Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1914-09-09
CHAPTER XXI
ONCE MORE AT HOME.

phosed the angry lad Harry Hampton
into a follower more devoted than he
mad been even in the first flush of en-
thusiasm for his rescued prisoner.
adorned him frankly. And Francois,
enchanted to be riends again with his
friend, wondered at the goodness n
generosity of the people of this world.
1t is roughly true that one finds life in
general like a mirror: that if one looks
into it with a smile and a cordial hand
held out one meets smiles and out
stretched hands in return. Though all
his days it had happened so with this
child of q French village.
So that when the day came at last
when he stood once more on the deck
of the Lovely Lucy, loaded with her
cargo of tobacco for foreign ports.
Francois felt as if he We're leaving
home and family. The long green
carpet of the rolling avn of Roanoke
was crowded with people come to tell
him good-by. All of his soldier boys
were there. the lads trained by him,
one and all ready to swear by him or
to die for him. Lucy and Harry stood
together; and the servants were
Egathered to do him honor, and people
mad ridden from all over the county for
the farewell. His eyes dimmed with
ktears of gratefulneSs, he watched them
las the g%angplank was drawn up and
the sails caught the wind and the ship
L Wv AA SiON1S w l1lCO lS SIIGdlls
Come back again-come back again"
Ethey called from the Shore. ~.-
heard the deep tones Of the
lads and the rich voices Of the negYoes
and he knew that some there could not
speak. even as he could not. So he
waved his hat silently, and the ship
moved faster and the faces on the
lawn seemed smaller, farther away,
| and yet he heard those following voices
| calling to him. more family:
II tNEN@~o@ h~-1-
[again!" IN
+, And with that the negroes had
broken into a melody, and the ship
moved on to the wild sweet music. Way
down upon de S'wanee Ribber, tho
! negroes sang. and the ship was at the
Roanoke House. the green slope
crowded with figures of his friends;
the sparkling water-front-the current
had swept away all Of the picture and
he could only. hear that wailing music
of the negroes voices, lower, more At
And for all his joy Of going, he was
heavy hearted for the leaving.
The weeks went slowly at sea, but
after a while he had landed, was in
France. was at Vicques. He had seen
his mother. with her hair whitened by
those years of his prison life-a happy
woman now. full of business and re.
sponsibility, yet always with a rapt
look In her face as of one who lived in
long with his prosperous father and
slipped INTO his old place among hi
brothers and sisters, utterly refusing
TO be made a stranger or a great man,
ANA over and over again he had told
the story of his capture and the story
of his escape and the story of the Count
Won Gersdor's great fancy for the IONS
which they all knew:
DE tous cote's L on dis que lie suis
Celia Sc peut! Eft dependant fen rjs.n
Family, old friends who gathered to
see The little Francois Beaupre WIZ
had gone so far from his village, all
these huMmed the song with
him nj h,s as he came to that part
laughter as he told over again how he
had written it OF the note left for the
governor, the n hit Of his escape. That
was distinctly he best part Of the
chronicle of Francois. to The taste Of
At III castle the returned wanderer'
picked up no less the thread dropped SO
suddenly seven years before. The n
eral. to whom the boy seemed his boy
him from his sight; Alike kept him in
"a tingling atmosphere of tenderness
and mockery and s~isterly devotion,
which thrilled him and chilled him and
made him blissful n wretched by
unreliable than the puzzle Of the
sphinx to the three men who loved her,
to her father and Francois and Pietro.
The general and Francois spoke of It
Eguardedly, In few words, once in a long
time. but Pietro spoke. Pietro
was there often, yet more often away
Fin London, where the exled Mazzini, at
the head Of one wing Of italian patriots.
lived and conspired. And other men ap-
Epeared suddenly n disappeared at the
Echateau, and held conferences with the
library where the little peasant boy had
[sat with his thin ankles twisted about
the legs Of his high chair, and copied
the history Of Napoleon. These men
paid great attention nowadays to the
words OF that peasant boy.
"As soon as you are q little stronger.'
they said, there is much work for YOU
ito do" and the general would come In
at that point with a growl like distant
thunder.
He is to rest" the general would or
der. II is to rest till he is well. He
has done enough; let the boy alone. you
Others"
But h time came. six months after
his return. when Francois must be sent
to visit the officers of certain regi-
bments thought to be secretly Bonapa1t-
list: when only he. It was believed. could
get into touch with them and tell them
enough n not too much Of tho plans
OF the party. and find out where they
stood and how much one might count
on them. So. against the generals wish.
It proved more complicated than had
seemed probable; he was gone q long
time: he had to travel and endure ex-
hausttng experiences for which he vas
not yet 6t. So that when no came
0H0A Oh&kA and taANa~A~A~k >-A AnHGA-A