The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1874-02-19


ing the child's name at the top of his voice,
which breaks and quavers under the bur
den Of grief that has come over him But
in a few inmates he returns and calls his
family into the house. He has a PLAN he
will appeal to his neighbors to come and
help him. One daughter shall 90 in one
direction, the other Shall 90 in another
he will 90 to town: and they will rally all
the help they can. He is 4 man of Puritan
descent, faith and practice; and without
stopping so much as to mention his plan
to his family, As soon As they have come
into the house he says. LET as pray" In
their presence he explains his plan to God
and invokes his blessing upon it.
The Amen is no sooner said than the
daughters, without waiting for direct or
ders, haStcd away to rally the neighbors.
He saddles his horse and rides to town rs
fast as spurs and whip can drive him is
Deacon keyrs going ior the doctor 2" and
''IS his house on fire? on is he crazy p"
asked the people OF one another as they
saw him come into the village 1t did not
take him long to tell them what was the
matter and what he wanted Would they
come and help him? Yes, indeed they
would And rs the farmer had left his
plough iii the turroW to hunt for his lost
child, so his neighhOr the blacksmith
leaves his IRON in the fire, and his neighbor
Il minister leaves his sermons half finish
c |, and his neighbor the storekeeper leaves
his store, and brings along his customers
too, to help the farmer find his child An
hour before sunset at least fifty men have
already arrived ut the house Of their dis
treSsed neighbor. and more are coming
Among the first to come is Robert
keyes' near neighbor. John LittIeiohn
True, the two nei@hbors have been for Il
long time on bad terms; and hard words
have passed between them only the dav
before. Littlcjohn is now protuse in offers
of sympathy and assistance. cone touch
of nature makes the whole world kin -
and evidently the calamity Of the keves
| family has affected their old enemy like
all the rest He offers his advice about
methods of hunting, and proposes to act
| As guide to the child-hrnterS lie is an
Old hunter, and knows the mountain like Il
| book; has hunted foxes and partridgeS and
game OF all sorts, including wolves, bears
wildcats. all over ii can find his way hv
night over every foot Of it Just rs we'll as
| by day. SO SAYS littleiohn And as hunt
| ing WAS known to be his chief occupation,
and he was believed to have more knoWl-
edge OF the mountain than any one else,
| he was selected to act as chief director of
| the whole party, and for the occasion
called the captain.
The captain divides up his force into
! squads or small parties, and sends one
| squad in this direction. another in that,
| and another in a third, and so on, giving
| each his Instructions This squad will find
such and such paths rocks and blazed
trees; let them search them Another
squad will find other paths, boulders and
trees; let them search them and there
abouts. He Will establish headquarters in
n central part Of the forest, near a fallen
tree that he knows Of, and after dark Will
| build big lire there, 50 that they ahall
know where TO report if they find the child
or make amy discovery that seems to throw
| light on her disappearance, And before
| light Of day j. gone the child hunters, un-
| der direction Of Litlieiohn, are scattered
| all over the eastern slope of Wachuectt
| Can there be any doubt that they will find
| Lacy now "Of course we shall find Her,
said the people. But hark, says one,
( ''do You hear that barking2 l. il dogs or
wolves" 1T is wolves" says the captain.
| The short twilight is attended with the
| deep gloom peculiar to mountain forests
and is very shortly followed by total dark
ness. The squads collect material for
| lights, and continue the search by the aid of
| lighted torches carried in the hand: and
after a little while the captain bio fire
| begins to be visible soon 4 cry OF "Chill
| found" is raised which cause a rush of
| all the hunters to headquarters. But it is
| 4 mistake, due to some ones oyerzcal
| AID the squads all depart again With in
| stuctionS to build fires all over the noun
tain. The fires will show what ground
| they have been oyer They viii linht up
| the woods, and perhaps the child will see
them and come to them. And they will
scare away the wolves
The tedious night wears slowly away,
and morning comes 1T last; but no light
daWnS Yet upon the mystery Of the lost
child. Wolves have not only been heard
growing and barking in the distance, but
actually seen skulking away before the ad-
vance Of the hunters, and lurking around
rs near rs they dare to the fires The
opinion generally prevails that the child
has been deyoured by wolves; and the
captain thinks it is certain. The evening
before some persons had urged littlejohn
to get his toX-houndS and see ii they
would not take scent from some article of
the child's clothing, and trace the direction
that she took in the woods. That would
never do" was the reply. In the night
the hounds would soon get out Of sight,
and he would lose control over them
They We're savage dogs, and it would be
dangerous to let them lose on the child's
track unless he We're close with them
Now that morning has come, he thinks it
will do no harm to try them. and goes for
his hounds
After a brief absence. in the morning to
get breakfast, and to attend to such domes-
tic affairs as need some brief, daily atten-
ton, the child-hunters returned again with
large reinforcements Littlejohn, also,
soon returns with his toX-hounds and all
the keyes family watch with gratitude and
hope his attcmept to make them trace the
IDENTITY understand well enough what is
They follow the scent easily enough Il
little way in the woods and then appear
to lose il; nor are they able to recover it
again, though making many Intellectual
attempts to do so. Whereupon Littlelohn
announces that he has changed his mind
from the wolf theory to the Indian theory.
iiN its'Noli why tuIlllOI lOllON
the scent farther is because the child was
lifted OIL the ground, and carried off in
some ones arms Meantime, the news
has spread, and is spreading to nelghbor-
ing towns; and before ten o'clock, more
than a thousand people have arrived and
fresh arrivals are constantly coming. All
the different theories are discussed. Against
the wolf theory it is urged that, if correct,
some fragment of the child, or certainly.
of her clothing, ought to be found And
this argument, together with Littlejohn's
experiment with the hounds as explained
by him causes general abandonment of the
wolf theory in favor of the Indian theory.
And so strong party is organized, and
placed under command of Capt Littlejohn,
to start off with guns in search Of Indians.
But Robert keyes, with the assistance of
the greater part of the people, proceeds to