Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-12-19

ows of the columns like the flutter of a
white dress. The place had weird as
pect, and was reputed haunted. The SIM
pie mountaineers did not venture within
1t. and the ghosts mad II mucn OF lne tline
to themselves.
The obscurities of twilight were pres
entity embodied about it. The white walls
rose, vaguely glimmering against the pine
forests in the back ground, and above the
shadowy ADVISES which it overlooked.
The old man was gazing meditatively at
it as he said, reprehensively; Pears IKE
ter me- Dick, ez We oughter be thankful we
warn't killed utterly-ye oughter be
thankful it air no wuss.
"Dick amt thankful fur haffen o. nuth.
in'i' Mrs. Scott interposed. 'Twar Jes'
las night he looked like SUI thin in trap:
He walked the floor till nigh day-till
jes' TUX heart o grace an told him eH ms
dad he'd laid them puncheons ter last an
not to be walked on till they were wore
yit he air alive an hearty, an | hev got
my son agin. An sets ez much store by
him with one arm ez two.
And indeed she looked checrfully about
the dusky landscape as she rose, rolling
the sock on her needles and thrusting
them into the ball OF yarn. Old Jonas
Scruggs hesitated when she told him n /
lurngly that she had a mighty nice ash
cake kivered on the hath" but he said
that his daughter-in-law, Jerusha, would
be expecting him, and nc could in no wise
bide to supper. And finally he started
homeward a little wistful, but serene in
the consciousness of having obeyed the
behests of Jerusha, who in these hard
times had grown sensitive about his habit
of taking meals with his cronies. AS
ef," she argued, 81 KEEP we on half rations
Mt home"
Dick rose at last from the doorstep and
turning slowly to go within, his absent
glance swept the night-shadowed scene.
He paused suddenly, and his keart seem
! ed beating in his throat.
A point of red light had sprung up in
the vague glooms. A will-o the-wisp =
some wavering ghosts candle to light
him to his grave With his accurate
knowledge Of the locality he sought to
place it. The distant CLEAN seemed to
| Shine from window of the old hotel, and
this bespoke the arrival ofrude occupants.
He heard wild halloo, II snatch of song
perhaps,-or was it fancy And were the
lucrative echoes in the gorge the fancy OF
| the old craRs
For the first time since he returned,
manned and helpless, and II non-combat,
ant, were the lawlesS marauders quartered
at the old hotel.
He stood for while gazing at 1t with
dilated eyes. Then he silently stepped
within the cabin and barred the door with
his trembling and awkward left hand;
The fire had been mended, and yellow
flames were undulating about the logs
with many a cleaning line OF grace Blue
and purple, and scarlet flashes they show
ed in fugitive iridescence. They illumined
his face, and his mother noted its pallor,-
deeper than that which he had brought
from the hospital.
"Ye hev got yer fancies agn' ~ she
cried. Then with anxious curiosity
"Whar be yer right hand now, Dick !"
She alluded to that cruel hallucination
of sensation in the lost member.
''Whor if Ouuht tO he ~ he QrOunpU ION
the trigger o my carbne.'
1t was not that his arm was gone. 1t
was the subtle essence that had nerved it
his courage. And he was anguished with
the poignant humiliation of n man who
has once been brave.
1t had been wonderful period OF mental
development for this wild young creature
OF the woods, when he found in his sudden
transition to the valley kentry" his first
adequate impressions of civilization. lie
learned that the world is wide he beheld
the triumphs of military science he ac-
guessed in the fixed distinctions Of rank,
since he must needs concede the finer
grades of capacity. But physical courage,
the inherent inimitable endowment,-he
recognized it as the soul of heroism, and
in all the arrogance of citation he became
conscious that he possessed it. This it
was that opened his stolid mind to the al
lurements Of ambition. He rejoiced in an
aspiration.
He was brave. That was his identity
his essential vitality Was he ignorant.
poor, the butt OF the campfire jokes, be
cause of his simplicity in the wide world 5
ways, slothful, slow, wild and turbulent
he took heed OF none Of this He was the
, bravest Of the brave-and all the command
knewit
And after that fateful day when MAIN
ed and wan, and woe begone, he came
, forth from the hospital and journeyed out
= from among the camps, and flags, and
big guns, and all the ornaments OF war
D thrice splendid to his backward gaze, il
. seemed to him that he had left there more
: than was yisible-that noble identity o
valor for which he had revered himself
J.. Thenceforth he felt metamorphosed
|, For he found as he went "A strange quak
T. ing in his heart. 1t was an alien thing
and he strove to repudiate the shame ant
4 ached with helpless despair When HI
n came into unfamiliar regions and suddei
t CHATTER upon the lonely country roaC
I would herald the approach of MOUNTED
/ strangers, hating and hailng him, the con
a vulsive start Ofhis MANNED right arm will
: the instinct to seize his weapons and thu
4 sense OF being defenceless utterly, woul'
i so unnerve him that he would give dis
/ iointed account of himself, with hang
l. dog look and faltering words. And NOR
= | than once he was SEIZED and roughly han
r died and dragged to headquarters to shov
g his papers and be at last passed on by tn
a authorities.
: He began to say to himself that his cour
n age was in his cavalry pistol.
n Before God ~ he cried, ''me an m.
G right arm, an my weepon air like salt
/ petre an charcoal an sulphur,-no 'coun
e apart. An tergether they mean poe
! der ~
e And doubly bereaved, he had come il
sight Of home.
l. But his mother fell upon his neck witt
n joy and the neighbors gathered to NEE
hi Tln ~ down nft Inl Inn
Ie mer were deepening upon the mountains
with gorgeous fantasies OF color with Ell
| rant winds, harping Rolian numbers il
4 the great pines with n translucent pun
= pie haze, and n great red sun, and the hun
- ter's moon, most luminous. The solemn
it ty and peace stole in upon his heart, an
revived within him that cherished sens
at of home, 50 potent with the mountaineei
st and in some wise he was consoled.
in Yet he hardly paused. In this lighte
ar mood he went on to the settlement, cage
re that the news. of his coming should nc
as precede him
Of There was bridge to cross, and rock
hi ascent, and at the summit stood the iirs
ID log cabin of the scattered little hamlet
a. from the porch, overgrown with no
n vines, he heard the whir of a spnnin
n wheel. He saw the girl who stood besid
IN il before she noticed the sound of his steI
is Then she turned, staring at him wit
tn startled recognition. at air me, " he sale
nj loosely,
at From his hollow eyes and sunken cheek
Is and wan smile her gaze fell upon h
20 empty sleeve. She suddenly threw h,
ne arm across her face. ''I-I-can't abiC
of ter look at yen' she faltored, with gus
n of tears.
a. He stood dumbfounded for moment
NJ "Durn it ~ he cried. ~ can't abide t.
~ look ut meself ~
And with bitter laugh he turned G
ce his heel
N. He would not be reconciled later. III
" wound she had Internationally dealt hi
ro ranked long. He said Della Noakes WI
nf sensible gal" Plenty of brave Inc
al would come home whole from the wal
hv and as TO him, he could not hold Il gun,
re a plough, or an axe, and she doubtle
.ic thought he would not be able to provit
ed for her. He could not defend himsel
1a much less her. And he declared, bitterl
no he was afraid of every man he met
'ns And so it was when he marked the lig
in the old hotel his morbid cowardice |
ra asserted itself.
as The next day he was moody and mOrOs
at and brooded silently over the fire. II
ed doors were closed, for winter had come
W. last. The hoar frost whitened the gre