Cañon City record., 1898-01-06
.e~eN0No1s~0~o~o~
THE DEBE DRYAD.
so. II psss.ll.

was her nature. She had all the usual
vices of the feline tribe. including q
double portion of those which men are
| SO fond Of describing as feminine Vain,
indolent. selfish, with highly-culti-
vated taste for luxury and neatness in
her personal appearance, she was dis
tinguished by all those little irritat-
ing habits and traits for which nothing
but an efeminate heart-s thing in
her case conspicuous by it's absence
can atone.
We live in Q comfortable, old-fash-
ioned house facing the highroad. say
We. but in fact for some months had
J been alone, and my husband had just
returned from one of his sporting and
scientific expeditions in South Amer
ica- He had already won fame as a
naturalist. and had succeeded in bring
ing home alive quite variety of beasts,
usually Of the reptile order, whose ex-
treme rarity seemed to me a merciful
provision of nature But all his pre-
vious triumphs were completely
cclipsed, soon learned. by the capture
alive, on this last expedition, of an
abominably poisonous snake, known to
those who knew ii as the blue dryad.
or more familiariy. in back,voods slang.
ss the .'half-hour striker" in vague ref
erence to its malignant and fatal quail
ifi@s
Being in extremely delicate health at
tine time. need hardly say that knew
nothing of these Rrewsome details un-
til afterward. Henry fthat is my hus-
band) after entering my room with a
robust and sunburned appearance that
did my heart good. merely observed
as soon as we had exchanged greeting
that he had brought home u pretty
snake which wouldn't do the slightest
-harm--an evasive assurance which ac-
cepted as became q nervous wife of an
enthusiastic naturalist, believe I
insisted on its not coming into the
house. Fortunately the weather was
very hot, SO il was decided that tho
blue dryad. wrapped In flannel and
securely confined in basket. should be
left in the sun and the furthest cor
aer of the veraDds, during the hour or
so ia the afternoon when my husband
had 10 visf the town on business.
He had gone on with q cousin Of
mine, an officer of engineers in India.
stationed. think. at Lahore. and homo
on leave. ] r~m~mber that they were .
long time. or what seemed to me
long time. over their luncheon: and
the last remark of our guest as he came
out OF the dinine-room remained in
my head as even meaningless words
Sin run in the head OF an idle invalid
-liut mp for the most part of the day
- !, silent room What he said wEs,
N the positive tone of one emphasizing
a curious snd surprising statement:
-i)'you know. by the way. it's the one
sr,irnnl that doesn't care a rap for the
c-bra?" And then. my husband seem
irg TO express disbelief and a desire TO
charge the subject as the, entered my
soudoir. -I,'s holy fact. Goes for it,
80 smart. Has the beegar on tons; be-
fore You car say Jack Robinson,'"
The observation did not interest me,
hut simply ran in my head Then they
came into my room. and only for few
iBomeI1s, as | was not TO be tired. The
crgine-r tried to amn-e Stories. who
was seizcsl with such At of mortslbor
'am that he transferred his attentions
IN Ruby. III. Gordon setter. a devoted
ss.d iu>eparable friend of mine. under
-.-ho~e charge ! was shortly left a.
tiiey went ont
suppose I may have been asleep for
f-r minutes or so when l was Awak-
-led by the noise of Ruay's heavy body
umping out through the open vim
low. Feeling restless and seeing me
sleep, he had imagined himself en-
titled to a short spell of guard. Had
the door not been ostensibly latched he
would have made his way out by IL,
being thoroughly used to open doors
and such tricks-a capacity which, in
rnlatched. saw in a few moments.
for the dog on his return forced il
open with a push and trottcd up in .
disturbed manner to my bedside. I
noticed tiny spot of blood on the black
side Of his nose, and naturally supposed
he had scratched himself against .
bush or piece of wire. Ruby. said,
what have you been doing?" Then he
whined ms IL in pain, crouching close to
my side, and shaking in every limb.
should say that / WAS myself lying
with shawl over my feet on a deep
sofa with high back. I turned TO
look at Stofiles, who WAS slowly peram-
bulating the room, looking for fiie. and
other insects-hcr favorite amusement
-on the wainscot. When / glanced
again at the dog, his appearance faled
me with horror; he was standing, OBJ
viously from pain, swaying from aide to
side and breathing hard. As watched,
his body grew more and more rigid,
With his eyes fxed on the half-open
door ae drew back As II from the ap-
proach of some dreaded object, raised
his head with a pitifni attempt alta bark.
which broke OF into a stified howl.
rolled over sideways suddenly. and lay
dead. The horrid stiffness of the body,
almost resembling n stuffed creature
overset, made me believe that he had
died as he stoed. close TO my side, per-
haps meaning to defend me. Unable
10 resist the unintelligible idea that
the dog had been frisntenetit TO death,
followed the direction of his las, gaze.
and at first saw nothing. The next mo-
inent observed round the corner Of
the vsrnnda door 4 small. dar7<. and
slender object. swaying gently up and
down like dry bough in the wind
1t Ind passed right into the room with
the aame slow regular motion before
l rcalixesi whnt II was aud what had
happened. My poor. STUPID Ruby must
have rose,l at the baske, on the YER
nuaa TIL he succeeded somehow in open
ing il. aud been bitten in return for
his palms by the aboninabIc beast,
Hsse rsarist ssassa sa Harsps.
In spite Of Queen victoriA's Jubilee.
The American tourist sessou in Europe
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