The true northerner., 1883-04-27

want q rest. To me 1t was dead, ike
fine portrait without any light in the
eyes.
thrust my hands in my pockets and
shuffied my feet, overcome by the en-
barrassment which words of sincere
kindness always excite In me.
Cant help you? Tell me some
thing to do for you."
"The kindest thing you can do is to
let me alone.
sidled to the door.
@Do go, Jack, he burst out. impet-
uonsly. Il can't bear to have even
you"
Before he could finish the sentence 1
was on the other side of the door.
i felt that Mrs. Fitzgerald's letter
had merely confirmed the newspaper
report. If the marriage, which had
been but legal form, could be an
nulled, 1 suspected that Fitzgerald
would do il. / had no doubt that he
would scorn to strike the woman who
had wounded him mortally. When 1
fell asleep that night all my suspicious
and beliefs had merged into burning
anger against her, and q determination
to seek the opportunity to inflict on her
some imperishable i'll.
1 fell asleep with this one idea in my
brain, and / was wakened from that
sleep by a cry.
Jack Jack! Help! help!"
My senses were penetrated by the
voice of man in great agony, crying
for succor, crying to me, and the voice
was the voice of my friend Fitzgerald
tried to lift myself from my bed
but heavy weight held me down. 1
struggled to speak, but my tongue was
tied. rubbed my eyes, but the lids
seemed glued. At last they parted
slowly, and 1 saw that of which my
mind has never lost the slightest i'm
preston. / was not lying on my bed; (;
was not in the low, square room, with
half dozen men sleeping about me. l
was standing on the rivers brink, sew
eral miles below the station, standing
there alone in the awful stiffness of
winter night in the wilderness. The
moonlight was SO brilliant that every
object was distinctly visible.
saw not twenty feet from me break
in the ice, and the blue water bubbling
up clearly. Above the water rose
mans fair, strong head, and two hands
grasping, trying to lift the body beneath
up to the ice, which broke and crumbled
away from their touch.
He was dying before my eyes, and L
could not stir an inch to save him. L
saw the beating of his hand grow
feebler and the tension of his face re-
lax.
"Spare her, Jack !-spare her!" he
cried.
1 was silent.
Then once again he cried, and that
sound think will always echo about
the world with me-: Speak to me. Give
me sign"
1 forgot my hatred of her and my re-
solve to hurt her; l was sensible only
of his pitiful pleading. BY great eff
fort 1 flung up my right arm as sign
of acquiescence.
His hands fell, his head sank back
ward, and the blue water sparkled and
bubbled in the moonlight. / shouted,
Fitzgerald, Fitzgeraldp seemed to
spring forward, when the whole scene
was transformed. l was sitting up in
bed, and the watch by the fire was say
ing, drowsily:
whats the matter? What are you
making such a row about?"
"Where is Fitzgerald?' said, look
ing round, and seeing that his place in
the row of mattresses was vacant.
"He went out about an hour ago. He
said he couldn't sleep, and was going
to skate up the river to Thompson's
Station"
1 got up slowly, and the motion was
painful, for my whole body was numb
L spoke with hesitation, as if the power
of speech was new to me.
Fitzgerald did not go up the river;
he went down toward Carter Station.
He has been drowned six miles below"
My shout had aroused most of the
men. They all exclaimed incredulously
that had been dreaming. 1 stood my
ground, and was already getting ready
to 20 out. The dogged persistence of
such q matter-of-fact fellow as i i'm
pressed them, and they prepared to
accompany me. When we reached the
river we put on our skates. We could
not distinguish tracks, for we had re-
Gently been skating q great deal, taking
advantage of the clear ice, rare so late
in the season. led down the river,
the others following, laughing at my
expense Soon the infection of my
profound hopelessness spread, and in
ten minutes all were skating swiftly,
silently toward whatever awaited us.
When but sharp headland lay between
us and the spot had seen in my vision
l halted.
"He is lying just beyond there. If
the ice is broken we shall know"
We rounded the point in line. The
ice was broken and thrown up in pieces
and the water still bubbling.
/ have not much more to tell. It
was afterward discovered that he had
struck one of the shallow springs on a
sandy bottom which never freeze solid
ly. The water would not have covered
him standing, but the numbing infu-
ence of the intense cold and the frail
ness Of the surrounding ice had pre-
vented his saving himself. offer no
explanation Of what have said that /
saw and heard, but six men can testify
that, when miles away from him, saw
the dying face and heard the dying
words of my friend Fitzgerald, and
that / led them to the spot where they