Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1904-02-09


which may have aided, rather than
| hindered, his excellent swordsman-
ship.
Undrrfoot 1t was slushy with mud,
water and ice, the consistency varying
from somewhat solid crust to pud-
dies that half inundated HamiltOn's
boots and quite overilowed Father
Beret's mOccasins-an eNecrable held
for the little matter in hand. They
gradually shifted position. Now 1t
| was the governor, then the priest, who
had advantage as to the light. For
some time Father Beret seemed quite
| the shifticr and surer fighter, but (was
his age telling Un himD he lost per-
ceptibly in suppleness. Still Hamil-
ton failed to touch him. There was a
battling something in the old mans
escape now and again from what ought
to have been an inevitable stroke.
Was it luck? 1t seemed to Hamilton
more than that-a sort of uncanny eva
sion. Or was it supreme mastery, the
| last and subtlest reach of the fencers
| craft?
Youth forced age slowly backward
| in the struggle, which at times took
OH spurts so furious that the slender
blades, becoming mere glints of acicu-
lar steel, split the moonlight back and
| forth. up and down, so that their meet
| ings, following one another in wesl
| nigh continuous stroke, sent Il jarring
| noise through the air. Father Beret
lost inch by inch. until the fighting was
almost over the body Of Alice, and now
| for the first time Hamilton became
aware of that mOtiOnleSs something
with the white. luminous face in pro-
| file against the ground; but he did not
let even that unsettle his fencing gaze,
which followed the sunken and dusky
eyes of his adversary. y perspiration
suddenly flooded his body. however.
and began to drip across his face. His
arm was firing. A doubt crept like a
chill into his heart. Then the priest
appeared to add cubit to his stature
and waver strangely in the soft light.
Behind him, low against the sky. n
wide winged owl shot noiselessly
across just above the prairie.
The soul of true priest is double;
1t is the soul of Il saint and the soul of
a worldly man. What is most beauti-
full in this duality is the supreme cour-
age with which the sanity spirit at
tacks the worldly and so often hero
ically masters it. In the beginning of
the fight Father Beret let passion of
the earthly body take him by storm.
| 1t was well for Governor Henry Ham
| ilton that the priest was so wrought
| upon as to unsettle his nerves; other
wise there would have been san evil
heart impaled midway Of Father Be
ret's rapier A little later the sanity
spirit began to assert itself, feebly in
deed, but surely. Then it was that
Father Beret seemed to be losing agil-
ity for awhile as he backstepped away
1 from HamiltOn's increasing energy Of
saying: II will not murder him. l
must not do that He deserves death,
but vengeance is not mine. ! will dis
arm him." Step by step he retreated,
playing erratically to make an opening
for trick he meant to use.
1t was singularly loose play, sort
Of wavering, shifty, incomprelnnsible
show Of carelessness that caused Ham.
ilton to entertain doubt, which was
really a fear, as to what was going to
happen, for, Notwithstanding all this
neglect of due precaution on tit
priests part. to touch him seemed i'm
possible, miraculously SO, and every
plan of attack dissolved into fnti'''v