Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-08-27

| creature for the first time the week after
| my arrival. She came into the Enclosure
toward evening, and hobbled up to MIR.
Forsythe's Office to demand food. Her age
could not even be guessed. for her face was
| crossed and scared with innumerable wrin-
kles. and had the appearance of old
leather. She was bent nearly double, and
leaned on short stick. but she walked
more brisllly than one would suppose who
watched the palsied shaking of her form.
If spoken to she peered up at you side
ways and disclosed small but piercing
black eyes. which contrasted picturesque
~ with hcr snow white hair. She i'm
pressed me as being more like the Stereo-
typed stage witch than any woman 1 had
ever seen, and l wondered why she was
permitted to live in q settlement where no
one was likely to be tolerated who could
not contribute to the work in hand.
Mr.. Forsythe raised the grating of his
window and beckoned to her. She tot
! tered toward him. and he threw her half
used tin Of meats. Mother VideauX num-
bled her thanks. and made her way to
the kitchen, where our native cook filed
her basket with bread and scraps from the
table. She sat on the steps a moment and
wiped the perspiration from her face with
faded red handkerchief, and then she
took her basket and started for the gates,
where the guard went through the usual
ceremony of searching her. Howard For
sythe was leaning from his window, smok-
ing a cigar and watching the guards de-
i Hberate motions.
who is the woman?" 1 asked
Mother Videaux? No one knows. Some
sly she is French and others Italian. She
leaks English, however, and knows the
| native language perfectly. I am told she
came here when the mires were first OPEN
ed. the captain of the steamer having res
cued her from a wreck in mid-ocean. She
lives in that little cottage near the grove,
and is neither of nor any particular
bother. so we tolerate her and feed her."
Does she live alcne?" I inquired, as her
bent figure passed the gate and hobbled up
the path toward the grove.
Entirely so. The natives attribute to
her powers of sorcery, and several times
when they have attempted to mutiny
Mother Videaux has brought them to their
Senses"
but you say she sends cocoanuts to
France; does she get no returns from her
sales?"
Forsythe laughed.
she gathers from the grove about one
barrel a month, and they are not very
valuable. Still, the steamer captains know
ing her well. are good natured enough to
carry them without charge and her con-
signee-Some relative, l suppose-sends her
provisions In return, but scarcely enough to
support her."
He threw away his cigar and returned
to his work, while 1 turned the subject
over In my mind and considered what
bearings 1t might have on my mission 1t
had struck me at once that Mother vi
deaux was the only mystery in the whole
settlement, and absurd though the idea
might be. 1 decided to watch her closely.
She came to the Enclosure regularly twice
a week. and noticed that each time For
sythe tossed some scrap of food into her
basket. This in itself aroused my curiosity
as it struck me that his donation was
scarcely necessary when the cook presented
her WITH so liberal an allowance. 1t might
be that he desired to conciliate her; per-
haps he had secret fear of her sorcery;
at any rate l discovered that he ignored
all the native women who came to the
Enclosure, and made Mother Videaux the
sole recipient of his benefcence.
Forsythe never breakfasted with the rest
of us. He always arose late and boiled a
pot of coffee in his little office
All this seemed mysterious to me- and 1
began to hope that at length had fallen
upon the track of the diamond thief. From
the first l had no confidence in Howard
Forsythe, and regretted that his brother
had made him aware of my mission at Be
nita. At times the boldness and presllmD-
ton of my suspicion of this man, the head
OF the mines and the confidant and brother
of my employer, struck me forcibly, and
almost decided me to abandon what must
be an unworthy thought; but his peculiar
actions together with the fact that his fell
low-agents were worse than Incompetent
led me to believe that was on the right
track
But in spite of all my efforts, the weeks
passed by, and 1 was no nearer any tan
gible evidence to support my theories than
l was at the beginning.