Valentine Democrat. (Valentine, Neb.) 1900-1930, 1901-07-25
CHAPTER v.-(Continued.)

OoS SdSOu QlQ HUI LuOtS q ACoIuiS'
"Old man." he said, looking up with
MS eyes as steadfastly as the sun into
'~Jorgensen's face, and pointing towards
.Sunlocks, III you touch DEC hair OF
this head, these hands will tear you to
pieces"
Then one of the men who had stood
near, a rough fellow with a big tear
drop rolling down his tanned cheeks.
stepped up to Jason's side, and with
out speaking a word offered him his
musket; but Jason calmly pushed 1t
back. There was dead silence once
more. Jorgen ~Jorgensen's uplifted
hand fell to his side, and he was
speeches..
Speak now" said the Judge. Why
have you brought Michael Sunlocks
here?"
Jason stood silent for a moment as
If to brace himself up, and then he
said, Il have laid my soul bare to
your gaze already, and you know
what l am and where l came from.
A low moan seemed to echo him.
But /, too, am IN Icelander, AND
this is our ancient Mount of Laws,
the sacred ground of our fathers and
our fathers fathers for a thousand
years."
A deep murmur rose from the vast
company.
"And I have heard that if any one
is wrOnged and oppressed and UNJUST
ly punished, let him but find his way
to this place, and though he be the
meanest slave that wipes his forehead,
yet he will be a man among you ALL
There were loud cries of assent.
Il have also heard that this Mount,
on this day, is as the gate OF the city
in old time, when the judges sat to
Judge the people; and that he who Is
permitted to set foot on it, and cross
it, though he were guilty as the out
laws that hide in the desert, is in
nocent and free forever after. An
swer me-is it true? Yes or no."
yes! yes!" came from a thousand
Threats.
''Then, judges Of Iceland, fellow
men and brothers, do you ask me why
I have brought this man to this place!
Look at his bleeding hand" He lift
ed the right hand of Sunlocks. ut
has been pierced with a nail" A deep
groan came from the people. He let
the hand fall back. Look at these
poor eyes. They are blind. Do you
know what that means? 1t means
hellish ~barbarity and damned tyral-
NY"
His voice swelled until it seemed to
shake the very ground on which he
stood. What this mans crime may
be / do not know, and l do not care.
Let it be what it will, let the man be
what he maya felon like myself, a
malefactor, a miscreant, a monster
yet what crime and what condition
deserves punishment that is worse
than death and hell?"
None, none," shouted a thousand
voices.
"Then. judges of Iceland, fellow
men and brothers, I call on you to
save this man from that doom. Save
him for his sake-save him for his
you own, for He that dwells above is
looking down on you"
He paused a moment and then cried,
"Listen!"
There was a low rumble as Of thun-
der. 1t came not from the clouds, but
from tho bowels of the earth. The
people turned pallid with dismay, but
Jason's face was lit up with a wild
frenzy.
"Do you hear it? 1t is the voice that
was heard when these old hills were
formed, and the valleys ran like fire.
1t is the voice Of the Almighty God
calling on you"
The word was not a war cry. The
people answered it with a shout. And
still Jason's voice pealed over their
heads.
vengeance is Gods, but mercy be-
longs to man."
He stopped to Michael Sunlocks,
where Greeba held him at her bosom,
picked him up in his arms as if he
had been a child, turned his face to-
wards the Mount and cried, LET me
pass"
Then at one impulse, at n instant.
the Judge and the Bishop parted and
made a way, and Jason, carrying Sun
locks, strobe up the causeway and
swept through.
There was but one voice then in
that great assembly. and it was a
mighty shout that seemed to rend the
dome of the heavy sky. Free! Free!
Free!"
But the end was not yet. More, and
more terrible. is to follow, though the
spirit is not fain to tell of it, and the
hand that sets it down is trembling.
Let him who thinks that this world
is founded in justice, wait long and
watch patiently, for up to the eleventh
hour he may see the good man sit in
misery. and the evil man carried in
honor. And let him who thinks that
Nature is sweet and benignant and
that she is all things to all men and
nothing to any man.
Now when Jason had crossed the
Mount of Laws with Sunlpcks, think
ing by virtue of old custom he had
thereby set him free Of tyranny, Jor-
gen Jorgensen did what a man of shall
low soul must always do when he
sees the outward signs of the holy
things that move the deeper souls of
other men. He smiled with bitterness
and laughed with contempt.
"a pretty thing, truly" he sneered,
s'out of some forgotten age of musty
laws and old barbarians. But there
is something else that is forgotten.
It Is forgotten that between these two
men, Jason and Michael Sunlocks,
there is this difference, that the one
is a prisoner of Iceland, and the other
of Denmark. Jason is a prisoner of
Iceland, a felon of Iceland, therefore
Iceland may pardon him, and if this
brave mummy has made him free, then
so he it. and God pity youi But