Bismarck tribune., 1881-10-07

Berlin was Wilderness, the Thiergarten
was waste, and life was uncomfortable ex-
cept between six in the evening and nine
in the morning.
Nothing 10th, ordered some traps to be
put up, and wandered away to Brunswick.
A week in August is of very little use, ex-
cept to potter about in the German country.
England was too far, and the time to re-
main there too short; so spent two days
in Brunswick, where became fred with
enthusiasm about Henry the Lion, his rel
les and his tomb, and in the dukes palace
I found upon the banner the ancient scroll:
A Dieu mon anne,
Ma vie au rOi,
Mon coeur aux danes,
Honneur pour moi.
From Brunswick drifted, as a leaf in q
stream, to Hamburg, where the idea sud-
denly occurred to me thst would drive up
the Broken.
I chartered conveyance, and started at
ten o'clock in the morning. The drive,
was told, would take me seven hours.
The weather was perfect, the way was
solitary. The bells on the horses harness
sounded family on the drowsy air. My
driver rolled about on his box, engaged at
times in profound sleep,a pipe in his mouth
and sweet pea behind his ear.
Our way lay upward, of course, and by
the roadside delicious stream, dashed and
foamed over the rocky soil. Several times
followed my drivers example and slept;
OF last, impatient, descended, bidding my
kutscher hustle onward, and wait for me
mile or two further on. I heard the heavy
carriage lumber away; it disappeared round
G corner of the road, and and the stream
we're alone.
walked briskly on, my hands in my
pockets, whistling. At the turn of the
road I saw something that Immediately
arrested my attention.
A rock larger than the rest, stood in the
center of the stream. The water parted
away from it in two lines of foam. Seated
upon it, her face turned in profile toward
me was a young woman. Her head was
bare and her hands were bare, and her max
ed feet were swinging in the water, care
lessly Ticking the foam from side to side.
It was strange apparition to come upon
suddenly in the wilds OF thees Hartz Noun
tains. I approached difideptly, interested
in spite of myself.
There is sort of Freemasonry among
some travellers, but no Freemasonry will
explain the air of delicious familiarity
with which this strange creature nodded at
me when she discovered my presence.
= "You can't think how nice it is," she
said, looking ME in the face, as if she had
known me all her life.
Instantly her manner set me at my ease.
"How did you. get there?" I asked in
the same tone.
II took off my stockings on the bank and
waded across" she answered.
stood looking at her, meagre strip OF
running water between us.
take off yours and come too" she cried;
there's room for two on this rock"
The utter righteousness of my position
never struck me at the time; then, felt ir-
resistably prompted to DO as Twas told; SO
divested myself of shoes and socks, and
in two minutes was sitting by her side.
The full midday sun fell on her face, but
she did not seem to mind. I looked at her
and wondered at her extremely.
In appearance she was very youthful. I
should have guessed her between 2Oand %.
Her face was pale, of clear pallor; her
lips we're chiseled and of the richest car
mine color. Her eyes were cats eyes,
fringed with dark lashes-eyes like moth
ing human absorbing, COM
pelling. I caught myself wondergin if they
shone in the dark. Her hair peeled finely
off her low, sensitive brow. It was arranged
in delicious disorder, of which one
could not make out the beginning nor the
end. Added to all this, her gown was Of
fine texture and delicate taste-the gown of
woman who was fond of good dressing.
And this woman was sitting bareheaded,
breafooted, alone on rock, in the midst
of the Harz Mountains!
MY companion appeared impatient at my
silence.
"You are going to the Brocken?" she
asked interrogatively.
eyes; are you?"
She nodded.
Emboldened by her questions, ven-
tured on one also.
care you alone?" I asked.
"Yes," she answered, quite TRANQUILITY,
"There is my carriage, and there"-as
man approached US from the road-''there
is my courier"
There was an infection-the very slight
est-of hesitation as she spoke. The man,
who came forward was short, dark, ILL
favored, more like an Italian boatman of
disreputable class than anything else. In
his coarse ears hung silver earrings, and on
his dark greasy hand was silver ring.
He approached his mistress with famil-
lar air that appeared to me most offensive
and spoke to her in Spanish. She an
swered in the same language, not impera-
lively, as had expected, but in tone that
seemed to imply confidence, friendliness.
After Struggling his shoulders at her an
swer he lounged away and sat down some
where in the shadow of the road.
'And do you mean to say you travel
alone with the courier?" I said boldly.
''Where are you going and where have you
come from?"
She raised her indolent arms over her
head and stretched her little body as q
leopard does in the sun. She opened her
strange eyes to their fullest extent, and
stared. Whatever she found in my face
seemed to satisfy her, for moment later
she spoke: