Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1889-03-01
would .ssouisA m. greatly If he put it IN

would astonish me greatly il he put Il IN
practice"
Indeed. it was hardly . week from then
when the chief Of the customs sent him com
mand to arrest Antoine at once and on sight
This time he was sure Of him; one Of his COM
rades had sluealed, and Antoine would pan
the frontier that very night about 2 O'Clock .
league and half from the village, and with
full and valuable load.
The eyes of Alcides sparkled with pleasure.
At last he was to be disembarrassed, and for .
long time to come, Of his pest At 10 pro
cisely he took the road with his four men,
posting them from distance to distance, 50
that Antoine would have no chance to escape.
That night was black and moonless, but
mild and perfumed Spring was reawaken-
ing and a mellow langour pervaded all ma
ture. Alcdes, pacing from side to side with
his horse well in hand, watched at the inter
section Of the mountain path and thought OF
his wife, whom day by day he loved more
madly. Tears came to his eyes as be pictured
that darling little creature, who was his, all
his, and who was thinking of him doubtless,
below there in that tiny chamber.
The nightingale sang with abandon in the
trees Of the valley; the ring doves coed in
the thickets; the screech owls crooned their
amorous plants For the first time in his
life Alcides cursed the service. Suddenly a
distant clock sounded IL slowly. Two hours
more to wait.
Then the desire seized him to pass away the
time in galloping to his home-it was only
the affair of fifteen minutes-to reawaken
Laide with some tender kisses which would
borrow additional charm from their unusual
hurry, and to return to his post again re-
freshed by that moment of ightness. Who
was there to find fault with him for it, Tho
service would lose nothingi
Nevertheless be still hesitated But all at
once sort of Authorization possessed him. he
saw floating there beneath him on the plain q
white feminine form which extended its arms
to him, Ee held out no longer-in the twink
ling of an eye he was in the saddle his saber
and reyolvers Gathering in their holsters
under the precipitate bounds of his horse.
Twelve minutes later he had fastened his
horse to the hedge, some fifty feet from his
dwelling, glided the key into the lock, and,
burning with love and impatience, assembled
the stairs. As he reached the landing the
chamber door opened brusquely and--was he
mad or dreaming Piou and Iadie
were before him-Antoine, his enemy, and
Laide, his wife-terror stricken, rigid, after
the first cry of horror, as the figure that
stood like stone barring their way,
Like stone, did | say. Yes, but for a SEC
ond only; then there was the report of pis-
tol-six of them, one after the other
All. well, twas soon ended Automatically,
without disturbing himself further about the
two corpses, one upon the other in a spread
ing wave of blood, Alcides lifted the light
that burned upon the chimney piece and
descended again, to the office. this time, to
write out in his great sprawling fist the paper
for the proces-verbal and inquest.
To-day" he began today. the I'D Of May
IS, before U.S. Alcides Gastebois. marechal des
logis OF gendarmerie and the commandant OF the
frontier post of K, do hereby declare Of my
self and in my own presence that have killed. at
twelve O'Clock and eighteen minutes, by shots
from q revolver, Adelaide, nee Fournaim my law
full wife, and also NJ Antoine Piou, contrabandist,
whom have surprised at a time and place that
permitted no doubt of their guilty relations
''In faith of which have written out this process
verbal and recognize II as correct and in con-
fornity with the facts in the case.
"[Signedl ALcIDEs GAsTEBoIs"
This task finished, Alcides got up and pre-
pared to resume his horse, not to take up his
sentry again, but to go to the city and deliver
himself as prisoner to justice As he opened
the door, with last backward glance upon
his paradise changed to hell, there was a sud-
den fierce growl a bounding body that seemed
to have been crouching at the threshold, a
leap and plunge against him. He slipped, fell
against the railing under the unforeseen az
sault, and rolled to the ground.
When the gendarmes who had awaited him
returned in the morning he lay where he had
fallen, his breast and throat torn to shreds by
savage teeth.
He had been dead for hours, and above
stairs Etranne, with bloody jaws, whined
lamentably upon the breast Of his master -
Translated from the French of Nazim for The
New York Mercury by E. C. Waggener