Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1879-11-13
Up the River with a Lundtic.
AN ENGLISH STOEY.

SohC hP bllC iiNCl Oul, We Edt
done our second days work. 1t wa
early morning on the third day, glorious
weather. | was in the boat getting tn,
steering lines in order Gifard anc
Dixon were on the bank talking to DR.
Rawle. AS / understood it, the doctor
was at the head of private asylum fol
lunatics. He was Giffard's friend, moi
mine. lie had been taking a constitu
tional when he happened to fall in with
us just a. we were sitting down to our
open.air breakfast; the chance meeting
led to Gihard inviting him to share our
gypsy neal. He did.
He was a pleasant fellow, not too old
and not too young | liked him exceed
ingly. We talked Of things in general
and OF lunatics in particular. Some
thing led to his MENTIONING think 1t
was speaking of the cunning of a certain
class OF lunatics, and the difficulty of
keeping them within four walls-the
fact that one of his inmates had escaped
a day or two previously, and had not yet
been retaken. This was the more singu-
lar, as it was tolerably certain he had
not gone far, and search had been made
for him in every direction.
AS Giffard and Dixon were saying
goodbye, preparatory to getting into the
boat, the doctor laughingly said,
Should you happen to come across him,
shall consider you bound to bring him
back safe and sound. He's man of
forty-four or five, tall and bony, iron
gray hair, and has curious habit of
showing his teeth and winking his left
eye. Don't look out for a raving luna.
tic for on most points he's as right as
you and |, He's wrong in two things
Whatever you do, don't let him lose his
temper; for whenever he does, tho ever
so slightly, he invariably goes in for
murder-he's all but done for two
keepers already, And don't talk to him
OF England or Englishmen, for if he
should get upon mis- native land, he'll
favor you with some observations which
will make you open your eyes"
We laughed All and Tom shook
hands with him and got into the boat.
We promised, if we should happen to
meet him, we certainly would see him
returned to safe custody. ALI stood up
and showed us from the shore; we sang
out a last goodbye, and left the doctor
standing on the bank
1t was beautiful morning. The river
was delicious, clear rs crystal; we could
see the bottom, and every stone and
pebble on it; just gentle breeze fan
ming the surface of the waters into
little ripple. We lit our pipes end took
it easily. am good bit of traveller;
know many lovely ncoks and crsnnies in
foreign lands | have lived abroad ~
much rs at hone; but | will match the
higher reaches of our own Father
Thames for beauty and for charm
against any scenery in Europe. And on
an early summer morning, after spell
OF glorious weather, ii Is in all its prime;
the water so cool, so clear; the bank 50
green, so charming; the stately trees on
either side; the mansions seen over the
meadows, or peeping out among the
trees. You may choose your Rhine,
your Gards, or your Msggiore, or your
golden bay of Naples, buC leave Cook
ham and old Father Thames to me.
Presumably, we had come for river
beauties and the camping out; pre-
sumably, but As a matter OF fact, there
was young lady lived not so far ahead,
mutual friend, Lillian Travers
Separately and jointly We had high
opinion of Mis- Travers; not only of her
beauty, but of other things as well; and
having come 40 far, we hoped we should
not have to return until at least We had
had a peep at her. Unfortunately,
though we knew Miss Trsvers, we had no
acquaintance with Mister-there WAS no
Missis We had met the young lady at
several dances and such like, but on
each occasion she was under the chaper-
onage of old Mrs Mckenzie, Apparent
ly Mr.. Travers was not q party man.
But Lillian had promised to introduce
us to him whenever she got chance,
and we were not unhopeful she would
get that chance now. So you see that
little excursion riverwards had more in
it than met the eye.
We went lszily on, just dipping the
oars i'll and out; smoking, watching the
smoke circling through the clear air.
All thoughts of the doctor and his part.
ing words had gone from our minds; we
talked little, and that little wssof Lillian
and the chances of our meeting. We had
gone some two or three hundred yards I;
we were close to the shore; ALI could
almost reach it by stretching out his oar.
We were dreaming and lazing, when
suddenly some one stepped out from
among the trees He was close to us
not dozen feet away.
He was tall man rather over than