The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1910-06-03


ed underneath it, and the top of
White Faced mountain peaked the
mist by hand-length. The river
brushed the banks like rustling silk,
and the only other sound, very sharp
and clear in the liquid monotone, was
the crack of woodpecker's beak on
a hickory tree.
1t was a sweet, fresh autumn morn
Ing in Lonesome valley. Before night
the deer would below reply to the
hunters rifles and the mountain goat
call to it's unknown gods; but now
there was only the wild duck skim
ming the river, and then rising and
fading into the mist, the high hilltop,
the sun, and again that strange cry:
"F1ngall! Oh, Fingall! Fingall!"
Two men, lounging at fire on q
ledge Of the hills, raised their eyes
to the mountain side beyond and
above them and one said presently:
"The second time. It's woman's
voice, Pierre"
Pierre nodded, and abstractedly
stirred the Goals about with a twig.
well, it is a pity-the poor Gym
thie!" he said at last.
1T Is woman, then. You know
her, Pierre-her story?"
Pierre raised his head toward the
sound; then, after moment, said:
Il know Fingall."
And the woman? Tell me-"
And the girl. Fingall was such as
shon McGann, all fire and heart and
devil-may.care. She-she was not
beautiful except in the eye, but that
was like flame Of red and blue. Her
hair, too, then, would trip her, If it
hung loose. That was all, except that
| she loved him too much. But women
LET puts, when a woman gets q man
between her and the heaven above
and the earth beneath, and there
comes the great hunger what is the
good? man cannot understand, but
he can see and he can fear What is
the good? To play with life, that is
not much, but to play with soul is
more than thousand lives. Look at
Cynthie"
He paused and Lawless waited pa
tiently. He knew Pierre we'll.
Presently Pierre went on.
"Fingall was genteel. He would
take of his hat to squaw. It made
no difference what others did; he
didn't think; it was like breathing to
him. How can you tell the way things
happen? Cynthie's father kept the
tavern at st. Gabriel's Fork, over
against the great sawmill. Fingall
was foreman of gang in the lumber
yard. Cynthie had a brother-Fenn
Fem was as bad as they make, but
she loved him and Fingall knew it
well, while he hated the young skunk.
The girls eyes were like two little
fireflies when Fingall was about, and
what he thought of her he said to me
once. They are the kind God made
for the whole year round He was a
gentleman though he had only half a
name-Fingall-like that! think he
did not expect to stay; he seemed to
be waiting for something, for always
when the mail came in he would be
there, and afterWard you wouldn't see
him for time. So it seemed to me
that he made up his mind to think
nothing of Cynthie, and to say moth.
ing"
"Fingall! Fingall! Oh, Fingall!">
The strange, sweet, singing voice
sounded nearer.
"She is coming this way, PIERRE
said Lawless.
Il hope not to see her. What is the
good?"
well, let US have the rest of the
story"
Her brother Fem was in Fingall's
gang. One day there was trouble
Fem called Fingall liar. The gang
stopped piling. They expected the
usual thing. 1t did not come Fingal
told him to leave the yard and they
would settle some other time. That
night there was wicked thing. We
were eitting in the barroom when we
heard two shots and then a fall We
ran into the other room. There was
Fem on the floor, dying. He lifted
himself on his elbow, pointed at Fin
gall and fell back. The father of the
boy stood, white and still, few fee1
away. There was no pistol showing
none at all. The men closed in or
Fingall now. He did not stir; he
seemed to be thinking of something
else. He had puzzled, sorrowful
look. The men roared round him
but he waved them back for mo
ment and looked first at the father
then at the son. l. could not under
stand at first Some one pulled a pis
tol out of Fingall's pocket and showed
it. At that moment Cynthie came in
She gave a cry I do not want to heal
cry like that often. She fell
on her knees beside the boy anG
caught his head to her breast Then
with a wild look, she asked who die
it. They had just taken Fingall ou
into the barroom.
"'Father,' she said all at once, have
you killed the man that killed Fem ?
"The old man shook his head. There
was sick color in his face.
"'Then I will kill him., she said.
"She laid her brothers head dow1
and stood up. Some one put in hel
hand the pistol and told her it wa!
the same that had killed Fem Sht
took it up and came with US. The OLE
man stood still where he was. HI
was like stone. I looked at him fol
a moment and thought, then I turned
round and went to the barroom. Thu
old man followed. Just as got inside
the door, I saw the girl start bac}
and her hand drop, for she saw tha
it was Fingall. He was looking a