Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1904-02-02

MOODILY LOOKING AHEAD.
OF the forest. The light jest, the burst
of laughter, the careless ease of atti-
tude showed the light-hearted voya
geurs content with this, their last
abode, nor for the time did any word
issue which threatened to end their
tarrying.
Law one morning strolled out from
the lodge and seated himself on bit
of driftwood at the edge of the for
est's fringe of cedars, where, SEEM
ingly half forgetting himself in the
witchery of the scene, he gazed out
idly over the wide prospect which lay
before him. He was the same young
man as ever. Surely, this increased
gauntness was but the result of long
hours at the paddle, the hollow cheeks
but betokened hard fare aud the de-
fining winds of the outdoor air. If
the eye were a trace more dim, that
could be due but tn the reflectiveness
induced by the quiet scene and hour.
Yet why should John Law, young and
refreshed, drop chin in hand and sit
there moodily looking ahead of him,
compromising not at all that which
he beheld?
Indeed there appeared now to the
eye of this young man not the white
shores and black crowned bluffs and
distant islands, not the sweep of broad
winged birds circling near the waters,
nor the shadow of the high-poised
eagle drifting far above. He felt not
the soft wind upon his cheek, nor noted
the warmth of the on-coming sun. In
truth, even here, on the very threshold
of new world and new life, he was
going back, pausing uncertainty at the
door of that life and of that world
which he had left behind. There ap-
peared to him not the rolling undula-
tons of the black-topped forest, not
the tossing surface of the inland sea,
nor the white-pebbled beach laved by
it's pulsing waters. He saw instead a
white and dusty road, lined by green
English hedge-rows. Back, over there,
beyond these rolling blue waves, back
of the long water trail over which he
had come, there were chapel and bell
and robed priest, and the word which
made all fast forever. But back of
the wilderness mission, back of the
struggling settlements of Montreal and
Quebec, back of the blue waters of the
ocean, there, too, We're church and
minister; and there dwelt woman
whose figure stood now before his
eyes, part of this mental picture of the
white road lined with the hedges ct
green.
A hand was laid on his shoulder, and
he half started up in sudden surprise.
Before him, the sun shining through
her hair, her eyes dark in the shadow,
stood Mary Connynge A fair woman
indeed, comely, round of form, soft
eyed, and light of touch, she might
none the less have been very savage
as she stood there, clad no longer in
the dress of civilization, but in the
soft native garb of skins, ornamented
with the stained quilts of the porcu-
pine and the bizarre adornments of
the native bead work; in her hair dull
metal bands, like any Indian woman,
upon her feet little beaded moccasins
the very moccasin, it might have
been, which Law had first seen in an
cient London town and which had
played SO strange part in his life.
since then.
You startled me- said Law, simply.
II was thinking
A sudden jealous wave of woman's
divining intuition came upon the wom-
an at his side. 81 doubt not" said
she. bitterly that could name the
subject of your thought! Why? Why
sit here and dream of her, when here
am |, who deserve everything that you
can giye?"
She stood erect, her eyes flashing,
her arms outstretched, her bosom
painting under the fringed garments,
her voice ringing as it might have
been with the very essence of truth
and passion. Law looked at her stead
lily. But the shadow did not lift from
his brow, though he looked long and
pondered.
Come" said he. at length, gently.
"None the less we are as we are In
every game we take our chances, and
in every game we pay our debts, Let
us go back to the camp"
AS they turned back down the beach
Law saw standing at a little distance
his lieutenant, Du .Mesne, who. hest
tated as though he would speak, -.
What is it, Du Mesne?" asked Law,
excusing himself with gesture and
Joining the yoyageur where he stood.
why. Monsieur Las" said Du
Mesne, y am making bold to mention
81 ~ go ~