Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1881-06-09
Galts AND Skettbes.
rRz fRAMP,s REVENGE.

A great. fertile hollow, IN the midland
hills, one .nan owned it all. Five hun.
dred acres of level and upland. field and
forest. and well might Milly Van Vleeck
complain that she could not even visit a
neighbor without climbing over The hills
But old Squire Van Week hail no use
for neighbors.
Was not the land his own. and the home.
stead and the saw-mill. itself, half way
down the hollow?
Such barns,
Why, the biggest Of them had scarcely
rival in the country. There was twenty
feet OF sheer fall, between The mows,
packed as they now were with tons Of clo-
yer and timothy.
What did he or his need of neighbors
Not much, perhaps. but that fall, when
his ambition goaded him TO reach out fol-
the civic honors he deemed the richtful
due of 30 much . ID aud fores'. sawml
and crops, and all that, he suddenly dis
covered that the people iE the other hol-
lows and on the hills and in the villages
all had neighbors Of their own.
Such a sDub they gave him.
No wonder the grim old squire went
back to his ample homestead and growled
at his patient wife, and even at Milly. in
spite of her geptleness and her beauty.
and behaved himself. generally, like the
old bear he had grown to be.
The first heavy SHOWS came earlier than
usual, and the cold weather brought with
it immunity from the one thing the squire
hated most
Not tramp had been seen in the hol-
low for weeks. and no man troubled him
SELF to ask whittier they had flown.
All the more however. that bitter after
noon, did the old mans angry soul stir it.
self within him when he met. at his own
gate, the most outrageous specimen of the
abhorred breed that the whole season had
brought before him.
II other tramps had sometimes borne
only the seal of misfortune or Of common
vagabondagc. this one was clearly and
undeniably prince Of his worthless guild
and a chosen vessel OF vice and crime.
Plenty of bone and muscle had he, and
the very swing and spring of his slouch-
ing gait proclaimed that no lack of mere
physical capacity had made him what he
was.
Can a tramp have in him anything like
energy?
The squire would have said No" at
any tirne before he gave that rowing ruiiian
so large and so acrid piece OF his mind
and temper.
He had scarcely dreamed Of such a
change as his words produced.
There was some magic in them, stirring
up evil into power.
The begging whine swellcd into VOL
ume of coarse and strident vituperation.
The relics of mind glowered fiercelv
1. q 4
hulking frame seemed to culver as the
tramp strobe away, with the meaning Of
the threats and curses with which the air
was blue behind him.
Fear is bitter ingredient to put in the
cup Of anger. and Squire Van Vleeck was
in even n worse humor than usual, ten
minutes later. when somewhat iine-look
ing Young man refined in his horse at the
gate. and seemed about to spring from his
sleigh.
Good morning. squire
Don't stop, Gil Morse, Drive right
on.n roared the old man. Don't stop
agir anywhere in this holler Yer father
son nee mt gu ttie ,old anywhere on my
land. Ef it hedn't a-been tor him, might
a-had the nomination"
More than that he said but while the
young mans face deepened to hot Grim
son. he controlled his temper sufficiently
10 give his horse the reins and do as he
was hidden without another word
a tall. strongly built. broad shouldcretI
youth was Gilbert Morse, and year in a
city business-house had made none the
less man of him. His greeting at the
Squire's had been clearly altogether UNI
expected. and he pulled bis horse to a
walk. moment later. rs it he wanted to
give the matter some kind of considera-
ton.
How he would have driven if he conld
have looked along the road ahead of him,
just beyond where i, entered the hemlock-
woods,
Distant as were her neighbors. Millv
Van Vleeck was too robust and healthy
minded young lady to remain housed
up, even in winter weather. and she had
never looked roster or pretticr in all her
life than she did that afternoon, as she
tripped along the frosty road homeward.
Away beyond the saw-mill and into the
woods she had been. almost aimlcsslv. in
sheer exuberance Of youth and high spirits
never dreaming of such possibility as
danger there aud then.
Down the road she was coming. and the
frosty snow that cracked under her light
feet was not more innocent or fearless.
A man in the read?
II might be Jake. her fathers saw -mll
hand, or it might he one of the farm bows,
or it might be neither. Why should She
earee
And yet rs the man drew nearer. Milly
walked more slowly. and her heart began
10 beat, she could not have told why.
! She could see MIN more distinctly now
and never had her eyes fallen on anything
like that before.
81 almost wish had the dogs with
me-" she said TO herself with shudder
What Notwithstanding man l thought
the tramps were all gone"
More and more slowly walked Milly
for, rs the hid ius form drew nearer. i
pair of blazing yes gloated fiercely and
] triumphantlv upon her through the matted
locks which hung from under the battered
felt on his hat.
"A darter of his. reckon" growled
the tramp. Its all the same. anyhow
some rich mans gal"
A wild scream burst from Milly's whit
ening lips. and she tried TO spring past
him; but his long arm caught her as she
went by. and in an instant her long shawl