The Sauk Centre herald., 1908-10-08

grim farce which We had witnessed at
breakfast Waite offered food to the
dead woman and when she did not
move refused to eat anything him
self. After. dinner Arthur took the
canoe and explored the lake, looking
At once for the outlet and for food,
while l stayed at camp.
| suppose strange and terrible things
are common enough in the world, but
hope shall never have to go through
anything more strange and terrible
than what took place at that camp.
Waite sat for awhile in silence, and
then rose and went into the tent. He
walked exactly like an automaton,
with distinct pause and effort before
each step. In moment he came
back with book, sat down again be-
side the body, and began to read
| aloud. The book was some French ro-
nance, and the fincongruity of the
thing was simply hysterical. He had
been reading for about an hour, with
great interest and expression, when
| his voice suddenly sank and petered
| out like rundown phonograph, and
he toppled over across the body of his
| wife. *.".@
went to him and put my ear to his
breast. His heart was still beating,
but fiuttery, and only about 40 to the
minute. Left to himself he would not
regain consciousness; he might die in
five minutes. or live an hour OF two.
confess that for moment was
tempted to let the man die. Even
while those thoughts were suggesting
themselves to me, I. had got the
brandy flask, and was pouring little
OF the liquor between his lips. His
| pulse strengthened, and his breathing
became somewhat less shallow. l
| spread blanket beside the tent
out of sight of the dead woman-and
laid him there, then made little thin
corn cruel, the nearest approach to
| invalid food that our supplies afforded,
and forced it down his passive throat
And now there was nothing to do
but wait for Arthur. AS l sat there
l tried to plan for the future. When
he becomes conscious, if his delusion
persists, it will be the same thing
over again. If he is sane, what can
we tell him? If he sees the body, the
shock will probably kill him or de-
stroy his sanity again. My course was
plain. l must bury the body at once.
There was no use hesitating.
lifted the body and carried it some
hundred feet back from the lake; it
was no heavier than child. There I
| buried it, breaking the soft earth with
my hunting knife and spading it up
with my hands. Poor little girl.
1t was sunset when l finished my
work and came back to the camp.
Waite was lying as l had left him,
breathing as easily and regularly as in
! sleep. To my surprise, Arthur had
| not yet come back. l made more of
the cruel and gave it to the uncon-
scious man, then ate a little myself
and lay back on the ground beside
him. .s s--'. ....r ...
1 have no excuse except exhaustion,
but contrary to all resolution. and
duty, fell asleep. must have slept
about three hours. When ! woke it
was with a start, like sudden sharp
contraction of every nerve in my body.
My eyes came wide open all at once,
and | saw that it was night, and
bright moonlight. and at the same in
slant l saw Waite standing erect in
front of me. lay there perfectly mo-
tionless.
He stood there for second or two,
with the moon shining straight into
his great, light-blue eyes, looking at
nothing. Then, as l stared at them,
| they suddenly began to change and
clarity like the image in an opera
glass when you turn the screw. An
indescribable difference came over not
only his face, but his whole form, and
he spoke the one word-"Dead."
Then he spread his hands slightly
toward the place where l had buried
his wife, took couple of steps, and
! fell full length on the ground. When
l reached the body the spirit of Chand-
ler Waite had joined that of his wife
on the other shore.
About dawn Arthur came back. He
had found the outlet, followed it for q
! mile or two to make sure, and got
| lost in backwater. We buried Waite
with his wife, and sank their canoe
and kit in the middle of the lake, not
liking to think of anyone else using
them -.
Some days later we reached the
lumber village of Mishawee, and found
that Waite and his wife had passed
| through there On their way up.
Poor lad; poor lad said our
French Canadian host. He would
take no advice. But, ah, M'sieu', what
love!"