Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1894-06-20


him. Compelled to keep my seat, struck
up again faster and fiercer and more dis
cordantly than any piper blew since pipes
were invented by Adam.
The girls will sing, and the boys will shout,
And the ladies they will all turn out,
And we'll all feel gay when Johnny comes
marching home.
At last we were Off the county road and
into the avenue-the avenue to kilgour
House. I was blind and dizzy and dis
tracted. played, but heaven alone knows
what the tune was or how many tunes were
hashed up together. Up we went at gal
lop, the barouche bounding like a ball when
it struck a stone, the horses dripping, the
driver like a ghost. Duncan had reached
the house and given the alarm, and people
were hurriedly gathering on the lawn.
Heavens above There were my mother
and Isabel and Sir Thomas Gordon and my
fatherl
Imade q heartrending effort to strike up
"The Highland Laddie." There was o
noise, but no tune. Finding myself help
less as musician, got to my feet and
whirled the pipes about my head in mad
exultation. Donald, too, unable any longer
to resist, rose, and snatching off his turban
waved also. Bruce charged down upon us,
every oristle on his back erect, and those
on the lawn looked as if they would fly.
Two hundred yards more to 60! Could
the horses not mend their snail's pace?
Bending forward, I struck at them with the
pipes, and they gave leap that nearly
broke the harness.
"Od, it's weel we're so near the endr said
the coachman, "I'm no used to this"
threatened to fling him from his seat,
and out went the lash in singing coils that
made the frantic horses spring af.esh.
could have gone faster than the did. and
beside my crazy turmo.l of ncind their eX-
citement was tranquility itself. All the
experiences l had gone through were as
nothing to the sensations Of that moment
Of transport and agony.
We dashed through gate and round a
curve. Then all at once thehorses were on
their launches, as, without asking the
coacLman's leave, threw myself on the
re1ns Before the wheels had stopped we
were on the ground, and those who had
been watching our desperate approach, pale
as death and crying with joy and fright and
amazement, were upon us.
The scene that followed is not to be de-
scribed. The only person in it, outside of
Tabal and Mahomet, who made any pre-
tense of keeping his head was Donald, and
he afterward said he had never known
himself to act so much like an idiot. The
rest Of us had not the least semblance Of
sanity. There is q JOY, they say, that kills.
Assuredly there is JOY that makes mad,
and it was upon us then in raging force.
We were delirious with an ecstasy that sent
our wits flying like chaff in sudden blast.
In single instant, so to speak, we were
whirled through million realms Of poig-
nant feeling. The emotion of lifetime was
condensed into one burning moment, and IN
the stress vn acted rs beings possessed. That
at any rate was Tabal's opinion, communt-
Gated to me confidentially few day subse-
quent.
In any case was in no condition to OBJ
serve minutely; consequently find it now
not only impossible to give an accurate ac-
count of the demonstration, but hard to
disentangle even the major impression.
Perhaps what remains with me most WV
idly latter my dear mothers frenzied en-
brace) is that Sir Thomas Gordon, MUIR
1nuring words Of gratitude for the service
had done him, took my hand and wept over
it like child, and that Isabel in the pres
ence of them all kissed me fervently on the
cheek.
All, me! Inever could forget that. When
I think of it after the lapse of nearly half
century, that spot seems to glow with
Youthful heat as if it were the only part of
me that keeps perpetually young. 1t is on
the right cheek, pretty high up, and some
times I 20 to her and say, Isabel, is there
q red ring on that cheek Of mine?" And
she, we'll knowing what ! mean, will an
swer with a pleased srnile and maybe
slight heightening of the color, "Tush, tushl
A man of your years should be thinking of
other things.n Nor can deny she is right,
for q man who has grandchildren climbing
over his knees ought not to be foolish,
though, as I tell her, can scarcely convict
myself of foolishness since it does one good
to try to feel young again. But all that is
too far ahead of this story to be gone into
here.
AS you may suppose, awondrous fuss was
made over Rance Sir Thomas and Isabel,
to her unutterable delight, welcomed her
cordially in her own tongue, and my father,
forgetting his antipathies to foreigners of
her color, kissed her little brown hand in
his grandest fashion, and my mother,
though sorely puzzled what to make of
creature who dressed so oddly and under
stood no English, received her with all the
warmth of heart that knew not how to
be cold. But indeed Ranee's pretty ways
were not to be resisted, and she was soon,
By virtue Of her own good qualities, estab-
lished as favorite with all. To Isabel she
was as sister, and to my mother as a
daughter.
should add that Tabal and Mahomet,
considerably to their embarrassment, came
In for liberal share Of the good will, and
that with Donald and Rance they long con-
tinued to be objects of intense curiosity,
no3 merely to those at Kilgour. but to the
whole countryside. The general opinion
was that they had all come as part of my
retinue, and every one suddenly remem-
bered how he or she had predicted speedy
wealth for me.
81 kenned ye would soon be back VII
fortune and wheen black men, sir" the
people would say when congratulating me
on my happy return. ~ aye said So"
Good cause had to wish that the fawn-
ing supposition was true. The first glad
ness of my home coming was scarcely over
and the rale Of my adventures told when l
began to suspect that things were as bad
with us as when left-that indeed they
were great deal worse. My father, being
taciturn man, said little to oindicate press
ing trouble, but my dear mother, who used
to be the light of the place, now went about
with white, drawn face and eyes.that were
hardly ever dry.
At last her distress became so plain and
30 painful to me that one day-the third or
fourth after my arrival.when we were
alone together, asked why she was SO
troubled and if there was anything could
do for her. At this, throwing her arms
about my neck, she laid her head on my
breast and sobbed so sorely that could rot
help crying Tor company.
MY darling mother" I said, what does
all this mean? Tell me what is the mat
ter"
She did not speak, but stood weeping and
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