The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1896-06-15

claimed piteously IT have served yon
faithfully for years My beard IL gray
with time. and my life has been one Of
hardship Have mercy on me. for he
few upon me and would have torn me
had | not defended myself against ms
fury might have destroyed him, but
sought only 10 preserve myself Have
mercy upon my weaknessl
The angry chieftain, however, needed
not the anguish Of his gray hairs, and.
pointing 10 low balcony which ex'
tended across the window Of the apart
ment and hung over the precipice, he
commanded that the wretched old man
should be flung from thence into the
river which flowed beneath as an ex-
ample to those caitiffs who valued their
own worthless lives above those OF his
noble hounds.
As the miserable tools of an imperi-
GUS will were dragging the unhappy vic
| tim 10 his fate he raised his voice and
cursed the tyrant whom they served,
| and having done so he summoned him
| 70 appear at the tribunal, which none
| can escape, TO answer for this his last
crime, on its first anniversary But the
powerful chief needed not his words
| AWAY with himr' he said sternly as
he lifted his goblet 10 his lips and there
was a struggle, shrek Of agony and
then splash upon the river wave, and
all was silent.
A year went by in festival and pride,
and the day on which that monstrous
crime had been committed returned un-
needed. There was feast in the castle,
and Stibor, who month after month
gave himself up yet more to self indul'
gence, gradually became heavy with
wine, and his attendants carried him e
a couch beside the same window whence
10 months before.
The guests drank on for time, anc
made merry at the insensibility an6
helplessness Of their powerful host an'
then they departed, each to his bushes
or pleasure, and left him there alone.
The easement had been flung back {
admit the air freely into the heate'
apartment, and the last reveler ha
scarcely departed. when raven-th
somber messenger OF Nemesis-fiey
thrice round the battlements of the cas-
tie, and then alighted on the balcony
Several of the guests amused their idle
ness by watching the evolutions of tn
i'll omened bird, but once having los
sight of it they turned away and though
of it no more.
Meanwhile work of agony and deaf
y AL oil 10, tl,at 1afk n 90
messenger. 1t rested but an instant fror
its flight ere once more it lowered owe
the couch of the sleeping Stibor. an
! then, darling down, its sharp beak pent
trated at one thrust from his eye int
y his brain!
: The agony awoke him, but he awok
Z only to madness from its extent. II
reeled to and fro, venting imprecatior
to which none was by To listen. an
writhed until his tortured body was on
u convulsion. At length, by mighty 9
g fort, striving to accomplish he knew NJ
what. he hurled himself over the ba
= cony, at the selfsame spot whence Il
u slave had been flung by his own con
y mand, and as he fell the clear waters I
y the Waag for time resisted the impu
e burden and threw him back shriekii
II and bowling from their depths.
Ne But he sank at last, and when h
e parasites sought him on the MORO
they found only the couch on which
n had lain and few drops of blood
d hint that he had died death of vi
81 lence and vengeance.
re They searched for him carefully
B. all sides, and then, when they we
re quite assured that he had passed awi
70 never TO return, whispers grew OF {
=, gray headed slave and the mysterio
" raven-until by degrees the fate of {
<, famous Stibor was fashioned into fori
re and grew into legend throughout {
N country, soaring the village maiden
d. her twilight walk and the lone shephe
is in his watch upon the hills -Exchans