The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1909-06-05
CHAPTER xxI-continued.


CHAPTER xxI.-continued
II was noon before the workers saw
him again. They came out of the dark
hull for a cold luncheon, and were
Joined by the emperor, who sat silent
ly through the meal. Again they re-
stunned work, and this time it was
dusk when they emerged. There be-
fore them was camp fire, and stu
diously broiling trout, caught with and
prepared by his OWE hands, was the
kaiser. On huge pieces of birch bark
before the Goals he had spread his
catch, and with a boys jubilation
laughed at their surprise. His
national philosophy had conquered,
and the sovereign had become DEM
ocrat in truth. AS boy he recounted
his adventures of the day, and as
tired boy he went to rest. The next
day was given up to the rifle, and
hunting such as he had never dreamed
of having was before him. Indeed, he
had turned camp hunter, and with
success. So ended the second day, and
so passed many others.
And each day brought him nearer to
those round him, each night brought
him Letter rest. and every hour added
to the broadening of his serenity. He
was now merely man among men,
playing his part in his own way, en-
joying 1t. and finding the worries of
empire dropping away in this spot
where all his crown of rulership
awaited him nothing. What was the
need to fret when his hands were
tied? Why not dismiss it all from
his mind? The great federation would
pass on and on long after his bones
had gone to dust. Here in these Ca
madam woods, which he had never !
dared hope to invade, was life such as
he had dreamed of, freedom such as |
he had never known, and absence of |
all formality. Here were men who |
were learning to love him for himself, |
and for whom he was forming an af-
fection that would last him to the end. |
Strange as it seemed, the cloud |
which had disturbed him on the night
of the accident had taken another
form. Then 1t had been because he
was to be detained for an indefinite
time. Now it was because the deten-
ton was to be so short. and he saw
with regret that the time for his de-
parture was nearly at hand. He fore
saw the reluctance with which he
would enter that craft of the air and
hear its metal door close him in for
homeward flight, but as a prison door
shutting him out forever from the for
ests and hills, the pools and brooks,
which he had learned to love. Only
now and then, as he tramped beside
some stream or followed some game
trail cut through the fallen leaves by
countless caribou, he would smile iron
cally at the amazement and alarm
which must have been caused by his
absence, not only in his own empire,
but in the United States where were
hose who had caused his disappear
ance.
And in both surmises he was cor
'ect; but the distress in the American
'epublic was perhaps the most keen.
Not since the beginning of hostilities
lad the president and his associates
suffered such grave apprehensions as
when 1T became known to certainty
hat BrocKton's endeavor had met
With accident or disaster.
On the first day when the expedition
allied to return from its voyage of
cancellation no undue alarm was &C.
'asioned, it being considered entirely
possible that 1t had been compelled to
'eturn directly to the key to avoid
observation. Another "a hours of
silence caused comment; but again it
Vas reQardad as fenahla that q ha rriar !