Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1901-11-14
A TRAGEDY OF fHE TIDES.

Margaret Neville, his betrothed. who
disappeared from the infant city OF
Halifax on the afternoon of Septem-
ber Is, 1894. The facts were gath.
cred from one Nicholas Pinson from
the mouths of Indians more or less
concerned, from members of the Ne
vile family, and from much sagacious
conjecture; and woven, with an in
finite deal of irrelevant detail, into a
narrative which has been vigorously
condensed in the present rendering
Theindustrious Plns0n 5 manuscript
with all its attendant old French
characters, its obscure abbrevia-
tions, and it's well-bred contempt for
autographed accuracy, might per-
haps be found even yet in the pro-
vincial archives at Halifax. AtIeast,
If any one be curious to oexamine this
story in the original, just as NJ. Pin
son wrote it, he may search the ar
chives at Halifax with a reasonable
surety that the manuscript is as like
ly to be found there as anywhere
else.
There was q faint, obaline haze in
the afternoon air, and in the still
waters of the harbor the low hills,
with their foliage lightly touched in
bronze and amethyst and amber.
were faithfully reproduced. Into
hollow between two knolls wooded
with beech trees ran ashallow cove,
its clear waters edged with sand of
a tender, greenish gray. Close to
the water s edge stood the lovers, and
across the silence they could hear,
pulsating dimly, the hammers of
them that were building the city.
Listen" SAID the man, as he drew
the girl closely to him and kissed
her on the forehead those are the
strokes that are making home for
u.s."
The girl lifted her lips for a kiss
that never reached them. The man
was seized from behind, dark hand
covered his mouth. and Lieutenant
Henry Crewe, his sword unstirred
in its scabbard, found himself pin
ioned hand and foot, ere he had time
to realize that other arms were about
him than those of the woman he loved.
With her it Jared in like fashion,
save that before they covered her
mouth she found time for one long
piercing cry. 1t was heard by those
who were working on the city pali-
sades but no man could tell the di-
rection whence it came. Presently
a search party set out for the thick
woods lying a little north of west
from the city, but in the meantime
the Indians had carried their cap
tives northeastward to the lakes,
and were making all speed on the
Fundy coast by way of the Shube-
nacadie trail.
Henry Crewe was a tall man, and
well sinewed, and for a brief spaces
he strove so fiercely with his bonds
that his fair skin flushed well nigh
purple, and his lips, under the yel-
low mustache, curledapart terribly,
like those of beast at bay. Unable
to endure the anguish of his effort,
Margaret averted her eyes, for she
knew the hopelessness of it. Like
all the Nevilles of Nova Scotia to this
day, the girl was somewhat spare of
form and feature, with dark hair; a
clear, dark skin, and eyes of deep
color that might be either gray or
green. Her terrible cry had been
far less the utterance of blind ter
rcr than deliberate signal to the
garrison at the fort, and so complete
was her self-control that when Crewe
met her gaze his brain
grew clearer, he forgot the derision
in the Indians painted faces, ceased
his vain struggles, and bent all his
thought to the task of finding means
Of deliverance:
The captives were thrown into
canoes and padded swiftly to the
head Of the long basin which runs
inland for miles from the head of the
harbor. AT the beginning of the
portage their feet were unbound
and their mouths set free from the
suffocating gags.
oh, Margaret Margaret To
think / should have brought you to
this !" exclaimed Crewe in a harsh
voice, the moment his lips werefree.
The girl had confidence in her
lovers power to find some way of
protecting her, in case no help should
come from the city. Her sole thought
now was to show herself brave and
in no way to embarrass his judg-
ment. Before he could answer, how
ever, the leader of the band struck
Crewe across the mouth with the
fat of his hatchet, as hint that he
should keep silence. Had Crewe
been alone, bound as he was, he
would have felled his sssailant with