The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1882-08-25


"Steady with the brake there she
cried in Boer lingo, as the foremost oxen
took the water, and the numbering wagon
slowly slid down the incline. A hand
some figure she made as she sat there
carelessly, with her wide sombrero hat
shading her face completely from the
flashes of light that came from our neigh
boring camp fire.
/ walked over to her, and she asked,
in the same language she had used be-
fore, whether there was a good outspan
on the other side. 1 could tell from her
mede of speech that she was English, so
l answered in our common tongue.
She laughed pleasantly and thanked
me, then cantered through the rivulet,
and L heard her give the order to out
span. There did not appear to be any
European with her.
After my return to our fire, good
deal of speculation went on between
! Heathcote and myself as to this unusual
apparition. We saw her camp fire lit,
and could make out that she saw to her
horses being fed and blanketed, and to
her oxen being tied up, before having
her supper. When CLEAN from her
fire showed us that she was no longer
occupied our curiosity could not be re-
strained any more, and we went over the
rivulet to introduce ourselves in the free
and-easy fashion of the country.
Her wagon was drawn up in clear
ing, round which the forest made dark
semi-circle. Three Kaffree boys were
crouching over the fire and eating their
supper out OF q large gypsy pot the
shapes of the oxen and horses doomed
out of the darkness behind her as she
stood full in the blaze of the freight,
her form erect, her hands clasped loose
ly before her, her head little thrown
back, and her eyes looking dreamily out
in the darkness.
Heathcote seized my arm convulsively,
and L could hardly repress an exclama-
nation but at that moment her eyes
fell on us, and she started.
1 saw their faces change as they looked
earnestly at each other while spoke,
Frank. Lucy" broke from their
lips, and their hands were knit together.
left them to their happiness, and
sat long by my own fire, bordering over
the strangeness of this life, over how
few are those blessed with the power of
evolving from nature her latent romance,
and over what is the essence of that
which we call by this name, and of
which most of us know so little.
Heathcote joined me at last. He had
much to tell me. She had been prom
Used in marriage by her father, and had
refused to bow to his decision in spite of
her mothers tears. She had told the
suitor that her heart belonged to another,
and that she would not be falthless to
him but it was of no avail. He replied
that he would abide by her fathers
word, and hoped to win her heart after
he had bought her hand. Then she sol
emily assured him and her father that
she would refuse to pronounce her mar
riage VOWS before the altar. Her threat
was disregarded as an idle one.
She wrote to the Clergyman who was
to olliciate, but her letter was inter-
cepted.
She was jealousy watched, and the
preparations for her sacrifice went on.
At last the fatal morning came, and so
self possessed was she that her father
inurmured words of praise as he handed
her from the carriage, and, passing her
arm through his, led her up the aisle of
the church where roses and lilies we're
strewn before her. There she stood be-
| tween the two men who had battered
her body and thought they could barter
her soul, and looking up into the kind
face of the old Clergyman.
His lips were parted to commence the
service, when, with rapid gesture, she
threw back her veil, startling him and
attracting his notice, while her voice
rang out the words:
L am here against my will L appeal
to you and to your Master"
The next moment her father had
fallen PROSTATE, and was struggling on
the steps of the altar. He was removed
unconscious, and died the next day.
Her mother lived for a short while
after, always in very feeble health and
suffering greatly from nervous depres-
sion, and Lucy was her faithful nurse.
1t was only after her mothers death
that she felt at liberty to make any in
quiries as to where Heathcote might be,
but all clew to his whereabouts seemed
10 have been lost after he left Italy.
Before that, seeking him, she travelled
good deal on the continent of Europe !;
then feeling of restlessness came over
her, and she visited first North and then
South Africa.
The wild life in the more remote parts
OF the latter had charm for her. She
picked up the patois of the Beers and a
little of the Zulu languages, and, al
though often intending to return to her
English home, still fingered. She had
her own travelling wagon and her horses.
but from a love of adventure travelled
alone, except for her native attendants,
fearless, because caring little for life,
and at last her wanderinqs had led her
to him for whose sake life henceforward
would be dear to her.
That night could not sleep, and L
stood beside Heathcote's couch looking
at him by the rays of a late moon. Two
short months of comparative ease and
happiness had wrought change in him,
but the greatest change of all was in the
expression of the sleeper's face, as he
smiled in his dream-a change worked
by short watch in the night.
AS stopped over him L noticed that
the ribbon and the little bag were gone,
and guessed that the pledge of ever