Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1899-09-09

seen the spirit OF the Falls come
floating down the river in a canoe.
This had only happened once before in
the memory of the Kafirs, and that
was just before Chaka's Zulus came
down like a whirlwind and devasted
their homes. Was he not the Guar
dian of the Falls and surely this mys-
FERROUS visit was intended TO signify
hat the Spirit was angry because the
Nosa1la was going to leave them, and
if she really did so the spirit would
certainly demand a sacrifice, and that
would be terrible.
But it was all i'm vain, for Mark
had made up his mind to go, so a few
days later Dorothy's Katiir friends
came to say god-by.
'Old Ring Kop brought her n long
string made of woven grass or hemp,
and fastened a precious charm Of his
own down at the end of il. Then the
.ong line of Kaffirs followed. and each
one, as the procession passed before
her, dropped a chosen bead or amulet
onto the string which Dorothy held in
her hands. SO the Kosana came away
with a token and Il thought of love
from each and every one of them.
The home of Dorothy Lynn for the
following four years was in the low
lands that divide the TranSvaal in the
north from Mapocks Land. They were
years of unspeakable happiness, for
the family ]prospered and Dorothy
found a lover.
80 Young Harold Grosvcnor was part
owner of the mines that Mark Lynn
had charge Of, so it happened that the
young engineer saw n good deal of
Dorothy in her new home.
"IIe found her face fair and her
mind ~fairer, and when he told her ut
last that he loved her better than all
the world, she awoke as from a trance
and herAellcate. beautiful nature eX-
banded and welcomed his devotion,
just as a flower opens its petals and
reflects new life and grace and color
from the touch of the dew and the
charm Of the sunshine.
but Dorothy was no sentimental
dreamer, so when Harold told her that
he would have to return TO England
for a season on business, she playfully
dcSir"dhim TO hasten his departure so
that &c might in this way quicken his
rrtrrn. So together they paid a long
visit to the old home ut llowick, and
then the young lover took his depar-
tine for England.
He had been gone but a few months
when Dorothy's father contracted the
jungle fever and, after a weary period
of nursing and waiting, the mother
and child were left alone in the world.
After their bereavement, OF course,
| tInN nntl1,l,'f Gina Of 11n ,,,st,. CO
they returned TO their home at IIo-
wick, and among the first to welcome
them was old Ring Kop.
-Four years had made quite a
change in the old man, but the re-
turn of his friends and benefactors
seemed 10 have given him n new lease
of life. They told Dorothy hat the
old fellow had almost deserted the
Falls during her absence, but now
she noticed that day after day he
wandered down anon the rocks as
usual and watched the foaming, boil
ing waters from his old station at the
head of the Falls.
There he sat or rcclined in the sun,
smoking by the hour, but what the old
katlir could find to think or dream
about, day in and day out, was a mys-
terry to everybody.
And so the weeks and the months
passed and Harold did not return. His
letters were long and affectionate at
first, and there were many of them.
but before another year had gone by
Dorothy knew that a change had
come, and that something was wrong.
She made nc complaint nor did she
nSly fn.Vn, - Oh. ...-l-
waited patiently, hoping and suffer
ing. Then, after a while she read in
the pages Of a Liverpool newspaper
hat Harold had married a rich and
arming lady in that city.
80 i am sorry to have to tell O
that very soon Dorothy began to pine
and to. waste away, slowly, indeed, but
so plainly that old Ring Kop noticed
it, and said in his heart: at is the
Spirit of the Falls" demand a sacri-
fee
"One evening, at the time of year
when the leaves were beginning to
fall. Dorothy thought she would like
TO say good-by to Harold, so she sat
down and wrote a letter to him, and
! these were her words:
- am sure you still remember the
Falls Of Howick, and the path that
winds down through the ferns and the
rose bushes to the foot of the hill.
| wish | could think that YOU also
remember the little blue flower we
planted right on the edge of the cliff.
| forget its real name, but you know
we called it Loves Token" 1t was
so delicate and tender it would thrive
nowhere but just in the mist and the
sunshine. Wen, Harold, when we re-
turned to Howick | thought | would
like to see my little blue flower again,
but when | arrived at the spot | found
III its place one of those beautiful lilies
with the wide-spreading leaves. The
lily had stolen the mist and the sun
shine from the little blue flower. and
Loves Token had withered and was
dead.
81 was thinking OF this today, and
said to myself, Il will write and tell
Harold that / cannot find n fault
with his rich and beautiful wife for
coming between Us, any more than
can blame the lily for stealing the
mist and the Sunshine from the token
of our love-
as Dorothy finished the letter, the
moon was shining brightly in at the
easement. Like one in a dream, she
arose, passed silently out of the house,
and hurried along the pathway that
led to the Falls. She had been gone
from the house but a minute when
her mother missed her, and rushed
after her. Not fifty feet from the
G cataract she caught her daughter in
her arms.
What is Dorothy going to do?'
SIC exclaimed. If my child is tired of
i'e and will go away, she must take
her mother with her, for she will not
stay in the world alone