The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1862-01-10
SAINT PAUL. FRIDAY, JANUARY TO. 1862

something to love, and in Robert Allan,
manly and honest as he was. she found the
object of her wish. But a year had now
elapsed since their parting, and the time
was already overpast at which Robert had
then promised to return and claim her as
his bride. But the perils of a sailors life
were such as she shuddered to think of {;
and suddenly ceasing her reflections, she
looked for a moment from the window.
The air was filled with light flakes of fall
ing snow. and the brown gray moor was al
ready hidden beneath the pure white cover
ing.
The afternoon slowly wore away. and as
evening approached she commenced prepar-
tons for the nightly repast. Spreading the
cloth upon the table, she placed upon it the
few coarse articles of food which the cot
tage contained, and then waited for the re-
turn of her father. But she waited in vain;
darkness came on without his appearance,
and having no heart to cat, she drew forth
a Bible from its cOncealment, and re-seat-
ing herself before the fire, turned over its
pages. The thought again occurred to her
that this was Christmas eve, and with the
impulse of the thought, she read with soft
ening heart, of the journey of the wise
men, and the birth of the Saviour. Even
in her loneliness, the beautiful narrtive had
an Undesirable charm for her and as she
closed the book, a dreary languor of thought
took possession of her. Gazing into the fire
she fancied bright images in its cracking
flames and her reflections borrowed color
from them and she became perfectly happy.
From the abstraction she was suddenly
aroused by the shrieking of the wind. With
in an hour the storm had increased tenfold
in its power, and the snow fell fast and flu
riously, driven hither and thither in blind
ing flakes, by the piercing wind The night
too, was intensely cold, and heaping more
wood upon the fire, Margaret again drew
her chair before it, and decided to pass the
night there, or at least until her father S
return. But it was long before she could
sleep. What with her obtrusive thoughts,
and the constant and fearful raving of the
wintry blast around the cottage, now driv-
ing the snow-fakes violently against the
windows, and now moaning in the chimney,
several hours had passed, and with them,
the hour of midnight, before she slepG.
Her slumbers we're not of long cOntin-
uance suddenly starting to her feet, she
listened in eXpectant terror. Was it the wind
which had broken in so shrillingly upon her
slumhers, sending forth cry of almost hui
man agony, and that in a voice which
seemed the very counterpart of that of
Rufus Webb. Startled by the reality of the
sound, and yet thinking it but the effect of
the storm upon her slumberOus senses, she
was about to resume her seat, when she
fancied that she heard the sound of low
moan. So life-like were these sounds, and
yet so similar to those that the wind had
been producing all night, that she still hest
tated, in a kind Of superstitious terror
Quickly recovering her senses, however, she
lighted lamp and opened the door. A
sutfocating blast instantly swept into the
room, extinguishing the light and drifting
the snow over the cottage floor. Recoiling
before the terrors of the tempest, she again
pressed forward, and almost closing the
door, to shut out the storm, peered anxious
ly out into the gloom. So intense was the
darkness, that it was impossible for her to
see more than a few feet, and all that she
could distinguish was the snow, piled in
great drifts around the doorway, and the
fast falling flakes beyond. Bitter, bitter
indeed, was the cold, and with sinking
heart, Margaret reclosed the door and once
more sat down before the fire.
AS the morning slowly wore on, the wind
decreased and the snow ceased to fall. and
with the first gray in the east. silence again
brooded upon the moor. With dismay the
poor girl saw that the depth of the snow
was such as to entirely shut the light from
the windows, and with the unwelcome
thought that the moor mnst now be impas-
sable, she again looked forth from the open
door. The prospect terrified and dismayed
her. Far and near were heaped up irregu-
lar piles of drifted snow, many of them SO
high as to obstruct her sight, and neither
path nor foOtmark was anywhere visible.
Margaret thought Of her probable fate, and
shuddered Leaning against the door post
in her weakness, her eyes casually rested
upon the snow at her feet, when--Merciful
God what revelation, what shock to
that poor, weak girl A human hand, the
fingers cramped and rigid, was protuded
from an enormous snow drift, not three feet
from the doorway With cry of horror
Margaret sprang midway into the drift, and
with frenzied fingers commenced clearing
the snow away. Her worst anticipations
were realizad as she proceeded. An arm was
revealed, then human head and body, and
when, with an unnatural strength borrowed
from the excitement of the moment she had
dragged the corps, for such of course it was,
into the cottage, the dead body of Rufus
webb revealed itself to her terrified eyes
Both cap and cloak were gone, and the un.
happy man had been so long exposed to the
cold that even the fire had for some time no
effect In relaxing single joint. 1t was a
picture OF death in it's ghastliest form, and
poor Margaret might have we'll turned pale
and trembled with weakness to gaze upon it.
Inc face was set In its most repulsive ex-
preston, and the stony eyes seemed to look
and stare in the anger of death.
=, 1t was fearful hour for Margaret Webb.
Now, indeed, she was alone, and the word
smote upon her ear with all it's awful sio
nificance, as she pronounced it, True,
Rufus Webb had uniformly treated her with
unkindness, and sometimes with abuse. vet
he was her father, and the only relative She
knew of on earth. To be alone, too, with
the unburied dead, and thus, perhaps, he
might remain for days; certainl y until she