Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-06-05

By the way, now Is your footF ask
ed Graeme.
Ties fuss rate. OATS what you call
One bite of-of--dat leel bees. He's
dere; you put your finger dere, he's not
dere. What you call him!"
"Fleaw I suggested.
"Oui! cried Baptiste. Oats one
bite Of flea"
II was thankful I was under the
barrels" I replied, smiling.
"Oui! OATS max me yer mad. I
jump and swear mos awful bad. OATS
pardon me, M'sieu Craig, heh?"
But Craig only smiled at him rather
sadly.
1T was awfully risky" he said to
Graemc, land it was hardly worth it.
They'll get more whisky, and anyway
the league is gone"
Well" said Graeme, with q sigh of
satisfaction, at is not quite such a
one sided affair as it was"
And we could say nothing in reply,
for we could hear Nixon snoring in the
next room, and no one had heard Of
Billy, and there were others of the
|
down at Slavin's. 1t was thought best
that all should remain in Mr.. Craig's
shack, not knowing what might hap
pen, and so we lay where we could,
and we needed none to sing us to
sleep.
When awoke stiff and sore. it was
to find breakfast ready ard old man
In, aha A Il
Craig came in, and saw that he was
not the man Of the night before. His
courage had come back; his face was
quiet and his eye clear. He was his
own man again.
"Gcordie has been out all night, but
has failed to find Billy" he announced
quietly.
We did not talk much. Graeme and
I worried with our broken bones. and
the others suffered from general
morning depression. But after break
fast, as the men were beginning to
move, Craig took down his Bible, and
saying, "N1it few minutes, men,"
be read slowly. in his beautiful, clear
voice, that psalm for all fighters.
and so on to the noble words:
1.-THE Lord of Hosts is with us:
The God Of Jacob is our refuge"
How the mighty words pulled us to-
gether, lifted us till we grew ashamed
of our ignobie rage and of our ignoble
depression.
And then Craig prayed in simple,
e,t,. ier1t ,,t,,1~
acknowledgements Of failure but I knew
he was thinking chiefly of himself;
there was gratitude, and that was for
the men about him, and felt my face
burn with shame; there was a petition
for help, and we all thought of Nixon
and Billy and the men Weakening from
their debauch at Slavin's this pure,
bright morning. Then he asked that
we might be made faithful and worthy
of God. whose battle it was. Then we
all stood up and shook hands with him
In silence, and every man knew a COW
enant was being made. But none saw
his meeting with Nixon. He sent us all
away before that.
Nothing was heard OF the destruction
of the hotel stock in trade. Unpleasant
questions would certainly be asked.
and the proprietor decided to let bad
alone. On the point of responsibility
the success of the ball was not con-
spicuous, but the antileague men were
content if not jublant.
Billy Breen was found by Geordie
late in the afternoon in his own old
| "a nd OF hno oh Nj
covered up in his filthy, moldering bed
clothes, with half empty bottle Of
whisky ut his side. Geordie's grief and
rage were beyond even his Scotch con-
troll. He spoke few words, but these
were of such concentrated vehemence
That no one felt the need of Abe's as
! sistance in vocabulary.
| Poor Billy We carried him to Mrs.
MAYORS home, put him in warm
bath, rolled him in blankets and gave
him little sips of hot water, then of
hot milk and coffee, as | had seen q
clever doctor in the hospital treat
similar case of nerve and heart de-
preston. But the already weakened
system could not recover from the aw.
iu' sh'th VI tilc lOilOWl1lR the
debauch, and on Sunday afternoon we
saw that his heart was failing fast.
All day the miners had been dropping
In 10 inquire after him, for Billy had
been a great favorite in other days,
and the attention of the town had been
admirin9ly centered upon his fight of
these last weeks. 1t was with no ordi-
nary sorrow that the news of his con-
dition was received. AS Mrs. Mayor
sang to him his large, coarse hands
moved in time to the music, but he did
not open his eyes till he heard MIR.
Craig's voice in the next room. Then
he spoke his name, and Mr. Craig was
kneelng beside him in a moment. The
words came slowly:
"Oi tried-to fight hit hout-but-Oi
got beaten. Hit 'urts to think 'e's
ashamed O. me. Ord like ia done bet
ter-Oi would"
ASHAMED Of you, Billy said Craig
in voice that broke. Not he"
"And-ye hall-'elped me so" he went
on "Oi wish Ord "a done better-Oi
do And his eyes sought Geordie and
then rested on Mrs. Mavor, who smiled
back at him with a world of love in
her eyes. you hain't hashamed O. me
-yore heyes saigh So" he said, look
Ing at her.