American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1876-07-15

going to follow the stage, and take sure
aim at his false heart. She, who had
been wronged, should be revenged.
Margaret's eyes flashed with their
old fire. elf you do" she said, 81
will kill goa. 1 could kill you non!
How dared you tell me thisP Lore that
man how dared you touch himP You'll"
Gomez drew back little, looking
troubled and doubtful but not angry;
the old spell of her magical eyes was
upon him, and he was wholly her slave.
If she had asked him to save the life
of this man whom he hated, hated unto
death, he would have done it.
"Promise me you will let him go in
safety" painted she.
He nodded.
"You promise?"
eyes"
"Then good-by."
"Adios.''
And Margaret sped away again toward
home.
The way up had been steep and
rocky; she knew of a shorter though
more dangerous path through the other
side of the wild canyon.
She had heard the clock at VAIN
wright's strike for half-past seven, as
she left, and she was anxious to be at
home.
"The brook must be low enough to
wade through" she thought, "and it
will save time"
She felt strangely, and louged to get
home; she was too healthy to think Of
dying, but as she hurried along the
dangerous path, where loose rock or
a misstep would have proved fatal, she
could not but think how merciful God
would be if she could fall and never
open her eyes again.
She had reached the brook, taken off
her shoes and stockings, and was just
ready to wade in, when she heard a
rumbling underneath her feet, as if a
regiment of cavalry was trampling
there.
Earthquake!"s she thought; she had
felt many of them, and was not alarm
ed; she was, besides, in dazed, wretch
ed condition, when scarcely any thing
| would have alarmed her.
She started into the brook, although
she felt the ground rocking beneath
her feet, and the great powders which
lay loosely on the sides of the steep hills
began to roll and jump with dreadful
noise; any one less unhappy would have
realized that she could scarcely have been
in a more dangerous place. tsThere!"
she thought, pausing halfway through
the water to look up around her, ssit's
over. hope Mrs. Mill is with poor
mother.''
But it was not over; it was but the
breathing-spell of couple of seconds,
when the real earthquake commenced.
Margaret stood still, her bare feet
slipping on the messy stones. The
strange noises, the great rocks tumbling
about her, the swaying trees, Devil
dered and confused her. She realized
her danger, but dared neither advance
nor retreat.
She thought not of heaven at that
awful moment; neither of the VEN
geance nor the infinite mercy of God;
the very remembrance of her sin and the
knowledge that she must answer for it
seemed to have passed from her.
"My God, my God" she cried,
6" have mercy upon him! Father, let
not your mercy fail him.
A great rock above her head split
and fell with terrible crash; the
earthquake lasted but forty seconds,
but to Margaret it seemed hours; great
cracks were opened in the earth;
springs dubbed up in the bed of the
creek, and the water rose rapidly; an
other great bowlder from the cliff above
her broke and fell; Margaret saw it
come with a dazed terror; then-she
knew no more!
The water rose in the sloping banks
of the creek as high as in the depths of
winter, and swept down the canyon a
perfect torrent, bearing earth and the
branches of trees, and all things before
it; far, far down, below Last Chance
Diggings, the miners lifted out of the
muddy flood, the next morning, a poor
human body, all bruised and broken;
Margaret's friends heard, and came to
look at it; the fair, rounded face was
cut and bruised beyond recognition, but
they knew the ring on her finger, the
soft hair, the dress, and they said it
must be she.
If any guessed her secret, none whis-
pered it; if Ralph Cranbourne was re-
membered, when the dry earth fell
above her, none spoke his name; and
up above, the angels of God, seeing
clearer than we, surely must have well
coined her as one worthy of the crown.
| Christian Union.
A wEATHERwIsE resident of North
Adams, Massachusetts, is jealous of the
Government weather prophets, and
takes private notes every day, just to
prove how often they miss the mark.
He says they use such general terms
that it is almost impossible to nail them
to any thing, but that for the past
three months three-quarters of the rain
has come from the direction just oppo-
site to that from which they prophesied
| it.
Mrs. SAMUEL H. HOOVER, a resident
woman of Rochester, Ind, is the hap
piest woman in America. She has just
learned that $4,000 and interest awaits
l L "a I