New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1886-03-03
SPELLS OR NO SPELLS,
BY MARYc. PRESTON.

a guide llka cam O. sic tricks, my
BARN." said old Nancy, sohnnly.
1.-THE i'll one himself ha' all to do WI
them. Be sure yer ain bonnieface an
yer ain blue cen will bring ye a Draw
lad soon enow. Bide wi auld Nancy
an let giddy anes goo daft ABBOTT the
spells"
1But there is no harna,, and: Iwilf
not be afraid" said the "bairn," a
1axen-haired lass, with eyes as blue
as speedwells and lips assweet as roses
at day-dawn. Judith MacDougal
taught me the rhyme, and it is pretty.
Let me say it for you, auntie."
And she began in a sweet. clearvoice
which had caught it's music from the
wild winds as it rose. in childish free
dom while the girl sprang lightly from
crag to crag, or wandered among the
heather OF the Scottish hills:
Come over the mountains,
Come over the sea;
lwait for my lover,
beckon to thee!
A moaning cry from thesands below
broke on her spell.
! With white face and dilating ewes
she started back, and that moment
the thread was drawn from her hands,
although she had held it in a conyul-
sive grasp.
But she did not fly; perhaps some
OF that dauntless tide that had warm
ed the veins of the Mac;vors was in
hers. At any rate, after the first re-
coil she leaned over the cliff once more,
every sense on The alert.
eff it be spirit it Gamma harm me"
she told herself, "but it didna sound
like that. 1t had human sound"
Up from the sands below it came
again-a moaning cry for aid.
Throwing herself fiat on the rocks,
the girl bent forward and looked down.
Many feet below, on the whiteness
OF the sand, she could see dark mass,
and once more, fainter this time, she
heard that call for aid
Somebody has fallen from the
rocks. It maun be poor blind Dan,"
she whispered. "I'll cen run down
and see"
She sprang to her feet, blithe as a.
young deer; gathered the plaid around
her, and ran lightly along path peri
lous to feet less sure than hers, which
ran along the edge of the cliffs and led
directly to the white barrenness be-
low.
The fact that it was November
night, and she had come out to try a
spell of which her aunt did not APP
prove, was forgotten as she sped
down the path, light and sure-footed
as a chamois on it's native hills.
At last she reached the base of the
cliffs, and then some of the dauntless
courage forsook her and she shivered
in the night air.
For great, black steed lay PROSTATE
before her, struggling and kicking out
the sand, but evidently unable to
rise.
Near him, but beyond reach of the
frantic hoofs, as though, having drawn
himself so far from danger, life and fear
and all things else had fallen from him
lay a man, with white face upturned
to the smiling calm of the sky.
But the old woman stopped her
sternly. "Na mair o. sic folly" she
said: "It be ma godly. Gin ye maun
say it, say it where Judith MacDou-
gal teltye to-, an see what will come
to we. Girls maun all be fules till
some lad comes, an then they maun
put on weddingrings, an find theirsel's
greater fules yet Gang AVA, chiel, an
dinna fash me wi yer folly"
So pretty Janet, with the ball of
yarn in her hand, went out to the
moonlight silence, wrapped in a heavy
plaid
"Hold the end Of the yarn and fling
the ball over Cliff Judith had told
her. Gas you rewind the yarn say
the spell aloud, again and again. It
will bring your lover to you, if he be
on earth. When / tried last year
Donald stole up behind me and kissed
me on the cheek, and he and | are to
wed at Christmas
So Janet hurried along the path
that led to the cliffs, as bonnie lassie
as Scotland held that night, as brave
and fearless
But when she had cast her ball into
the darkness and felt the thread tighten
in her fingers she cast a swift glance
over her shoulder before beginning the
rhyme:
Come over the mountains,
Come over the sea;
1wait for my lover
Janet subdued the shrinking that
came over her, hurried to the side of
the fallen figure knelt, and scanned
the features closely.
cit is the lairds's son, Douglas Cam
eron" she cried, with a start, .sand
heaven befriend hin-he is dead!'
At her voice a pair Of heavy eyes
opened slowly and fixed themselves
upon her face. They were dim with
pain and faintness, but she could not
know that in the moonlight.
t'Nay, lass!" he answered ,laboredly.
II am crushed bit, and my leg is
broken, but it takes much to kill
Cameron"
With the last word he tainted dead
away.
janet vas no dainty maiden beauti-