Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1892-08-27

knife is hundreds of years old. It
was given to Macgrcgor BY Doug
las himself, and there is q tradition
that when one of our name is betrayed
in love he can regain the affections
of the maiGen of his heart If he can
manage to draw blood from her
bosom with this knife"
What a villainous ideal / am
afraid that in this prosaic age such a
proceeding would result in very
unromantic charge Of felcnious as
sault and battery instead of fond
reunion Of two loving hearts, / re
marked. Was that heathenish dag
ger launched into existence with
that mission and no other2"
mo. A weapon of this Lind is
part of every Highland warriors
equipment. 1t called the skene-dhu
black knife. When the owner was
hard pressed in combat, and could
no longer use his sword, he drew his
skene-dhu from his stocking and
tried to turn the tide of battle by
plunging the blade into his adver-
sary."
Very convenient"
'The skene-dhu was also used
sometimes to give the fallen foe his
coup de grace, and in the hunt it
was employed to cut the throat of a
stag which had been brought down
by bolt from q crossbow."
Arthur Macgregor turned the dag
ger over in his hands afectionately,
as he described its uses, and then re-
turned it to it's nest in his stocking.
where the white butt ON the black
handle looked like the evil eye of a
Cyclopean imp in ambush.
An hour later Arthur and en-
tered the hall where tho ball was in
progress / saw him look swiftly
around, and then he marched to the
upper end of the large room, where
the stage, mass Of flags and ever
greens, was occupied by the orches-
ira. Around the hall were the stalls In
which fancy articles had been offered
for sale during the past two weeks.
Their contents had all been removed,
and the stalls themselves converted
into arbors, where, amid cool looking
palms and artistically disposed flow
ers the most delightful tete-a tetes
could be enjoyed by the tired dane
ers. Into one of these Arthur made
his way, and there he sat, in solitary
grandeur, glowering around the
room and looking, I knew, for Miss
Helen Jamison.
l had fallen il with u group of ac-
quaintances ard was talking the
usual conventionalities about the
tasty decoration of the hail. the pros
poets of large attendance, the
merits of the charity, the ,nancial
results of the fair and so on Then
a certain young lady sailed through
the doorway with her brother, and
as l had the best of feeling toward
this same brother / took his sister
off his hands and joined in the grand
march just then forming. AS we
paraded slowly around the great
hall to the strains of a selection
from "Lohengrin," l looked at every
couple as they passed us in the mazes
Of the march to see if Helen Jamison
were there.
At last! Yes, there she is, and
ON the arm of Sam Bangs.
But where was Arthur Not in the
arbor near the stage, where l had
last seen him Not otamong the eprLm-
enadersl Not otstanding in that group
of young men near the door-most
of them in evening dress watching
the Kaleidoscope effect of the march,
the quaint costumes of the
gentlemen and the rich party dresses
Of the ladies seemed in every in
stance so well matched Not in the
gallery where many who did not
care to dance had betal1en them
selves to enjoy a fun view of the
proceedings below! Where was he9
"Do you see herr" muttered a
hoarse voice in my ear, as / was
bending my head to speak to the
lady on my arm through the music.
] turned with a start.
There at my elbow, his mighty
frame trembling with passion as he |
Kept step in the march, his face
iushed, and his strong, white teeth
,avagely biting at his blond mus
ache, was Arthur Macgregor.
''Do you see herr" he repeated.
And him2'
AS he spoke the black feather in
lis bonnet vibrated in sympathy
With the tremor of hate that went
through him like an electric current,
md saw the nervous fingers steal
lown toward the black hilt of the
kene-dhu which, to my imagination,
eemed to actually wink lawless en-
with its white eye.
Don't be a fool, Arthur" was my
esponse, but he was gone.
AS Helen Jamison passed and re-
'assed me in the march was obliged
o admit that there was some excuse
or Arthur Macgregors mad love for
Ter. A decided brunette, with the
oft brown eyes that will play the
euce with an impressionable young
mans heart-especially when the
oung man has Gaelic blood in his
in which the rich color
ONES and goes with every passing
a tall, stately figure, car
led with the easy grace born of per-
DOT health and the lifelong drill of
ood breeding, end 70 crown all, a
'ealth of blue-black hair hanging