The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1896-09-25
miscellaneous.
FINDING FlNGALL.

Flngall tlngali. On, F1ngalf -
A gray mist was rising from the
river; the sun was drinking it delight
fully; the swift blue water showed I'M
derneath it, and the top of the White
Faced Mountain peaked the mist by a
hand length. The river brushed the
banks like rustling silk, and the only
other sound, very sharp and clear in
the liquid monotone, was the crack of
a woodpecker's beak on a hickory
tree.
1t was q sweet, fresh, autumn morn
ing in Lonesome Valley. Before night
the deer would below reply to the
hunters rifles and the mountain goat
call to its unknown gods, but now
there were only the wild duck skim
ming the river and then rising and
fading into the mist, the high hilltop,
the sun and again that strange cry:
"Fingall Fingall Oh, Fingall ~
Two men lounging at fire on a
ledge of the hills raised their eyes to
the mountain side beyond and above
them, and one of them said presently
voice, Pierre"
stirred the Goals above with a twig. :
well, it is pity-the poor Gym.
THE ~ he said at last.
ut is a woman, then? You know
her, Pierre-her story ?''
Pierre raised his head toward the
sound; then, after a moment, said:
Il know Fingall."
And the woman? Tell me.n
And the girl. Fingall was such as
Gh4n MnIronn oil fro on1 nd
devil may care. She-she was not
beautiful except in the eye, but thai
was like flame of red and blue. Her
hung down. That was all, except
that she loved him too much. But
women-et puts, when a woman gets
a man between her and the heaven
above and the earth beneath, and
there comes the hunger, what is the
| good? A man cannot understand
but he can see, and he can fear
What is the good ? To play with life
that is not much-but to play with
a soul is more than thousand lives
Look at Cynthie."
He paused, and Lawless waited pa
tiently. He knew Pierre well.
Presently Pierre went on.
off his hat to a squaw. 1t made NJ
difference what others did; he didn'
think; it was like breathing to him
How can you tell the way things hap
pen? Cynthie's father kept the tav
ern at st. Gabriel's Fork over agains
the great sawmill. Fingall was fore
man of the gang in the lumber yard
Cynthie had brother, Fem. Fem
was as bad as they make, but she low
ed him, and Fingall knew it well
while he hated the young skunk
The girls eyes were like two little fire
flies when Fingall was about, an,
when he thought of her he said to NE
They are the kind God made for tn
whole year round He was a gentle
man, though he had only half nam
-Fingall-like that | think he di
not expect to stay-he seemed to b
waiting for something, for Away
when the mail came in he would
there, and afterward you wouldn't Sc
him for time So it seemed to IN
that he made up his mind to thin
nothing of Cynthie and to say moth
ing
The strange, sweet, singing Yoic
. sounded nearer.
"She is coming this way, Pierre,
said Lawless.
II hope not to see her. What is tn
good ?"
well, let us have the rest of tn
story
Her brother Fem was in Fingall
> gang. One day there was trouble
Fem call Fingall liar. The gan
= stopped piling. They expected tn
usual thing. 1t did not come. Fir
gall told him to leave the yard an
they would settle some other tim,
= That night there was a wicked thing
!: We were sitting in the barroom whe
: we heard two shots and then fal
+ We ran into the other room. TheI
was Fem on the floor, dying. H
T lifted himself on his elbow. pointed 6
Fingall and fell back. The father {
;, the boy stood white and still fe
IL feet away. There was no pistol shoy
ing-none at all. The men closed
on Fingall now. He did not stir-h
l. seemed to be thinking of somethin
else. He had puzzled, sorrowfl