Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1872-10-03

captain's teeth on edge. Joe, WHO was
a numbering fellow, intended for q mer-
chants clerk, and who used to be noted
for his ready ploddlng habit of study,
aud success in mathematics. had taken
up the role of genius he studied,
talked, worked, by jerks. only accord
ing to his mood"; he tipped in and
out Of q room with the graces Of a bal
let.dancer !; had adopted light, court
eous tone of persifage, (which suits
him." grunted the captain, "about as
properly as cockatoo's feathers would
the hide of q walrus."
The next evening the children forget
ting for while to play their new parts,
snuggled, as they used to do, close to
his side ON the big soda in front of the
fire.
Tell US q story, uncle, " Grid Agnes.
"About shipwreck," added Joe.
"a story, heya" The captain con-
sidered moment, and then began -
Zone of the completest wrecks I
ever saw was that of the brig L'Etoile,
driven ashore on the coast below Cape
Henlopen. She struck on the bar, and
before morning she was beaten into
bits like hand rails. Well, that was a
break up There were but three of the
crew saved, tine black cook, and two
children, boy and girl. It might have
been you, Joe and Aggy dashed to o
barrel, they were. When they were
picked up, their clothes were torn to
rags by the breakers but there was
life in them yet. Old Darnell, a fisher
man at Rehoboth Bay, brought them
in, and the women of the village soon
had them in their hands Darnell
brought me up to his kitchen that even.
ing, to see i'll could make out who
and what they we-o.
"'They talk some lingo he said,
that none of us can understand
Z" I found it was a patoIs, half French,
half German, not very clear, but Imado
it ont after while. The girl was ex
hausted. ind slept heavily. The boy
sat beside her. watching. His name
was Louis.
Louis said I, where is your
father your family7' he pointed to
the sea. There, he said.
what all3'
"tAn' I fancied, at the time, that
the boy was one who would grieve Bit
terly, but that nobody would see him
shed tear. He had an odd, yellow
skinned, high-featured face, with
steady, slow eyes not like any boy l
had ever seen. Though no boy ever
does look just like another eh, Joe 2
! No, sir, said Joe, wondering how
q sea-captain could talk such plat.
tndes.
1.-THE boys father, az it turned out.
had been in service in Algeria, and was
coming with his family to the country.
Whether he had kinsfolk in France,
Louis did not know he had been born
and reared in the Algerian fort. The
sea had swallowed up all record of him
but his name. Two days afterward
Darnell came to me again to serve as
Interpreter.
90 Something must be done with the
children, he said !; Squire brow adj
vises that they be sent on to New York.
but that's just sending them to the
devil. It'll go hard, if we can't. send
for them here in 'Hobath Boy. Nv
wife means to keep the girl, and there's
half dozen have offered to take Louis.
-" When we reached the house, we
called Louis. He was not boy whom
you could shove off into the gang oil
lads in the village. Eos all his quiet
and childishness, he somehow made his
mark on you, stood off from the rest
with sort of separate identity, per-
sonal presence, which amounted to
magnetism. Yet, witha], he was sim
pie little fellow, not quick-witted,
either. We thought it right to tell him
what the arrangements were.
Mrs. Darnel has been like a
mother to your sister 2 I said. He nod
ded, with a look which showed he was
not ungrateful. tShe means to keen
her, and rear her own, Il continued.
"' Pardon, monsieur, but I have only
waited until Francois is strong, and I
will take her to our own home.'
But my dear boy said I, syou
have no home. Re ally, now, you nre
but q boy, 6 with myself, for
something made me feel that he was
more of man than Dnrnell. You
must let us plan for you for few years.
Leave your sister here she'll be in
kind hands, and I'll give you place
on my vessel. I'll watch over you as
if You were my own son for my heart
warmed strangely to the poor boy, left
to face the world without rag he
could call his own. 'Come, learn the
trade of sailor with me, Louis
Louis laughed. But am a wood.
carver
Now Captain Darnell said, it's
only fair to put all his chances before
the boy. Calder, the carpenter, wants
to take him as prentice. He's kind
man, Calder, and carpentering is sure
road to good living hereabouts. But
my own advice is that he turns into
seines and rods, and makes fisherman
OF himself. The seas the only meadow
where the crops never fall
" The lads eyes sparkled, as inter-
preted this to him. They are all 50
good, '-crossing his arms over his
breast: But you see, monsieur, a m
a wood-carver. canuot be carpen-
ter, or plough that big watcr-field.'-