The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1892-04-29
to talk much; it will simply excite

ed in a cabin on the premises and well
cared for. She was persuaded that he
had received his wound in defense OF
their home, and spared him no attention.
For long time-in fact, for months-a
singular restlessness pervaded him. He
babbled long strings of incOherent words
he waved his one sound arm wildly in
the air, and then, as if despairing of
making himself understood, he lapsed
into a state of apathy and inertia, and
would sit all day long in his chair, rarely
making sound or movement Whether
he thought or reasoned no one could say
with gertrude. There never seemed to
be any marked change. His greatest de-
| light, perhaps, was in Anna Alden, and
as time went by and she grew into a
sweet and serious girhood, she never suf-
| fered herself to neglect him. Many an
hour she spent at his cabin showing him
pictures or telling him stories, which she
| insisted that he understood. AT any rate
he seemed more animated when she was
there, and yet more tranquil. But the
| locked chamber of his brain was as far
from opening, for any sign he gave as on
the night they found him lying in the
grass.
Meanwhile things went wretchely bad
upon the farm; the loss of their money
had thrown the family entirely upon the
remnant of their property for support,
and those who remember the chaos that
followed the surrender and the dismissal
days of reconstruction need not be told
| that their outlook was a precaTiOus one.
Mrs. Alden strained every nerve to keep
| her children in school, but bad tenants
and half-cvltivated lands made it an up
hill fight. They were overwhelmed by
those persistent and multiplied small dis
asters which are easily traceable, and yet
which seem at the same time the pure
perverSity of fate. The corn-crib burn
ed, their best mules died, the ball-worm
came in the cotton, and so on, until they
had tasted more than one privation, and
| it seemed half useless to prOlong the
struggle.
But they were proud people, and would
not yield nor complain, and had NOR
bid fear of being pitied Outwardly
there was no change, and nobody but
themselves knew how many desperate
expedients and heart-breaking make
shifts kept them ahoat. Will left school
of his own accord and took a pillow, and
Anna, who was nothing but child her.
self, obtained school to teach. The
neighbors eympathized with them and
occasionally made advances, which were
not always characterized by tact. One
day Colonel Hough, who was buying up
a good deal of cheap land in the vicinity.
stopped his buggy at the gate, for
chat.
Times are mighty hard just now,
ma am" he observed. "Takes tight
scratching to get along"
Eyes, indeed" said Mrs. Alden: ''yet
we manage to make both ends meet
somehow"
81 declare 1 don't see how you do it,"
exclaimed the Colonel, Especially with
that paralyzed niger on your hands.
Why don't you send him to the poor
hOuseP'
Mrs. Alden bit her lip. 1--WE prefer to
keep him here" she said coldly.
For some time a phase had developed
in the cripple's condition. He had OBJ
tanned bit of pencil one day, and after
that was never satisfied unless he was
marking or scrawling with it. He had
never known how to write, and yet it
seemed as if he was endeavoring to con-
vey some sort of message. He covered
every scrap of paper they brought him
and thrust them eagerly upon Mrs. AL
denis OF Annals attention. This per-
Torrance especially interested the girl
and she tried often, but always utterly
in vain, to find some semblance to writ
ing in his strange scrawls. Neverthe-
less his anxiety, his persistence, and,
above all, his evident disappointment at
her Failure to comprehend, convinced
her that behind this curious manipula-
ton there was something more than the
freak of disordered mind.
One afternoon she visited the cabin
with her mother, and the two sat down.
Abe had been particularly active that
day. With the incest care he had traced
one of his characteristic ciphers, and
this he Immediately motioned Anna to
take.
She puzzled over the slip for some
time. Mamma" she said at length,
"did you ever notice that there are GER
tain figures he always repeats? Now,
here, for instance, is this square, with
the funny spots over it-that is on all
the letters he writes, and this thing like
an A. wonder what it can mean?"
Goodness only knows shild, replied
Mrs. Alden.
Suddenly light came into the girls
face. She sprang to her feet. mamma
mammal she cried; 81 understand il
now! He isn't trying to write-he'
trying to draw! and oh, mammal she
went on wildly, 81 do believe this
strange square is papa's box, and those
dots are the bolt heads on it! 1t is ex-
actly like a child would draw such q
thingm
The two women bent breathlessly oveI
the paper, and, viewed in this new light
the lines and scratches did assume a Ger.
tain ordered significance. The dotted
square might we'll stand for the old
fashioned salamander chest, and il
seemed to them that they could distin
guish a sort of rude diagram-the out
line of the house, the garden fence, tho
winding path, and, last of all, a disused
we'll; The cripple watched them with
all his eyes.
'Do you think" cried Mrs. Alden
thrilling through every nevere, "can il
be possible that he means the box is il
the well?"
1--WE can see," exclaimed Anna, lit i,
not deep"
Midway between the manor and the
cabin was shallow well, that fol
twenty years had lain idle and unused
and like flash of lightning it darteC
into Mrs. Alden's mind that on tina
dreadful night of the raiders visit IT.
curbing was discovered broken down
Oh, why had she not thought to look
there before? In a moment they wert
al the spot. 1t was crumbling, grass
grown and decayed and at the bottom
the fronds of ferns were dimly visible.
Will was in the field, but they did no