St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-10-26

open grave, and his brothers dead body
stark and bleeding within it.
1t was one of those awful melodram-
attic ideas which sometimes occur with
irresistible force to such minds as Dick
Prothero'S at a great crisis in their
lives; and its very welrdness COM
mended it to his infiamed fancy. He
proceeded at once, with the energy of
despair, to carry the mad notion into
actual practice. lie took mp the
spade which lay in the back
yard, untouched by the fire, and
began to dig aud dig, to drown
his misery for awhile in the mere act of
digging. If Archie had been there he
might have grOaned and cried: but in
his utter solitude, alone with the prairie
and his vanished wife and child. he dug
and dug, with feverish energy, for very
need of some violent occupation. He
dug as be never knew he could dig be-
fore, with the wild maniac strength of
terrible sorrow.
As he dug the ashes and the smoke
blinded his eyes. and the fumes from
the fire rose up and choked him. But
still he dug on,going deeper and deeper
and flinging out the earth with fierce
ana frantic eagerness. He must get it
all done before Archie came back, and
at the very first sound of Archie'S
wheels in the distance he must pull out
his revolver. finished or not finished,
eyes in the grave he had dug himself.
He had OF down now into deep
subsoil, thick and clayey and hard to
cut through; but he went OH neyerthe-
Iess.digglng it square and even, and TAX
ing care to throw the clay well out of
the way, where 1t wouldn't interfere
with those sacred ashes. His eyes
were blinded with tears and smoke
and the dust from the pile, but still he
continued. He came across little stones
in the clay now and again. His spade
struck against them from time to time
or even cut into them. for they were
soft nodules. But he shoveled them
out with the rest of the dirt, and went
blindly on at his CHASTITY occupation.
Presently, as he worked, the sound of
distant wheels fell on his ear. 1t was
Archie coming back! If he meant to
carry his scheme into execution he must
make haste now. There was no time to
be lost. If Archie arrived he
would disarm him and prevent
him. Frantic with grief, he pulled
out his revolver and held it close to his
left temple. For one awful second he
paused and prayed. He knew he was
mad-what man would not go mad in
face of such blow?-bnt, all the
same, he prayed wildly for forgiveness.
Then he snapped the trigger right
against his brow and waited to know
that he was really dying.
A terrible moment of suspense fol-
lowed. What mad gone wrong? The
revolver had clearly hung fire somehow!
He had never known that truSty weapon
serve him such trick in his life before.
He took it down and looked at it care
I fully. AS he did so the cartridge
went off in his hands. and the
bullet buried itself in the deep clay bot
tom. What luck, to be sure! The very
powers of inanimate nature seemed to
fight against him! Why. he couldn't
even succeed in killing himself con-
furtably when he tried to do so. He
raised the pistol angrily to his head
once more. This time. at least, he'd
take care it didn't miss and disappoint
him.
But before he could fire again terri
BILE thrill ran through his brain; thrill
that made him drop the revolver IN his
amazement. For he heard. from the di-
rectlon where the wagon was advancing,
q cry of surprise-a chld'S cry OF sim
pie wonder aud establishment. The cry
went through him like fash of pain.
But it was JOY that unnerved him.
Then, Daisy, at least. was safei Daisy
had gone with Archie in the wagon! 1t
was DaiSy'S voice; and for DaiSy'S sake.
at any rate, he dared not kill himself.
He raised himself to the top Of that
| strange grave on both his elbows ana
looked around with dim vision to see
| what had happened. His eyes were
still blinded by the smoke and ash, and
| he could hardly make out who was in
| the wagon. Then, with another wild
| hurst Of gratitude on6 inv 70 nd
| another voice he had never expected to
| hear again. Contrary to all probability,
| all possibility almost, Bertha was there
as well as Daisy and Archie.
de Hung down the spade in strange
access OF delight and rushed to the
| wagon. To the rest it was moment of
| SUI prise and terror to see the house
/ burned down and that gaunt, wan man
| in his grlmy Shirt-sleeveS, all stained
| with smoke and dirt, dartlng wildly out
| like some mailman to greet them. But
| to Dick il was moment of unSppakabIe
! Joy. House and land were forgotten al
together in the sudden revulsion of in
tense delight with which he saw his
wife and child brought back to him
from the dead again.
1t was some minutes before each
| party could understand exactly what
had happened, for at first Dick could
/ only look on and laugh and cry like a
maniac. and take Daisy up in his arms
over and over again and lay Bertha
down on the ground, crying, upon her
mattress. But after while they grew
more calm and in broken words explain
ed how things had Jared on either side
| with either Of them. As to the grave
| and the revolver, indeed, Dick remained
| for the moment discreetly silent. but
| the rest he told, as well as he was able,
| in brief, sObbing sentences. Then they
! kissed one another once more, that hus-
band ano wife, so strangely restored,
and wept with thahkfulness, all house
| less and homeless alono on the prairie
| Presently Archie broke the solemn
silence. I'VE must take Bertha some
where for tonight" he SAID, gazing
around ruefuIly. perhaps they could
give us bed at McDougall's."
They raised the mattress into the
wagon again and were going to lay
Bertha back on her improvised inyalid7s
| couch. when Bertha cried out: "Oh,
look at Daisy, Dick; what's that she's
| doing over there Oh that dirt heap yOn-
der?'
Dick turned round, and with his
| blCOdshot eyes saw dimly that Daisy
was trying to suck one of the roundish
pebbles he had struck his spade against
| oO OhCCh III NiS6Ai5s ~ wac u PCoUlC 10
big as hens egg, and he was afraid
the child would fairly choke herself
with it. But he would not go near that
| open grave himself, from which he had
been preserved almost by miracle. 1t
fairly daunted him.
go over and fetch her, Archie,'' he
cried in tone of command. And Archie
| went to her.
But Daisy didn't want to be deprived
of her pebble. Its pretty" she said,
and went on sucking at it.
Archie snatched it from her. "Why,
Dick" he exclaimed, looking close at
the rough lump, and pressing it with
his nail, what on earth's this? It's as
soft as lead and as yellow as guinea?''
Then he burst into sudden loud
laugh of triumph. Dick stared at him in
| amazement, thinking the painful
drama of the last two hours must have
fairly made Archie lose his senses.
But Archie waved the pebble frantically
round his head with strange air of
victory. .Dick, Dick.'' he cried. in his