Morris tribune., 1895-11-27
copva,eAT. 1895. BY FREDERICK a. STOKES COMPANY


cabulary of opprobrious terms failed tc
i furnish him with word vile enough tc
suit him. He mumbled strangely. Then
surprise and modification silenced him.
But in an unguarded moment he pushed
past the sergeant and made for Marie's
! bedroom At the same moment Dick
Townley and the scout, alarmed by the
cutlery Jamie had raised, entered the
kitchen to find out what all the trouble
was about
Unfortunately for the officer, he had
forgotten tho warning he had received
on two former occasions regarding the
entering of the kitchen. And now, be-
fore Jeanette had almost time to re-
4 cover from her astonishment, the COM
/ missioned cad had entered the bedroom
/ of the girl, had begun to pull about the
/ bedclothes, to throw them on the floor
and to get down on his knees and peer
under the bed.
With d cry and spring like that of a
wounded animal the half breed woman
made for the stove, snatched from it a
burning fagot of wood, with her spare
hand seized the iron dipper full of hot
Water-which, indeed, had never been
off the stove-and darted into Mares
room after the officer. The sergeant en-
deavored to stop her by getting between
her and the officer, but she thrust the
burning fagot into his face till it singed
his mustache and eyelashes.
''Tenez-vous la Back, you'll she
cried, and the cleaning of her black
eyes betrayed her primitive fiery origin.
Back, as you value your life l should
be sorry to hurt you, whom I have no
quarrel with. =
And now that ignoble day of reckon
ing which all blasphemers and DULLES
bring upon themselves came to Jamie,
and it came at the hands of the sex for
which he had so little respect.
Jeanette surprised the officer in the
little room.
"Parbleun' she Kissed between her
teeth. "Coquin You blackguard, low
man-you would dare enter the room of
my dear mistress, would you:?'
''Stand back, woman Stand back,
you desnmed tiger cat Do you know
who az. :" cried Jamie, the thought
Of the exalted position which political
influence had won for him suggesting
itself to him. II am an officer''-
Swish went the scalding water over
his coarse, cowardly face, but he partly
saved himself by throwing up his hands.
In a second he had caught up some bed
clothes so as to throw them over her.
But she was too quick for him, and
down came the burning billet of wood
upon his broad shoulders. The sergeant,
alarmed for the safety of his superior,
essayed another rush in upon her. But
he received a sharp rap on the head
just meant as a gentle hint to him to
mind his own business-that caused
him to stagger out of the room again
Dick Townley and the scout merely
looked on. They would hardly have
moved one finger to save their officer
from his well merited disgrace, even
though ordered to. It was an illustra-
ton upon small scale of the truth con-
veyed in those verses of Tennyson' be-
ginning with:
He who rules by terror doth grievous wrong.
1t is safe to say that if Dick Townley
felt ashamed of the cloth he wore just
then he otherwise enjoyed himself.
Then the officer clutchef at and sue
ceeded in wrenching the billet Of wood
from Jeanette IS hand. But she pounced
ON him like the tigress that she was,
tore his hair and scratched him after
the most approved style of Cinnamon
and women in general She was
strong woman; she cuffed and buffeted |
him, knocked his head against the wall,
and when at last the sergeant and the
other two men thought it fit to interfere !
and pull her off her prey more sorry
and wretched looking specimen Of hui
mainly than Jamie could not we'll be
imagined.
As the three men held her the officer,
with a look of mingled terror and rage
on his face, seized the smoldering billet |
of wood and advanced upon her as if to
strike her with it.
Down with that billet of wood!"
Numbered the sergeant On it, |
would you strike woman who is being |
held?'
Jamie started back transfXed with |
astonishment Such unparalleled inso
lence and rank characterization he had |
never met with before. But he staid
his hand That look in the sergeant's
eye was ominously like the light that
glowed in that mad half breed woman's |
Hn nn1v SfaYnmnrpd
"You heard that, Townley? You
heard what the sergeant said?'
Heard what?" said the private II
heard him remind you, in the most
humble and civil manner, that you were
an officer Of the Northwest mounted po-
lice, and that it was a woman you want
ed to strike with billet Of wood when
she was being held. Oh, I'll swear to
that!"
The officer groaned.
Pierre, he cried in a frenzied way, /
"you heard the sergeant damn me, didn't
you?"
II heard you damn the sergeant, =
the scout testify, 'sand saw
you kick woman. think it would be
your wisest plan your tongue to hold!'