The Red Cloud chief., 1881-12-15

i BIN uCOI att lstnlt0 oditttt a fNAl
learned gentleman Of the town. who
had tech chosen for that purpose, as
| cendsd two steps Of the stairway which
curvaa up and around the richly carved
pulpis, Aad announced the name Of the
persoc ~ho was o begin.
I shSu0 not be able TO give. in de-
tail. tbs progress Of the trial. for the
history OF the affair Is not minute
enough for that. But suffice IL to say.
that the last name on the list was Raoul
Tegot; and the name Immediately pre-
ceding it was that Of Baptiste La
combe.
At length. in his turn. Monsieur La
combe, his ~iron-gray hair d~isordered.
his hands rubbing together ncrvously.
and his eyes f~ashing-as was afterward
remarked upon with n malicious fire.
| stepped forward and along tothe organ
seat, and, for a few moments, arranged
his stops.
Then he began lightly and ~delicately.
creeping up through the varied regis
tiers of the noble instrument, blending
the beautiful sounds into wonderful
combinations. now and then working in
a sweet melody, and then again up
ward until the grand harmonies of the
full organ rolled forth. There was
something mysterious and awe-inspir-
ing in the effort. II seemed TO the
people that they had never heard music
before.
The music ceased. The people came
back totheir prosaic selves again, looked
in each others faces. and said. with one
breath: WONDERFUL
Gradually they recovered their sober
Judgment, and then, mingled with the
murmurs of admiration were heard the
remarks. THAT is fine. but Raoul Tegot
will make us forget itr' "Yes, wait
until YOU hear Raoul Tegotr"
Soon Monseigneur Gautier assembled
the two steps Of the pulpit and called
the name Of their kind, generous towns
man.
All waited breathlessly. All eyes
were turned toward.the% organ-loft. The
musicians there looked around and at
ea"h other. But poor Raoul Tegot
could not be seen.
Where was he The people waited
and wondered. but he did not come.
Monsieur Baptiste Lacombe was greatly
excited, and was wiping the perspira-
ton from his heated face. Perhaps he
was afraid to come" he ventured to re-
mark to a man near him, at the same
time looking out of q window.
Several noticed his agitation, but they
only said. "Ah. Mon Dieu. how he did
play, No wonder that be is nervous"
The disguietand confusion in the nave
anl a,uiao ,tnraacnl naccanrnr taI
been sent to look for the missing man,
but he could not be lound.
What was TO be done?
Finally. some friends of Monsieur La
combe made bold to urge his immediate
election. declaring that he had far sur
passed all competitors; and they ven
limited at cowardice on the part of Raoul
Tegot.
This insinuation was Indignantly de-
MED by Tegot's friends, who were very
numerous but helpless; they knew their
friend too well to believe him capable
of such conduct. He was. they said,
probably detained somewhere by an nc
cident.
present; and when a vote was taken,
hastily. by a showing of hands. Mon
sieur Baptiste Lacombe had ten times
as many ballots rs any other person.
and. of course, poor Monsieur Tegot.
not having competed, was nc balloted
forat all.
The people dispersed to their homes,
some in vcxation that their favorite had
not appeared. others in n little alarm at
his strange absence. Young Francois
Tegot had not seen his father since ear
ly morning. and could not conjecture
where he might be.
The next day the missing organist did
not appear, and his friends began to in
quire and to search for him. But they
were wholly unsuccessful. A little boy
| said that he had seen him 90 into the
church with Monsieur Laoombe early
that morning; but Monsieur Lacombe
said, very distinctly and with some ve-
hemence that the missing man had left
the church an hour later TO 20 to a cot
tage at the edge of the town, where he
was to give n lesson in singing.
So the affair Law wrapt in mystery.
There were many surmises, but nothing
definite was known. A few expressed
suspicion of the rival candidate, but the
suspicion was too great to be thrown
rashly upon anybody. Thus no prog
ress in the inquiry was made. A hui
man life did not mean SO much in those
stormy days afterthe Revolution rs for
merly, and the mysterious disappear
ance, without being in the least cleared
up, gradually faded from mems minds
and passed out of their conversation.
Months and years passed away, and
nothing was known of the young man.
His son. now come to the years of man.
hood. always declared that his father
would not have been absent from the
trial willingly, and he firmly believed
that he had met with a violent death.
More than this he would not say; but
sometimes when he looked toward
Monsieur Baptiste Lacombe-still the
respected organist of the church--his
eyes were observed to fash meaningly.
There was to be a grand ycte in the
church, and q great preparation was
made. As the organ needed repairs. it
was decided to repair it thoroughly;
and one of the builders from Bordeaux
was sent for.
He was to come on Thursday; but he
CHANGED to arrive the day before, and
was to begin work early the following
morning. That night, a light glimmered
out of the darkness of the gallery of
the church.
Two days passed. The repairing of
the organ went on, but there was much
to be done and it might take a week.
One afternoon, as Francois passed
through the center of the village, two
men came hurriedly out of the town
house and fastened away toward the
church. 1t was the organ-builder. very
much excited, and one of the officials
of the town. The young man. ventur.
ing on his well known skill as IN
6rganist, followed them; and the three
entered the building. A few worship
pers were at the great altar. and the
sacred edifce seemed unusually quiet
and peaceful.
The organ-builder seemed too agi.
tated to answer the questions that the
town official asked him. but led the
way quickly to the organ-loft. Put
your foot on that pedai9" he said. ex.
citedly, pointing to = particular one Of