Bozeman avant courier. [volume] (Bozeman, Mont.) 1872-1882, 1874-03-20
AVANT COURIER.
4 TERRIBLE ADVENTURE.

paths in life had diverged. Lane la
become an ecclesiastic. He was not S
broad pclllaps in his religious view
as his enumciation Of them from til
pulpit was long, but nevertheless h
was an excellent fellow. Abbot was
barrister eminently respectable in hi
conduct and behavior, and Eegula
attendant ut his parish church, but no
gluttOn for sermons. He had lOgl
cal mind. But the two men had still
one taste left in cOmmOn-that O
mountaineering. They both delighted
in the strength of their legs. They die
not talk much togcther-no great pc
Gestrians talk. A few words may b'
interchanscd during the first six miles
but Il solemn silence soon intervenes
the distance between them, as they
plOtl on side by side, imperccptibly
widcils; they are hot, they are thirsty
they are each little bit cross because
the other shows no external symptoms
Of wealiness; not until kindly nature
drops the veil Of evening Oh the scene
does either propose to halt. Then they
cat enormously, and fall asleep immc
di.tcly afterwards like anacOndas.
In that part of the TyrOl into which
the nnretecting legs Of these two men
had carried them in August last, there
happened to be nothing to eat. There
was no meat, no wine, no beer-nOth-
ing but sort Of thin meal made of
the same hran with which pin-cush-
ions are stuffed at home, stirred up in
milk, and which they described eulO-
gistically as "very filing" The effect,
indeed, was to give them both the ap-
pearaAce n pin-cushions. The Divine,
being used to fasting, suffered no par
ticlllar Inconvenience from this scanty
fare, bnt the lawyer did. His spirits
were greatly s,lbdued-a circumstance
which must be the apology for his ap-
parent pusillanimity in the crisis to be
presently described. Hunger will tame
a lion; and it is probable that con-
tinuoUs diet Of bran and milk would
much diminish the spirit of the king
OF beasts, even if it did not induce
him to lie down with the lamb. This
was AbbOt's case. What he would
have given for lamb, on the sixth
day of that involuntary abstinence,
would make the high meat prices of
orr own metropolis seem cheapncss.
The seventh day (cven in the TyrQD
was Sunday, and after their bran
breakfast, instead of setting out to
walk Is usual, the Rev. Lane thus adj
dressed his friend. His voice, las the
matter was subsequently described to
me by an unseen spectator Of these
proceedings, one whose beard and
green spectacles concealed his nation
ality, and WHO kept his mouth shut
lest he also should fall victim to the
OppresSor)-lane's voice, say, had
an unctCus pcrsrlilsivcncss about it |
which it did not exhibit upon a week
day; and while he spoke he held his
doomed companion by his glittering
eye, like the Ancient Mariner in tic
ballad.
"Don't You think, Abbot, it would
he very nice if we had Il church ser
vice this lnerningg"
lit would be charming answered
.hc otllcr, confidently; ''only unfor-
there is no one to attend it!
There is not Christian, or at least a
fellow -c0Intrymall-fO am sure that
hairy man with spectacles cannot he
Onc-within hundred miles of us, so
don't see where you are to get your
"My dear fellow answered the Di-
vine, softly, laying his hand in all epis-
cOpal manner upon the others knees,
" there is you, and there is IT,
The earnest gravity of this remark,
joined with the contemplation OF what
it was evidently leading up to, was
such as to paralyze poor AbbOt's al
ready cnfecbled powers; and his gsam-
sense, which at home would
have been outraged by the expression
There is H. was now only family IT,
ritatcd.
"Therc is H. he repeated, mechan-
cally.
"Just so,' continued the Divine,
With cheerful acquiescence. 81 will
read tie service to you!' /,
"But there is no room where we can
De alone, my good SOUL" pleaded Ab-
bot.
In one part Of the rude apartment
in which they sat was party Of ma
tives (among whom they included the
bearded strangely carousing over bran
and milk and in another the goat ,
which supplied the milk was being
taught variety Of accomplishments
by the junior members of their hosts ,
amily-especia!ly to stand with all !
our legs upon a penny piece, gencr-
'lsly supplied for that purpose by one /;
# t,.O visitors.
NAY, my friend, there is our bed i
,cOm.' /.
The remark was undeniabe; there
rGs their bedrOom-accessible, though !
With difficulty, by ladder that led out
i the common room through q hole :
n the ceiling. In the early days of ,
persecution, or in Covenant. +
ng times in Scotland, such an apart !
nent would, without doubt, have had :
is advantages as a place Of public !
since nobody would have ever
inspected its being used for that pur 5
'ose even BY the most fanatical; but e
n that year Of grace, 1873, it did seem 4
Iittle-well, homogeneous. That two i
'eople, and one Of them the clergy. .
nan. should unite in applications in a 4
ickety chamber, with a roof 50 sion.