The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1878-01-10

shut my knife with a click, and sot thai
watchin' of 'em-father, and mother
and BARN.
you've been happy, you have,,'
says, out loud; not as they could heal
it, for the noise of the waters. " Now
you'll be sorry for other people. Drown
darn yerl stock, and lock, and barrel
| I'm safe"
Just then, as 1 sot and chawed, tell
ing myself as a chap would be mad tt
try and save his friends out of such /:
flood, let alone his enemies, darn me
if Jael didn't put that there little squeal
er's hands together, and hold them w
as if she was making it say its prayers
born fooll--when that thar string
seemed TO be pulled, inside me like, agir
my heart; and, / couldn't help it,
jumped up. '-t'.s-ita' b.
Say, Dab says to myself, "don,
you be fool. You hate that lot like
pyson, you do. Don't you go and
drown yourself"
1 was bout mad, you know, and
couldn't do as liked, for, if L didn't
begin to rip off my things, wet and hang
ing to me. Cuss me! how they did
stickl but cleared half on 'em of, and
| then, like mad fool, made run and
jump, and was fighting hard with the
water to get across to Hez's wife and
child. veal -ae- ltf-r79 f,s. .uf rn
1t was a bit of fight. Down l went,
and up / went, and the water twisted
me like leaf but got out of the roar
and thunder, on to the bit of shell
where Jael knelt; when, if the silly
thing didn't begin to hold up TO me her
child, and her lips, poor darling, said,
dumbly, "Save it, oh, save it,"
In the midst of that rush and roar, as
l saw that poor gal, white, Mortified,
and with her yaller hair clinging round
her, all my old love for her comes back,
and swore big oath I'd save her for
myself or die. r..-.t
1 tore her dress into ribbons, for there
warn't a moment to lose, and bound
that BARN somehow on to my shoulders,
she watching me the while; and then,
with my heart beating madly, caught
her in my arms, she, clinging tightly to
me in her fear, and l stood up, thinking
how l could get back, and make ready
to leap. .' ..s -a
The flood didn't wait for that though.
In a moment there was culver of the
bank, and it went from beneath my feet,
leaving me wrestling with the waters
once more. l don't know how l did it,
only that, after a fight, and being half
smothered, found myself crawling up
the side of the Gulch, ever so low down,
and dragging Jael into a safe place with
her BARN. i
She fell down afore me, Rugged my
legs and kissed my feet; and then she
started up and began staring up and
down, ending by seeing just above us,
cid Hez clinging there still, with his
sound arm rammed into the bush, and
his body swept out by the fierce stream.
The next moment she had seized me
by the arm, and was pynting at him, land
she gave wild kind of shrek. -
''He's a gone coon, my gall" says,
though she couldn't hear me; and / was
gloating over her beautiful white face
and soft, clear neck, as l thought that
now she was mine-all mine. I'd saved
her out of the flood, and there was no
Hez to stand in our way. ra.
g Save him save himin she Shrek
ed in my ear. H-s
What, Hep Save Hez to come be-
tween US once more? Save her husband
the man I hated, and would gladly
see die Oh, / couldn't do it, and my
looks showed it, and she reading me
like book the while. No, he might
drown-he was drowned-must be.
No; Just then he moved. But, nom
sense l wasn't going to risk my life
for his, and cut my own throat as to
the futur'.
She went down on her knees to me,
though. Pynting again at where Hez
still floated; and the old feeling of love
for her was stronger on me than ever.
"You're asking me to die for you,
JaelP" 1 shouted in her ear.
"Save him-save Hell" she shrieked.
20 Yes, save him!m Igroaned to myself.
" Bring him back to the happiness that
might be mine. But she loves him
she loves him; and must
| gave one look at her-as thought
my last-and couldn't help it. If she
had asked me dumbly, as she did, to do
something ten times as bad, | should
have done it; and with run | got well
up above Rez afore l jumped il once
more, to have the same fight with the
waters till l was swept down to the bush
where he was. r--...-...
I'd got my knife in my teeth to cut
the bush away and let him free ;-but l
was swept against it my weight tore it
away, and. Hez and i went down the
stream together; him so done up that
he lay-helpless upon the water.
Something seemed to tell me to finish
him off, A minute under water would
have done it; but Jael's face was before
me, and at last got to e the other side,
with her climbing along beside us and
if it hadn't been for the hand she
stretched down to me, | should never
have crawled out with old Hell was
that done. VFF~T ~
1 ASH dropped down, painting on the
rock, Jael came to my side, leaned over
me and kissed me, and turned away, for
the next moment she was trying hard
and bringing her. husband to, and was
once more beginning to feel that | had
been a fool.
amt much more to tell, only that
the flood went down most as quick as
it come up, and Hez got all right again
with his broken arm and did well. They
wanted muchly to be friends, but | KEEP
away. felt as if I'd been fool to save
him, and l was kinder 'shamed like of it,
so / took off to Frisco, where, after
cumming about, l took to going voy-
ages to Panama and back, and the sea
seemed to suit me like, and there | stuck
to it.
And there seem to stick yet. u
.a Ta-i.i Welded at Last.