The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-07-11

him and invited him to commune" The
| prisoner, with a glance at the overseer.
promptly accepted. As he quaffed the
merry liquid however, he made Il WY
face, and as he wiped his mouth with
The back of one delicate hand, he re-
marked. in a soft clear tenor voice that
might have Won fortune and fame on the
stage, that such stuff as that was sure
death at forty rods.
Meanwhile, the overseer, amused by
the antics of the Irrepressible, invited
him outside to amuse the boys The
lnepressible at first seemed rather skit-
fish and hung back. The Northerner
stroled toward the front of the car.
The overseer. a bronze, iron-visaged man
of middle age. with Il heavy hooked nose.
retreating chin and mustache falling ON
either side of it like Il Chinaman's :.
caugnt up the wee beauty in white and
followed Inc Irrepressible and the
handsome convict Joined the procession.
al went out on the fiat at the farther
end of which lounged and sat in their
| degrading stripes the score or more of
dark-faced prisoners.
How shall ] describe the scene that fol-
lowed? A picture more filled with the
elements of widest romance it is diff
| cult to conceive.
In the immediate foreground sat ON a
rough bench the two guards, their stern,
| hronzed faces ever keenly alert, their
sinewy hands grasping their long rifles,
| their broad belts bl-stling with car
/ tridges: looking more like sentient war
machines than men.
| Between them sat the young Northern
| or, his straw hat tilted back from his
| forehead, cigar between his teeth. his
fair. laughing face turned toward the
front.
| Just beyond these stood the overseer
with feet wide apart, his body swaying
III rythm to the swing of the flying train.
Il delicious, dimpled rosebud of a face
smiling like one of Raphael's cherubs
over his shoulder; for he still held the
child in his powerful arms, and amid
those dark, bearded men she seemed II
Hover indeed, breathing the divine fra
GRANGE of innocence and trusting love.
At some distance farther on, as 1 have
stated, were the convicts--a crowd of
Jet-back, amber, saffron and sun-dark
ened white faces. in which rows of teeth
began to flash, lips to widen and eyes to
dance and glisten, while a roar of llni-
versal laughter leaped above the
rumble of the rolling wheels as the
Irrepressible took his station before
them and inaugurated his extraordinary
performance.
My friend. did you ever see
the Can Can? Are you ac-
quainted with the Nautch Dance2
Have YOU ever INDUCED in the
Highland Fling and painted through the
Moorish steps of the Fandago?
Because if You haven't whatever /
may say will fall upon your ears. fiat.
stale and Improbable. Verify this dance
of the lrrepressible was a frenZied com
bination of them ALL His body seemed
Whale-bone. lie was as often ON his
head apparently as upon his heels. His
long legs flew like leaves i'm gale
There were moments when it appeared
to the scribe that all of his members
would leap apart as jointed snake flies
to pieces under n heavy blow. and then
rush together, leaving him the original
and only American Dervish, dancing
singing, shouting. whooping, intact in
deed but a sight nevertheless, for geni.
gods and men.
~s4-----
Why. filled as he was with corn to
the very neck, he did not tumble off the
fiat and craze. his poor old skull was a
mystery to the Scribe then. is myS-
terry to I'm still. But he didn't. thank
the pigs. And the prisoners, fairly howl
ing with delight, had one free circus on
that bright mad day if they never have
another
Presently though the strength of the
corn and that of the Irrepressibe sud
denly went together. Down he dropped
i'll a painting heap, and with a faint
cacKle announced that he was 'tahred."
he believed he would go in and com
mune" with his "old Teddy" hoping he'd
be n better man.