Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1885-10-02

Again the sound came. This time
Owen stopped and listened. NJ;
1 A thought came into his mind as he 4
did SO, but it initiated so directly
against his inclinations to give heed to
it that with an impatient .Pshaw' he
started on &az* .5s488 :.as "
But he could not rid himself'of it. Il
was this: ''f a ship is in peril, and
has lost her way, the only thing that
could save her would be huge beacon
fire to cast a light upon her surround
ings." IN. .&.- =. ~ !.
70 build a fire would be q work of
time and of hard labor
To keep one UP, long enough to do
any good would take hours of watch
fitness, and he would have to abandon
all hope Of seeing Annie that evening.
1t was hard struggle, but inclina-
ton proved to be made of a material
which could not hold out against his
own strong sense of duty.
He gave up all thought of the pleas
ant greetings he had been living upon
in bis heart all day long, and set him.
self to work to gather fuel for the bea
con fire.
After several hurried Journeys to the
| woodland, which lay little distance
| away, he succeeded in accommodating
a pile Of branches aud dry tWigs, which
he had raked out with his hands from
| a deserted hut, which stood on the
! confines OF the thicket, and had evil
IDENTITY been gathered together for some
purpose; but under the circumstances
Owen felt himself Justified in taking
it, as it would have been almost i'm
| possible to have kindled flame of
green wood.
just as he had succeeded III coaxing
a splend d blaze into life, voice cried:
Halo, Glenn, is that YOU? What
in the name of wonder are you doing?"
- am answer ng to a signal of dis
tress. Hark!" as |, dull sound came
again from the sea-.
"Well, old fellow, wish you JOY of
your post. and hope it'll do the good
you expect. For my part I'm OF to
old Martins. I hear little Annie is
going away tomorrow, and I don't
want to miss sight OF her beaning
face tonight. It's bright and sweet
enough to be mans beacon light for
all his lfe>> Good bye, and good for
tune attend ycur work. It's lucky all
are not such selfish fellows as I ann
1t was as if a thousand fien'ls were
Juggling for the mastery of Owen
Glenn's heart as he listened to the
rafting talk of the gay, bght-hearted
youth.
Should he give Robert this chance
of seeing Ann e, and of perhaps asking
her to be his wife during this very
; ,irrh rvi,; Ia In
do good, and in God providence tried
to be the means of saving the lives of
people who were nothir e to m?
Thus his thoughts ran over and over
again, repeating themselves like the
voices of hooking demons, while out
wardly he labored on as unremittingly
as though no influence of the kind
were at work piling on fresh fuel for
the flames, or pushing some burning
log into a better position, and in that
way won the victory.
Peace succeeded to the wild storm
of agitation which had momentarily
threatened to engulf him. Thus the
night wore through.
| With the morning came a great calm.
One would not have thought that the
sun -fecked waves which came leaping
in. white-crested and tumultuous, to
| meet the stern barrier of rocks, and
crawl up, up almost to their SUBMITS,
could be ,ught but playful in Their
force. All, it is a treacherous beauty
! that of the sea.
| Too tired to notice the beauty of The
. tran sition from storm to sunshine,
Owen walked slowly home. His work
was done. and he must have rest.
I Later in the day he started out for a
| walk. He was in that miserable state
of mind which oftentimes follows
some great exaltation of spirits. The
thought that Annie had gone away
without his seeing her again we:g hed
upon his mind like an unwelcOme in
,cubus.
! At the voice of Robert Hunter, who
stopped to accost him, he shrank and
trembled as though in pain, but he lis
tened as intently as though his life de-
pended upon what he was about to
say. Had he proposed to Annie. and
been accepted
''Glenn, ~ he began, Il wish YOU and
I could change places about last
nights work
ATS rather late for that now,n was
tho quiet answer.
Il m fully aware Of the fact, and
that's what I regret about it. I'm
afraid its all all up withme in q certain
direction
"What do you meanp' asked Owen,
with sudden interest
''Why, if you believe it, I might just
as we'll have left my visit unpaid last
night; indeed, had far better have done
so. Annie was so interested at the
chance Of there being a ship outside in
distress that it was all could do to
prevail upon her not to face the storm
and come and help, she said; and she
| gave me some pretty rubs, can tell
you. about my leaving you alone to do
the good work as she called it. [
dom t. believe that Annie will look at
me again without thought in her
mind of what ought to have done and
| didn't
! Such tide of Joy rushed through
| Owen Glenn's heart that he could
| hardly speak, and while he was strug-
| Cling to hide his emotion Robert went
on with his revelations, little realizing
! the effect of his words: y
''She's not going home to-day just
on that account She told me to tell
you to come up and see her and tell
her all about it. I wish it had been my
luck to make such hit. Women are
great on any one who tonchs their
feelings. You ought to have seen her
eyes snap and sparkle when she was
! lecturin4 me about not Stayinp To helm