The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1888-04-05


blue sky and white woolly clouds, is
enough. 1t Is as good as being refined
and intellectual.
At anv rate this woman thought il
was good, and while she was not happy
for only children and young lambs,
bride on her wedding day, or mother
with her first baby in her arms, can tru
ly be said to be happy she was content.
The children were at play in the sands
under the runins of an old dock where
ages ago some men had built river
schOoners for living and the ferry was
idly tethered to the bank. IL was
peaceful time.
Just at this moment there sounded in
the woods the bayIng Of hounds, noise
that heard in the forest always makes
one think of the booming Of a funeral
drum. A dust was in the road, the beat
of horses' hoOfs and half dozen men
with guns on their elbows rode up and
called to the woman hurridly. Two
convicts at work in the railroad camp in
the next county had escaped and headed
this way-and had she seen or heard
anything of them ?
The woman stared at the men, clasp
ing the peaked ratings of her little gate
with her hard hands an1 seeming strick-
en- dumb. Well. she must come and
ferry them over the river. the leader
said, and she must keep sharp lookout
for The men, and il they came that way
she was to send word at once tn the
crossroads store. So the men and the
hounds that had been fiprcely tapping at
the bitter water. went over on the ferry
and dashed off into the dismal forest.
And the woman stood ringing her hands
and looking after them with anguish in
her eyes.
Night came on, the children ate their
supper nf sw, ct potatoes that had been
roasted in the ashes. and then went down
to the river to wash their feet, after
which they crept off to bed. But the
ferry woman could not sleep. She open
ed the wooden shutters and put "A pine
knot, flaming brightly, on the hearth
1t sent forth rich, smoky. joyous light
that could he seen far beyond the black,
flowing tide of the river. This done she
gathered the skirt of her pink calico
gown up over her head and went down
by the ferry watching and waiting in
mysterious fashion The moon came
and then went away. The dewy night
with all it's strange noises, grew apace.
The watcher looked with calm cOntid
ing grace up into the stars. Theirs were
faces she knew. They seemed to answer
her back. An owl hooted off in the
swamp. A bit OF cavIng bank fell with
a splash into the waters and fish leap
ed up in mid stream and seemed poised
for single breath of time, like a silver
cone in the bue-dark Of the night.
Suddenly the woman stepped softly
into the raft, put her hand on the rope
and leaning there stared into the dark
ness beyond the further bank. A slight,
unusual noise had startled her--the
breaking OF twigs, something brushing
by the jungle of briar and bramble at
the edge of the path, and which was
not done by any alligator or thing OF the
woods and swamp.
Straining her eyes md ears, she seem
ed 10 make out two dark shapes creep
ing along towards the rivers brim.
Bill I'm coming ! the woman whisper
ed. but a whisper so intense and hoarse
it was heard across the narrow stream,
and then, as of old, stralning at her task,
the woman pulled the ferry over, and
tho two men stumbled in and laid upon
luG bONlblI VI lllG lhlNs no ihoN ho oiiC
could the ferry woman pulled her boat
back to the home shore. and with
whispered wait sped off to her cabin,
where she put out the light that had
done its work. When she came back
sine carried food and SOME clothes, two
old worn suits, across her arm, ,and these
she flung at the men, Not a word was
spoken. The woman leaned on the rope
and looked up at the stars, that seemed
to speak back to her.
The two men hiding in the shadow Of
a yellow bluff put off their strange,
striped garments for the clothes the fer
ry woman had given them. As they
came forth she turned and pointed the
way off into the forest. One Of the men
cre pt close to the woman, leaning on the
ferry rope, and looking at her curiously.
Why did you do ilT With a little
smothered cry in her throat she SAID:
Il though you wuz Bill, sure " shoot
in. Bill wears them striped things. SO
long. You'se jest as welcome as If you
wuz him, anyhow
The shapes sped II into the wood and
the woman on her knees IN the shadow
of the yellow bluff rolled the cast off
garments into huge bundle, and made
as if she would bury them in the sand.
She thought better of 1t, however, and
stepping into her ferry, pulled it out in
to the middle of the stream. Leaning
over the edge of the raft, she tossed the
bundle far out into the water. For a
little while it bobbed along on the wave
made by the ferry looking like the bloat
ed carcass Of drowned hog OF calf, and
then stealthily the strange waters sucked
it down. The ferry woman looked up
at the stars. sighed, and grasplng the
rope pulled her ferry back to shore.
The next afternoon, mud-stained,
travel-worn, and dirty, the men on
horseback and their bayin dogs came
back and were ferried over the river.
You seen anything Of them cursed ras
kills ? asked the leader, leaning on his
gun and looking down on the bended
back of the woman straining heavily at
the ferry rope.
No, haint, said she, not raising her
head, and she did not 30 much as turn
her eyes to gaze upon the spot in the
river where the black waters still seemed
to bubble over the hideous, sunken bun
die she had cast into it the night before.
.-[Cstharine Cole in New Orleans Plea
yune.