Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1879-07-30
During the three days which followed

During the three days which followed
this midnight adventure, Storport was
visited by deluge of rain, but on the
fourth morning looked from my win
dow to find the earth basking in sum-
mer sunshine. The sky was vault of
throbbing blue, hecked here and there
with waves Of summer cloud. the
stretches of sand grew golden in the
sun-rays, while the saturated hills were
bright as if from the smiling of the sky.
The sight reviviied me, and as soon as
my breakfast was over [ whistled up
my dogs and strolled out into the air. i.
How bright and beautiful everything
looked after the heavy rain The ground
was spongy to the tread; the dew still
lay heavily upon the heather and long
grass; but the sun seemed to be suck
ing up the moisture from the bog.
Everybody seemed to be out that day,
and most people were busy. Old men
drove heavily. laden donkeys along the
muddy road; young girls carried their
creels Of turf across the bog; and by the
roadside, close to where [ stood, the
turf-cutters were busy.
I stood for while and watched them
at their work, and when l turned to 60
[ saw for the first time that / had not
been alone. Not many yards from me
stood figure watching the turfcutters
too.
A young man dressed like grotes-
que figure for d pantomime; with high
boots, felt hat cooked rakishly over one
eye, and vest composed of all the col
ors of the rainbow. His big brown fing-
ers were profuse1y bedecked with brass
and steel rings, a massive brass chain
swung from his waistcoat, and an equ-
ally snowy pin adorned the scarf at his
throat. When the turf-cutters, paus-
ing suddenly at their work, gazed at him
with wonder in their eyes, ne gave pc.
peculiar smile and asked with strong
Yankee accent if they could tell him
where one Norah O'Connell lived he was
a stranger here and brought her news
from the States! In moment dozen
fingers were outstretched to point him
on, and the stranger, again smiling
strangely to himself, staggered away.
/ stood for time and watched him
go. then 1 too sauntert i on. l turned
off from the road, Gre ssed the bog, and
luduG VII GU lOl VIE S0d -SuOI6.
[ had been walking there for some
quarter Of an hour, when suddenly a
huge shadow was flung across my
path, and looking up again beheld the
stranger. His hat was pushed back
now, and [ saw for the first time that
his face was handsome. His cheeks
were brouzed and wealth er-beaten, but
his features were finely formed, and
on his head clustered mass of curling
chestnut hair. He was flushed as if
with excitement; he cast me a hurried
glance and disappeared.
Five minutes after, as l still stood
wondering at the strange behavior of
the man, my ears were greeted with a
shrek which pierced to my very heart
Running in the direction whence the
sound proceeded, I reached the top of q
neighboring sand-hill, and gazing into
the valley below me again beheld the
stranger. This time his head was bare
his arms were outstretched, and he
held upon his breast the halffainting
form of the lovely girl whom l had last
beheld In the moonlight. While stood
hesitating as to the utility of descending.
l saw the girl gently withdraw herself
from his arms, then, clasping her hands
around his neck, fall sobbing on his
breast.
"Wel, Shawn, what's the news ?" /
asked that night when Shawn rushed
excited into my room. For time ne
could tell me nothing, but by dint of a
few well-applied questions I soon ex-
tracted from him the whole story. 1t
amounted to this, that working for two
years like a galley-slave in the black
pits of Pennsylvania, with nothing but
the thought of Norah to help him on,
Miles Doughty found himself with
home; that he was about to return to
Storport, when unfortunately the day
before his intended departure, shaft in
the coal-pit fell upon him and he was
left for dead; that for many months he
lay i'll, but as soon as he was fit to travel
he started for home. Arrived in Stor-
port, he was astonished to find that no
one knew him, and he was about to
pass himself off as a friend of his OVID,
when the news of his reported death
and NOrah's sorrow so shocked him that
he determined to make himself known
at once.
"And God help the william that told
her he was married. concluded Shawn
''for he swears he'll kill him as soon as
Norah-God bless her!-comes out O.
the fever that she's in tonight"
Just three months after that night I
found myself sitting in the hut where
Norah OConnell dwelt. The cabin was
Illuminated SO brightly that it looked
like spot of fire upon the bog. : The
rooms in the house were crowded. and
without dark figures gathered as thick
as bees in swarming-time. Miles Dough-
ty, clad rather less gaudily than when I
first beheld him, moved amid the throng
with bottle and glass, pausing now aud
again to look affectionately at Norah,
who decorated with her bridal flowers
was dancing with one of the straw men,
who had come to do honor to her
marriage feast. When the dance was
ended she came over and stood beside