The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1881-10-22

name on the list was Raoul Tegot; and
the name Immediately preceding it was
that of Baptiste Lacombe.
At length, in his turn, Monsieur
Lacombe, his iron gray hair disordered,
his hands rubbing together nervously,
and his eyes hashing-as was afterwards
remarked upon-with malicious fire,
stepped forward and along to the organ
seat and for few moments arranged his
stops.
Then he began lightly and delicately,
creeping up through the varied registers
| of the noble instrument, blending the
beautiful sounds into wonderful COM
binations, now and then working in a
sweet melody, and then again upward
until the grand harmonies of the full
| organ rolled forth. There was some
thing mysterious and awe-inspiring in
the effort. 1t seemed to the people that
they had never heard music before.
The music ceased. The people came
back to their 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 itP' eyes, wait I'M
til you hear Raoul Tegot -
Soon Monseigneur Coulter assembled
the two steps of the pulpit and called the
name of their kind, generous townsman.
All waited breathlessly All eyes
| were turned towards the organ-loft. The
| musicians there Hooked around at each
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 preparation
from his heated face. Perhaps he was
afraid to come," he ventured to remark
to man near him, at the same time
looking out of a window
Several noticed his agitation, but they
only sale, "Ah, Mon Dieu, how he did
play No wonder that he is nervous"
The disquiet and confusion in the nave
and aisles increased.
A messenger had been sent to look for
the missing man, but he could not be
found.
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 even
limited at cowardice on tie part of Raoul
Tegot.
This insinuation was Indignantly de.
MED by Tegot's friends, who were very
numerous, but helpless; they knew theil
friend too well to believe him capable OF
such conduct. He was, they said
probably detained some where by an ac,
cident
But wherever he was, he was not pres
ent, and when a vote was taken, hastily.
by a showing of hands, Monsieur
Baptiste Lacombe had ten times as many
ballots as any other person, and, oil
course, poor Monsieur Tego5, not having
competed, was not balloted for at all.
Some returned home, some in vexa-
ton that their favorite had not appeared,
others In little alarmed at his strange
absence. Young Francois Tegot had not
seen his father since early 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 go into the
church with Monsieur Lacombe early
that morning; but Monsieur Lacombe
said very distinctly and with some
vehemence, that the missing man had
left the church an hour later to go to
cottage at the end of the town, where he
was to give lesson IN singing.
So the affair lay 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 progress
IN the inquiry was made. A human life
did not mean SO much in those stormy
days after the revolution as formerly,
and the mysterious disappearance, with
out being in the least cleared up, grad
ually faded from mems minds and passed
out of their conversation.
Months and years passed away, and
nothing was known of the poor 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 Mon
sieur Baptiste Lacombe,-sti the re-
spected organist of the church, Ibis eyes
were observed to fash meaningly.
There was to be a grand fete in the
church, and great preparation was made.
As the organ needed repairs, it was de-
cided to repair it thoroughly; and one of
the builders from Bordeaux was sent for.
He was to come on Thursday; but he
nn1 70 h 1 e.
was to begin work early the following
morning. That night, aight 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 week.
One afternoon, as Francois passed
through the centre of the village, two
men came hurriedly out of the town
house and fastened away toward the
church. The young man, venturing on
his well-known skill as an organlst. fol-
lowed them; and the three entered the
building. A few worshippers were at
the great altar, and the sacred edifce
seemed unusually quiet and peaceful.
The organ-builder seemed too agitated
to answer the questions that the town
official asked him, but led the way quick
ly to the organ-loft. "Put your foot on
that pedal p he said, excitedly, pointing
to particular one of the scale.
The official was too bewildered to com
ply, and Francois did it for him.
"Now try the next one - said he.
Francois did so, but no sound came;
only queer, intermittent rumbling like
a bounding and rebounding.
"It does not sound" said the organ