Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1881-10-05

had been broken up by the persistent
annoyances he and gang of men that
he had at his heels employed.
After he had only just passed out OF
his boyhood, Miller Bundy uttered these
wise words and that prediction, that were
afterward so frequently quoted.
The gate to the sllliceway of the mill,
that almost required yoke of oxen to
draw up, was pulled away from its
stanchions one night, and the water
flooded the mill, the miller's garden and
the lower part of the house before the
pond was lowered below the level of the
bottom of the sluice. Only circum-
stantial evidence could attribute this evil
to Ranse Loop, but it was not far from
being accurate.
The venerable and, indeed, Reverend
George Priestly, hurrying home one
Sunday morning to keep an important
appointment in his circuit, wondered
why, in ascending slight rise in the
road, his roam, Chilly" stopped stock
still, and answered neither to his CHR
rup, to the jerk of the reins nor the
sharp touch of the whip. The Reverend
George Priestly looked around and OBJ
served stalwart young man, with heels
braced against the side-hill and hands,
with outstretched arms, pulling against
the blackboard of the buggy. Re-
monstrances from the reverend lips
prevailed not.
The stalwart young man Ieisurely, but
with cunning that showed he was ac-
quainted with the craft, and aided by a
wrench and screw-driver, took the buggy
and harness entirely to pieces, piling the
various materials--screw, leather, strap,
buckle, hub and spoke into a sym
metrical pile in the road.
These were among the gentler and
more playful of his antics, the offspring
of his lively nature and his appetite for
mischief
"Ah, them Loops, them Loops l'
said old Miller Bundy. "None on 'em
ever lacked brains eff they wus wantin'
in morals. This one-this here Ranse
will be loop all the days of his life,
and he'll die with one tight round his
neck 70
4
1t was the morning of the fourth day.
Ranse was lighting the fire in his forge
The cold was intense. 1t manifested it
self to every sense as well as to that of
feeling. To the ear by the crunching,
grinding sound made by the feet or
sleigh-runners passing over the snow.
Some of these Ranse heard without and
presently his own name was called. He
stepped to the door.
The face that looked out had grown
hard and bitter within the past few
un
on the door-post, and as he looked forth,
saw man trotting beside a load Of
wood, drawn bya pair of oxen. He was
mutf1ed up to his ears in tipplt, and
carried his hands In his trousers-pockets
He lifted up the top of his head SO that
his eyes seemed to be looking over a
tall fence, and seeing Ranse, be said
" 1t was passing along to our house
last night that your wife was over to
Squire Holbert's in Shallopville Town
ship, and that she was nigh onto death S
door. said | war comm over this way
this mornin' with a load of wood, and L
would stop and tell you"
Then, with word or two to his oxen,
he dropped behind his fence and again
trOtted along.
Ranse's position did not change for
some time. AS far as any movement
was concerned, he might have been
frozen there. Over to Squire Holbert's,
twelve good miles over the Sand Greek
hills, and dying Could he have been
Alright? The oxen and the load Of wood
were some way up the road. He ran
after them.
6 [ say, John, he said, slowly, " did
you say that my wife was over to Squire
Holbert's and dying?"
The man looked around. lifted him
self on top of his fence again and nodded.
"And how in the world did she get
there?"
"They didn't specify exactly" the
ox-driver replied, looking at Ranse
rather distrustfully- only that she had
been left there by the Rev. S. 0. Sly"
Ranse ground his teeth together, and
muttered something that sounded like:
$50 soon?"
Then he turned back and walked
slowly toward the forge, the tide of his
feelings rising in his breast at every
step. His conclusion had been reached
before he arrived at his hop. He turned
and went toward his house. In his best
garments he appeared presently before
the woman whom he had persuaded to
come temporarily and care for his home
and his children.
81 may not be back before tomorrow,
he said; "but [ shall be back then"
The quickness OF communication by
telephone from one end of city to the
other is esteemed one of our modern
miracles; but there has always been
something in the atmosphere Of small
village that will carry piece of news
through it, and drop it at every house
door, with rapidity that would astonish
the telephone itself.
Before Ranse had been trudging over
the snow for fifteen minutes, the fact of
his departure, and why he went, were
known In every house in Kettle Greek
Postoffice; and every especially
feminine ear-was all agog for what was
to come next.
In little more than two hours, Ranse