The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1881-01-13

"Dop Why, set the alarm clock two
hours earlier Qm safe to hear it where
| any and start at four instead of six;
and Wen lust meet the 'minions of the
law on our way back to breakfast, and
n jolly sell itll be for them My word,
every mortal thing seems to have CON
spircd against this venture of ours; but
I'll 90 through with it, no matter who
stands in my way!
For one moment a thrill of supersti-
tious awe shot through the stout heart
of Sedlcy Burdett. Could it be that
these countless hindrances were really
last barrier vainly opposed to the fatal
impulse which was hurrying them both
to destruction. The unnatural excite
ment of his comrades manner, tho
feverish llster of his eyes, the heated
flush in his usually pale face, were all
terribly suggestive of one goaded to his
doom by some irresistible frenzy--nash-
ing upon Burdett's mind with ghastly
viyidness, the sudden memory of long
forgotten painting of the young German
knight lured to his death in the hungry
waters of the Rhine by the siren-song
of the Lorelei. He opened his lips to
propose the abandonment of the whole
project; but the fear of ridicule Chat
fear which has destroyed many a gal
liant MANI withered the wholesome i'm
pulse, and the favorable moment went by
forever.
Morning at last-a bright, breezy,
glorious summer morning, over which
all things in earth and heaven seemed
10 rejoice. The blue skies, the waving
woods, the green sunny slopes, the
broad bright stream of the great river
itself all seemed to smile welcome to
the eyes that might so soon be closed
forever. Even the two English athletes
absorbed as they were in their perilous
enterprise, felt the influence of the
hour, and muttered with involuntary
admiration:
What royal dayn'
One vigorous stroke sent the light
boat far out into the swift, dark current
down which it shot like an arrow from
a bow. Rocks, trees, houses seemed
racing past on either side. No need to
strain at the oars now all that could be
done with them was TO keep the boats
bow perfectly straight, so as to offer as
little space as possible TO the rush of
current which seemed well able to carry
away an entire city.
Suddenly there came dizzy plunge
"a shock that threw both men from
their places and then all around was
one boiling whirl of foam, and the boat
was flung TO and fro, and dashed up
and down, amid an uproar that seemed
TO rend the very sky. For one feverish
moment life and death seemed 10 hang
by hair; and then the two daring men
found themselves floating on the little
border-line of calm water that sepa-
rated the first fall from the worse peril
of the second.
"Hurrah' shouted Montague, glee-
fully; who says it can't be done now?
Keep her head straight, Sed my boy,
and well come out all right YETI
The triumphant cheer was answered
by cry of dismay from the shore, and
the two oarsmen, looking up, beheld
Marion Wentworth rushing distractedly
toward the edge of the high bank that
overhung the second fall, followed by
Montague's English servant. At the
sound of his betrothed's voice, Mon
tague turned his face toward her, and
waved his hand cheerily; and seldom
has any painter conceived such pict-
ure as the one which that moment
branded forever on the memory Of those
who saw it. The stern black rocks Oh
either hand, fecked with living green
by the shrubs that clung to their craggy
sides; the vast hill Of leaping foam half
way down which the frail boat lowered
like a leaf the rainbow-arch that
spanned the black bowling gulf be-
meath; the glory of the sunrise stealing
softly into the pure, peaceful sky, in
strange contrast with the rock-rending
uproar below; the stalwart figures of
the two gallant lads, straining every
nerve to achieve their perilous task;
the handsome, reckless face of the last
Of the Montagucs," with gay smile on
It's short curved lip, and an omnous
glitter in its large dark eyes.
Good morning my petr' cried he
gayly; you're just in time for the end
of the play"
These were the last words that Wis
count Montague ever spoke. That
momentary negligence had allowed the
boats head TO deviatc slightly from the
direct line, and in an instant the whirl
of the current threw its exposed side
full against the tremendous rush of the
cataract. One frantic struggle TO re-
gain the lost ground and then boat and
men vanished forever into the midst of
the roaring abyss below.
From that fatal hour, life was over
Tor the Flower Of Kent" All that re-
NAMED Of the once bright and beautiful
girl was pale, silent, joyless phantom
a body, as it were, without soul.
Neither the tender care Of her heart
broken mother, nor even the sight of
ler dead lovers ruined home (the
burning of which, on the very day of
Is masters death, fulfilled, by sheer
CONFERENCE.-The dismal prediction)
walled aught TO break that deadly
ethargy which endured for the brief
of her life, chcckered only
~ the spasms of convulsive agony in
'ariably produced by the one sound
which her ear still had power to recog-
'ize-the sound of rushing waters.
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