed, and he and I exchanged noels. The old man, however, took no notice of his son ; atilt sit- ting on the horse hair settle, ids hands resting upon his knees, his head somewhat bent, and his eyes fastened steadfastly upon the glowing logs, he dill not even tarn his heed, er give any indication that he Wall aware of now arrival, I had no need to watch the sad expressive glances of his children to become more and more fully persuaded tlmt the old man was a lunatic, The young 111011 sat down near the tiro, dejectedly encu"lb, and immediately pulled oft his boots, He had the appearance of a man who had walked far. I asked 11hn if this was the ease, and he told me that ho had walked from the township, seven utiles off. He spoke in a hushed, mysterious tone ; but this did not puzzle me. No new p0ou- 'lenty of this unfortunate family could puzzle 1110 now. Presently, he inqusod how I had 001110 thorn, and I told him. "He put up your horse for you ?" whis- pered tine young ratan, nodding toward Itis father, "Yes," I said, and he asked no more. But I saw him gazing intently at his father's face, while compassion filled his own. I looked also; and the old man's position was quite unchanged. His strange, settled stare night perhaps have been mistaken for profound reverie ; but not for long ; to hatch him) for any -length of time was to rest assured that behind those pale, vacant, passionless eyes the rational faculty had ceased to exist. We sat smoking fn gloomy silence, the son a11d1 I ; the daughter, I imagited, had retired for the might --when she present- ly reappeared. She load been preparing a room for me it seemed, for, pointing to an open door, exactly opposite the door that opened upon the veranda, she saicl that my room was ready. There was another door on time same sidle of time room --the back of the horse -hair settle just filling the space of wall between the two -which probably led into another bedroom ; but it With shut. A fourth door communicated with a passage. I protested that a blanket in any odd corner would have been sufficient for my needs, and apologized for the evident trouble I had given ; but the girl did not hear oto. Stooping over the old man she had thrown one arm tenderly aroned his neck, and was whispering to him, 111 soft wheed- ling tones, such as one might use with a sick and self-willed child. Her words did not reach one. Neither dial the old man seem to hear them, for le did not even raise his eyes ; and 11e son, looking up, said gently 1 "Leave hien be, brolly. It's no iso. He will go when ire's tired cot ; not before." Clearly, they wanted the old num to go to bed, and he would not. I saw tears ha the dark eves of the girl as she turned away and slowly left the roost. Again we sat without speaking. fire and lamp burned low together. Tho aggressive ticking of a noisy little American clock alone broke the silence of the room : it seemed nosey and aggressive 11000, though I had not noticed it before ; so I suppose this silence was the longest and most profound of all. For the first time I glanced up to the chimney - piece and read the face of the clock. I could scarcely believe my eyes 1 I would have guessed the time was between 10 and 11 ; it was between 12 and 1 I I must have been much longer at fault among the gum trees that I had supposed ; it must have boon nearly 11when I saw the light. Then how' strange that there should have boon a light to see at that hour ! Iiow strange that, in the bash, where people arc commonly abed by 10 at latest, I should have found these people sitting up at 11, in the cold, without a fire 1 And how strange that the son should return from such a long walk only at ]mid- night, when, no doubt, his morning's work began before daybreak 1 This, indeed, was the strangest part of tho business, for the madman was not concerned in it ; andl had no reason as sot to suppose that the son was less sane than I was. Mystified, in spite of my determination to be mystified no longer on discovering that there was insanity in the house, I rose, saying that 11t'uuld turn in. My companion knocked the ashes from his pope and rose, too. " well do the same -after one more try to get him to go." He stood before the old man as he spoke, and laid itis two hands upon the others shoulders, and cried in a tone so loud, com- paratively -though, in fact, not loud at all -that to my ears it sounded as out of plane in that room as in an empty chancel : "Father I father 1" The old man slowly raised his eyes. "Do go to bed, father." The old matt shook his head slowly and dropped his oyes, only to raise then: again with a gloom of interest sudden and surpris• ing. "Say I did yon see to that?" "Yes, father." "Anti they're coming in the morning?" "Fes, father," "First thing 7" "First toting in the morning," "Alt, sated the old 111(111, looking toward me, "he's going first thing; Cloud I" " Then, you'll go to bed 7" persisted the 9011. No. It was clear ho would do no stools thing. Tho young man gave in with a Leavy sigh. '11'8 of no earthly use. Ho must just be left. When he's tired out he will go of This ova 0.e0017d and sleep. Co1110, and I'll show you ,your room." I followed 111111 through the open door. The roost was small, but better furnished than aro tate rooms in many mare proton• tions itotnesteatds, The bed --welch slid not .standout into the room (a narrow room) but hugged tho inner wall -looked downright thrilling in its :mon purity. I had been prepared for no such luxurious ac00um1001a' tion, and I bluntly said so, though it was to the son of the house, IIe smiled and scorned pleased, as though I had expressed ep- tpreoiatiot of a family trait of wllioh the family were justly proud, " My mother---, he began, but the smile faded from Itis face, and he stood die, tressed and silent, " Your another -r?" I thoughtlessly took' him up, "Is dead !" he said, 115atlly ; and before I ootid stammer an apology he was gone. Well, of all sad homes heel over entered, this was the sachlost-ono parent dead, ono of unsound mind 1 No wonder the children worosilont, and sad, and morbid, And the eon, at any rate, watt morbid, How else could ono account for a grown matt leaving Otte 0o abruptly at the more ;mention of 0dead parent 7 He henna even shat rho door, T8 allotting it myself, I ceuld nut reale: peering cure more lute the nater nom. The lamp Swore growing very ,lint; tl34 ronin 8(110 0(1(1111 111gitlLLleg 11(1 loco warmth, for the fire was almost out ; bit sitting in his old lettitnde upon the settle, within a yard of my door, 1 could still ells. tinguish 111e motionless outline of the 11101- anelloll' madman ; and, by the bend of his gut)' head, whish was named from me, 1 knew that he was still staring vacantly at the dying glow, . And he was alone in the room. Very gently I closed the door ; but I got into bed With a thoroughly uneasy feeling. To slate it mildly, I 1408 among ,neer people, illy host was mad. Icor al II knew, unew his children were tainted with in. ciplentnuadness, It was to 101)011mas 1110111(4, perhaps ; batt there could be no sense doom, pieta feoml- pleto security in lying down in the 110u08 of a lunatic, hovo'or ' harmless, I lay down without a proper feeling of gratitude in my breast for having a bed to lie upon at all, and not the dtangm grass omni;: tho gum trees, This was the least that was clue from me, yet I felt utterly ungrateful. Cold and cli0pu'ited, and not a little nervous, I closed my eyes, longing for nothing so much as to open them and find daylight creeping into the roan). • I do not knee)' how long I slept without dreaming. I have no idea how longi dreamt before waking. They say that our most elaborate dreams are the creation of little more than a moment -the moment before waking. If that be so, a moment is 0noagh to force perspiration front the forehead, to shake the bones in their sockets, to sot the teeth chattering in one's head. For I woke to all these sensations, 1 had been out in the night in a spectral forest, where all the trees were salute ,and glaetly and glittering in the starlight with the dew of death. They raised their lean arms high into the starry sky, and ranged themselves in fearful groups around me, pointing at me with skeleton fingers, as though resenting the presence of a living creature in their plead world. And all was Mill -still as ,'death; and silent -silent as the tomb. Bet no; a night wind springing up suddenly broke the dread silence. I heard it sighing among the live trees afar orf, and the groat dead branches around me groaned as they swung among the stars. The sighing came nearer; the groaning grew louder. I awoke. And, waking, I hoard human sighs and 1lmnan groans not far from lay ears. I lay for some minutes unable to breathe or to think; but only to listen -to the form- less utterances of a plan's anguish. In terror I turned my face to the wall ; it 101.1 from that direction the sounds proceed- ed. The wall was merely a wooden parti- tion. Pim streaks of yellow light peneteat- ed it in more places than one ; but six inches from my face, there was a bright, eon0pien- ous spot of the size of a sh111111g. With the rapid perception of extreme terror, I'saw directly that this spot of light must arise from there being a hole in the partition - probably from the removal of tt knot -and that the sounds I heard calve from the next room. To realize this was to place my eye to the Hole without a1 instant's thought.. Nercr shall I forget what I then saw. First I saw to lamp -the kerosene lamp that had guided me to this horrible place ; and, in the fall light of the lamp was tho' face of my host, the silent, motionless mad- man of the evening. There 005011 madness in his looks now; only grief. There le0.8 110 Imager any vacancy iu the pale, Mae eyes ;; they were soft and. sorrowful now, and moist With tears, and they were gazing tenderly- at something -something immediately between 1113' eye8 and his, if I but lowered ins, glaleo. I slice lower my glance, and the thing I saw I shall remember to 111y own dying day. It was the rigid profile of a corpse 1 How long I gazed in horrid fascination I know not. I was very young, I had meth. ally never before beheld cleatll• Why I did not shriek aloud, why no cry of any kind rose to my lips from my parched throat, is to mo inexplicable. I only know that I did gaze until I radually became calm, and that at length I tell heavily back upon my pil- lows. Not that I .lost consciousness; on the contrary, my brain became desperately busy. All that had mystified ale was plaits now, and plain in its true light, not in the light of t11y false theory of madness ; the. hesitation to take me in ; the cold and dis- comfort within ; the silence and sari looks of the young woman ; the late hours ; the son's erraml to the township and his strange emotion at the mere mention of his mother -his mother, who lay newly dead in the next room. All these things I understood now. And 111ad mistaken the first stupor of grief for complete insanity 1 Well, there was nothing to marvel at now -nothing but the self-effacing charity which would not deny one entrance even though death and desolation had entered just before me; nothing but the self-ecnmend and the ex- traordinary consideration for afloth.or that had kept the seoeel• which world have driv- en me from the shelter of this roof if divulg- ed. These things I have marvelled at ever since. As I lay, turning the 'natter over old ov0r 111 01y mind, it scented. to mo that, I could only repay the hospitality of these sorrow -stricken people in ono way -ply get- ting up quietly and stealing awaj' from the homestead without 'their knowing it, (fray dawn was already creeping lute the room.. The little eireie of light was no longer visible in 0110 partition, At last, then, the old man had eonsideved the prayers of his children,and sought rest and sleep. I rose and dressed, and went softly out. I had 110'difiiculty iu finding' the stable or in saddling the more, I had mounted, and was Tiding round by the front of to )louse -tile way I had come -when a bowed figure stopped down from the veranda and laid a hand upon my bridle, for the second time, for it was my host him. self, At a glance, he was shrunken, bowed, broken, and m his right mind. Yon have found it out!" he said, sadly: and his voice was soft enough now. "Yes," I said, gravely. 'Heaven forgive me for hawing added to your load this might 1" 1 wrung his hand, "No, no, leo I" said the old man, Simply, "Don't say that. 'never thought you would find it ottt, I don't know how you slid finch it out. But I wasn't up to thinking at a11, Somehow, I hasn't myself last night, I don't quite know what passed, and that's the truth." "When -when dict it happen?" rr Not long before you came, I can't say to 0n hour, or, ,yen son, twos dazed, That's just about what 1 was," " Yet ,you took me in 1" "That 40110 nothing. I only wish -you had gone as you cane, without knowing I" "(.food by," I said. I oonld say nothing bettor for the life of me, I wrung. Itis manse again, So long, 8511,1 my host. And so -I lode away, There is nothing oe0tahl in man's this, that he must loss it, 'ZTANI)EY'S OOMP.A.NIONS, Pour Mon Who Wore Matto by a March Aor'oss Africa, '1'ne 83'ny in widen llEu011 ul' 91:111 lsl>cei- alty i►fslIlrgulsbr, 183,u4ril--Stapley'+ (; 1 o wt Inc '1'i9lnct a 10 bis Pour Mlleers, l l' ,`ha l e had 0 opportunity o 8 u . 1, ply laint study 1115 1110.11 whiner he eeloeted to ga with 111111 on hie last expedition until they were nil well older way for the Congo and for better worm woltheir fortune,: 1108(0 linked with his. Then he jotted doWe in his note book his impressions of the white. men no his party, n11,E1 of ono of them who mat•tieulr4 r struck his fancy ho wrote that ho thought this expedition would slake 0r liar hint. 'd'e now talon' that the great journey, with all its dangers, stllfcrings, and triumphs, made four of Stanley's comrades. They Went to Africa obscure young mol, with nothing but intelligence, ambition, anQ splendid health to show that they were particularly qualified for the trying Centime before them. They emerged. from the Dark Continent famous. They had shown Goemselres in all respects equal to the vuy difficult situations that constantly confronted them ; and no leader ever paid more eloquent and voluminous tributes to the faithfulness, loyalty, and efficiency of his followers than Stanley has bestowed upon these four 10011. They aro fine-looking, stalwart follows. Then' ply same is noteworthy, and that 11118 0 most important element in their success; for without groat etrengtli and 0plouditl con- etitutirms they would never have been able to fulfil their tasks and cone out of those years of trial unscathed, 0.01'T. NELSON. Capt. Nelson was the only. 1110111 of the four 10110 had had any previous African ex- periouce. He load served with credit in the Zulu campaign, and that Met, together with the favorable impression ho made upon Stanley at their first interview, gained for him the chance that hundreds coveted. Stanley wrote of him that he was a man of brave, 0oldherly qualities, and there was merit in his very face. It was Nelson who was left for many months in the midst of the dense forest in charge of the big steel boat 01011 seventy loads of goods that the enfeebled expedition was not able to carry. Afterward he was for a long time in com- mand a, Fort Bodo, also in the forest, a sort of half -way p1000 where the garrison raised largo orops of food. Ho lived longer in the groat forest thou any other white man in tho party' Ma, 31i1'1:150)0. Mr. Jephson is a young man of find social position who ryes ,'lying to go to Africa though the lune wholly unaccustomed to rough- ing it. Some members of the Emhn commit teo thought he was "too high class" to endure the hardships of sttcll a journey. But apo. tout argument supported his petition, Thu Gountoss do Noailles, with whom he 40510 a favorite, offered to eoutribute $5,000 to tete Relief fund if ,Iep110oln W810 permitted to join the party, The committee could not re- sist this temptation, and Jophsou went along. Stanley became convinced that there was staff' in the society young neat, He led It part of the force that had a big fight with the natives a ohort time before the expedi- tion;fiest saw Albert Nyanza, Ile proved him- self a very cheerful young ratan, and when the party w01.0 on the verge 01 starvation in S110 W00118 he amused himself and his companions one day by getting up elabo- rate bills of fare, Pet, 111111011. Arc. 15, 1890. seetaeleasamaasseareisessecemeromeaseneml d'ep110ntn wire the tire:, Haul to sec Euli11, When the boat era br,l t1(,' lithe he 00(10 sett 1101111 to lime 1111 Pasha and he returned with hint 1, btanley's 11(10(1 1.111,')' ,1vlihsan re. tunnel, to tied what 11,1(1 b,"'ulna ut the rote expedition. 11'1' slated 1101iu'srtaptvit ' when the Pasha 's soldiers revolted. Ile 1010,11100 better a(,. :tainted With Benin than ' otter oStanley's. submr,1f Stanle 1'ameba :old led does not hesitate to express ilio great admiral i0 1 for the tuna, Ll foot, Stanley bas called him an IS mini t, 11'hen Stanley reaehed•Alelandl'la 0, young doctor of the 1iristial arm • named l'a'ke a p- �lied to ]tial for a 001111oi To sue if he were 'll eatncst Stanleytail loin, he, loathe time to nl 1 see him, hit if he would follow him to Cairo they would Mlle :chatter over. 1'111'ke 1)1171 - ed up in Cairo, 511,1 Stanley leas really glad to 0nguge him, as he was a little disgruntled with Bonny, who had been hired for medical services. 13(01111), bad been sent with Stanley's black boy to the station fn Loudon to slat', for Suez. As the train waa 1101 to leavo for some time, Booty thought it would bo a fine chance to see the Tohot', so he left the boy alone in the station and started out sight e(1s- in g, Tho result was that ho missed not only his train, but his steamer, Stanley thfnke Parke saved his life when heaves very 111 near Albert Nyanza, and he extols in the highest terms the gentleness, patience, and skill with which Parke ministered to the suf. forms of the expedition during the memo' - able journey, Lieut. Stairs wrote a letter applying for service that was so 00110150 and direct that Stanley decided to employ him. 11 is chief wrote of hint that he was noteworthy for his prompt and tho'm1(111 obedience of orders. It leas Ile who, after the party had built Fort Berlo and had been recuperated by rest and plenty of food, pushed back over the route apodal and brought up the abandoned boat. lie leas the only white plan in the patty 1x110 was wounded by. the Elwarf0, n poisoned arrows in 1110 flesh giving hint much trouble for a while. He was one of the ex- LI1117. ST:10111, It. 0. plovers Of the party. lIe traced the course, tor 11 long siistance, of the Semliki River, 1x111011 Unites 7111t1a Nzhge with :ellen Lake. Ire novo ascended snow-eroweetl SI mint Ruwenzori for two days, till he (x010 to 111 deep sail, on the other side of lvhiell lay the summit of the mountain. The main expedi- tion was on the mune, and at this point he had to turn back. SUMMER SMILES, Tho elan you meet going clown hill was at one tittle higher than you are, Quimby thinks that an ocean greyhound should be barkrigged. Even the patent labor-saving, self -bind- ing reaper goes against the grain this hot 1ve0thc0. A new play for next season is called "The Oath." Without much doubt the hero is a teamster, Charity begins at home" remarked the father as Ile gave array his daughter at the marriage altar. It is presumed that when (1 spirit gets to the point of disregarding the summons of the medium it doesn't care "a rap." Tomdik-The women of the present clay can't make such pies as or mothers did. MuOltinmy-No, it's a lost tart. The great sod:: water trust in the United States contemplated by an English syndi- cate has turned out a complete fizzle, We suppose a beaming smile is one that is dream 100111 the wood. The nmol who keeps still when Ito hasn't anything to say is n public 1)eucflactor. Debtor ; "I avant to pay that little boll of yours," Creditor : All right, my soar boy," Debtor : "lint I can't." Mother : "\l'hat makes you look so sober after fishing all day 7" Johnny 1 "Because I caught nothing but pouts." Book agent (returning) after leaving been fired down one flight, to irate broker) ;"13ut now, jolting aside, won't you take one copy?" TEE AIITOIENT CAPITAL, Smugglers and (1,141e1n9 INlleers-1'lII,Illler 011011 Makin ing-Aeettleti ton Steamer. ' Queues Aug. I4. -Sonne of tho whiskey smugglers and Customs oflicers iu the parish- es below Quebec, on the Lover St. Lawrence aro hewing exciting times, One of the officers was latterly tired at twice in the County of hlonttnagny. The patties implicated in this affair aro known, 1',nniTN0NOt :n 1(0000T, Last night's thunderstorm culminated in a terrific electrical distut'benees about mid- night. The lightning and thunder were incessant, and rain mane down in regular cloud -burets. The telegraph and telephone service was interrupted for some tone, and the electric fluid cane into violent collision with the wires of the Elootric Light Com- pany, causing at incipient fire in ono of rho oodlpany's switch -boards at headquarters, and musing a severe shock to one of the ora. ployos, no lamps all.fover the city were instataneously extinguished, but 00000:80011 started again, and the tiro Imagt'do was cell. sd out, though fortunately its sorvioes wore not required. t0d11n8N1• TO A 5TEANIEn. The 'Richelieu ling steamer Trois Ittvieres on her way clown from bl.ontrcal the other tight broke her eccentric relied when near- ing Three Rivers, and was detained at Sorel, Thalying Love, Mr. Billion --•"You shall neva ninny my daughter, 03.01," Impassioned Suitor -"Your throats do not frighten one, I'll marry her or die 7 Whon I once lover sir, 00 power on cath cal--' -" blr, 131lhon-"O11, I'm not proposing to use foroo, How tnuoh gash will it, tape to buy you of?" Impassioned ,Suitor --1' t3n1--, orhow /nlooli 11 you give?"