Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-03-30

seen it would not have mattered very
very much, for Ellie trusted him.
The little girls reason for trusting
King Billy, the black, was somewhat
strange and is worthy of being record
been kind to him.
But Ltle avs only Il.
As tie child stood in the broad light
her tUmbled hay hued hair kissed and
Ilumined by the bold rays OF the sun,
and her round, trUstfuI blue eyes shad-
ed from the glare by two little brown
hands, watching King Billy at his
oWr11, a flock Of laughing jackasses
aigihted in a neighboring gum tree and
set up a demoniac cachinnati0n
What made the ili-omened birds SO
mad4y merry: What was the joke?
Effie's trust? Billy's gratitude? They
failed to explain, but their amusement
was huge and sarCIonic.
and the obedient king dropped his AK
Drive EN- away, Billy" cried t,tfie.
and threw Il fag0t OF wood at the tree.
which stopped the laughter and dis
persed the merrymakers.
Billy tired now" said tie black.
grinnig-"too much work-plenty of
WOOD and he pointed to the result
OF his labor
Yes, that viii he enough. thank Won.
You're Il good boy. I'll give you some
tobacco
! Billy thirsty"
! Then you shall have some tea
ON tea Rum
NO, Billy, rum isn't good for yo,l -
God for miners, good for Billy"
NO, it is not good for miners" said
t!ttie emphaticauy: Il makes them
fight and say wicked things
'4Makes black fellow feel good, de-
clared Billy, rolling his dllsky eyes.
This last argument was effective
Eftie went into her hut-her father had
returned to his Work-and opured q
little spirits from John Archer's flask
into ''paninkin.' Billy drank the
spirits with rolling eeys, smacked his
lips and then lay down in the shadow
of the hut to Sleep
The long afternoon passed very SLOW
ly for r e. Her few tritiing duties
as h0usekeeper were soon done The
little hut was tldied, and the simple
evening meal prepared, and some hours
must pass before her father returned
How could she pass the time?
She had only two books a Bible
and a volume Of stories for little girls,
which she had won Us prize at school
in Brisbane.
Archcrs hut stood on the edge of the
valley, over against the foot Of the blue,
heavily timberu hills. About fifty yards
distant from it, hidden among the trees,
was Il high moss grown rock, at the
base of which Ellie had discovered the
smallest and sweetest Of natural
springs.
Thther the child ran, looking back
often to see that no one approached
the hut in her absence, to battle her
face. IN q few minutes she returned
drying her face in her apron and shak-
ing her wet hair i'll the sun.
No one had come, but King Billy
was now awake, and was sIouchlng
lazily off toward the bush Ettie laughed
as she saw him, his head bent forward,
and his thin, narrow shoulders bowed
She was still laughing at King Billy
as sne opened the Old workboX to take
another pep at the yellow treasure and
to make sure that the heat had not
melted it away
And it was quite slowly that the
laugh died from the pretty eyes and
mouth-Qulte slowly, because Of the
moments it took to realize and accept
a misfortune SO terrible-when she
lifted the coarse socks and looked and
saw DO 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 beating.
Etiie said nothing and made no cry
but she closed her eyes tightly for a
moment and then looked in the box
again.
No, it was no aIIusion. The little
nugget was not there. The first gold
her father had found, which had been
intrusted to her care, which was to
have been taken to her mother, it was
gone.
She put down the box quite quietly
and walked out into the day, but the
sun was shining very strangely and mist
lily now. and the blue sky had grown
black, and the trees seemed to move
welrdIy, and the locnsts had ceased
humming from fear, but the strange
bird was SOmewher near, sh11eking
brokenly: What will father say: What
Will father say?'
But as the child stood there despair
ing her sight grew clearer, and she saw
a black figure among the trees, and
she was conscious of a pair Of dusky
eyes watching her through the leaves.
Then only she remembered, and she
knew who had done this cruel thing.
king Billy! And she had been kind to
him.
Ellie suddenly burst into passionate
sobbing. The black figure still lowered
among the trees, often changing its
position, and the dusky eyes still peered
through the leaves.
And the laughing jackasSes flew down
to the Old tree again and laughed more
madly than before-laughed 1T Etiie's
trust-at Billy's gratitude!
1t was ten o'clock, and the darkness
and silence reigned in John Archer's
hut