Iuka reporter. (Iuka, Miss.) 1888-1894, 1889-05-09

monsieur, was the lowSpoken response.
Marie was an Americanized Creole. who
spoke French and English with equal
fuency.
"Then you are willing to takeit now p
decisively.
"No, monsieur. That is, II have
reasons for not"
Here speech failed her, and she glanc-
ed appealingly at her martial interlocu-
tor.
'You must know, surely, that without
taking the oath you cannot pass out OF
the lines, said he, coolly.
She was painfully aware of that in
flexible military law, but how could she
bind herself ''to give no aid or comfort
to her own brother, who, at that very
moment, was lying in spualid swamp
shanty, suffering, if not dying, for want
of food and care She was still mourn
lng-in heart as well as in attire-for
two brothers sleeping in soldiers graves.
To save this only remaining one, should
she perjure herself or, for truths sake,
must she renounce her mission, and
leave him to slow starvation and the bit
ter agony of feeling himself forsaken
Tnen, too, her gentle invalid mother,
whose heart was breaking for her boy |!
Heaven help the distracted girl What
should she dol
She stood with hands tightly clasped,
looking down, fora few seconds. Then.
with her clear brown eyes meeting the
keen gray ones, she said, "Monsieur,
if could break it, 1 would take ii. /"
''Be as good as to explain yourself, I"
was the sharp reioinder.
81 mean thai ii my conscience would
let me violate solemn oath, I would
not mind taking that one, she answer
ed, gently. 81 would not, could not,
refuse to relieve the suffering" she
went on, her lips quivering and eyes
filling, whether your enemy or mine;
whether black or white, Federal OF Con-
federate, monsieur"
Such candor was surprising, perhaps
impolite, but it did not seem to dis
please the Provost Marshal. Marie
caught her breath with half-sob.
sBut this I can do" she resumed,
earnestly. 81 can give you my word
and no oath could be more sacred than
l will hold ito give no information
Whatever regarding his post or bearing
In any way upon military affairs to any
one, monsieur"
The attention of all present, citizens,
guards and officers, was conferred on the
pale, graceful girl, whose simple
mourning dress and pathetic repression
of strong emotion excited their respect
full sympathy. The Provost Marshal
scanned the fair, truthful face, and sud
IDENTIFY inquired her name and place of
residence. Both were promptly given.
Another quick, scrutinizing look into
the depths of her unfinching eyes, and
he seized blank, swiftly filed it out,
signed it, and handed it to her.
elbow will that do ?" said he, pleas
antly. She read it, her anxious heart
fiuttering up to her throat The prec-
ious pass was hers; the conditions
named were in the exact words of her
voluntary pledge.
1t was noon when Marie Latour cross,
ed the river on the ferry of the Federal
post. A spawned mule and rickety
buggy We're procured hard by, with lad
for driver, and the young girl set forth
on her mission. At dusk she reached
the mouth of the bayou along whose
course the rest Of her route lay. Here,
from the occupant of solitary house,
she learned that the roads beyond were
passable, but that all the horses and
mules of the neighborhood had been
CLEANED OUT by the contending armies
and the jayhawkers, while on the bayou,
as on the river itself, the Federals had
destroyed everything in the shape of
boat,
EDO you know the old Frenchman
who lives in the swamp on Coulee Noir.
some fifteen miles up the bayou 2" Marie
inquired.
"Know ole Baptiste Bonzon ?" the
man exclaimed. Reckon SOL Some
folks lows he's crazy" he went on, s"n
il bein Their cutest raskil goin' is that,
it's bout time ole Bouzy wur shut up"
Marie pushed on in the moonlight
three miles farther, to one Jules Gull |
beau's, where she had been told she
g mought git holp." Here she stayed |
The rest of the night Guilbeau and his
wife listened to her story with mingled |
wonder and pity, and the man at once
agreed to go on with her, and bring the
'ick boy back i'll his ox-cart, if only he
,ould find his oxen, which had been
lriven far into the forest for safety.
Earle, to be sure, still INDUCED hope
hat Oscar might be sufficiently strong
Q return in the buggy. And even
While she was bargaining for the oxen,
Ter mind, all alert as it was, caught
agerly at a new possibility. For Bou-
on had boat hidden somewhere,
iuilbeau said.
Ma .fSi! Eet stay hide, too" he
dded, nodding alphabetically. +" Not to
ev the life of yonr brothare--no, not
or one hundared brothare-he reesk.
ne Yankee to brek hees boat. y
/" But for money!" Marie ventured.
You hev monee, he? TEX care he
now not OF that, ma m 'sella l" was the
nick reply
Needing this friendly warning for
Ie simple honesty of man and wife
ere past suspicion she left all but
n dollars of her store in Madame
uilbeau's keeping, and by daybreak ]
rs again on her journey. For a time /
II course lay between small farms on I
9 one hand, and the bayou on the
bar Then fa,. nnilae MT a dma1linn 4 4