Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1895-07-18

she had begged in a vain effort to
find watergrass.
Abe hauled and strained at the rope
his shirt and trousers clinging to him
with sweat. The beast kicked and
plunged feebly, its little strength quite
gone: and after two hours work ii
was more firmly begged than ever.
Its no good" said Abe, Il must get
help. I'll go up the gully for old Mason
and his tackle. If we lose that COW,
what will the children do for milk"
YEARLY he turned to go, when the
sound of a "Coo-eer' turned him
sharply about. /
''Ooo-ee"' he shouted. i
Its Mary" he said: what the
devils up" 1t was a good three miles
to the ridge: but, like walaby with
the dogs in full cry, he sped over rock
and gully back to the homestead.
Long before he got there, he heard a
strange roaring in the air. saw black,
belching clouds over the tree tops, and
felt fierce rushing furnace breath.
The bush was on fire.
With the energy of fear he dashed
along. There was the clearing. with
Mary at the house door still shouting
red storm was upon them. In mad
frenzy he seized the two children. one
under each arm. and Shrieking to his
wife above the din Of the fire to bring
the baby. he rushed to the center of
the plOughed paddock. There they
crouched painting. The children We're
bowling, the baby was crying, and
| Mary was sobbing. The man said
| nothing. He watched the fire.
Would the house escape? There
was fifty feet of bare ground about it.
But the air. so calm a minute ago, was
now roaring hurricane travelling at
racing speed over the ridge. The tea
! tree scrub melted before it and the
bush trees remained in it's rear only as
black and burning trunks. The fence
| had caught: the flames licked it up
daintily. The shed, with his cart and
| harness WERE and We're not, while he
| hooked A piece of burning. stringy
bark whirled by the wind, settled on
| the shingles of the house. The woman
moaned and pressed the child closer
to her bosom. The mans face was
drawn in agony.
Week by week, day by day, BE had
seen the work of his life perish under
the merciless sun. The best Of his
cattle were fostering carcasses; his
horses were dead, though his last
pound had been spent in hay for them.
His seasons crop was sickly beyond
redemption All this he had borne,
and still toiled in the unequal strug-
gle.
And now the house was burning, the
| work of his own hands. How many
i months of weary saving and sphttlnS
had its shingles and slabs cost him
He thought Of it adj as he stood there,
! HELPLESS and half-suffocated. In less
than a minute the flames were shoot
ing out of the doOrways and windows,
and a loud report was followed by the
fall of a side of the house. 1t was the
explosion of his powder flask, hung on
the wall.
Cant you put it out, Abe?'
Put out hell" And he ground his
teeth.
Through the open framework they
could see the bed, the tables, the chairs
all blazing one after another. The
spirit of the man revolted.
:Iook. Mary" he cried, there goes
the cradle l made for the kids" And
as he spoke the aspect of his face
changed. The limit Of his suffering
had come, and like an old-time victim
of the rack, he began to laugh. A moi
low laugh, weird and terrible.
That's a good joke, Mary! The
farce is ended-all over in one act
Ha, ha, ha"
you're mad Abe said his wife
shrinking from him with great dread
in her eyes. Don't laugh like that.
It's horribler'
Mad, my dear! That's good. Ha,
ha, ha. Say, I've been mad-the most
COMPOUNDED lunatic in this blasted,
blistering country. To slog and belt
for ten long years to make a home of
! our UWu. W NISdl AdAu, " AChNC rs
drain it, plant it-and all to make five
minutes bonfire? Yes, I've been mad,
stark staring mad; but now-ha, ha,
hal I never was so sensible in my
life:
'tSee how the cradle burns, Mary. 1t
was a bit Of she-Oak, and worked like
watch Don't it look pretty now?-
they might be silk curtains, all those
fiounces round it. Why don't you
laugh, girl?-it's a great joke. Look.
the roof is falling in. Its as good as
| fireworks. Hold up the kids; let them
! laugh. It's all the same price. Ha,
! ha, ha."
! But the woman replied nothing,
frightened, staring at him. The chill
dren screamed.
! The driving sheet of fame had long
J gone by. Skirting the ploughed ground
where they stood, it had left the bare
surface an untouched blank in it's
| CHASTITY funeral trail. Only tree
stumps, posts and fallen branches,
smoked and smouldered here and
| there The man stood motionless till
morning, but the four charred corner
posts remained of his home.
Lets see the play out" he said.
| ''Ha, ha, ha! Ha ha, ha.''
The fire was raging many miles
further onward when Abe Saunders,