Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-04-23

occupied after his departure by his mart.
ncr' a single man, the establishments
would, naturally, be considerably re0
duced. But, as his intention was onlv
known to his immediate family. and
ne ald not wish it generally spoken of
until his plans were fixed, I do not 500.
that the servants can have had aru o.
quaintanoe with his projected move
ment' although subsequent events have
niaoo me come reluctantly to
ehe conclusion that Sammy, in
spite Of being a trustworthy
servant and the factotum of the estab-
l'shment, was the prime mover in the
disturbance of our peace and comfort. I
may DC doing him an injustice, but he
must. l think. have in some way become
aware OF the impending changes, and
have taken the means lam about to mar
rate to get rid of a servant whose foot
ingl IN the house was of longer standing
than hisrown.
I This, however, is only conjecture. rs
we never succeeded in clearing up the
mystery.
Ono hot evening we were seated at
table, the party consisting Of my sister,
her husband, two Young men-his
cousins-and myself. The Servants had
left the room for one Of the courses,
when, instead of returning, wo heard a
hubbub of mingled voices, cries of ter
ror, a stampede Of naked feet pattering
along the tiled vcranda, and while We
were lost in amazcment as to what the
cause Of tho sudden disturbance might
be, in rushed one of them, Djuman by
name, his face that ashcn hue which In
dams assume when pale, his very turban
shaking on his head, as in tremulous
voice he cried pitcously:
"M'sieu. pierre fine tombe, vcnez,
gctc Ii, fine coupe tete doomon, ma pas
come doomon Z~ette-li, sarse, nc trouve-
H."
But as 1 can not speak creole cor
rectly, not to mention spelling it, l had
better give q translation Of the more
puzzling words in his ejaculatory SEN
tence. ''Sarsc" is ''chez Chez" as Gre
olcs can not pronounce "ch;;" ''gctc" is
look or '%.sec;" doomon" is a very gen
cral term applied to adj and sundry. Amy
II wishing to sec you is u ''doomon;"
all news is heard from ''%quelque
doomon," and | believe is traced to 'du
monde" Every second sentence be-
gins with ''fine" and ends with 'li,"
followed by IN extraordinary sort OF
grunt-"Eh!' something like the
YAH" of u London street boy.
Djuman's trembling u%tterances were
to the effect that while cook was dish
ing the dinner stones began to fall at
intervals on the stove, on the table. and
in different parts of the kitchen, COM
ing down on the outside wooden roof
of the building, which stood alone at
some fifty yards from the house, with
a sharp, clear ping" and falling down
into the room without a crack Or an
%apcraturo of any kind being visible
on the ceiling to show how they had af-
footed an entrance.
My sister, who was of a nervous
temperament, did not like it at all, and
shrank close to her husbands side,
begging him not to leave her. The
two young men and l rose, ran across
the veranda and the bright moonlit
paved yard into the little kitchen,
where l did not know at first whether
to be alarmed on seeing the cooks
brother, who had rushed in from tho
ncighboring ''cour' at the first noise of
the falling stones, standing ruefnlly
rubbing his head, which was bleeding
from Il blow he had received; or amused
at seeing half Il dozen full-grown men
capering about like so many children,
whimpcring, their teeth chattering from
terror, all talking at once and each Civ
ing Il different version of the story in
high-pitched voices.
stood gazing at the ceiling, when a
sharp thud above me made me leap
suddenly into the air, and stone larger
than my fist fell atmy feet.
After quoting his wife's fears G. (my
brothcr-in-law) followed us, and in
stead Of sympathizing with the general
terror sharply told the servants to
stop all this nonsense, that he would
soon find out the practical joker, cut
him a months wages-the S ual threat
and deprive him Of his monthly bag
Of rice. Then he ordered them to pro-
coed ut once serving the rest of the dim
ner.
The excitement was far too great to
permit OF my doing any thing SO prosaic
was unexplained. so the two youths and
l. remained Ill Ilc VciHllud. OHe 1ctCuc'l
his gun and fired into the woods and
across q %neighboring ravine, hoping
that if the aggggressor was hidden in its
wooded recesses the sound of firing
wouldcause him to desist.
He then climbed q tall tree, from
which, as it was a glorious moonlit
highland no one who has not seen the
beauty of a tropical full moor can have
any idea of its soft and yet clear bril-
liance-he could see Il great distance,
while I fearfully peered about among
tine low bushes, keeping all the while in
the close vicinity of my s~sx-foot compan-
ion, who, though pooh-poohing the
whole affair, did not, l could see, like it
at all. l confess that | surreptitlously
picked up the stone I had found in the
kitchen and smelled it 80 see if l could
find any trace of birthstone.
An hour or tive elapsed and still the
stones fell, doing more or less damage.
Sometimes one or t%wo::would come bang,
bang after each other, then a quarter OF
an hour would elapse, and we would
think it was all over when the noise and
battery would recommence