Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1909-02-10

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so much. My father has been asking
for it..
How selfish you are! exclaimed the
boy reproachfully. Thinking of your
own little troubles when a vast dan
ger menaces our dear Martin. Come
with me. You must see Martin and ask
| him yourself for that ring. | dare not
speak of it; he values that ring above
everything. You must plead for it
yourself with that pretty mouth and
those speaking eyes,
J I must not; indeed l must not!'
! Why not. You will not be missed.
No one will harm you. You should
see the poor fellow, to what he is re-
duced by love for you. Yes, come and
see him. He would never have been
here, he would have been far away
in safety, but he had the desire to see
you again.
Indeed, | cannot accompany YOU
Then you must do without the
ring
L want my ring again vastly. My
father is cross because have not got
it, and I have promised to show it
him. How can keep my promise
unless it be restored to me?'
Come, comet said the boy impa-
tiently. Whilst you are talking you
might have got halfway to his den.'
I will only just speak to him, said
Eve, two words, and then run home
TO be sure. That will ample-two
words sneered the boy, and led the
way.
The old mine adit was below the
rocks near the river, and at no great
distance from the old landing-place
where Jasper had recently constructed
boathouse. The ground about the
entrance was thickly strewn with
dead leaves, mixed with greenish
shale thrown out of the copper mine,
and so poisonous that no grass had
been able to grow over it, though the
mine had probably not been worked
for a century or more. But the
mouth of the adit was now completely
overgrown with brambles and fringed
with ferns. The dogwood, now in
flower, had thickly clambered near the
entrance wherever the earth was not
impregnated with copper and arsenic.
Eve shrank from the black en-
trance and hung back but the boy
caught her by the arm and insisted on
her coming with him. She surmounted
some broken masses of rock that had
fallen before the entrance, and
brushed aside the dogwood and briars.
The air struck chill and damp against
her brow as she passed out of the sun
under the stony arch.
The rock was lichened. White-green
fungoid growths hung down in stream
ers; the floor was dry, though water
dripped from the sides and nourished
! beds of velvet moss as far in as the
light penetrated. So much rubble
covered the bottom of the adit, that
the water filtered through it and
passed by subterranean channel to
the river
After taking few steps forward,
Eve saw Martin half sitting, half lying
on a bed Of fern heather; the grey
.rght from the entrance fell on his
face. 1t was pale and drawn; but he
frightened up when he saw Eve, and
he started to his knee to salute her.
i can not stand upright in this
cur-ed hole, he said, but at this mo-
ment 1t matters not. On my knee do
homage to my queen He seized her
hand and pressed his lips to it.
Here you see me- he said, doomed
to shiver in this pit, catching my death
Of rheumatism
You will surely soon get away said
Eve. I am very sorry for you l
must go home, I may not stay
What! leave me now that you have
appeared as sunbeam, shining into
this abyss to glorify it! Oh, no-stay
a few minutes, and then shall remain
and dream of the time you were here.
Look at my companions He pointed
to the room, where curious Jumps like
compacted >cobwebs hung down. These
are bats, asleep during the day. When
night falls they will begin to stir and
shake their wings, and scream, and fly
out. Shall I have to sleep in this
den, with the hideous creatures crying
and Tapping about my head?'
oh, that will be dreadful! But
surely you will leave this when night
comes On?'
Yes, if you will help me to get
away
I will furnish you with the key to
the boathouse. I will hide It some
where, and then your brother can find
it.
That will not satisfy me- You must
bring the key here
| Why? / cannot do that
Indeed you must; cannot live with
out another gllmpse of your sweet
face. Peter was released by an an
gel. It shall be the same with Mar.
| tin
I will bring you the key said Eve
nervously, If you will give me back