The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1891-11-14

creation as only drowsy sunbeams can
glorify natures own handiwork.
Up the hill went Silas Beaver, but
never again to the knowledge Of man
did he retrace his steps.
Were there high words? No one
knew. Perhaps the great eagle whose
nest was perched far over the topmost
rocks on the opposite side Of the gorge
could have told, or the crows as they
winged their dusky fight past the lone
ly homestead. No man but those two
was near to hear what passed between
debtor and creditor that summers day
so long passed by.
Inquiries ensued as matter of course.
Search parties were organized. Lnspec-
ton Of the doctors premises brought to
light that his gig was stained with blood,
his horse bearing the appearance of hay
ing been hardly driven the night before,
but DR.. Hoff accounted for these sus-
picious facts with complete GOODNESS. A
long drive, an amputation after severe
accident. Further inquiry elected that
there had been an accident at a distance,
that the doctor had been there, that he
udu pSilO1 u4Co JC6O LnO OpOA 1IAOAA IL4S10 Az
claimed to have performed.
No evidence. So Silas Beavers dis
appearance remains to this day mys-
terry.
It may be that the iron tracks Of the
great railway rested on their sleepers
above the murdered mans hidden re-
mains, for what so easy as to hide the
likely victim of passion under the great
banks of appraised soil? It may be that
amid some tangle of wood and vine,
rock and fern, the missing man was laid
away, hidden forever from earthly eyes.
Time went on; suspicion slept, watch
fulness abated, but never again did the
feet Of Silas Beaver cross the threshold
of his own door.
Then one night there was lurid glare
lighting the tree tops of the gorge. A
farmhouse, barns and all their contents
were one great pitiful bonfire. Oh, fol
the toll of weeks, of months, the slow
gathering of harvest, the pinching and
saving to obtain stock! Only black.
ened ruin, hopeless prospect
The victim had been at enmity with
DR.. Hof. It was he who had been fore.
most in the search for the missing man
Beaver. The doctor had been heard tc
threaten him repeatedly. So DR.. Hof
was arrested and lodged in Jail, but be-
fore the day of trial came he escaped
and the neighborhood knew him nc
more.
Silent and deserted stood the house on
the edge Of the gorge, until one night
when the storm ragged and the lightning
flashed and glistened in the leaden skies
the fame shot up from its lonely timberi
and We'd with the flashes Of it's kinder
the electric bolt. When morning came
the sun rose over heapof charred ruins
and forest birds piped a requiem over the
scorched trees and flowers.
He who lived in the homestead on the
verge Of the gorge had been stormy and
passionate; fit ending to his dwelling tc
perish by the fury and the passion of the
storm.
Over the gorge now. By the hand Of
the axman shorn of its pristine beauty,
on its tracks of steel, supported by their
mighty trestles, hour by hour pass the
trains with slackened speed and painting
breath of steam in curb.
Down below, deprived Of the grateful
shade Of its verdant friends, the forest
trees, the little brook ripples and gurgles
bravely in the garish sunlight. Alas
no wary trout sport in its once cool, dark
depths. No timid deer bend their grace
full heads to drink Of its waters, but few
birds quench their thirst in its now luke
warm shallow ripples. The beautiful.
gorge, the cool, deep brook are things Of
the past. Like the homestead which
once overlooked them and its passionate
tempered dweller, like the great eagle
which built its nest on the crags near by
like the deer and the myriad fores
birds, it remains but memory, rem
iniscence Of long ago, told in an hour O.
retrospection by the ''oldest inhabitant.
Does any one ask what befel the poo,
young wife of DR.. Hoff? This is what thu
coolest inhabitant" told to satisfy thu
visitors curiosity on that point: It wa!
supposed by many people that it wa
Mrs. Hof who aided the doctor in hi
escape from Jail; however that may be
she disappeared at the same time he did
The lonely little grave in the corner O
the clearing no longer had a mourner
never again did posies Of fen and fiowe
deck its tiny appraised mound. Then ther,
came day when sorrow and indignation
mingled in the hearts of those who had
known and loved the gentle English lad,
who had led such sad life in the home
stead by the gorge. A certain DR.. Hof
who had lived for some years in Canada
but who had lately returned to England
was on trial for his life for the murde
of his wife, near London, so the paper
recorded. Later on was sent the new
far across the water that DR.. Hoff hat
expiated his abominable crime on tn
scaffold. Fiddle Fl. Holland in Toront,
Globe.
Hamlin's Love for New England.
There have been few public men O
whom SO many good stories have beer
told as are told of Hannibal Hamlin
His was one of those sturdy, outspoken
| -. L 4