Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-07-21
sioosly loft his briar thicket and r..

pillow; he was whistling a local air. the
Wnlie u~nraveling the lash of his whin.
Jacques" a voice cried u to him
The peasant wheeled about.
"Ah! it's you, is it Francoisep You
are out very early this morning"
Dame! l am going to wash this
bundle OF clothes at the spring, and it's
no small distance"
81 shall pass within a couple Of stena
OF it. Put your bundle on one of nv
horses"
Thank you. How are your wife and
4 am the sickest of the family" said
Jacques, with a hearty laugh. Every
thing is all right-work, Joy and
And he tried the lash of his whip, the
sonorous snap of which was repeated
by one echo after another.
! The murderer followed him a lone
while with his eye. Then a deep sigh
escaped him, and his glance
wandered over the country which
stretched out before him.
"Come," murmured he, 81 mnst
hurry ahead; it has been twenty-four
hours since -. It must be dis
covered, now they are hunting for me-"
Again he stumbled onward.
In about ten minutes he saw a belfry
shoot up. Then he slackened his pace.
a prey to a thousand conflicting feelings.
attracted toward the village by the
hunger that was making him giddy.
held back by fear which urged him to
flee from human dwellings,.
However, after a long struggle, dur
ing which he had constantly advanced
by gliding behind the huts and the
clumps of trees, he was about to enter
the village, when he saw something
sparkle about two hundred PAGES away.
- was the brass plate and saber-hilt
of the garde champetre.
"He has my description, perhaps"
murmured the fugitive; and, drawing
back hastily, he ran to a small wood
which extended to his left.
He penetrated it with great strides,
forgetting his hunger, thinking only of
escaping from the village and the garde
~champetre.
But he o % reached the limit of the
wood, which was merely a few acres in
extent. Beyond it the plain opened.
see the country, he caught sight of a
man eating his breakfast, seated upon
the grass. 1t was Jacques, the laborer.
Nothing could be more agreeable
than the little corner which he had made
his dining-room. 1t was a kind of
sunken, pebbly ravine, crossed by two
deep ruts, but its clefts and rough places
-carpeted with grass and moss-all
were edged with climbing plants, with
green, yellow or purple leaves, accord
ing to the caprice of that powerful
colorist called Autumn.
The ruts were full of limpid water. in
the depths of which shone tiny white
pebbles, as polished and transparenv
as onyx. Finally, this pretty nest was
deliciously shaded by a clump of birch
trees, with rough and silvery trunks,
with slender and trembling foliage.
The robust PEASANTS teeth plunged
into his brown bread with an appetite
which would have made . millionaire
desire to share his frugal repast, and he
paused only from time to time to say
an encouraging word to his animals,
which a few PAGES from him were fra
ternally devouring the same bundle of
hay.
"That man is happy" murmured the
murderer. Then be added, but in the
depths of his conscience: eyes, toll,
family love, peace and happiness-he
has them ALI"
He was tempted to accost jacques
and ask him for a morsel of bread, but
a glance at his ragged garments pre-,
vented him from showing himself, and,
beside, it seemed to him that his fea-
lures bore the imprint of his crime and
would denounce him to every eye.
Suddenly he grew pale; a nervous
trembling shook all his limbs and his
features contracted like those of an
e%pileptic.
"There they areW stammered he,
his glance fixed upon a point of the
road.
During this time the gendarmes were
rapidly approaching.
The gallop of the horses and the clat-
ter of the weapons suddenly restored
him his presence of mind, and, perceiv-
ing an elm tree, the thick foliage of
which promised to be impenetrable to
the sight, he climbed into it with the
of a squirrel.
He was in safety at the moment the
gendarmes halted on the highway,
a few PAGES distant from him.
He listened, motionless, aghast, a
prey to such violent emotion that he
heard the beating of his heart in his
breast.
"Shall we search this grover" asked
one of the %gendarmes.
"Oh!' answered the other, sit is too
our mar would never have
taken refuge there, but rather in the
"Nevertheless it would be prudent to
take q look into it"
"No." replied the other gendarme,
I" we would lose time, and the assassin
is already ten hours in advance of U.S."
And they departed at a trot.
The murderer breathed; he felt life
to him. But, that anguish over,
torment forgotten fora moment again
took possession of him, and he cried
out:
"Mon Dieu! how hungry I ami"
For forty-eight hours he had not