Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1901-03-23

drying her face in her apron and shak1I
ing her wet hair in the sun. No one
had come, but King Billy was now
awake and was slouching lazily off to-
J ward the bush. Efie laughed as she
saw him, his great head bent forward
and his thin, narrow shoulders bowed
She laughed to think of his laziness
and that he should look so tired after
such very little wood chopping.
She was still laughing at King Billy
as she opened the old workbox to take.
another peep at the yellow treasure.
and to make quite sure that the heat
hadn't melted it away. And it was:
quite slowly that the laugh died from
her pretty eyes and mouth quite slow
| ly because Of the moments it took to
! realize and accept misfortune so ter
rible- when she lifted the coarse socks
and looked and saw no little gold mug
| get, saw nothing. Then horror and
| great fear grew in the blue eyes, and
pale agony crept over the childish face
and made it old, and the poor littha
heart seemed to stop beating.
Efi1e said nothing and made no CRY,
but she closed her eyes tightly for
moment and looked in the box again.
No, 1t was no illusion. The little mug
get was not there. The first gold her
father had found, which had been in
trusted to her care, which was to have
been taken to her mother-it was gone.
She put down the box quite quietly
and walked out into the day. But the.
sun was shining. very strangely and
mistily now, and the blue sky had
grown black, and the trees seemed to
move weird1y, and the locusts had
ceased humming from fear, but the
strange bird was somewhere near,
shrieking brokenly: "What will father
say?> What will father sayY'
But as the child stood there despair
ing her sight grew clearer and she
saw black figure among the trees,
and she was conscious Of a pair Of
dusky eyes watching her through the
leaves. Then only she remembered.
and she knew who had done this cruel
thing. King Billy! And she had been
kind to him. Fife suddenly burst into
passionate sobbfng. The black figure
still lowered among the trees, often
changing it's position, and the dusky
eyes still peered through the leaves.
And the laughing jackasses flew down
to the old tree again and laughed more
madly than before laughed at Eme's
trust, at Billy's gratitude!
8
1t was 10 o'clock, and darkness and
of roic IN TohT
Over among the tents behind the wat
tie gums a few gamblers and heavy
drinkers were still awake, and their
voices, raised in anger or ribald mer-
riment, might occasionally have been
family heard from the hut. But Arch
er, who had sown his wild oats, was
a true worker, and he. had his little
daughter, for whose sake he had built
the hut away from the noisy camp.
Archer had come home late and
weary, as usual, had eaten his supper
and gone to rest without, to Ef1e's in
tense relief, speaking of the little gold
nugget. The child was afraid to speak
Of the loss, and she was not without
vague hopes that a beneficent Provi-
dence would restore the nugget during
the darkness and save her from this,
great trouble.
For this she prayed very earnestly:
before she lay down to sleep. Or did
she sleep at all that night? She never
quite knew. But she thinks that it
was then that she first experienced
hat terrible purgatorial condition
which is neither wakefulness nor
sleep when the body and mind are
weary enough to bring the profound
sleep which they require. but which
he brain is too overladen and too
cruelty active to allow, when dreams
seem realities and realities dreams
It must have been dream when she
Jaw something small and yellow float
through the tiny window on the ghost .
y silver moonbeams. And yet when.
laying closed her eyes, she opened
hem again it was still there, lowering
bout in the darkness, less bright now
nd with pale yellow halo. But it
AIDED quite away. 1t was a cruel,
nocking dream.
Then was it dream when the old
urtain which divided her corner of
he hut from her fathers moved near
he ground, bu!ged slightly toward :
er? 1t would be curious to see, and
he lay still. From under the curtain
eemed to come a thin arm and slow
:, cautiously, after the arm head
nth great shock of hair. And the
loonbeams just touched face
link they kissed it, though it was
lack, for they found in black hand
1e little yellow object which had
GATED in the first dream
1t was all so real, so beautiful, that
lie Child lay still. scarce daring to
'eathe lest the vision should melt
way. and when in her dream came
e voice of her father wieh the words,
speak, or I'll fire" her lips refused to
zen.
But it was no, dream when the shot
me and the black king rolled over
! the earth dead, with the little gold
lgget he had come to restore pressed
the death agony against his heart.