The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1896-09-15
CHAPTER VIII.

C0UNTER-THROWN UNCONSCIOUS
INTO THE CAVE BENEATH
THE CABIN.
RISE Haswell was a beautiful girl,
but never did her personal charms
show to more advantage than when,
with fAshing eyes and undaunted cour
age, she stood f~earlessly facing Red
mond, the moonehiner.
William !" she Kissed; chow dare
you"
81 would dare anything, my beau
tiful Rose, that / might in the erd win
your love, with a suavity that was ir-
ritating in the extreme.
She cast upon him a look of wither-
ering contempt, disdaining to reply.
Encouraged by her silence, he took
heart and continued:
Obi Rose, 1 love you; I have loved
you 90 long"
He dropped upon his knees at her
feet and attempted to take her hand
that hung limp and motionless at her
side. She drew it away.
Don't touch me - she said.
Rose! Rose! don't be too hard
on me, little woman; think how
long I have loved you-for years, nay,
since you were nothing more than a
child 1 have cherished this dre8m-th9
hope-that soma day you would be
my wife. 1 know that you are too
good for meas far above me as the
heavens are above the earth-but, Rose,
Iloveyou. know that my life has been
a wicked one, filed with sin and vice;
but Rose, marry me and I will turn
from my old ways; the day that you
give yourself to me-, will be the day
that I shall renOunce forever the past l
have accumulated money-dead loads
of i'll am rich, immensely wealthy !;
beneath your feet is a cave that ex
tends away back in the heart of the
mountain; hid away in that cave is a
treasure such as no king on his throne
ever possessed-a treasure such as even
Vanderbilt in all his glory
dreamed of. Marry me, Rose, and all
this vast, incalculable wealth shall be
yours. We will 60 away to some far,
sunny isle; we will have a kingdom all
our own; you shall reign queen queen
of love and beauty /; I shall be your
humble, servant, content to live only
in the light Of your glorious presence
and the sunshine of you beautiful
smiles. Oh! Rose-my darling-tell
me-say that you will marry me-"
His passionate words, his ~entreaties,
his Aladdan Cave treasure had no fleet
upon the maiden. What cared she for
wealth or treasure unshared by the
one that she loved. She looked upon
the man that knelt in humble adora
ton at her feet. Her lips curled with
unutterable scorn.
Marry you" she said you! I
would die first"
Very well my lady" he said, rising
to his feet, you can choose for your
self. AS 1 said at the beginning, so I
still say, that you will leave this
room my welded wife wife in
name at least-or, go help me God,
I swear that you shall never leave it
at ALL"
lis this your intention; you vile,
wicked Wretch2 Answer mel she
cried.
1T is, unless you choose to change
YOU mind and marry me at once, or
within the next few hours" he an
swered.
"And do you suppose that my father
when he misses me will lose any time
in coming to me, and dealing with you
as you justly deserved Do you know
what he and those who will accompany
him will do with you7 They will hang
you to the frat tree, riddle your body
with bullets, and leave you for the
crows to pick your eyes out and the
fash from your bones. This is what
they would do-you villian-and you
know it, too"
Helaughed-ad dry, unmirthful laugh
it was. He knew his neighbors and
countrymen too well to doubt, even in
his W mind, the truthfulness of her
statement.
mo doubt my fate would be such as
YOU have just described" he answered,
if your father should suspect me, and
find you here, but this he will hardly
do. Should he come here to search,
for vou-and he is welcome to do So
he would not find you. As I have
before told you, there is a cave beneath