Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1899-09-28

spirit of the wood, or some illusion of
my poor fever stricken senses, or that,
by some species of magic, the serpent
had been transformed into the woman;
for nv gaze had never shifted, and the
eyes had always been there. But she
had divined the situation at glance.
She came quickly forward till she stood
by my side. In a second her voice had
undergone a change; her eyes had lost
that quizzing, laughing light, and in
stead there was a look of genuine anx-
iety and kindliness in them; her voice
was womanly, and full Of a quiet, un
obtrusive sympathy when she spoke.
She had changed from the girl into the
woman.
"You have had another attack of the
fever, " she said Now, l shan't trou
BILE You; because l know when one has
the fever one is best left alone And
yod have no water-oh, too bad, too
bad I'll fetch some in half a minute.
And, picking up the water bag, she disap-
peared in what | suppose was the direc-
ton of the creek | noticed that under
! her right arm she carried light sport
I ing rifle In a few minutes she was back
| again she held the bag up to my lips,
and placed my hat upon my head
| had not missed it
"Now you have had enough, she
| protested. when | had taken a Few
| greedy mouthfuls. Lie down for lit
tie longer, and you'll be able to go to
the camp after bit. III go away and
| come back again. And off she went
l dozeJ. and then my scattered senses
began to gather themselves together
] again into some semblance of rational
| ity | must have been asleep some con
| siderable time, for when i awoke the
| sun was low in the heavens. and the
| atmosphere was pleasanter. | was think
ing that it was a curious thing to dream
| about some one coming and filling my
water bag, and to wake up and find that
| there was indeed water in the bag,
when. looking round, l saw Norah
Mackenzie sitting on fallen tree, with
| her back to ne. a few PAGES distant. /
| had not moved nor uttered a word, but
she turned the instant ! looked at her
and, coming toward me, said:
| You are all right now. l can see
you are. Do you think you can come to
the camp? You really shouldn't wan
| der from it when you feel the fever
coming on. It's not safe Just think of
what occurred the other day. Come
| the frank impulsive nature of the girl
was reasserting itself-"give me your
hands" She stretched out both of hers
and pulled me to my feet.
The attack of fever had passed.
was beginning to feel myself again.
Don't tell me that you I've been sit
ting here all this time waiting for mel
| exclaimed. conscience stricken.
She laughed lightly Remember the
cid saying. Ask no questions and
you 'll-suffer from no perversion of
the truth. Do you know, Mr. Parker,
that there's little of the quack about
me. / believe l can produce a cure for
this fever. It's one the blacks used up
ON the Burdekin. -
''Im skeptical about fever cures,
but I'll try yours l said But. by
the way, you must have thought me
awfully stupid few minutes ago. The
fact is, l had a curious dream about a
snake, and the law of associations a
queer thing. "
"You are complimentary" ry"-this with
L show of dignity-''so much so that
t suggests good deal of highland su-
3erstition. OF course you re limiting at
The highland myth about the princess
who was turned into a snake. | hope
you don't thina that I'm a snake turn
ed into princesys"
| "Why press a man so hard2' pro-
tested, with miserable attempt to say
something cheerful I'm the present
case circumstantial evidence seems to
prove that the woman grew out of the
snake Anyhow, if | were certain of
it, I'd never kill another one as long as
l lived. "
She laughed as if she rather enjoyed
the dubious compliment.
| "And they say Scotsman seldom
makes pretty speeches, she exclaimed.
"But wait minute. Here Is Mother
Natures cure for the fever. Strange,
isn't it, that there is never aEnettle
without a docken growing alongside p
| We were passing small, shrublike
tree ON which grew round, yellow
berry, a little larger than n cherry.
She stopped and pulled some, putting
them into small bag she carried by
her side / bit the rind of one She
watched me taste it, but of all the bit
ter tastes / ever experienced that was
the quintessence.
lyon mustn't judge of my medicine
by that berry" she insisted, smiling at
my wry face. "Il prepare them to-
night and give you drink tomorrow
morning. That will be something to
look forward to.
And all this time / was thinking of
something to say to her, to thank her
for the trouble she had taken with me,
but felt that if / did anything of the
kind it would simply be the means of
silencing her cheerful talk and driving
| her away. This, of course. | did not
want to do. We walked slowly through
the bush, and from time to time she
would stop and look at something or
other in way that for all the world
| although the association was incongru-
ous-put me in mind of the movements
OF n black fellow. Once she stopped,
and, pointing to the ground showed
me some tracks. Somebody must have
| been here with bullocks within the last
three days, " she remarked. Look, they
have gone in pairs-their neck yokes
| have never been off 4" Then she showed
me the marks on tree where on the
| previous evening possum had stuck
his sharp claws. She named the red
passion flower and the yellow ipom9a
that climbed the trunks of trees, the
| pink and scarlet epacris, and, pointing
to n casuarina, remarked it was diff
cult to believe that that tree was the
survival of still more remarkable type
of Australian fora. She showed me n
tiny nest glued to the underside of an
Insignificant leaf and some other things
which | thought only black fellow
could have noticed.
/ must have expressed some surprise
at her powers Of observation, for she re-
marked carelessly: "Oh, i don't SEQ
that any credit attaches to noticing
such things. When ono is brought up
! in the bush, one learns to read from
| natures book 1t seems to me they
miss all the interesting things out of
the other ones. I've learned more from
an old black fellow about this wonder
ful world in half ah hour than ever
did from all the books my father has in
sisted ON my reading. OF course m