The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1902-08-09

fore I quit I could charm cobra
every time"
For some moments he said moth
ing more, but fell into one of his
old fits of abstraction. Presently he
reused himself and said, with slight
SILVER although il was July: "Myl
but there was fearful fascination
about it'll" Then he rose abruptly
and went into the house, leaving me
wondering.
Some days after this conversation
one of the navvies-a treacherous-
looking Spaniard- struck fellow
workman over the head with shovel
and killed him outright. In the even
ing we were sitting on the veranda
as usual, and remarked: "Of course
they'll hang the fellow, and he richly
deserves it."
'They haven't any right to hang
him or anybody else" Keister replied
sharply. do you suppose that devil
ish Spaniard could keep from brain
ing poor Mike? No more than
wolf can keep from killing a lamb
that crossed its path. It was the fell
lows nature, tell you; and man
can't change his nature any more
than a leopard can change its spots.
~ believe in a sort of transmigra-
ton of souls, up the scale and not
down. That idea that the easterners
have, about the souls of people going
back to inhabit beasts again, is all
rot. 1t seems to me something like
this: Man is the highest order of
creation upon the earth. He is the
embodiment Of all that has gone be-
| wards from chaos to the present
time-from the first spark of life to
the complex animal called man, all
the sensations and experiences of the
orders of life that have preceded him
are embodied in him, and lie buried
in his sub-consciousness. When "a
| nameless terror of the dark assails
child, it is remnant of the fear
some poor naked ancestor expe-
rienced in the dark, teeming jungle,
when existence was precarious
| thing, and meant a constant struggle
| with the giant forces about him.
When an ungovernable passion seizes
a man and he commits murder, it
is the disposition of one of his mon
ster ancestors, who wallowed in the
primeval slime, and fought it's enc
claw, asserting itself. AS child will
sometimes resemble some remote an
cestor in disposition or appearance,
or both, so will reappear in every man
traits that characterized some form
of life in the endless chain that
reaches back through the limitless
ages. A man is not unity but an
infinite complexity-a multitude of
conflicting experiences, tied up in one
bundle. Free? Bah! He is no more
free than a man in the middle Of n
| moving multitude Is free to stand
| still or go the other way. His en-
| vironments, past and present, deter
mine his course of action"
was so astonished at this sudden
burst Of philosophy that it took me
some moments to formulate a reply
in defense of my theory of the free
| agency of man. When I began to
state my theories, he laughed in his
odd, bewitching way, and skillfully
changed the subject of conversation
| AS the weeks went by Keister's re-
markable ability to handle men be-
came apparent. There was certain
compelling power in his look and
voice that was hard to resist. More
than once during the burning August
weather, when the men were we'll
nigh worthless because of the heat,
1 marvelled at his unique gift.
One evening after an exceptionally
hot day, we threw ourselves upon the
grass in the shade of big gum tree,
instead of taking our accustomed
places on the veranda. Within a few
feet of Kcister was a large pile OF
loose stones, upon which the sun had
been beating mercilessly all day. ]
was lying Hat ON my back, with my
hands locked under my head, and gaz-
ing up at the dropping leaves of the
gum tree, when heard my compan-
ion utter a sharp exclamation of sur
prise. Turning towards him, saw
his eyes riveted on the stone-heap. In
a moment large rattlesnake came
| gliding softly towards him from the
heated pile. In an instant Keister
was sitting cross-legged and gazing
steadily into the monsters eyes. 1
was too terrified to move or even
speak, so simply watched as one in a
| trance.
For a moment the snake wavered,
then, approaching to within two feet
of Keister's lowered face, raised IT.
self to fully a third of its length
and swayed its body with rhythmic
motion like that of rush in rum
ming water. Then they gazed stead
lily into each others eyes as IL each
were reading the Utmost secret of
the others being. For a moment
the snakes bead-like eyes seemed to
soften till they looked almost human,
while Keister's eyes took on q hard
glitter and his face became contorted
In way that made IL appear the
very incarnation of evil.
Presently the snake turned and
glided back to the stone-heap. Keis-
/ ter flung himself upon his face and