, 1896-03-28

SS'N AAO"' -AiS NSa ~ eo"n
on your luckg"
"Oh, I'm not hunting alligators pro-
f:ssionally. I'm here for amusement"
l concluded he was there because he
had got into trouble with the law of tho
land elsewhere, but l did not sueges.
this because it is considered rude to
touch upon family matters unlimited.
But after II minute he preached the
topic himself. I'm here for amusement
myself" he said. I'm here perma-
nently."
By this time we had got into a bit Of
q clearing inside the wall of trees-a
patch of sorghum, another of sweet po-
tatoes, another of corn with stalks that
stood ten feet high. and a goodly plant
ing OF green tobacco plants, with sham
bling palmetto growth at the back.
Faith" l said, you've queer no.
tions of a pleasure resort"
I'm Il man," he said, with an
imagination. Consequently l make a
most comfortable hermit. Come in and
take a hammock. Where's our eight On
the ~river?"
l told him. and we went Oh hard at
boating shop till the sun went out.
1 began to have a strong idea that the
man was mad, but l stopped my hunger
on his victuals for all that, and then re-
lit my pipe and went On with the talk.
From the otE.er side of the clearing
came Ii noises of the night-the chat
ter of katydids and rustic of %jarties, the
love song of tree crickets Il toads, the
deep reed notes of frogs i'll their patches
of marsh, and through all mingled the
heavy diapason of the surf, from across
the dunes, and the forest. and the black
waters of the lake, mellowed by its pas
sage through the purple night. l am the
most practical and unpoetical creature
in the world, as Il general thing, but the
influence of it was too heavy for me. !
started on to chat aga;u about the boats,
and about women and yachts and books
and the other interests of the outer
world, but the things fell fiat, and pres
emily the talk died out of us altogether.
We lay there, hung in silence and sen
suously drinking in what the night gave
up. We must have spent hours without
throwing down a word.
Then Atcheson spoke. "That is my
usual concert" he said. Zone gets to
like it."
| did not answer at once. l could not,
although his words came clearly enough
to my ears. A sort of mesmeric doze
pinned ne down.
When managed to rouse, felt angry
with myself for weakness and spoke
with a sneer. 'You must find it mighty
monotonous," | said.
"a mistake: an utter mistake. 1t is
full of infinite variety it never repeats
itself, and l know, because l have lis
tened to it now for three years, in calm,
in cyclone, i'll every kind of night which
God will give. 1t is his orchestra. but
until the taste has grown Il does not
know this
Another pause. Then, care you going
to write about this Walden pond of
yours?" I asked.
II am no Thoreau with a pen. Be
sides, I am selfish and if l could set this
down I would not. One man in ten
thousand might understand, some wild
fellow who had lived in t., air with the
things that grow in the air away from
the pestilence of cities, and he would
never lift a book, but the others would
either yawn or deride and / take it this
is no matter to be profaned. And yet
there is nothing new in it at all; only
the old things changed. l have rambled
over the world and seen and tried most
pleasures; the sounds here give it all
back to me again, only here it is ideal
ized."
The spell of the place was closing
down again and pinning me. I reused
myself with an effort and swore for re-
lief. "Atcheson, l said, II believe you
are either the devil or Gree with "a
changed sex. Be merciful and speak no
more and let me sleep. If l listen on, ]
shall forget the place from whence l am
come and stay here and become as one
Of the swine"
81 am sorry" Atcheson said. land
because I do not want converts or COM
panions I will say no more. Therefore
sleep you."
The miasma of the lotus was in my
veins and I knew it and feared. I woke
suilen md suspicious with the first lift
Of day and got down to my boat. Atche-
son came after and cried a pleasant auf
wiedersehen, and / answered with a
scowl and threw out the SOULS. 1 was
very angry with myself and still more
frightened. I had been in that kind of
temptation before and knew what it was
afterward to wish that I had fallen
Consequently I made up my mind to.get
back to the yacht without q halt and SO
put in a day of savage toll. and because
the sun above burned like u kettle of
molten brass and the air baked. the ma
terial pains Of the body gave me other
matters to think about. And when I
made ont the sloop's riding light dano-
ing Oh her forestry I knew there was
another antidote close at hand. The man
with the sunburned legs was n very car
nal and practical sort Of person.
He received me affably. He fed me
first with sumptuousness, referred to the
decrease Of his own affliction, and then
told me that we and the oysterman no
longer had the bayou to ourselves.
1.-THE Van SciMks have come in with
their schooner. :" he said. "and they've
q girl OH board who says she knows you
"a Miss Wilcoxn."
"Ah." I said. II know her we'll
enough. We used to $50 = goodish deal
Of ono another once"
eft you mean that you were spoons
ON the lady," said the man with the
sunburned legs, 81 guess you'd better
forget that. She's engaged to a Yankee
man from Massachusetts now. q person