The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1895-10-10

sudden and natural impulse, she reach
ed down at her side for an arrow; but it
was not there.
/ took up a handful of water from the
basin, and throwing it full in his face,
she cried:
''Thus does Diana punish the intruder
upon her sacred privacy.'
And then happened something passing
strange. Even while Actaeon was try
ing to excuse himself by saying that his
intrusion was unintentional, his tongue
lost the power of speech, his ears grew
sharp pointed, great horns grew out Of
his head, his hands became feet, his
arms long legs and his body took on
coat of spotted hair.
He was Actaeon no longer, but stag
of the forest!
Trembling with terror, he turned and
fed. Through the wooded glades he ran
so swiftly that he could not but admire
his speed, but when he stopped to drink
from brook and saw reflected there the
stays horns that grew from his head,
he was overcome with remorSe.
What should he do? Where should he
go? Not to the palace, which that morn
ing he had left as a handsome young
prince. He dared not return there as
stag. For you must know that he re-
tanned the consciousness of a man, in
spite of his form as a stag.
While he stood there undecided what
to do, the dogs saw him. One gave the
signal to the others by barking, and
then the whole pack rushed after him.
He was the hunter no longer; he was the
hunted Now he knew what it was to
have a score of hounds barking and
yelping and snarling at his heels, threat
ening every instant to leap upon him
and tear out his life!
Swiftly as the wind he bounded
through the forest, trying all the time
to utter his well-known hunting cry so
that the dogs might hear and UNDER
stand his voice. But not sound es-
capped his lips. Even as the hunted stag
rushes on, painting, breathless, agonized
by fear, SO rushed Actaeon, hunted by
his own dogs!
Then he heard the cries of his COM
panions as they followed the dogs, all
enjoying the rare sport and wishing
that Actaeon was there to enjoy it, too.
Over rocks and cliffs, through wales
and across streams he ran, closely fol-
lowed by his dogs, and the dogs closely
followed, in turn, by the young mobiles.
Oh, it was great sport, this chasing of
the deer through the forest depths!
How he had enjoyed it when he was the
chaser! Now how different it was!
Again and again he essayed to cry out
to his dogs and to his friends, but the
cries were stif1ed on his trembling lips,
and his painting sides ached with the
terrible labor of the chase that they
were giving him.
81 am ActaeOn, your master!' he
would have cried to the dogs.
Il am Actaeon, your prince and your
friendr' he would have cried to the
young mobiles.
{ But the words would not come! He
could think and he could feel, but he
could not speak,
Then one Of the dogs, running close
by his side, sprang upon his back, and
another seized him by the shoulder. And
while they held him with their cruel
teeth, the rest of the pack came up and
sprang upon him.
/ The young mobiles cheered on the dogs
and cried out in their enjoyment of the
sport. Again they called for Actaeon,
wishing that he were there, and won
dering what had become of him.
It was soon over. Tearing, rending,
decorating his flesh, the dogs merely did
what he had made them do hundreds of
times, and in a few minutes his spirit
left his suffering body and went out
upon the wings Of the wind!
The revenge Of the goddess was terri
+ BILE, but who shall say that it does not
teach a good lesson?