The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1905-12-23
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| The Hermit !
IN A Story of the Wilderness Il.
~ By CHARLES CLARK MUNN -
Author Of POCKET Island =" Uncle Terry
ard Rockhaven."
CHAPTER Xxx.
Copyright, 1905, by Lee and shepard.)

embodiment OF all that was good and
+! motherly in womanlind. For her
! If within call-he would run his legs
off, and Angie was his idea of what
angels were. He hated his best clothes
and churchgoing equally, minded
Angie at school with doglike humility,
learned his lessons with surprising
ease, and perpc,rated the worst tricks
with an innocent manner that disarmel
punishment. He was the terror of
the village when fruits were ripe,
made the life OF Hans burden, and
when out OF Aunt Comforts sight, al
ways up to some new mischief aimed at
him.
He did all these things out of pure
mischief, but against David Curtis he
bore grudge. 1t dated from that I'M
happy epoch ending in a bread-and-
water diet, and Meier missed no chance
to get square with David In fact get
ting square with those who injured him
was cardinal point in the boys ma
ture. Another thing, he was close
mouthed, and secretly not only plotted
and planned, but afterwards enjoyed
his revenges. How much fruit he
stole from David's orchard, how often
he let bars down and cows into corn
fields, how much garden sass he ma
liciously destroyed in midnight raids,
no one but himself knew, and he never
told. For years he waged guerilla
warfare alone on David, and then one
day sharp and perhaps deserved pun
iShment overlook him. There was Il
secluded pool in the upper MiZHy
meadow owned by his enemy, and here
Meier and his mates were wont to come
many times each summer to enjoy a
swim. To reach it they had to cross
David's best meadow, trampling the
grass and quite destroying it about
the pool. 1t angered David, to whom
loss OF even grass was misery, and
whenever he caught them there, retri-
button with an oX-goad followed They
came under cover OF night, however,
and one boy would take turn as SEN
tinel and David still suffered He grew
desperate, finally, and as a last resort,
drove stakes along each bank OF the
pool and Jhen strung network OF
barbed wire across under wafer 1t was
merciless aud altogether hear,less
trap, and fate decreed one evening, ,ha,
Meier should be the first and only one
to leap into it. How he suffered, pierced
in a dozen places and terrbl,.
scratched. how his agoni2cd screams
were keen JOY to David, how. Meier,
dripping blood, ran after the rest of
the boys and halted not until they
reached safety and chance to dress
outside David's possessions, need not
be enlarged upon.
Meier had mildly hated David be-
fore-now it was changed to murderou:;
intensity, and his only ambition was
to seek revenge. He took none of the
boys into his confidence. but true To
the thief's caution, inherited from his
father, resolved to act alone
And now while David was in sore
distress over Martin Frisbic's probable
legal assault and a growing dread of
ehoSuy visitation, there occurred Il
y series of events we'll calculated to drive
a superstitious man insane. The first
was to find that every tool in the saw
mill had vanished, crowbars, can't
hooks, extra saws, hammers. chains,
Z were all missing in the morning a
new supply was obtained, and few
days later David was awakened a,
midnight to hear the mill going, and
a shower of sparks flying from the saw
playing up and down against crow
bar wedged in the log cradle. Later
] the grist-mill-uever locked--was Wis
tied by a ghostly miller, and bags of
grain poured into the raceway, belts
cut, and as final message. the gates
raised and millstones found r,lmblin,
at early dawn. 1t WAS no ghost, of
course, even to the superstitiOus mind
| of David, but an enemy Of the most
malicious sort, and yet the property
loss produced almost as much SUFFERING,
as an actual spook. David locked anG
barred the mill doors after this, only
to find it useless, for about once a week
the mill was visited by this unrighteoll:,
enemy, and damage inflicted. Then
he riaeed Gordon of fine wire around
the grist-mill, attached to doors and
connecting with his house. so that any
disturbance would communicate and
ring bell 1t worked tc the extent
of causing David and his men to rush
/ to the mill with lanterns to find the
belts again cut, and the stones grind
ing away, but no sight or sound of an
intruder. Then other deprcdations fol-
lowed. A dog that had been secured
as guard was found dead the next
morning and swollen double from poi
son: small raft of logs above the
falls were cut loose and allowed TO
drift over and land in inextricable
confusion below; stones took on a
habit of entering the house unbiddcn
through windows, and at odd interval;
other night mischief was pcrpctrated
Then the two men who boarded with
David grew nervous. and the old ne
gress said, II clare to gracious, desc
premises is gittin' hanted, N if it doan
stop, III quit here, snah s yo' born.
She was only restrained by an increase
In her wages. painful to David. and a
temporary lull in the niGnight visits.
Meier, in addition TO his mischief
fnyenting faculties, also dearly loved
to masquerade. He had become III"
possessor of few dime novels. ono O.
which portrayed on the cover a real
istic picture of Scar Face, the Aven-
ger" and 10 initiate the raiment and
habits Of this savage was keen enjoy
lnent to Meier He had fashioned Il
head-dress and crest OF turkey feathers