Mower County transcript., 1871-06-29

lures aud adjusted them for use in the two

| tubes.
The half were not in haste, and
in all the long hour Of suspense, Emilia
hid in the barn with her father and young
Edwards wes "',s;tiv,''v h"crv. ~" h.r'
was human companionship, and a hungry
soul will gladly risk death if by that
means companionship can be purchased
1t did dot ma ter either that conversation
was out Of the question. 1t is pr sence
and not talk that makes companionship.
But bark, the 6ois brules are on the bank
of the river below. Emilia's heart grew
still as she heard them swear. Thcil
sacr-r.r-r-re rolled like the rattle Of u rat
tic. snake. They were coming up tht
hill, quarreling drunkcnly about the pow
der. Now they were between the house
and the stable, getting ready to dig hole
for the "p'uere canon."
"In give them tirc-works" said Ed
wards in whisper.
A picture of Thorwaldsen's bas relief O
Morning" having been previously PLACED
in the instrument, Edwards now removed
the cap, and the beautiful flying female
figure, with the infant in her arms, shone
out upon the side of the house with mar
velOus vividness
by thunder!'' said Whiskey Jim
steadying himself, while every hair stood
on end
"Mon Dieu! p cried the 6ois brules, who
had never seen Il picture in their lives ex
Fort Garry. "4Non Dieu! L0 iSaintt
| VERGE" And they fell on their knees
before this apparitiOn of the Blessed Vir
gin, and crossed themselves and prayed
Justify.
But "Whiskey jim" Strengthened him
self up and hiccoughed, aud stammereC
"By thunder!' and added some words
which, being Saxon, will not print.
"The devil!' cried Jim, minute later
starting down the hill at full speed, for, by
Edwards direction, the light had been
shifted to the other tube in such way a.
to dissolve the Morning" into hideous
picture of the conventional horned and
hoofed devil. The picture was original
ly meant to be comic, but it now set Jim
to running for dear life. =,
"Oui, C est b 1s1ble : ke dinb1e le diube ~
cried the frantic bois bruLes, breaking of
their invocations to the Virgin most alb.
rubtly, and fleeing pe]l-mell down the
hill after Jim, falling over one ano her as
they ran. Quick as flash Edwards threw
about him a sheet which he had ready
and pursued the fleeing Frenchmen. jim
had already seized the reins, and on
the plan of 1.-THE devil take the hindmost,
was driving, at a pace that would have
done him credit in Central Park, up the
trail towards Gager's, leaving the half
breeds TO get on as best they could. Bour.
don stumbled and fell, aud Edwards Law
ished some blows upon him that mus,
have satisfied the bois brule that ghosts
have most solid corporeal existence.
Then Edwards returned and captured
the keg of powder. He assured the
Lindsleys that the superstitious half
breeds would never again venture within
| five miles of a house which was guarded
by the Holy Virgin and the Devil in part
nership And they never did. Even the
Indians were afraid to approach the place
prononncing it "Wakan," or supernatur
ally Inhabited. They regarded Lindsey
as medicine man" of great power.
But what night that was! For Ell
wards stayed two hours and made the &C
quaintance of Lindsey and his daughter
And how he talked, while Emilia thought
she had never known how heaven felt be
fore; and the old man forgot his inven
tions, and did not broach more than twenty
of his theories in the two hours. He was
so much interested in the tall trapper that
he forgot the rest Edwards ate supper
set out by the hands of Emilia, and left
at three o'clock. He was at Pelican Lake
next morning, snd no man suspected his
share in the affair except eager, who haf
sense enough to say nothing. And Emile
lay down and dreamed of angels abou
the house. One was like Thorwaldsen'
"Morning," and the other wore long hail
and beard, and was very tall!
This abortive attempt to make a sky
rocket out of Lindsleys cabin wrought
only good to Emilia at first. The father
was now wholly in love with the trappcr
He praised him at all hours.
"He is philosopher, my daughter. HI
understands chemistry. He lives in the
arcana of nature and reads her secrets
No foolish study Of the heather classics
no training after medieval fashion in one
of our colleges, which are anachronisms
has perverted his taste. Here is the Emile
| worthy of my Emilia" he would say
much to the daughters annoyance
But when Edwards came the hours were
golden. Hanging his wolfskin cap be.
hind the door, and shaking back his long
locks as he took his seat, he would en-:
trance father and daughter alike, from his
entrance to his exit, with his talks Of ad
venture. From tho time of his first visit,
new life came to the heart Of Emilia; and
Mr.. Lindsey, whose every whiln the trap
per humored, was as much fascinated as his
daughter. But now commenced fierce
battle in the heart Of Emilia. Edwards
loved her. By all the speeches that his
eyes were capable of, he told her SO. And
by all the beating of her own heart she
long haired trapper in return. But what
ohO11t ho fair oU.1 ct, hn fI,r 1,orx,
love and disappointment had gone to the
Arctic seas? He was not at hand to plead
his cause, and for this very reason her
conscience pleaded for him. When her
soul had fed on the words Of the trapper
as upon mama in the wilderness, she took
up the old photograph and the eyes re-
preached her. She shed bitter tears of
penitence upon it for her disloyalty to the
storm-tossed sailor, but rejoic again
when she saw the tall figure of the trapper
coming down the trail. A desolatc and
lonely heart cannot live forever on the
memory of dead love. And have ye not
read what David did when he was an hun
gered? DO not therefore reproach a
starving soul for partaking Of this feast in
the desert.
And so Emilia tried to believe that
Brown was long since dead poor fellow
She she'd tears over an imaginary grave in
Labrador with great sense of comfort.
She tried to think that he had long since
married and forgotten her, and she endeav-
ored to nurse some feeble pangs of jealousy
towards an imagi mary wife.
Now it was very improper doubtless in
Brown to come to life just at this moment.
One lover too many is as destructive to
the happiness Of conscientious girl as one
too few. If Emilia had been trained to
society, her JOY at having two lovers would
have had no alloy save her grief that there
were not four of them. But it was one of
the misfortunes of her solitary and pccu-
liar education that she had conscience and
maidenly modesty. Wherefore it was a
source of bitter distress and embarrassment
to her that, at the end Of long letter from
neighbor who had taken a notion after
years Of silence to write her all the gossip
of the old village, she found these words ::
"Your old friend Brown did not jump
into the sea at grief for his rejection after
all. He has written to somebody here
that he is coming home. believe he said
that he loved you all the same as ever"
The great grief Of Emilia was that she
should have been SO wicked as to be griev-
ed. Had she not prayed against storms
and icebergs? And now that he was com
ing, her heart smote her as if he were a
ghost of some one whom she had murder
ed Whether she loved him, or Edwards,
or somebody, indeed she could not tell.
But she would do penancc for her crime
And so when next she heard the quiet
voice of "the long trapper,,' asking for