Litchfield enquirer., 1880-06-17
WHOLE NO. 2797

not mind how hard the wind blowed. Apoor place for smugglers, thought 1, and was sorry had come. Why, good field glass could watch the place from hundred points; every inch of ground around it for mile or more There was neither beat nor landing only breakneck pathto the waters edge, where the flags were high and thick.
 The big girl came out when got up and walked away. She had two water buckets, and she halted at the top of the path down the bank.
 logged on as if not seeing her.
 "Hey, there ]" she called after me, but was too deaf to hear. "Hey, therel Say! Are you looking for work ?'
 was half mind to give up the deafness and hear her, but 1 slowly trudged on.
 "Hey, there!" she shouted again, with no girls voice, sending stone after me, which struck my hat. 1 turned round and stood stock still in the path As she came up to me l motioned that was hard of hearing. So she shouted in loud voice, close to my eas:
 Are you looking for work?"
 l said that was, ducking my head for a bow and that for all was hard of hearing 1 could do as good work as anybody. I had been cook for lumbermen, and was hoping to. get better wages up in Saglnaw.
 Saginaw" !" with an oath. It is good to be deaf sometimes. Such an odd-loOking creature she was, but not much if any taller than Peggy Herrick. She had short bristling hair, very much oiled, but still It would not stay parted in the middle rough blotched skin, laughing brown eyes, that made me less afraid of her than would have been-eyes you can trust, somehow. Her chin was square and heavy-well enough for & man and when she walked her skirts seemed to trouble her good deal.
 She told me just what I knew she would. Her grandmother was very sick, nigh unto deaGh She must have somebody to help her somebody who could be useful in every way She would rather have man-servant, for she sometimes. had to send by skiff across the river or over to Buffalo Could 1 row Then 1 was just the help she wanted, and she offered me good wages, and pay in advance.
 ''Ill do my best to please you, ma'am, and in little while you won't mind my being 30 deaf"
 I followed her back te the shanty, my heart beating fast enough. She made me under stand that the old lady would be distressed to see the face of a stranger. 1 must keep in the little kitchen. 1 began work at once by taking the two. buckets and going down to the lake for water. There was a strange silence in the cabin, and somebody was smoking cigars.
 ''Miss Nancy" was the name of my mistress, and she called me Trumps.
 got wonderfully big supper that night considering nobody was supposed to want any but Miss Nancy and me. There was a bean soup, broiled steak, black coffee, the leav- ings of game pie, and bananas. The old lady had her ''death hunger" Miss Nancy said, but was SO deaf she gave up trying to make me understand all about it. She car ried the most of the supper into the sick room. When she had shut the door behind her, and slipped the bolt I heard her say;
 That's the biggest piece of lnck we poor devils ever had. Bounds! If we don't save ourselves tonight me way as we'll give up"
 II must die tonight, sure !"-the same wheezing voice heard on Navy Island. Say Hank. why not send this dolt over with my coffin ?"
 That's just what we will do boys What lucky dogs we are, after all. Catching him will be another thing from catching one of us"
 ''It's running Q great risk" said somebody, hardly above whisper, cold, disagreeable voice. 'slf this thing goes up we are ruined. Captain Bedell is on our track. Jerry heard some of his passengers talking about it to-day. They think we make the run from Grand ls- land to Tonowanda-that we have a canal boat or a lumber sloop in the business. The captain don't suspect Jerry. Asked him about his grandmother the other day. It seems that there is good deal of interest in the old lady" They laughed at that, and the disagreeable voice broke ID again:
 ''l'll not trust this boy until 1 have tested him. You say he is Roman Catholic ?" Miss Nancy thought so because 1 crossed my ! self when she said the old lady was dying.
 'Wel you send him up to the lake shore in about an hour from now. I'll play up Father O'Leary."
 Their voices fell as if something had hushed them suddenly. l began spading up the gar den beds outside tine door, where the weeds had choked the lettuce. What terrible place | for me to be in And the sun was down. | Why had father let me come? l looked off in the direction of Grand Island, and was just on the point of throwing down my spade and running to where Dancing Polly was hidden, when Miss Nancy came out and bade me go to l hut on the river bank a half-mile away and | borrow skiff. The old woman was sinking, she said crossed myself. There was mis- sionary priest who would be at certain To- cality that night, she was sure-a house where there was sickness farther up the lake. l was to find the priest without fail. The fishermen in that locality would know about him. That much she made me hear, but sue thought me duler than usual, and my ears heard some hard things said about them Once out on the water 1 should have made for Grand Island, but Miss Nancy stood on the bluff, watching me with her eag gc eyes, 1 knew very well she would send shot after me if 1 disobeyed her. Nc; l would go through with it all; but oh how 1 wished, just for minute, that had never been such silly girl! ..-...g 5.I There is aswift current, you know, where the river tide sets in from the lake-twelve miles an hour, or mOre-and had something beside silly Peggy to think of just there. kept as near the shore as 1 could, and had not gone as far as expected when 1 saw a fire, burning on the beach, such as the fishermen ! make Between it and me stood the figure of man. 1 could see that he was beckoning for me to come to shore. He was dressed like priest-Father O'Leary, of course e-and was glad should not have to go hunting the country over to find him. 1 did not forget to be deaf. He screamed at me, and asked if would take him two miles farther up the lake he would pay me we'll Another priest was waiting for him, he said, and it was long journey by land Surely any good fisherman would do as much for the sake of the blessed St. Peter.
 But put in my plea for the dying grand mother. He said no, he would not go, and looked at me as if was something to run away from. He was a good actor, that Father O'Leary, and so was Peggy Herrick for once.
 ''Yeu know, boy" said he, gripping my arm, for had pulled up to the beach and he had got into the boat, ''that those folks are snug glers. This is a wicked pretence of yours to get me into trouble. Confess your guilt at once, or visit your soul with curse" I made him believe that believed in Miss Nancy and the grandmother. that didn't see through him and his trnmped-up clothes and | that was just the one to go over to Buffalo that night. So, after great deal of urging on my part and much hanging back on his, we rowed for the point
 'He's all right" heard him say to Miss Nancy. who was waiting for our return. Then they went into the sick room, Miss Nancy pretending to wipe the tears from her eyes. l