River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1902-09-25

cleaning in the sunlight, their races
radiant with happiness, their laugh
ter ringing across the river more mil"
steal than the voices of wind and wa.
ter. Roger saw them go hand IL.
hand into the shadows along the bar
dashing the water into fountains,
plunging like the great fishes, foun-
dering, shouting, playing. At last
the girl went slowly back to the lit
tie dressing and the man struck
boldly out into the stream. Roger
saw MIN coming and barked a well
come. He thought his master was
coming across and his dogs heart
was singing again. But the man only
screamed as if in anger or pain, and
sank deeper in the water till Roger
could see only che dim flash of his
long arms and legs beneath the sur
face of the rushing river. And he
ran again along the shore watching
his master swept away by the waters
till at last he could see nothing but
the green and yellow ribbons of the
deeps, running like a millrace, fiat,
secret, grooming and purring, snarl-
ing among the rocks like some great
cat jealous of it's prey.
Roger stopped and waited, but the
man did not come up out of the wa
ter. The sun swung low above the
western hills and the blue cranes
came skimming from the darkening
east, out Roger sat and watched
alone by the river and wondered
Then through the darkness he saw
men with lanterns and long pixies in
their hands come down the river in
boats, trailing ropes through the wa
ter and murmuring mysteE1ously
among themselves. Roger did not
understand, but he felt the pressure
of some inexplicable horror, and,
bowling as he went, he wandered
back to the white villa on the mill.
There upon bench near the veranda
he found the mans garments, his
cap, his shoes, and about them, NUT
tering, a group of men and women.
But the girl was in the parlor, her
pretty face quite pale, her blue eyes
very bright, telling some story in
which his name, the mans name,
came very often. But presently all
of them, men and women, wandered
away by two's and three's, in groups,
and the girl walked out into the gar
den with a strange young man.
Roger saw them, arm in arm, go
slowly into the arbor, and soon heard
their voices singing merry ballad,
and their laughter made him believe
that, after all, perhaps all was we'll
and that he, the master, would soon
come back singing and laughing.
Then he saw the torches come like
a sad procession up from the river,
and, going to meet them, saw the
man, pale now and very silent, lying
on a great plank, his long arms trail
ing the grass. Roger slipped in be-
tween them and parked for JOY, but
there was no sign of recognition
from the man, though the dog licked
the cold, dripping hands until some
one kicked him away.
Roger was puzzled by this queer
transformation of the man who had
been always so splendidly alive. go
back, You rascal" and the harsh
words and cuffs of the past few days
were no longer a mystery. Roger
knew somehow that these were but
the words and the deeds of the girl
enacted spoken by the men. The
reason he did not understand, but the
cause was plain enough. She did not
like dogs. Roger would have well
coined q kick or curse now, but that
motionless GOODNESS, that utter. ST
lence, that sleep in the midst of tu-
multi and excitement, that total OBJ
livion even Of the girl as she stood
above the man staring with scared
and yet unfeeling regard! What had
made the man like that?
The next day they took the man
away, but he did not call Roger,
though he followed the wagon down
through the tree-lined lane to the
depot They would not let him into
the train, and so he went back
again, and when he might sat look
ing at the girl WHO laughed and sang
always except when Roger was by.
When :Ley drove him away and he
knew that there was no answer to
his problem in them all, he went
down no the river where the empty
boat }ay moored, and, plunging in I'M
chiddeM, swan down across to the
bar where the little white dressing
rooms peeped from among the will
lows.
He ran about the sands and shifted
at the footprints in the sand-his
footprints as he had walked, shout
ing like boy at play. Surely the
mystery all lay in the rushing river.
From where he stood knee-deep in
the cool water, Roger could hear the
chorus of voices singing at the white
villa on the hill opposite. He could
even distinguish her-the girls voice
singing. And so he struck out
again into the current just as the
man had done, cried out as the man
had cried and went away into dim,
rushing depths, hoping, believing and
glad that he was following the man
even away from the girl and into the
mysteries which he neither under
stood nor feared.-Chicago Record
Herald.