The Penn's Grove record., 1888-02-11
WILDING'S SUMMONS.

at the Diggingsp Well, l don't know
that / remember any stories, and il l
did, they'd be rather rough ones."
s'Oh, never mind their being rough,
BERTHE; it would make them sound all
the better"
"Would 1t, indeed, Miss Kate! l
recollect something that happened to
meat least: under my own eyes-be-
fore l got to the Diggings. You might
like that. particularly if you have belief
in the supernatural. 1t is Incidentally
true, and it is quite appropriate to the
day; this day. 1 mean, when We are
now sitting together"
"Oh, tell it; do tell it, Bertie."
1t was New Years Day. l and Kate,
brother and sister, and fixtures in the
old home, had welcomed the wanderer,
Robert, only two days before, after his
long rovings. 1t seemed that we could
not make enough of him, and that Kate
would aver plying him with ques-
lions. We two brothers were older by
several years than she was. All the
uncles and the cousins and the aunts
were coming to dinner in the evening
but this was only afternoon, and we
had gathered round the blazing fire In
the dark January day. after the lunch.
eon-tray was removed.
'Please tell it, BERTHE! What are
you waiting for?"
So BERTHE began his tale.
"I was for some time in the pine
forests of Maine, if you remember,
sharing in the pleasures and pains, the
good and bad luck, of a clearing sur
veyor's camp. One a~fternoon-it was
the last day of the year-when the
labor of the day was over, darkness
came swiftly down upon us, surrounded
as we were with towering mountains
and mighty trees. The fires were
lighted, and We sat beneath the over
hanging roof of the rude hut which
formed the nucleus of the camp. In
front Of Us the great fire of hemlock
logs and branches roared and blazed
and cracked, as It's huge tongues Of
fame leaped upwards toward the leaden
sky and made the darkness of the forest
seem yet more awful and ~impenetrable.
The rudy light that shone upon our
faces as we sat motioniess illuminated
another and more active group close at
hand, three or four who were preparing
the game which had been shot for sup
Der. In 'front.'"
"a dull, dark afternoon, just such
another as this one; and you were sit
ting around the fire as we are,' inter-
rupted Kate, who could never be silent
very long together.
"Oh, very much like this" answered
BERTHE, with a queer smile. After
which he went on with his narrative,
''In front of and below us lay the
river, its swift current chained by the
Ice, and its white surface stretching far
out until it was lost in the gloom be-
yond. Nc sound came to break the
stiffness of that vast solitude, saw our
own voices, the signing Of the wind
overhead among the pine cones, which
announced that a storm was getting up,
the intermittent howl or the wolf, and
now and then the shrill cry Of some
distant LOOM"
"WolvesI" ::cried Kate in a whisper.
ST should not have liked that. Why
do you stop. Bertie9"
my chief friend in the camp. nay,
my emily one, was James Wilding. He
had come from the Old country, no
mistaking that, nor that he was an
educated man and a gentleman. Often
l wondered what brought him out to a
place SO little suited to his refinement;
but he volunteered nc information, and
/ did not like to ask questions. An
other Englishman there was called
Gregory; the rest were of various breeds,
chiefly Yankees. That Gregory had
been a servant to Winding, and indeed.
was 80 still in a degree. We knew; but
In the camp all ranked pretty nearly as
equals. Gregory was a hearty, honest
man, much attached to his master"
"Was he good looking2" demanded
Kate.
"Whop" asked BERTHE, when he and
I had had Jul laugh out. "GregoryP"
"No, no; James Wilding."
"Very good-looklng, indeed, sister
mine. Fit for a hero Of romance. Am
I to go onr"
"Why, you know you are"
"Yes, Wilding was good looking;
even you young ladies would have
thought him SO; but he was worn and
sad and wasted. The man had some
great care upon hlm-I had always
oOph thdus SUhlCblLuCo L WOuLu CdtCu
Gregory's eyes fixed upon him with a
strange yearning. This afternoon of
which l am speaking Wilding seemed
quite buried in gloom, scarcely replied
to remarks, and hardly ate any supper
when we sat round to 1t. For a man
sharing camp life out in those wild and
desolate regions to be off his food to
the extent of refusing supper Is a re-
markable fact"
~ dare say 1t was not well cooked"
said Kate: '.you should have had
me tbere-I'd have made him an ONE
let"
without eggs; my dearp"
"Didn'tyou get any eggs? Goodness
graciousl Go on, Bertie.'
"Supper was half through, the rest
Of us eating like wolves, when | spoke
to him. whats amiss, Wilding, this
EVENING" You seem 10 havea Ut Of the
blues upon you.n