The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1903-03-19

that after that it would be useless!
the invalid stopped his cries.
1t began to rain, gently, slowly, but
necessarily.
From the left, where the view was
shut out by the rocks, came the
striking of the hours, halves and
quarters. How well M. Montreuil re-
membered the little church, so white,
so friendly. He had been in the habit
of regulating his watch after the
church clock, and it's bell had never
before announced to him any sor.
rows.
Five o'clock. A sickly streak of
dawn appeared on the horizon, gradu-
ally expanded, and became more bril-
liant. The mysterious noise of
awakening life arose from the plain.
M. Montreuil tried again to call for
help, but the cold during the night
had made him hoarse and the cascade
made more noise than on the day be-
fore. yt
Toward nine o'clock the old man
discovered, far away<in the distance,
a peasant with a basket on his arm,
probably picking mushrooms. With
all his strength and energy M. Mon
treuil cried for help.
F. The mushroom picker stopped in
his search; he had heard the cry and
looked around in all directions. The
poor shipwrecked invalid attempted
to cry again to attract the attention.
of the peasant, but the sound died
in his throat, paralyzed by hope and
fear alike. The mushroom picker
looked around once more, but not
being able to see anyone, he con-
tinued his work, believing that he
had been mistaken when he thought
he had heard some one cry.
1t was oon M. Montreuil began
to suffer from the pangs of hunger.
He wanted to make a last effort. He
rested his whole weight upon the
lever; perhaps he could thus lift his
chair out of the rut; but the chain,
unable to resist the great strain,
broke.
On the main road, far away, he
heard from time to time. the rum
bling Of the farm wagons. Toward
evening the noise became more sub
dued and he had no longer any cause
to be hopeful of approaching help.
He made painful attempts to lift his
legs. He might as well have tried
to move those of a statue. Then he
tried to raise himself upon his ell
bows, to throw himself from his seat.
even at the risk of breaking. an arm.
He would then, he thought, roll down
Gk a barrel to the road where the
people passed. To get there was the
aim; no matter whether he arrived
there battered and covered with
blood, as long as he accomplished his
object. ,,
But his chair would not rock or
move, and, being unable to get out
of it in any other way, M. Montreuil
saw once more the night descend and
again he watched the appearance of
that little light way down in the
plain. His fists clutched, his mouth
parched and ~speechless, without even
a single thought, M. Montreuil sat
there like a stone image, p~owerlessly
awaiting the terrible moment when
the light would go out.
Eleven o'clock at night; the light
disappeared.
Now he began to cry like a child.
For two days he had eaten nothing;
he was consumed by fever and his
burning head was almost too heavy
to hold up. There was a buzzing in
his ears, which, combined with the
noise of the falling water of the
brook, grew louder and louder, until
it sounded like the deafening roar of
the Niagara.
All at once his mind, the mind of:
an honest and peaceful man, gave
way under the weight of all those
emotions. In his delirium, M. Mon
treuil began to cry out loud. He
spoke to Perou as if the latter were
still with him.
"Is everything we'll secured? This
devilish voyage, is it never going to
end? There is the port-the port!
All ready to drop the anchor!"
After a few moments Of silence, he
began again with a terrible voice,
beating the air with his arms:
"They are tying me to the mast!
That is horrible! Let me go; you
know that the ship is sinking!-My
God, they want to drown me!-Mur-
der! Murder!"
He imagined he could see waves as
high as mountains advancing toward
him.
"They crush me-! They swallow
and devour mel"
And he dug his nails into the arm
rests of his chair and tore at the
cloth, c%lutching it like a shipwrecked
sailor the wreck.
For a long time he suffered thus
from fever delirium. One moment he
imagined that he saw a ship approach
to save him; they threw him a life
buoy, but just as he was going to
grasp it, they pulled it away from
him; then he saw thousands of boats
pass quite near to him, but he was
not able to reach them.
In his rawlings he passed through
all the passions and hopes of human
life, and in a few seconds ran through
the whole gamut of emotions, from
deepest despair to the most exuber.
ant. joy. Suddenly his eyes seemed
to bulge out of their sockets.
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