St. Landry democrat., 1878-10-05
NIGHT No: real child it could not be.

Upon that came another thoug hit
ore less welcome Was it trap to him
der me on my way and ensnare me?
There might be midnight robbers who
would easily hear of my almost certain
ride home that night, and of the money
7 should have about me.
I don't think, sir, am more timid
than other poople-not as much 30,
perhaps, as some; but [ confess the
idea made me uneasy. Ny best plan
was to ride on SIS fast as could, and
get out of the mystery into safe quar-
ters. Just here was about the darkest
bit of road in all the route. Mounting
my horse, I was about to urge him on,
when the cry came again. 1t did sound
like child's-the plaintive wall of a
child nearly exhausted.
"God guide mep' I said, undecided
what to do. AS | sat another moment,
listening, I once more heard the cry,
fainter and more faint. threw myself
off my horse with an exclamation.
''Be it ghost or be it robber, Anthony
Hunt is not one to abandon child to
die without trying to save it,"
But how was to save it? how find
it? The more I searched about tie less
could my hands light on anything, save
the sloppy earth. The voice had quite
ceased now, SO I had no guide from that.
While I stood trying to peer into the
darkness, all my ears alert, food of
sheet lightning suddenly illumined the
plain. At little distance, just be-
yond a kind of ridge or gentle hill, l
caught a glimpse of something white.
It was dark again in moment, but l
made my way with unerfiDg instinct.
Sure enough, there lay poor little child.
Whether boy or girl I could not tell. It
seemed to be three parts insensible now,
as I took it up, drip ping with wet, from
the sloppy earth.
"My poor little thing" I said, as I
bushed it to me. "We'll go and find
nanny, You are safe now.''
And in answer the child just put out
its feeble hand, moaned once, and
nestled close to me.
With the child hushed to my breast 7
rode on. Its perfect silence soon showed
me that it slept. And, sir, | thanked
God that he had let me save it, and
thought how grateful some poor mother
would be! But I was full of wonder
for all that, wondering what
extraordinary fate had taken any young
child to that solitary spot.
Getting in sight of home, l saw all the
windows alight. Deborah had done ii
for me thought, to guide me home in
safety through the darkness. But pres
emily knew that something must be the
matter, for the very few neighbors WE
had were gathered there. Ny heart
stood still with fear. I thought of some
calamity to one or the other of the chill
dren. I had saved little one from per,
ishing, but what might not have hap
pened to my own.
Hardly daring to lift the latch, while
my poor tired horse stood still and mute
outside, went slowly in, the
child in my arms covered over with
the flap of my long coat. Ny wife was
weeping bitterly,
"What's amiss?" I asked in faint
voice. And it seemed that a whole
chorus of voices answered me:
"Dolly's lost"
"Dolly lost!' Just for moment my
heart turned sick. Then some instinct
like ray OF light and hope, seized upon
me. Pulling the coat off the face of The
child I held, I lifted the little sleeping
thing to the light and saw Dollyl
Yes, sir. The child I had saved wa
no other than my own-my little Dolly
And I knew that God 8 good angels hat
guided me to save her, and that tn,
first fash of the summer lightning hat
shone just at the right moment to SHOW
me where she lay. It was her whit
sunbonnet that had caught my eye. M,
darling it was, and none other, that has
picked up on the drenched road.
Dolly, anxious for her doll, had wan
dered out unseen to meet me in tn
afternoon. For some hours she was no
missed. It chanced that my two eide
girls had gone over to our neares
neighbor's, and my wife, missing tn,
child just afterward, took it for granted
she was with them. The little one hat
gone on and on, until night and tn
storm overlook her, when she fel
down frightened and utterly exhausted
thanked heaven aloud before then
all, sir, as I said that none bu
God and his holy angels hat
guided me to her It's not much of .
story to listen to, sir. I am aware o
that But often think of it in the lons
nights, lying awake and I ask mysel
how [ could bear to live on now, had
run away from the poor little cry in th'
road, hardly louder than SQUIRREL
chirp, and left my child to die.
Yes, sir, you are right; that's Dolly
out yender with her mother, piekinf