Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-05-09
ROBIN Y Rec

ROBIN Y Rec.
Hark! there it was again, that strange
melody floating over the silent sea and
moorland and falling on the ear as softly
las t%listledown. 1t vas one of the old songs
otihe country, perhaps sung by some fish
Autumn twilight with his empty creel on
bis back and money in his pocket. The
singer was invisible. but the words were
these:
Fired iop-knots and ribbons Of green thoult
wear. at
If, sweet little Betsy. with me thou'lt pair.
Robin the King, Robin the King ridlan."
The prevailing stiffness made it difficult
10 say whether the words came from far or
NEAR. The breeze was too slight to stir tho
%bracken, and the peat-smoke hung in mo.
in the glen, apd the clouds of tiny butter.
Aies that had fitted over. the gorse and
heather during the daytime had mysteri-
Glsly vanished at sunset. The comics were
awake, no doubt, but they prudently kept
out of sight. The curlews were asleep
among the turnips,. the gray plover were
away on the hillside, and down yonder
inong the cliffs the gulls and gannets and
gullemots were standing in. long whl,e
rows. ~. hta
But if the solemn night was ~voiceless, it
bad wonderful charm of its own, though
the moon was yet to emerge like some
glled d~ragon.ly from its slumbers beneath
The waters. The air was laden with the
%irtshness Of the sea and the perfume Of the
ENrland flowers; the sky was a deep un.
dppled blue, to which the countless stars
IMOeaslrably greater than that of the sun
lt day; Immediately overhead lay YIN
(Raad Mooar Rec Ghorree, the Great Road
By which King Orry brought his yellow
harded. Norsemen to the coast of Man;
si at its northern extremity q pinkish
glow was now advancing and now reced-
lHlss, afraid of invading the realm of night,
yet unwilling to leave a scene of SO much
beauty. Away to the south, beyond a
great sweep Of tranquil! water, broken
only by the sp%ear-points of the stars, a
dense mist was winding around the bays
and head(ands, and as it drew aside for a
inoment there came from its midst the
bright flash of a lighthouses; but elsewhere
The atmosphere was SO clear that the rocks
snming all manner of fantastic shapes.
III the background the hills cut into the
one sky like a row Of enormous sharks
Teeth, and after sweeping past fields Of
corn and clover, with many q cozy little
homestead nesting among the trees, they
at last arrived at this wild spot where
gorSe and heather and bracken tumbied
INTO Il deep glen, and then spread out on
fsltler hand into a sheet of gold and brown
and purple, studded with an occasional
boulder, as if to prevent the wind blowing
Il away. A couple of hundred yards fur
,her down the moorland terminated sud-
gently in a perpendicular wall of schist that
cropped into the sea many hundred feet
oT!ow' but parted in the center as if it had
oeen cleft with q mighty Ratchet. A few
matched, whitewashed cottages crouched
upon the sides of the glen, for the wind
,Dnletllnes blew such a shrill blast down
sAa1 narrow channel that it was necessary
toti'ke advantage of the little shelter to be
lolhd there. In the ferny depths there
WAS a gllsten of silver, and q keen ear
might have detected the babble Of the
"DoK as 1t hurried seward.
~ Except En- for the invisible singer, the whole
19oAeu down upon an unbroken solitude.
iesehtly the voice went on:
lied %top-knots and ribbons of black thourt
Ill make thee hesf Queen of the May, I swear.
robin the king. Robin the king ridlan."
Inc words had scarcely died away when
.%o ngures mounted the steep side of the
srs ana slowly made their way toward
WY, uG Gins. The one was a tall, handsome,
distressed man with a brown beard; the
mel a woman, young and beautiful. He
was the first to break the silence.
llsie, I've been Notwithstanding very
'.ni%1uslJ of asking you to marry me-"
we marry youw She had stopped sud-
ff vI 10 stare at him, her dark eyes brim-
ht VI astonlshnent, a warm flush on her
NV MoT H cheeks, which were partly shaded
Es i iohg, back hair, flowing around her
Snapeiy shoulders, and her hands clasped
AK 'front.' of hav. g.. CfonI;nr %horn 81 xlo
g ,na OF the heather, she looked like a
[h m,, ' y, me marry you, Mr.. Ora
we'll r = she repeated, weighing out the
MUS one by one as if to get at their
meaning that way.
lie s 10y shouldn't say me marry YOU'D"
saw s' !f with a slight shiver. "You should
if l. marry you.' And it would be nicer
lsonnn1a MAN, Which has al abominably formal
i've T'u between such great friends Of quite
Fsentanaoonn ths' standing. Thus corrected the
Wiz Ie runs, Il marry you, Robfnv to
"I IL Robin replies, why notY"a
EcjattaaSs doubtful whether she fully appre-
and 1nls singular mixture of teaching
She moolhg; indeed, it is doubtful whether
1.s,S Tveh understood it.
us only a poor fisher girl I am,n she
r pnt,ed and tits you that are a grand
houses with money and lands and
it wonY So the %neighbors tell me-. Oh, but
you uoN Ma 6e a strange thing fortme to marry
cIo nthoman-like, she glanced from his fine
graz 70 her W humble garb-a coarse
F shay, dress Of home-spun wool, a blue
at h" crossed over her breast and fastened
This waist, and a kind of s%un-bonnet. In
was sv Suspect the disparity between them
have Ih~a aan obvious, though it would
Eigureo zen ee hard to match the girls graceful
e - or beautiful face. =
leisure y not aching in haste to repent al