Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1897-02-01
A RIVALS LOVE,

living, and / quite Endorsed their opinion,
for | had not only entered into posses
sion of decent little legacy left me by
my uncle, but / had also won the hand
and heart Of Ada Miller, the prettiest
and most charming young lady in the
whole county.
People said her father was immensely
rich, and that she would come in for q
handsome fortune at his death; but what
cared | about that? For had / not sutfi-
cient for us both, even if she were pen
niless And did l not love her with the
whole strength Of pure and disinter-
ested love? | cannot begin to describe
her to you, for the task is quite beyond
me. Suffice it to say that she was adj
mired by all who knew her, and loved
by not few.
The latter circumstances ceased to dis
turb me when once | became her ac-
cepted lover, though before that time it
occasoned me a great deal of anxiety,
and caused me to spend many restless
night.
Of one lover in particular had | been
jealous, for in my excited and fear-laden
imagination he seemed to possess every
thing that young lady could desire. He
was tall, brOad-shOuldered, handsome,
with a pleasing manner and faultless
dress, and in addition to all this. he was
endowed with more than an average
share of this worlds goods.
He was madly in love with Ada, but
conducted his WoOing in way with which
not event his closest rival could find
fault. Kind, cOnSiderate and gentleman
ly, never Obtruding his presence unneces-
sarily, he yet managed to pay her con-
siderable attention, and many an anxious
time did 1 spend, fearing that his SUI
perior attractions would put me III the
shade.
Fate, however, decided otherwise, for
when | summoned up courage to put my
fortunes to the test, Ada shyly accepted
me, informing me III q most engaging
manner that she had never loved any one
else. You may be sure that [ was in
ecstasies, and scarcely knew for the next
few months whether [ walked upon air
or upon solid ground.
Our engagement was to last year, at
the end of which time our marriage was
to take place.
The time had almost elapsed, and
nothing had occurred to mar the har-
mOny of the scene, when, quite uneN-
pectedly, something happened which filled
me with the deepest horror, and which
causes me to shudder even now as | re-
call it.
1t has partly to do with my rival,
Horace Rishton whose existence for the
time / had almost forgotten.
He had received the news of our en-
gagement in an apparently calm and
quiet manner, and his subsequent be-
haviOr had not led us to regard him as
being more than ordinarily affected by 1t,
but in the event | am about to describe,
/ was enabled to see how deep and tragic
the effect upon him really was
The revelation came in this wise:
It wanted but two days to our we'd
ding, and | had occasion to go on lit
tie business connected with it to a neigh
boring town, a place some four miles
distant from my home. Having accom-
plished my errand, and finding that l
had some considerable time to wait for q
train, | resolved to walk back, so strik-
ing out, | soon left the town behind me.
1t was a fine moonlight night, and as
it promised to continue so, | determined
TO take a short cut across the country,
which [ reckoned would save a quarter
of an hour at the least. The road would
be very lonely, for it was a path that
was seldom used, but that troubled me
little for my thoughts were company
enough that night
| had gone somewhere about two miles
when the moon suddenly clouded over,
and / was left in comparative darkness.
AS / knew the way, however, | thought
nothing of it, but trudged cheerfully
along, thinking only of Ada and our ap-
moments warning, the ground gave
way from under my feet, and | felt my
self falling headlong down, down into the
depths of the earth. How far l fell l
knew not at the time learned after
ward chat it was about thirty feet-but
expected instant death when l reached
the bottom and without doubt that would
have been my fate had not the bottom of
the hole been filled with water to a con-
siderable depth This broke my fall, and
also by its GOODNESS restored me to my
senses
I struck out on coming to the surface
and swan around to find something to
which / could hold on. After a consid-
cradle time spent in searching, during
which the full horror of the situation be-
gan to dawn upon me, l at last discovered
a piece of woodwork fixed in the side of
the pit.
This l eagerly grasped, and. resting
partially on it with half my body in the
water, | began to consider my position.
l knew at once the place into which
l had fallen, and as the knowledge
flashed across my mind L cursed myself
for having been so careless as to stumble
into it. 1t was an old, disused shaft
which had been there for generations
Not many people were aware of its eX
istence, for it was in a wild and solitary
spot scracely ever visited by any one.
l, however, had seen it several times, in
my moorland wanderingS, and had al
ways regarded it as a dangerous place.
Tt was partially fenced round, but |
must have wandered in through one of
the gaps.
There was no footpath anywhere near
it, so 1 must, in the darkness, have lost
my way. However. here l was, and the
question confronted me, how was L to
get out?
| tried to discover if it was possible to
climb cut. but the sides of the pit of
fered no hold of any kind, so | had to
abandon that idea.
/ next shouted, in the hope that some
solitary wanderer might hear my cries,
but no answering voice was heard, until,
after I had shouted myself hoarSe, l was
obliged to sink back in silence and de-
spair.
NV heart sickened as l thought of the
loneliness of the place, and how days,
and even weeks, might elapse before any
one passed that way. =,
/ struck out frantically round the pit