The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1878-09-12

to destruction. The unnatural excite
ment of his comrades manner, the
feverish luster of his eyes, the heated
flush in his usually pale face, were all
terribly suggestive of one goaded to his
doom by some irresistible frenzy-Aash-
ing upon Burdett's mind with CHASTITY
vividness, the sudden memory of a
long-forgotten painting of the young
German knight lured to his death in
the hungry waters of the Rhine by the
siren-song of the Lorelei. He opened
his lips to propose the abandonment of
the whole project; but the fear of ridi-
cule (that fear which has destroyed
many a gallant many withered the
wholesome impulse, and the favorable
moment went by-forever.
Morning at last-a bright; breezy,
glorious summer morning, over which
all things in earth and heaven seemed
to rejoice. The blue skies, the waving
woods, the. green sunny slopes, the
broad bright stream of the great river
itself, all seemed to smile welcome to
the eyes that might so soon be closed
forever. Even the two English athletes,
absorbed as they were in their perilous
enterprise, felt the influence of the
hour, and muttered with involuntary
admiration:
What royal dayW
One vigorous stroke sent the light
boat far out into the swift, dark current.
down which it shot like an arrow from
a bow. Rocks, trees, houses seemed
racing past on either side. No need to
strain at the oars now all that could be
done with them was to keep the boats
bow perfectly straight, so as to offer as
little space as possible to the rush of
a current which seemed well able to
carry away an entire city.
Suddenly there came a dizzy plunge
"a shock that threw both men from
their places-and then all around was
one boiling whirl of foam, and the boat
was flung to and fro, and dashed up and
down, amid un uproar that seemed to
rend the very sky. For one feverish
moment life and death seemed to hang
by hair; and then the two daring men
found themselves floating on the little
border-line of calm water that sepa-
rated the first fall from the worse peril
OF the second.
"Hurrahw shouted Montague glee-
fully; who says it can't be done now
Keep her head straight, Sed, my boy,
and we'll come out all right yet"
The triumphant cheer was answered
by a cry of dismay from the shore, and
the two oarsmen, looking up, beheld
Marion Wentworth rushing distractedly
toward the edge of the high bank that
overhung the second fall, followed by
Montague's English servant. At the
sound of his betrothed's voice, Mon
tague turned his face toward her, and
waved his hand cheerily; and seldom
has any painter conceived such a picture
as the one which that moment branded
forever on the memory of those who
saw it. The stern black rocks on either
hand, fecked with living green by the
shrubs that clung to their craggy sides !;
the vast hill of 1eaping foam, half way
down which the frail boat hovered like
leaf; the rainbow-arch that spanned
the black bowling gulf beneath; the
glory OF the sunrise stealing softly into
the pure, peaceful sky, in strange con-
trast with the rock-rending uproar
below; the stalwart figures OF the two
gallant lads, straining every nerve to
achieve their perilous task; the hand
some, reckless face of the "last of the
Montagues," with a gay smile on its
short curved lip, and an ominous glitter
in its large dark eyes.
"Good morning, my petl" cried he
gayly; "you're just in time for the end
of the play"
These were the last words that Wis.,
count Montague ever spoke. That
momentary negligence had allowed the
boats head to deviate slightly from the
direct line, and in an instant the whirl
of the current threw its exposed side
full against the tremendous rush of the
cataract. One frantic struggle to regain
the lost ground, and then boat and men
vanished forever into the midst of the
roaring abyss below.
From that fatal hour, life was over
for the Z" Flower of Kent" All tkat re-
mained of the once bright and beautiful
girl was pale, silent, joyless phantom
"a body, as it were, without soul.
Neither the tender care of her heart
broken mother, nor even the sight of
her dead lovers ruined home 1.-THE burn
ing of which, on the very day of its
masters death, fulfilled, by a sheer
coincidence,-the dismal prediction)
availed aught to break that deadly
lethargy which endured for the brief
remainder of her life, eheckered only by
the spasms of convulsive agony in
variably produced by the one sound
which her ear still had power to recog.
nize-the sound of rushing waters.