The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1914-09-10

stretched hands In return. Though an
his days II had happened so with this
child OF 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 II he were leaving
home and family. The long green
carpet OF the rolling lawn 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
gathered TO do him honor, and people
had ridden from all over the county for
the farewell. His eyes dimmed with
tears OF gratefulness, he watched them
as the gangplank was drawn up and
the sails caught the wind and the ship
swung slowly out into he stream.
Come back again--come back again"
they called from the shore.
Francois heard the deep tones OF the
lads and the rich voices OF the negroes
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:
Come back again--oh, come back
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, the
negroes sang, and the ship was at the
turn OF the river. The stately walls OF
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 f1t-
+, full; and now II was gone. He had left
| Virginia; he was on his way to friends.
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
deep inner quiet. He had talked
long with his prosperous father and
slipped into his old place among his
brothers and sisters, utterly refusing
And over and over again he had told
the story Of his capture and the story
or his escape and the story OF the Count
Won Gerydor's great fancy for the song
which they all knew:
DE tous cote's L on dis que je suia
bette;
Celia Sc peutl Et dependant rem ris. \
Family, old friends who gathered tc
see the little Francois Beaupre who
had gone so far from his village, ali
these hummed the song with
him as he came to that part
| OF his tale. and then roared with
Laughter as he told over again how he
had written it on the note left for the
governor, the night OF his escape. That
was distinctly the best part OF the
chronicle OF Francois. to the taste Of
the Jura peasants.
At the castle the returned wanderei
picked up no less the thread dropped so
| suddenly seven years before. The gem
eral, to whom the boy seemed his boy
risen from, the dead, would hardly let
him from his sight; Alike kept him in
a tingling atmosphere OF tenderness
| and mockery and sisterly devotion
| which thrilled him and chilled him and
made him blissful and wretched by
turns. The puzzle OF Alike was more
| unreliable than the puzzle OF the
1 sphinx to the three men who loved her
The general and Francois spoke OF II
/ guardedly, in few words, once in long
time, but Pietro never spoke. Pietro
was there often, yet more often away
in London, where the exiled Mazzini, al
the head Of one wing os italian patriots
lived and conspired. And other men APP
peared suddenly and disappeared at the
chateau. and held conferences with the
general and Francois in that large dim
! library where the little peasant boy had
sat with his thin ankles twisted about
4 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 a little stronger"
they said, there is much work for you
to do" and the general would come In
at that point with growl like distant
/ thunder.
"He is to rest" the general would or
1 der. HE is to rest till he is well. He
has done enough; let the boy alone. you
Others"
But the time came. six months after
his return, when Francois must be sent
to visit the officers OF certain regi-
/ ments thought to be secretly Bonapart-
list; when only he, 1t was believed, could
| get into touch with them and tell them
1 enough and not too much Of the plans
/ of the party, and find out where they
stood and how much one might count
on them. So, against the generals wish.
Francois went OFF on political mission.
II proved more complicated than had
seemed probable; he was gone long
time; he had to travel and endure ex-
hausting experiences for which he was
not yet At. So that when he came
| home to Vicques, two months later, he
was white and transparent and I'll. And
| there were some OF the mysterious men
at the chateau to meet him, delighted
pitiless Delighted with the work he
| had done, with his daring and finesse
! and success, without pity for his weak
ness, begging him to 60 at once on
another mission. The general was firm
as to that; his boy should not be
| bounded; he should stay at home In
the quiet old chateau and get well. But
4 the boy was restless; a fever Of enthu-