South-eastern Independent. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1871-1871, 1871-06-23
snake it at once" said Edwards. HI

5 "Here is your material" he said.
r ado you understand chemistry?'' asked
, Lindsey. But the trapper did not ans
{ wer. He got out the retort, and in five
minutes the oxygen was bubbling furious
: ly through the wash-bottle into the India
/ rubber receiver Edwards stood at the
r window scanning the road toward Gagers
t with his telescope until it grew dark,
which in that latitude was at about ten
) O'Clock. Then the magic lantern was re-
: moved to the little grass rooted stable, in
J which dwelt solitary pony, and by Ed
wards direction the focus was carefully set
so that it would throw picture against
the house. Edwards selected two pic
! lures and adjusted them for use in the two
tubes.
The half-breeds were not in haste, and
in all the long hour of suspense, Emilia,
hid in the barn with her father and young
Edwards, was positively happy. For here
was human cOmpanionship, and a hungry
soul will gladly risk death if by that
means companionship can be purchased
1t did dot matter either that coversation
was out of the question. 1t is presence
and not talk that makes companionship. /.
But bark, the b0is brules are on the bank
of the river below Emilia's heart grew
still as she heard them swear. Their
sdcr-r-r-T-re rolled like the rattle of rat
tie snake They were coming up the
hill, quarreling drunkenly about the pow
der. Now they were between the house
and the stable, getting ready to dig hole
for the "p0UdTe a canon"
"I'1l give them fre-worksp said Ed
wards in a whisper. ..-
A picture of Thorwaldsen's bas relief of
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
Yelous vividness.
"By thunderr said Whiskey Jim,
steadying himself, while every hair stood
on end.
"Mon Dieul" cried the 6Ois 6rules, who
had never seen picture in their lives ex-
cept in the cathedral of st. Boniface, at
Fort Garry. Mon Dieu! La SGinte
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, and stammered
"By thunder!" and added some words
which, being Saxon, will not print.
"The devill" 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 as
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.
SOU, C est le dia5le ! Le did6le ! k dia5le f'
cried the frantic b0iS brules, breaking off
their invocations to the Virgin most alb
rubtly, and fleeing pell-mell down the
hill after jim, falling over one another 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 "the devil take the hindmost,"
was driving, at pace that would have |
done him credit in Central Park, up the /
trail towards Gager's leaving the half |
breeds 10 get on as best they could. Bour- |
don stumbled and fell, and Edwards law /
ished some blows upon him that must /
have satisfied the 6Ois 6rule that ghosts
have a 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
by the Holy Virgin and the Devil in part
nership. And they never did. Even the
Indians were afraid to approach the place,
pronouncing it Wakan," or supernatur-
ally Inhabited. They regarded Lindsey
as medicine-man of great power.
But what night that was For Ed |
wards stayed two hours and made the &C.
quaintance of Lindsey and his daughter.
a n hnN ha foil rrbf1 hf
she had never known how heaven felt be-
fore; and the old man forgot his inven-
tons, 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, and no man suspected his
share in the affair except eager, who had
sense enough to say nothing And Emilia
lay down and dreamed of angels about
the house. One was like Thorwaldsen's
Morning." and the other wore long hair
and beard, and was very tall
This abortive attempt to make sky
rocket out of Lindsleys cabin wrought
only good to Emilia at first The father
was now wholly in love with the trapper.
He praised him at all hours.
'He is a philosopher, my daughter. He
understands chemistry. He lives in the
arcana of nature and reads her secrets.
No foolish study of the heathen 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 daughter 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 the time of his first visit,
new life came to the heart of Emilia; and
MIR. Lindsley, whose every whim 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
knew that she loved the brown faced,
long g-haired trapper in return. But what
about the fair-eyed student, who for very
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 rejoiced again
when she saw the tall figure of the trapper
coming down the trail. A desolate and
lonely heart cannot live forever on the
memory of dead love- And have We 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 fellowl
She shed 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 imaginary 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 inv at havino tvrO louarc would