The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1890-10-10
PART IL.
ToLD III RICHARD FENfoN OF FRENCHAY,
GLoUcEsrER> ,l.lik, ESQUIRE.


PART II.
TOLD nj RICHARD FEsroN OF rRENcHAY,
GLOUCESTER I4itt, ESQUIRE.
I.
AS my old friend Phil Brand has asked me
to do this. j suppose ! must. Brand is a right
good fellow and a clever fellow, but has
plenty OF crutchets of his own. The worst /
KNOW of him is that he insists upon having
his own with people. With those who differ
from him he Is as obstinate as a mule. Any
now, he has always had his own way with
me. This custom, SO far as l am concerned,
commenced years ago, when we were boysat
school together. and ] have never been able
to shake off the bad habit of giving in to
him; He has promised to see that my queens
English is ~prcsentable; for, to tell the truth,
/! am more at home across country than across
toolscap, and my fingers know the feel of the
reins OF the trigger better than that of tile
pen.
All the sameI hope he won't take too
may be; for old Bmnd'at times is apt to get
well, q bit Prcsy. To hear him on the sub
Iect OF hard work and the ~sanctity thereof APP
breaches tile sublime!
What freak took me to the little God-for-
winter is entirely between myself and my
conscience. The cause, having no bearing
upon the matters l am asked to tell YOU about
Is no. ones business but mine-Iswill only
say that now l would not stay in such a place
a. such q time OF the year for the sake OF the
chance, OF meeting her once or twice. But
ones ideas change. ! am now a good bit
older, ride some two stones heavier, and have
been married ever SO many years. Perhaps,
AFTER AL, as L look back l can find some eN-
cuse for being such an ass as to endure for
more than a fortnight all the discomtorts
heaped upon me in that little village inn.
a man who SolouIlS i'll such a hole as Mid
coilDe must give some reason for doing so.
My ostensible reason was hunting. l had a
pack OF slow-going mongrels did meet some
Where IN the neighborhood. So no one could
gainsay my explanation. Butt hunting was
my object, l got precious little of it. A few
lays after my arrival a bitter, biting frost set
ma ifost as black as your hat, and as hard
as nails. Yet still l stayed on.
From private information rcceived-no
matter how, when, or where-I knew that
some people III the neighborilood had organ
!zed a party to go skating OH a certain day at
llymeIe a fine sheet of water some distance
whom I particularly desired to meet would
be there, and as the skating at Liiymere was
Tree TO any II who chose to take the trouble
Of getting to such an out-ofthe-way place, 1
nlred a horse n an apology for a dog-cart,
nAu. ~ Ia viz ilkSl HI SlAl Gtu 10 ullNt lllc
Twelve miles to the pond. l took no one with
me. l had been in Lilymere once before, in
bright summer weather, SO fancied | knew
he way well enough.
VIM mhe w SKY cS when ! started aarh was cloudy; the
made. the effete rustic old host!er predict a
:hange of weather. He was right. Before /
had driven two miles light snow beganto fall,
Ind BY the time | reached a wrctched little
Esayside inn, about q mile from the Mere, a
nm OF white covered the whole country. 1
stabbed my horse as well as / could, then,
saklng my skates with me, walked down to
the pond.
Now, whether l had mistaken the day, or
whether the threatening fall of snow had
made certain people change their minds, I
n know; but, to my annoyance and veXa-
.lon, no skaters were to be seen, and, more
over, the uncut, white surface told me that
none had been on the pond that morning.
Still, hoping they might come in spite of tile
weather, put on my skates and went out.
'ide.edglng and grape-vining all over the
place. But as there was no person in partic-
alar-in fact, no one at ALTO note nv pow
:.rs, l soon got tired. 1t was, indeed, dreary.
ireary work. But l waited and hoped until
ne snow came down SO fast and furiously,
That I felt sure that waiting was in vain, and
that had driven to Lilymere for nothing.
Back | went to the little inn; utterly dis
Eusted with things in general, and feeling
that to break some ones head would be a re-
lief to rue in my present state of mind. OF
course, a sensible man would at once have
got his horse between the shafts and driven
home. But, whatever ! may be now, in those
days l was not q sensible man-Brand will,
! know, cordially. indorse this remark-the
accommodation of the inn was not such as to
induce one to linger within its precincts: but
the fire was a right good one, and a drink,
which l skillftlly manufactured out of some
hot beer. wa not to be desplsed, and proved
Syl rrllInp tn TIM hnIu and cnnfhinu TN fhn
ruffled temper. So l fingered over the big
fire until l began to feel hungry, and upon
the landlady assuring Inc that she could cook
n rasheT, decided it would be wiser to stay
where I was until the violence of the SHOW
storm was over; for coming down it was now,
and no mistake!
And it kept on coming down. About half
past three, when l sorrowfuily decided | was
bound to make a move. it was showing faster
than ever. / harnesscd my horse, and laugh
Ing at the old woman's dismal prophecy that
weather, gathered up the reins, and away ]
went along the white road.
l thought knew the way well enough. In
fact, ! had always prided myself upon res
mlembering any road once driven over by me
but does any one who has not tried 1t really
know how a heavy fall of snow changes the
aspect of the country, and makes Landmarks
snares and delusionsp l learnt all about it
then, once. and for all. l found. also, that
the snow lay much deeper than 1 thought
could possibly be in so short q time, and it
still fell in a manner almost binding. Yet
went on bravely and mer1ily for some miles.
Then anne a bit of uncertainty
Which of those two roads was the right
one? This one, of course-no, the other.
There was no house near; no one was likely
to be passing in such weather, sol was lcf,
llege l would willingly have dispensed with.
However, l made the best selection l could,
and followed it for some two miles. Then ]
began to grow doubtful, and soon persIad'
ing myself that l was on the wrong track, re
traced my steps. ! was by this time some.
thing like a huge white plastcr-of-paris fig,
IRE, and the snow which had accumulated OF
the old dog-cart made It run heavier by half
atom, more or less. By the time l came tc
that unlucky junction of roads at which my
I as black as a tarpau!in, yet sending dowr
the white feathery flakes thicker and fastel
than ever. l ielt inclined to curse my folly ir
attempting such a drive, at any rate I blamed
myself Tor not having started two or three
hours earlier. I'll warrant that steady-goine
old Brand never had to accuse himselfo Of suci
fOolishness as mine
Well, l took the other road; went on some
way; came to a turning which l seemed t.
remember: and.n not without m~isgiyings. fol
lowed It My mlsgiyings increased when
after a little While, l found the road grew full
OF ruts, which the snow and the darkness.
quite concealed from me- until the wheels 20
into them. Evidently / was wrong again
was Just thinking of making the best of m,
way out OF this rough and unfrequented road
when-there, I don't know how IL happened
such things seldom occur to me-R stumble.
TALL on the part of my tired horse sent me tly
Ing over the dashboard, with the only consol
ing thought that tho reins were still in III,
hand.
Luckily the s3ow had made the fallins
pretty soft ! SOON picked myself up and Sc
about estimating damages. With some diff
Guilty I got the horse out Of the harness an
then felt free to inspect the dog-calt. Alas
after the manner of the two-wheel kind
whenever a horse thinks fit to fall, one shaft
had snapped off like q carrot: so here was /
Gye miles apparently from anywhere, in tn,
thick of a binding snowstorm, left standins
helpless beside a jaded horse and a broker
cart- should like to know what BranJ
would have done under the circumstances.
Al for me, l reflected for some minutes
reflection IN a snOwstorm Is weary work.
reasoned, believe, logically, and at last cam
to this decision: l would follow the road. II
as ! suspected, 1t was but q cart track, 4
would probably soon lead to habitation O
come kind. Anyway, 1 had better try a BIZ
further: took hold Of the wearied horse
and with snow under my feet, snowflake
whiriing round me, and a wind blowing RICH,
Into my teeth, struggled on.
1t was a journeyl / think / must hayt
been t~hree-Quarters OF an hour going fs,oui
Q quarter OF a mile. / was lust beginning n