The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1891-05-01

wet hiis In the s6p} No one had come; /;
: but King Biliy xasiso awake ..sss--.
:4guCplng IaziIy ON toward the bush.
Ed!s laughed ns sks Aaw hfm--hss arsat
kos4 bent forward, Spd his thin. narrow
khouIdess bowed. She laughed 70 think
SSof his laziness, ana bat he should look
90 tired aftersaebkx 1-Aaa{
chipping. A/
She was stiH laughing at King Billy a
she opened the old work box to take
snother peep at the yellow treasure, and
20 make quite sure that the heat hadn't
melted il away. And it was quite slowly
that the laugh died from the pretty eyes
and mouth--quite slowly, because Of the
moments it took to realize and accept .
misfortune so terrible-when she lifted.
the coarse socks and looked and saw no
little gold nugget-saw nothing Then,
horror and great fear grew in the blue,
eyes, and pale agony crept over the,
childish face and made it old, and the,
poor little heart seemed to stop beat
ing.
Effie said nothing, and made no cry;
but she closed her eyes tightly for a mo-
meut, and looked in the box again. No,
ii was no illusion; the little nugget was
net there-the first gold her father had
found, which had been intrusted to her
care, which was TO have been taken to
her math~iASpssoes--She put down
the box, quite 4uietl and walked out
into the. day ;'but thu sun was shining
very strangely and M |ktily now, and the
blue sky had-grown black aud the trees
seemed to move worldly; and the l6custs
had ceased huinming from fear; but the
strange bird was somewhere neal, ,shriek-
ing brokcnly, "What will father say7
What will father say3"
But as the child stood there despair
iugly, her sight grew clearer, and she:
was conscious Of n pair OF dusky eyes
watching her through the leaves. Then
only she remembered, and she knew
who had done this crieI thing. King
Billyl And she had been kind to him.
Effie suddenly burst into passionate Sob
bng. The black figure still hovered
among the trees, often changing it's posi- Z
tion, and dusky eyes still peered thro,N
the leaves. Aud tho laughing JACKIE es
flew down to the old tree again, nd
laughed more madly than beft =
laughed at Efiie's trust-at Billy's bti.
tudc.
1t was ten o'clock, and dark ess and
quiet reigucd in John ArcbRs hut.
Over among the tents behind he waffle
gums a few gamblers and hesT drinkers
were sill awake, and their v Ices, raised
in anger or ribald mcrrimen might oc-
cassionally have been family yheard from
the hut. But Archer, who fad sown his
wild oats, was true wdrker; and he
had his little daughter, fJr whose sake
he had built the hut,aws5from the noisy
camp.
Archer had come,homl late and weary,
as usual, lad eaten bis supper, and gone
to rest without, to}Effie's intense relief,
speaking of the lttlsSgold nugget. The
child was afraid to speak of the loss, and
she was no: without ayague hopes that
beneficent providence| would restore the
nugget during the Darkness, and save
her from this great trouble.
rsn}EaS TVS SIN. prayed very -carpeatlx be-
sleep at, NtESGNhe never quite
knew. But SIG nlrH rs that it was then
that she first experiehced that terrible,
purgatorial condition which is neither
wakefulness nors klesp, when the
body and mimi are weary
enough to bring tHe profound sleep
which they require, put which the brain
is too overladen and too cruelty active to
allow; when dreanaai seem realities and
realities dreams. II must have been a
dream when shc saw something small
and yellow float through the tiny window
on the ghostly silver moonbcams. And
yet, having closed her eyes, she opened
them again, it was still there lowering
about in the darkness-lcss bright now,
and with pale yellow halo. But it
faded quite away; it was cruel, mock
ing dream.
Then was it dream when the old
curtain, which divided her corner of the
hut from her fathers, moved near the
ground-bulged slightly toward here 1t
would be CURIOUS tn see, and she lay still
From under tie curtain seemed to come
thin arm, and slowly, cautiously, after
the arm head with great shock of
hair. And the moonbeams just touched
the face-I think they kissed i, thc.Gt
it was black, for they found in black
hand the little yellow object which hac
tloated in the first dream.
1t was all so real, SO beautiful tina
the child lay still, scarce daring t.
breathe, lest the vision should melt away
and when in her dream came the yoiC;
of her father, with the words, "Speak
or I'll fire." her lips refused to open.
But it was no dream when the sho
came, and the Black King rolled over OF
| the earth, dead, with the little gold mug
get he had come to restore pressed in the
eath-agony against his heart, where
/ too, was little gold.
And the laughing birds in the ole
tree, startled from their sleep by th'
shot, laughed once more, wildly anc
madly; at BinyH honesty, but thero wa
! bitterness i'll their merriment for thei
master, the devil had been cheated o