The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1882-05-25
THE POACHER'S DEATH.

THE POACHER'S DEATH.
What Happened to Him that Killed
the Deer Under The Greenwood
Tree.
From the French of Jules Marcllant
My brother and were passing the lit
tie village ofD-, on our way to the town
OF R, when the desire seized us to
pay visit to Maritainc, our good old
nurse, and shake hands with Jacques
her husband, who was the first person to
place gun within our hands, and who
taught us to handle it skillfully I say
this without any vanity. The road We
were pursuing passed within about six
miles of our old friends home; but an
amated by Il wish to see these good peo-
pl9e'gain, the memory of whom recalled
ouShappy youth, we soon cleared the
distance.
jacques cabin was not one ofthc group
OF houses which composed the village,
but stood alone in the middle of a large
plain, having forest for the horizon,
and nearly surrounded by an arm of the
river, thus forminga peninsula. Wcvcry
soon recognized the matched roof where
few red tiles were conspicuously dis
played, while an enormous pcar-trec
whose inclining trunk was blackened with
the mildew Of time, seemed
to threaten it with destruction in
its fall; but there was no
danger, for we had often run among its
branches without causing the giant
TO bend its BODY or to
seem disturbed by the violence of our
symnastic exercises. Our old acquaint-
ance had not changed in appearance, ex-
&Pt that industrious jacques had built a
pigeon-house between its two principal
boughs, and we saw the inhabitants of
this aerial dwelling flying through space,
their white feathers glistening in the sun.
One Is never free from apprehension on
returning to 4 home which he has left
some time before. Everything seemed
to be in its ordinary condition. The
smoke was escaping from the chimney in
thin circles, and the fishing tackle was
hanging up to dry on the branches of the
pear-tree, for Jacques was Il good fisher
man, and what is more, if l must say it,
the most skillful and dreaded poacher in
the country.
lie was man fifty years old, and of
proud carriage. His closly cropped black
hair showed Il rugged brow, where daring
seemed to be written i'll the deep wrink-
les. His eyes were so wonderfully
bright that the peasants believed he pos
sessed the power Of charming the deer
elass Of black beard framed his bronze
face, and, finally. he was supple and mus
cular as all primitive races who are de-
II,
the nccessaricS of life
,JOyfully we raised the lltch thinking
of the pleasant surprise We were going to
give old Marianne, whose dry cough we
heard coming from a still vigorous chest.
IN seeing us the poor woman stood still,
as II nailed to the spot, and instead of
the cry of joy which we expected,
We were surprised to see two large tears
roll down her cmaciated cheek.
"Well, mother nurseo" | exclaimed,
care you not glad to see your two bad
children again'''
The good woman's hcart-broken glance
startled us.
'Ah, Monsieur Jules" she finally sob
bed out, trouble is in this house My
poor jacques
She could not finish \ torrent of tears
glshed from her eyes, and sitting dow,
asjf her limbs refused her support, she
LEVIED her head on her knees, and ut
tered loud wailings l noticed then that
she held Il strip Of white linen in her
hand, and glancing round the room,
saw a tub in which some bloody clothes
were soaking. \ horrible suspicion
crossed my mind. Was Jacques the vic
tim OF one OF those numerous accidents
to which they are exposed who are in
constant rebellion against the law?
"See here, mother" said, taking the
old wonan's hand, eff You are in trouble,
perhaps heaven has sent US to YOU at
this moment. But, for PHYS sake, speak!
You know you can depend on us as if We
were your own children"
"Oh, my good boys" she said, at last,
let's in his body"
sprang toward tic door to which she
pointed, but she stopped me with an i'm
plOring gesture.
"He is sleeping ]ittle,' she said soft
< "but when he wakes up I'll tell him
Soh arc here. Maybe it will do him
some good"
But" I replied, eff Jacques has been
shot, why isn't the doctor here? Per-
haps the danger is not SO great as YOU
think, and with the help Of science he
may be saved"
"Monsieur Jules" she said, and this
time in voice in which Indignation over
came sorrow, "a dog with a broken foot
is cared for; but the doctor didn't want
to trouble himself about jacques, the
poacher, who has been nearly muir
dered."
We were filled with indignation.
Henri," cred, turning to my broth
er, run to the village and bring back the
sible that a person could be so cruel as to
allow one Of Gods creatures to die this
way"
While my brother was executing his
commission with the dispatch of hun
ter twenty-five years old, Maritaine gave
1le the following account:
Fairly IN the morning Oftle preceding
day Jacques had gone out as usual to in
Spect the numerous snares he had set in
the woods. Beside a large linen sack, in
which he concealed his prize, he carried
his game-bag and his gun, which never
left him any more than Msshadow. The
harvest was only moderate All the traps
were inspiring except one in which a
fine cock-pheasant was caught. Jacques
penetrated further into the woods, hoping
to get shot at buck or a boar. The
night had been rainy, so the wet branch
cs tapped in his face, and his feet were
continually immersed in water, but the
bold hunter cared little for these discom-
forts, and pushed. on, keeping his eye on
a little terrier whose wagging tail an
nounced the recent passage of some kind
of game. "Bibi scents something -
, thought jacques, encouraging him with a
>1eflent GESTURE, as, with excessive pru-
'>eence, he never, even by chance, raised
his voice in these solitudes whose echoes
would have betrayed his presence. The
frisky movements Of Bibi's tail became
more violent, and he seemed to want to
aeyour the grass, plunging his nostrils in
t. it. Suddenly jacques stopped, and
his dog followed his example. The faint
sound ola hunting horn was borne on the
breeze through tire woods. 80. =: '|' -, - =.
'The devil! The marqnise. and lis
! pack" muttered jacques. "I don't know
why, but have a presentiment that bad
luck will follow me to-day" He glanced
ut his trustv fOWlino-piece and his ewes