Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1895-01-31

| his ~sIlspecting it-0h, yes, without tnaI.
And one night / went to bed before
he went out, then 1 followed him. He
could not follow as noiselessly as L,
monsieur. And there l came upon
him, yes, Marius, setting traps on
your ground, sir-he, my nephew, l
your keeper.
MY blood rushed to my head, and
I nearly killed him on the spot l
beat him SO. Yes, l beat him and l
promised him that when you came L
should correct him with my w hands
in your presence. This Is why l have
nearly persisted with sorrow. What
would you have Gone, tell me? He has
neither father nor mother, this boy he
has no relative but me l have kept
| him. l could note asst him of, could
To-
"But IL he should do so again, there
is an end of it, an end Of pity. Have
/ done right, sir?'
I held out by hand. you have done
well. Cavalier; you are a brave man"
He rose.
Thank you sir. Now I will 90 to
fetch him. He needs punishment"
l knew il would be useless to try
TO dissuade the old man. i let him
| follow out his own humor. He went
to seek the rascal and led him in by
the ear. | was seated upon a straw
chair, with the grave face of a judge.
Marius had grown and seemed uglier
to me than ever. with his shy, sullen
manner. His great hands seemed
monstrous. His uncle pushed him be-
fore me, with his military air.
"Ask pardon of the landlord"
The boy would not utter a word.
Then the old gendarme seized him I'M
der the arm, and, throwing him to the
earth. began to fog him so violently
that I arose to interfere. The child
howled: Pardon! pardon! pardon! l
promise!"
Cavalier raised him from the ground
and, forcing him to his knees before
me, said: "Ask pardon" The rascal
murmured, with lowered eyes:
~ ask pardon"
Then his uncle dealt him a parting
slap that SEM him flying. He ran out
and I saw him no more that evening.
Cavalier came back trembling.
"He has a bad nature" he said,
and during dinner he repeated:
"Oh, I am so sorry, sir; you don't
know how sorry I am"
I tried to console him but In vain.
I went to bed early that I might start
hunting In time. My dog was sleeping
on the floor at the foot Of my bed when
/ extinguished my candle. l was
awakened in the middle of the night
by Books furious barking, and | saw
instantly that my 20 was full Of
smoke. | sprung from my bed, light
ed my candle, ran TO the door and
opened Ii. A whirlwind OF flames en-
tered. The house was on fire! / closed
the heavy oak door quickly, and, put
ting on my coat, let my dog out OF the
window. by means of a rope frmed by
my ~bedclOthes. Then throwing my
garments. out, followed by my game
bag and gun, I escaped in the same
manner. l cried at the top of my
voice:
Cavalier! Cavalier! Cavaiier!" but
the keeper did not awake. He slept
Through the windows / saw the lower
the heavy sleep of an old gendarme.
part of the house was a fiery furnace,
and l saw that ii had been filled with
straw To favor the flames. who
could have set it on fire? l commenced
to call furiously:
Cavalier" Then the thought occur
red to me that he was ~suffocated with
the smoke.
l had an inspiration, and, slipping
a cartridge in my gun, l fired a volley
through his window. The six panes Of
glass fell inside in fragments. This
time the old man heard, and he appear
ed in his shirt. daZed by the light that
blazed before his house. | cried: Your
house is on fire! Jump out of the win
dow! Quick" The flames burst out of
the door and window and threatened
to swallow him. He sprung out and
lit on his feet like a cat, and Just in
time. The matched roof broke in the
middle and the stairway made a draft
for the fire that roared below. An i'm
mense red sheaf of fire rose in the
air. 1t spread out like a column of
water and scattered a shower of
sparks all around the cottage and in
a few moments there was nothing but
a mass of flames. Cavalier asked in
alright:
"How did it happenr'
/ replied: "They set fire in the kitch-
en-"
"Who could have done itT
And I cried out instinctively.
NidEttSs thc IN hdh uAiht SlpNt-
He faltered: "Oh, mother Of God, was
Ii for that he did not come imp
Then a horrible thought struck me.
l cried:
Celeste, Celeste!" He said nothing,
bit the house lay crumbling before US,
nothing now but a fiery furnace, bril-
liant, dazzling, bloody, a formidable
funeral pile, where the poor woman
now lay. nothing but n red-charred
mess. a mass of human flesh.
The fire reached the neighboring
shed. / thought Of my horse and Cav
alier ran to let him out. He had hard
ly opened the stable door before a rap
id nimble body rushed out. passing be-
tween his legs and knocking him in
the face. 1t was Marius. fleeing with
all his strength. The old man was up
in a minute. He wanted to run and
catch the miserable wretch, but. know
ing he could not, he was seized with
irresistible fury, and yielding to one
Of those sudden, irrational impulses
that no one can foresee or hinder, he
took my gun that lay lear him,
shouldered 1t and before I could pre-
--- L. Al ...fx-s - -r.-.l,