Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1875-02-26
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THE CHILD STEiIER.
CONTINUED FROM YESTERDAY
BY CHEEKY JAMES

CONTINUED FROM YESTERDAY.
But Dukes progress in gaining her af-
fectiops was not indicative of ultimate sue
cess. She always received his calls kind
". and treated him with as mnch courte.
81 as the most favored of the other visit
ors--they jealousy imagined she was most
considerate to hini--but, alas, she was
ever blindly unconscious Of his marked
acts of devotion, and glances of yearning
love. So devoted to her child, SO wrapped
up in every thought in his interest. and so
positive that there never was such prod
ICY of beauty, and cunningness, and Wis
dom, and that all the devoted attentions
lavished upon her were really intended
for her child, until awakend each time
from her dream, by proposals for her
hand, which shocked her mother heart.
She could not, after all her past expert
ence, even imagine that the young Amer
lean was making love to her. Ii would
be basest sacrilege to her child. she
thought, 10 give an affectionate thought,
a single spark of love, to any other NOR
tai. Duke officer friends rallied him up
on his poor success in wooing.
You had better give up the chase,
they exclaimed. The child is too many
for Cupid's most persistent attacks. be-
sides, where we, with all our personal
charms, and valuable qualities have failed,
there is no hope tor you. If she were IN
clined to listen to any suit, it must be from
one Of her own countrymeu. for, egad. we
could never consent to the capture OF such
q prize, from under our very guns, bT an
American privateer
Duke began to think there might be
wisdom in the advice of the British OH
GERS. and yet he felt that to relinquish the
object of his passionate love, would be
worse than eternal waiting and hoping.
He had noticed that recently she attempt
ed to avoid him, as ii she disliked him.
One day, when in such an agony OF de-
spair-hopeless, indeed, he wandered over
to the pagoda, as was his daily custom.
On this occasion, several of the British Of
ficers had preceded him, and he found
them, and the residents of the pagoda~ all
in fiutter of excitement. On inquiry he
learned that strange invasion Of an old
ruined Hindoo temple at the foot of the
cultivated grounds surrounded the pago-
da. had occurred. Hundreds of monkeys
had, without warning, appeared from the
Jingle near. and marching in rank and
file, Just as though they were initiating
JUG vi uCL Dllkisu &lAiCSi1 VIVA
panies, took possession of the old ruin,
and were already as much at home as iii
had been their parental habitation. These
sudden incursions of monkeys. though by
no means rare, were novelty enough in
their way to occasion Mrs. Heathcoat and
her visitors, as well as some of the SER
wants, to walk down to the old temple,
only several hundred yards distant from
the pagoda, and amuse themselves awhile
with the antics of the curious creatures.
Duke accompanied the party, and was
so much amused at the mischievous pranks
Of the almost human creatures, some of
them of an enormous size, gathered in
hundreds about the old temple, that he
wandered away from the others of the
party, listening to the explanation OF the
novel event, from an old native. while he
viewed the strange scene.
The monkeys often move off in whole
colonies to some new site that they have
taken fancy to for a new home," the ma
tive explained. ..Often the site they wish
is an inhabited spot, in which case, the
people had better leave at once. Except
in instances where they are quite harm
less, only they will play pranks upon any
meddlers Of their privacy. This may be
festival of theirs; if so, we will soon see
armies of them arriving from all direc-
tons. Just as the Hindoos 60 to their
holy places at certain times, these crea-
lures meet in thousands at chosen spot
every four or five years. embrace each
other, hold a high carnival, and, after
days of communion, separate again. |
have seen as many as ten thousand of them
together at such q festival, tribes Of them
coming from as far as Tirhoot, Nepal and
Meerat."
A shrill, piercing scream in the direc-
ton Of the pagoda startled Duke to the
consciousness that his friends left him, on
their way back to the pageda. As scream
after scream continued TO break upon his
ears, he sprang towards where they came
from, and half way to the pagoda, met his
friends. huddled in knot together, in the
path, in widest confusion, around the
screaming ayah. or nurse, who, with Mrs.
Heathcoat's child on her arms, had fol.
lowed them to the temple, to view he
monkeys.
There was but one in that crowd Of Off
GERS, women and servants, who was calm
enough to explain to him the cause of the
the confusion. This one was the woman
Of all his passionate love, Mrs. Heathooat.
Standing frozen, and almost pulseless.
like statute, with face like marble, in
its fixed terror, she had power to move
her lips only. in moaning out
'My child he is forever lost "a pow
erful hideous ape snatched him from his
nurses arms before our sight, and fled
with him into the thicket before an arm
could be raised to stop him."
A great groan of agony welled up from
Dukes heart, and cold perspiration broke
over him. Clasping his hands to his head
single moment in thought, in another
instant he dashed into the thicket and was
lost to view. This movement of Dukes
called the confused officers to their sem
SEES. With one accord they fastened away
to the temple, feeling certain that they
would find the child-stealer among the
monkeys there. When they reached it, to
their surprise, they found it vacated. and
not monkey in sight. In vain they beat
the jungle, and followed separate through
its intricate mazes one after another they
returned brin DINO the bereayed mother