Willmar tribune., 1905-01-18
E''''' -
The Hermit
a A Story of the Wilderness
y By CHARLES CLARK MUM y
Author Of Pocket Island. !" Uncle Terry"
arc" Rockhaven.'
CHAPTER Xxx.
Copyright. lsoS. by Leo and shepard ]

oI<At tACE. The AVENGER.
Meier was not bad boy at heart
To him Aunt Comfort was a rotund
embodiment Of all that was good and
motherly in womankind. For her
II within call-he would run his legs
OIL, and Angie was his idea Of what
angels were. He hated his best clothes
and church-going equally, minded
Anglo at school with doglike humility,
learned his lessons with surprising
ease, and perretrated the worst tricks
with an innocent manner that disarmei
punishment. lie 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.
fle did all these things out Of pure
mischief. but against David Curtis he
bore erudge. 1t dated from that un-
happy epoch ending in a bread-and-
water diet, and Meier missed no chance
to get square with David. In fact get
tins square with those who injured him
was q 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
llclously 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
lshment overlook him. There was
secluded pool in the upper Mizzv
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
Davld's best meadow, trampling the
grass and quite destroying it about
the pool. It 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 last resort,
drove stakes along each bank of the
pool and then strung a network of
oarbed wire across under water. It was
merciless and altogether heartless
trap, and fate Gecreed one evening, that
Nezer should be the first and only one
to leap into it. How he suffered, pierced
In q dozen places and terribl-,
scratched, how his agonized 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 a chance to dress
outside David's possessions, need not
be enlarged upon.
Meier had mildly hated David be-
fore-now it was changed to murderous
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 Frisbie's probable
legal assault and growing dread of
ghostly visitation, there occurred q
series Of events we'll calculated to drive
q 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.
were all missing in the morning. A
new supply was obtained, and few
days later David was awakened at
midnight to hear the mill going, and
shower of sparks flying from the saw
playing up and down against a crow
bar wedged in the log cradle. Later
the grist-mill-never locked-was vis-
tied by a ghostly miller, and bags of
grain poured into the raccway, belts
cut, and, as final message, the gates
raised and millstones found rumbling
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 and
barred the mill doors after this, only
to find it useless, for about once week
the mill was visited by this unrighteous
enemy, and damage inflicted. Then
he rigged a 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. It worked to 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 depredations fol-
lowed. A dog that had been secured
as guard was found dead the next
morning and swollen double from poi
eon; a small raft of logs above the
falls were cut loose and allowed to
drift over and land in inextricable
confusion below; stones took on 4
habit Of entering the house unbidden
through windows, and at odd intervals
other night mischief was perpetrated.
Then the two men who boarded with
David grew nervous, and the old ne
gress said, Il clare to gracious, desc
premises is gittin' hanted, n If it doan
stop, I'll quit here, "',ah s yo' born"
She was only restrained by an increase
in her wages, painful to David, and
temporary lull in the midnight visits.
Meier, in addition. to his mischief
inyenting faculties, also dearly loved
fO ma9nunra1p Hn had hocnmo tho