The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1909-09-09
1.-THE WILD GEESE
By Stanley J. Meyman. ~

she frowned. The man sorted i'll with
her dream.
It vas Bale, Colonel Johns servant.
He was mending some article taken
from his masters wardrobe. His elbow
Went busily to and fro as he piled the
needle, while sprawling on the sod
about him half a dozen gossoons
watched him inquisitive!y.
Perhaps it was the suggestive con
trast between his diligence and their
idieness which irritated Flavia; but
she sat down her annoyance to another
cause. The nan was an Englishman,
and therefore an enemy. And what did
he there? Had the Colonel left him on
guard?
Flavia's heart swelled at the thought.
Here. at least, she and hers were mas
tiers. Colonel John had awakened
mixed feelings in her. At times she adj
mixed feelings in her. At times h adj
should rue his insolence if he had 1t in
his mind to push his authority OF in
terfere with her plans.
In the meantime she stood watching
William Bale, and a desire to know
the master, rose within her. The house
was quiet. The McMurrough and his
following had gone to a cooking match
and race meeting at Joyce's Corner. She
went down the stairs, ook her hood,
and crossed the courtyard. Bale did
not loo up at her approach, but he
saw her out of the corner Of his eye,
and VIXEN She paused before him he
laid down his work and made as If he
would rise.
h looked at him with a supercil-
liousness not natural to her. Are all
h men tailcrs where you come FROM"
She asked. There, you need not rise"
Where 1 came from last" he replied,
" were all trades, my lady,"
Have you been a soldier long?" she
asked, feeling herself rebuffed.
"Twenty-one years, my lady"
"And now you have done with it,"
ut is as his honor pleases."
She frowned. He had a way of
speaking that sounded uncivil to ears
attuned to the soft Irish accent and the
wheeling tone. Yet the man Interested
her, and after a moments silence she
fixed her eyes more intently on his
work. Did you lose your fingers in
battle?' she asked. His right hand
al MANNED.
NO" he answered, grudgingly, as he
seemed to answer all her questions, lin
prison."
In prison!" she replied. "Where?"
He cast an upward look at his ques-
toner.
In the Grand Turks land" he said.
Nearer thai that 1 can't say. I'm no
scholar, my lady"
But why?" she asked, puzzled. 81
don't understand"
"Cut off," he said, STOPPING over his
work.
Flavia turned a shade paler. Why"
she repeated.
lone God. and Mohammed His
prophet-couldn't swallow it. One
hnger!" the man answered jerkily.
Next week-same. Third Week.
Third week." she murmured, shud-
derinE.
Exchanged"
She lifted her eyes with an effort
from his manned hand. How many
'Thirty-four." He laughed dryly.
I'VE know one another when we meet
he said. He drew his waxed thread
between his finger and thumb, held It
up to the light. then looking askance
at the gossoons about him, to whom
what he said was gibberish. They
knew only Erse.,
lake, and under 1t the water Cleaned,
a smooth, pale mirror. Flavia had
seen it 80 a hundred time and thought
naught OF 1t. But today, moved by
what she had heard, the prospect SPOKE
of a remoteness from the moving world
which depressed her Hitherto. the
quick pulse and the energy Of youth
a left her no time for melancholy
and lot much for thought. II at rare
intervals she had felt herself lonely,
II she had been tempted to think that
the brother in whom were centered her
hopes, her affections and her family
pride was hard and selfish, rude and
overbearing, she had told herself that
all men were so, that all men rode
roushshod y their women, And that
being so, who had a better right to
hector 1t than the last OF the McMur-
roughs. heir of the Wicklow kings, who
In days far past had dealt on equal
terms with Richard Plantagenet, and tc
whom, by virtue Of that forgotten king
ship, theS ullfvans and Mahonies, some
of the McCarthys and all the O'Beirnes,
paid rude homage. With such feelings
Sir Michaels strange whim of disin-
heriting the heir Of his race had but
drawn her closer to her brother. To
her loyalty the act a abhorrent, one
that could have only sprung, she was
certain, from second childhood, the
dotage of a man close on 80, whose
early years a been stepped in trouble
and who loved her so much that he was
ready to do wrong for her sake.
Often she differed from her brother.
But he was a mar h told herself, and
he must be right-a mans life could
not be ruled by the laws which a
woman observed. For the rest, for
herself. if her life seemed solitary she
had the free air and the mountains;
she had her dear land; above all, she
had her dreams. Perhaps when these
realized-and the time seemed
near now-and a new Ireland was
created. TO her. too. a brighter world
would open
She had forgotten Bales presence,
and was only recalled to everyday life
by the sound of voices. Four men were
approaching the house. Uncle Ulick,
Colonel John and the French skipper
were three OF these; at the sight of the
fourth Flavia's face fell. Luke Asgill,
of Batterstown, was the nearest Jus
tice. and Of necessity he was a Profess
tant. But 1t was not this fact, nor the
certainty that Augustin was pouring
his wrongs into his ears. that affected
Flavia. Asgill was distasteful to her,
because her brother affected him. For
why should her brother have relations
with a Protestant? Why should he, a
man of the oldest blood. stoop to in
timacy with the son OF a "middleman,"
one of those who. taking a. long lease
OF o great estate and undertaking at
rents. made at thia neriO6 hupe