Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-07-23

detachment. he looked at the rails. wet
gray mists, which swallowed them up,
but he still heard the dismal drawl
of the elderly woman: When we
apples from the tree"
In h far distance, a faint hum
ming was heard, deepening into an
ever-increasing growl. The Bourne
mouth express was approaching, and
roared, screaming shrilly as she
struck the point, before entering the
station. Guy fixed fascinated eyes up
on the monster. An uncomfortable
impulse seized him. He must fling
himself across those shining rails.
Ror that purpose, and no other, he
had come thither, led by Fate. His
head was reeling, his knees trembled.
BIT too near, sir" he heard the
platform inspector say. The mans
strong hand was on his arm, gripping
it.
Thank you" said Guy in a voice he
hardly recognised as his own. The
train rushed on and out of sight as
the inspector relaxed his grip.
Next train is yours, sir" said the
Inspector. "That one don't stop. She
was going sixty mile an hour when
you took a notion to board her"
He hurried away, quite unsuspect-
ing. Guy wiped the cold sweat from
his face. He had been near
death many times, but never SO near
as this.
Henceforward he knew the merciful
verdict, assigning an unsound mind as
the controlling power behind the ir-
revocable act. was justified. He-a
sane man-had been mad. raving mad,
for one never-to-be-forgotton instant.
and no more responsible for the i'm
pulse which 1ured him to destruction
than a baby toddling towards the edge
of a precipice.
Next day, he walked into the For
est; and, 10! a miracle. The sun,
halfway to the zenith, shone in a sky
palely bule, not yet purged Of mist.
Upon the lowlying marshy ground,
this white milky mist still spread
an opalescent carpet. Higher up, the
masses of brown bracken threw into
cleaning relief the vivid green OF
the glades, fairy-like alleys leading
into the mysterious depths Of the
Forest. Natures footpaths-never
straight-winding on and on in
gracious curves, rarely trodden save
by the creatures of Arcadia, leading
the explorer into an enchanted land,
into aisles of stately beech trees where
perhaps, William of Wykeham was in
spired to set forth in stone what God
showed to him in soaring trunks and
branches; into groves of mighty oaks
long rooted in the soil when Trafal
gar was fought and won, the oaks Of
kin to those immortal trees that died
to live for ever as the Victory and
the fighting Temeraire, into thickets
of holly, into melancholy plantations
of fir; and then up and out to breezy
windswept moors, whence the whole
domain might be seen-a divine PIANO
rama.
But the miracle was the colour. II
, early November the leaf hung thicl
: upon the trees; and the oaks were
, still green with a touch Of russell, bu
: the beeches had famed into such RET
: and gold as you may find in the maple
forests of America. Here n there
!. solitary birch would stand out like al
: amber feather against a purple back
ground of frs. For the most part
:, however, the trees-gregarious Great
: ures-presented themselves in bat
%talions. Regarding them as a vas
army from the high ground near Stony
= cross, one perceived vedettes of holl.
and whin. a long thin skirmishing lin
=. Of bracken-from which the mist cur
/. ed upward like smoke from rifles
= and then the serried ranks Of the vet
= Grams, regiment upon regiment, br'
gades. army corps!
Guy inhaled the crisp. clean air
an intoxicating draught, more poten
than %hasheesh, or all the infusions Q
the Poppy. What had passed SCENE
= like a night mare. With a firm strid
he descended the steep hill whic
leads to the Rufus Stone, paused t
read the inscription upon it, and thet
leaving the woodland, came out upo
9 the heath beyond.
a Here, to his surprise, he found
a ~golf-course. one of the prettiest in th
world. Ascending the opposite hill, h
n could see the different green's plainl
outlined against the bracken an
heather. To his surprise, nobody wa
playing. On the edge OF a grove {
oaks, snuffing the breeze, stood
lordly buck; nea one Of the greer
+ was a small herd of Forest ponie
shaggy as Shetlands; above him
hawk circled. OF other life there we
ID no evidence.
70 Guy sat down upon a sunny ban
lie in the lee of the wind, which BILE
D. softly from the west. He had four
re what he sought-peace; and mo-
than he sought-beauty. the pastor
at beauty SO dear to the English hear
He told himself that if he could tr
I'd quite lodgings he would spend son
I'd months here.
m "The world forgetting by the wor
forgot"
lg He lit his pipe, feeling the warm
e. of the sun upon his face and hand
h, The celestial scene obsessed him, tt
ay mist had nearly vanished, but i
invisible veil softened all outline
lending a deeper blue TO the sha
ows, and imparting an atmosphere
IN mystery and enchantment to the Ian