The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1885-08-21

A woeful freight those wagons bore;
q load of human misery; q company OF
wretched convicts, into whose souls
the iron of captivity had already en-;
tered; consignment Ofhatfied, trapped
andfOrsaken seekers afterllllclt wealth.
Youth and age We're there, and the
calling letters bound all together
in the links of a common despair.
Chained as they were, like wild bea~ IS,
some stood up, and in agonlzed voice
called upon friend, wife and child, who
answered not; while others, CrOuchin9
pitcously in q corner Of the rude con-
veyance, bowed their heads between
their trembling hands, and sought to
keep out the light of a sun which had
become hateful to them.
Suddenly, I caught sight of Dirk Syi-
vester. He was sitting on the side OF
the foremost wagon, his arms folded
across his chest, and a look OF eager
expectation on his finely nodded face,
thin and pale with confinement and
suffering. l called to him, but he
heard not; his gaze seemed fixed on
some far-away object, and a smile
played upon his wan lips.
/ hurried on in advance Ofthe cayal-
cade toward the Oasis, which | knew
it must pass, on it's way to the open
veldt. | remembered that the govern
or of the jail had told me the night be-
fore that ne had allowed IL last inter.
view before the fearful journey toCape
Town between man and wife, and that
they spoke some words in French,
which he did not understand, but
which seemed to have q wonderful Ell
feet on Dirk.
AS / neared the gate of the Oasis,
over which the blue-gums cast their
shade, and where the sweet trailing
flowers were in their full autumnal
beauty, | saw Sylvester's wife standing
mOtiOnless. She was attired in the
plain white dress she wore on the day
Ofthe trial, and also when she crowned
Dirk's hopes and him the envy
Of the bachelors of the Fields by be-
coming his own. Her golden hair
fOated unheeded on the lazy breath
from the distant plain; her eyes We're
turned upward to the deep blue sky
above, and her lips seemed to be nov
ing as if in silent prayer. There was
no need to tell her of the approach of
the convict party; their coming was
heralded by a wild refrain of q dismal
song chanted by the prisoners; and
adown the startled air camethesound
of creaking wheels, the cracking OF
whips, the shouting of orders and the
responsive curses of the mob. | was
unwilling to obtrude myself on her
notice, and therefore / did not speak
to her, but merely took up a position
close by the gate.
Nearer and nearer. came the rolling
wagons; and the crowd rushed through
the eddying dust, till, suddenly, they
caught a glimpse of the lonely watcher
in the gateway. There wasnot a man
there who did not knowthat the slight,
pale woman standing with her hands
clasped convulsively together, and her
whole soul concentrated as it were in
one long gaze, was Sylvester's wife.
Even the officials knew his history,
they knew he was no midnight pur.
chaser of stolen gems, but only a pas
sionate, hapless man; and as ii by IN
stinct, the melancholy procession
slowed and steadied and paused before
what was once the home of a pure and
holy love.
Dirk was standing now; the smile
on his lips lit up his whole coun-
tenance; he looked like the careless
happy Dirk of former days; the lines OF
care and deep anddull agony seemed to
soften and disappear from his face.
lie made a motion with his left hand
to his breast; with his right hepointed
to the awful blue of the c1oudless
heaven. and then-a thin streak OF
flame leapt from the midst OF the
creepers and the ~quivering leaves, a
sharp report rang out upon the morn
ing air, a puff OF smoke curled upward
fromthe gateway, and Dirk Sylvester,
with that strange, glad smile upon his
lips, fell heavily forward, shot right
through the heart by his wifel
4 n u n n
She never lived to take hertrial; in
deed she vas unconscious from the
time when by one supreme act she
broke the letters which were wearing
Dirk Sylvester's spirits down into the
dust and ashes of a misery too keen
for his endurance, till within o. few
minutes of her death.
Then q new light shone In her
fast-cosing eyes; she stretched out
her arms as to embrace a
viewless form, and with the words
dirk! Dirk Free forever, dear! Free,
Dirk, free!" trembling on her lips, her
soul went forth rejoicing on the mys-
tic journey to the dark hereafter.
4 X n
Soon after she had been laid to rest
by the side OF her husband in the GEM
etery, white with many a memorial
stone to ruined hopes, lives wrecked
and shattered, and affections sundered