The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1891-05-13

SO she put on her hat, md, forsaking the
seductive cool and shade of the hut, went
out into the brightness and heat.
Archer's hut stood on the edge Of tho,
valley, over against the foot of the blue,
heavily-timbered hills. About fifty yards
distant from it, hidden among the trees,
was high moss-grown rock, at the base
OF which Effie had discovered the small
est and sweetest of natural springs.
Thither the child ran-looking back often
to SEQ that no one approached tho
hut in her absence-to bathe her face.
In few minutes she returned, drying
her face in her apron, and shaking her
wet hair in the sun. No one had come;
but King Billy was now awake, and was
slouching lazily off toward the bush.
Ellie laughed as she saw him-his great
head bent forward, and his thin, narrow
shoulders bowed. She laughed to think
of his laziness, and that he should look
so tired after such very little wood
chopping.
She was still laughing at King Billy as
she opened the old work-box to take
another peep at the yellow treasure, and
to make quite sure that the heat hadn't
melted it 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-
ment, and looked in the box again. No,
it 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 nfother-it was gone. She put down
the box, quite quietly, and walked out
into the day; but the sun was shining
very strangely and mistily now, and the
blue sky had grown black; and the trees
seemed to move weirdly; and the locusts
had ceased humming from fear; but the
strange bird was somewhere near, Shrek
ing brokenly, "What will father saya
What will father say9"
But as the child stood there despair
iDgly, her sight grew clearer, and she
was conscious of pair of dusky eyes
watching her through the leaves. Then
only she remembered, and she knew
who had done this cruel thing. King
Billyl And she had been kind to him.
Effie suddenly burst into passionate sob
bing. The black figure still hovered
among the trees, often changing its posi-
ton, and duslSy eyes still peered throug h
the leaves. And the laughing jackasses
flew down to the old tree again, and
laughed more madly than before -
laughed at Effie's trust-at Billy's graft
tude.
1t was ten o'clock, and darkness and
quiet reigned in John Archer's hut.
Over among the tents behind the waffle
gums few gamblers and heavy drinkers
were sill awake, and their voices, raised
in anger or ribald mcrriment, might oc-
cassionally have been family heard from
the hut. But Archer, who had sown his
wild oats, was true worker; and he
had his little daughter, for whose sake
he had built the hut away from the noisy
camp.
Archer had come home late and weary,
as usual, had eaten his supper, and gone
to rest without, to Effie's intense relief,
speaking of the little gold nugget. The
child was afraid to speak of the loss, and
she was not without vague hopes that
benefcent providence would restore the
nugget during the darkness, and save
her from this great trouble.
For this she prayed very earnestly be-
fore she lay down to sleep. Or did she
sleep at all that night2 She never quite
knew. But she thinks that it was then
that she first experienced that terrible,
purgatorial condition which is neither
wakefulness nor sleep, when the
body and mind are weary
enough to bring the profound sleep
which they require, but which the brain
is too overladen and too cruelty active to
allow; when dreams seem realities and
realities dreams. 1t must have been
dream when she saw something small
and yellow float through the tiny window
on the ghostly silver moonbeams. Aud
yet, having closed her eyes, she opened
them again, it was still there lowering
about in the darkness--leSs bright now,
and with pale yellow halo. But it
faded quite away; it was a 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 herl 1t
would be curious TO see, and she lay still.
From under the curtain seemed to come
thin arm, and slowly, cautiously, after
the arm a head with a great shock of
hair. And the mOonbeams just touched
the face-I think they kissed it, though
it was black, for they found in q black
hand the little yellow object which had
loated in the first dream.
1t was all SO real, SO beautiful, that
the child lay still, scarce daring to
breathe, lest the vispn should melt away;
and when in her dream came the voice
of her father, with the words, "Speak,
OF I'll fire" " her lips refused to open.
But it was no dream when the shot
came, and the Black King rolled over on
the earth, dead, with the little gold mug
get he had come to restore pressed iu the
death-agony against his heart, where,
too, was a little gold.
Aud the laughing birds in the old
trOe, startled from their sleep by the
shot, laughed once more, wildly aud