Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1897-01-26
A WINTER ADVENTURE.

! going home through the woods at
this time of night2 Here, Jack
Harry-Dickl Come here, some of
you, and keep this mailman from
committing suicider
you mustn't think Of it, Sandy;
you'd just end by being smothered
in snowdrift, or gobbled up by a
wolf Besides, there's no sense in
going out into cold, dark night,
when you may just as well stay
still"
Come, now, old fellow, be adj
vised by your friends for once. We
have a shakedown all ready Cor you,
and you can start home morrow
as early as you like
Really, Mr.. Mcleod, you ought
not to leave us like this" added a
sweet, girlish voice. MY brothers
quite right about the snow and the
wolves; and besides, if you go away
from our door on such a night you'll
make us seem inhospitable.
Even against this argument, how
ever, the old Scottish piper, who
had been playing the whole evening
as if he meant to tire out every
dancer in the room, was completely,
though courteously, proof
''Ye're vera guide tae auld Sandy.
my bonnie ledy," said he, with his
usual stately politeness; but it
shall neer lie said that Sandy Nc
Leod, the piper O Strathronan, was
fear't at wolves, or shaw, or ony-
thing else. haze said that I'll
gang hame the NIGHT, and gang |
wull, though / should meet wi Death
himself on the roadr"
"Oh, Mr.. McLeodr' cried the
young lady, reprovingly.
''Weel, isna that hoo a mon
should dae? There's q word amang
us in Scotland, He that Wilma face
the river fa's into the deep sea-; as
it MIGHT be to say that, in feein'
frae ae danger we may fa' into
anither. / kent mon ance--Neil
Randalson they cad him-as bold
and clever fishermen as e'er
spread a sail. Weel, his wife
dreamed he was drooned, and sac
she darkened a the winnocks Twin
dows), and tauld him it was vet
dark when it was fair day, that he
MIGHT ma gang the fishing. Weel,
the boat he should haze sailed in was
lost, and weel pleased was the wife
that she had kept her mon frae
ganging wit; but when she got
hame, pure Neil had fa'en wi his /
face in the muckle tub, and drooned
himself that wayI"
Fortified with this impressive ex- !
ample of the awful consequences Of
Striking" Sandy turned a af ear
to all remonstrances, and finally cut
them short by wrapping his we'll
worn plaid around him, and sling
ing his beloved pipes ever his Shout
der, with an air of stern resolution
which could not be mistaken.
Finding him unpersuadabIe, his
compromised the mat
ter by forcing upon him q large |
packet of good things from the sup
per table, reminding him that he
had long way to go, and might be
hungry again before he got home.
Sandy accepted the provisions
with few brief words OF thanks,
and stuffed them into his wallet.
Then cooking his bonnet" defiant
ly, he strobe out into the darkness,
whistling "McPherson's Rant" with
might and main.
To march alone through a Cana
dian forest, in the depth of winter,
is no joke, at the best OF times; but
to do so at the dead of night, in
hard frost, with one storm just over
and another just coming on, and !
over and above all this, a very good
chance OF falling in with an excur-
sion party of lively wolves, on the
lookout for their supper, is thing
which few men would care to try.
Luckily for poor old Sandy, the
furious wind which had Just spent
itself had swept the clearings toler-
ably bare of snow, otherwise his
Journey might have ended almost as
soon as it began. But as he plunged
deeper and deeper into the wood,
the drifts grew larger and higher,
and the old piper, hardy as he was,
mad enough to do to get along at
III. Every step buried him almost
Snee-deep in the noiseless white sea
around, and more than once he was
lin" up to his very shoulders.
How gloomy and dreary it looked,
hat cold, dark forest, after the
bright fire and merry company that !