The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1869-01-27
a Ov L..
BY cHAs. READr AND DION BouclcAv1r.

up went his arms.
80, is that all?" said she, calmly.
"Get me two squares of my pArch-
ment," cried he; land some of the finest
gut"
"XVilI not after dinner dor"
"No; certainly not" said Hazel, in a
voice Of command. ST wouldn't walt a
moment tor all the hesh-pots in Egypt"
Then she went like the wind and
| fetched them.
80, thank you! thank you! Now l
want,-let me see,-ah, there's an old
rusty hoop that was washed ashore, on
one OF the ships casks 1 put it care
fully away !; how the unlikeliest things
como in useful soon or late J"
She went for the hoop, but not SO
rapidly, for here it was that the first
faint doubt OF his sanity came in.
However, she brought it, and he than k
ed her.
"And now" said he, "while prepare
the intelligence, will yOu be so kind as
to fetch me the rushes."
1.-THE what?" said Helen in growing
| dismay.
The rushes! I'll tell you where to
| find some.
Helen thought the best thing was to
tc,npOIjze. Perhaps he would be better
after eating some wholesome food. Jpn
fetch them directly after dinner, "ssaid
she. "But it will be spoiled If leave
| j; for long: and l do so want 1t to be
! nice for you to-day"
"Dinnel?" cried Hazel. "What do l
care for dinner now. l am solving my
problem. I'd rather go without dinner
| for years than interrupt Il great idea.
Pray let dinner take its chance, and
| obey me for once"
"For Oncey' said Helen, and turned
her mild hazel eyes on him with such
II look of gentle rpprOach.
| a. i've 81
a child, asking you for n toy; Pm a
poor crippled inventor, who secs day
| light at last. O, l am on fire; and, if
you want me not to go into fever,
| why, get mo my PUSHES"
| "Where shall L find them?" said
| Helen, catching fire at him.
! eco to where your old hut stood, and
follow the river about Il furlOne: you
will find bed of high PUSHES: cut me
good bundle, cut them below the
water, choose the stoutest. Here is a
pair Of shears found in the ship"
She took the shears and went swiftly
across the sands and up the slope. He
watched her with an admiring eye; and
well he might, for it was the very pc.
etry OF motion. Hazel in his hours of
health, had almost given up walking;
lie ran from point to point, without ia
Iigue or shortness Of breath. Helen,
equally pressed for time, did not run;
|
with the dawn, by three meals day OF
animal TODD, by constant work, and
| heavenly air, she was in a condition
women rarely attain to. She was
| trained. Ten miles was was no more
| to her than ten yards. And, when she
was in Il hurry, she got over the ground
by II grand but feminine motion not
easy 10 describe. 1t was series of easy
| unduiatiOns, not vulgar strides, but
swift rushes, in which the lOins seemed
to propGl the whole body, and the feet
scarcely 10 touch the ground: it was
the grace of a lady.
And so it was she swept across the
sands and up the slope,
Eft vera incessu patuit Lea.
While she was gone, Hazel cut two
little squares OF SEALS bladder, one
larger than the other. On the smaller
| he wrote: IAN English lady wrecked on
an island. Longitude -, S., latitude be.
tween the - and - parallels. Haste to
her rescue" Then he folded this small
and enclosed it in the larger slip, which
he made into little bag, and tied the
neck extremely tight with fine gut,
leaving long piece of the gut tree.
And now Helen came gliding back
as she went, and brought him IL large
number of rush hes.
Then he asked her to help him fasten
| these rushes around the iron hoop.
| ''It must not be done too regularly"
snid he; "but so as TO look as much
like a little bed of rushes as possible"
Helen was puzzled still, but interest
ed. SO she set to work, and, between
them, they fastened rushes all round
the hoop, although II was II large one.
i;ut, when it was done, Hazel said
they were too bare.
Then we will fasten another row."
said Helen good humOredlV. And, with.
out more ado, she was Off to the river
again.
When she came back, she found him
up, and he said the great excitement
cured him,-such power has the brain
over the body. This convinced heI
he had really hit upon some great idea
And when she had made him eat his
dinner by her fire, she asked him tc
tell her all about it.
But, by natural reaction, the Clor.
iOus and glowing excitement OF mind
that had battled his very rheumatic
pains, was now followed by doubt and
detection.
Don't ask me yet" he sighed
"Fheory Is one thing; practice is
another. We count without our antag.
onists. forgot they will set their wits
against mine: and they are many, I an
but ono. And have been so often de
feated. And, do you know, I have OBJ
served that whenever I say beforehand
now am going to do something clever
I am always defeated. Pride really
goes before destruction, and vanity
before fall"
The female mind, rejecting all else
went like needles point at one thing
in this explanation. "Our antagonists?'
said Helen, looking sadly puzzled
"Why, what antagonists have we2"
1.-The messengers" said Hazel, with
n grOan. 1.-THE aerial messengers"
That did the business. Helen drop
ped the subject with almost ludicrous
haste; and, after a few commonplace
observations, made n nice comfortable
dose of grog and bark for him. This
she administered as an independent
transaction, and not Mt all by the way
OF comment on his antagonists, the
aerial messengers.
1t operated unkindly for her purpose:
It did him so much good, that he lift.
ed up his detected head, and his eyes
sparkled again, and heset to work, and
by sunset, prepared two more bags OF
bladder with Inscriptions inside. and
long! tails OF fine gut hanging. He
then set to work, and, with fingers fal
less adroit than hers, fastened another
set of rushes round the hoop. He sci
them less evenly, and some OF them
not quite perpendicular; and, while he
was fumbling over this, and examining
the effect with paternal glances, Helen's
hazel eye dWelt on him with furtive
pity; for, to her, this girdle of rushes