The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1914-09-10

stretched hands in return. Though al
his days 1t had happened SO with this
child Of a 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 HI We're leaving
home and family. The long green
carpet of the rolling lawn of Roanoke
was crowded with people come to tell
were there, the lads trained by aim,
one and all ready to swear by him or
to die for him. Lucy and Harry stood
together, n 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 g~ratefulness. 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.
rance heard the deep tones of the
lads and the rich voices of the negroes
ana ne knew that some there could not
speak,. even az ne could not. So he
waved his hat silently, and the ship
moved raster and the faces on the
avn seemed smaller. farther away,
ana yet ne heard those following voices
calling to him, more family:
~again!" oaoA
And with hat the negroes had
broken n 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 liver. The stately walls of
House. the green slope
crowded with figures of his friends,
the sparkling water-front-the current
had swept away all of the picture and
ne could only hear that wailing music
OF the negroes voices, lower, more fit
ful; and now it was gone. He had left
Vlrglnla; he was on his way to friends.
n for all his Joy Of going, he was
heavy hearted for the leaving.
Inc weeks went slowly at sea, but
aLter a while he had landed, was in
france. wa at Vicques. He had seen
his mother, with her hair whitened bu
those years of his prison life-a happv
woman now. full of business and re-
Spohslplllty, yet always with a rant
Iook IN her face as of one who lived in
a aeep n quiet. He had talked
long with his prosperous father and
slipped into his old place among his
brothers and sisters. utterly refusing
10 pc made stranger or a great man
ana over and over again he had told
the story OF his capture and the story
Oh ms escape and the story of the Count
Won Gersdor's great fancy for the sons
which they all knew:
d tous cote's i on dis o,,a "a s,,,.
bette; Nv 'e sut
Celia Sc peut! Eft dependant fen rts."
Family, old friends who gathered to
see The little Francois Beaupre who
tbesa gone so FAR from his village, all
him as he came to thai mari
OF his tale, and then roared With
aughter as he told over again how he
a written it on the note left for the
governor, the night of his escape. That
was the best part Of the
~ thaoIicle OF FRANCOIS. to the taste Of
the Jura peasants.
AT n castle the returned wandere1
picked up no less the thread dropped so
suddenly seven years before. The gen
eral, to whom the boy seemed his bow
risen from the dead, would hardly let
a unsling atmosphere of tenderness
n mockery and sisterly devotion,
which thrilled him and chilled him and
made him blissful and wretched by
turns. h puzzle of Alike was more
than the puzzle of the
to her father and Francois n Pietro,
me general and Francois spoke of 1t
guardedly, in few words, once in a long
time, but Pietro never spoke. Pietro
was there often, yet more often away
In London, where the exiled Mazzini, at
the head of one wing of Italian patriots.
lived and conspired. And other men APP
peared suddenly and disappeared at the
chateau, n held conferences with the
general and Francois In thai large dim
library where the little peasant bow had
sat with his thin ankles twisted about
tha ldC1 nf hjr lf,h -1lof- - -
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 a growl like distant
thunder.
He Is to rest" the general would or
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 h Officers of certain regi-
ments thought to be secretly Bonapart-
list; when only he, it was believed. could
get into touch with them and tell them
enough and not too much Of the plans
Of the party, n find out where they
and how much n might count
on them. So. against the generals wish,
went off on a political mission.
It proved more complicated than had
seemed probable; he was gone a long
time; he had to travel and endure ex-
hausting experiences for which he was
not yet fit. So hat when he came
home to Vicques, two months later, he
was white and transparent and Ill, And
there were some Of the mysterious men
the chateau to meet him, delighted,
pitiless. Delighted with the work he
had done, with his daring and nnesse
and success, without pity for his weak
begging him to go at once on
another mission. The general was firm
to that; his boy should not be
bounded; he should stay at home in
the quiet old chateau and get well. But
the boy was restless; a fever OF enthu-
siasm was on him and he wanted to do
more and yet more for the Princes
work.
Moreover, 1t was about as much mis-
cry as joy to be near Alike. Every day
he narrowly escaped taking her into
his arms and telling her how he had
loved her n did love her n would
love her always. right or wrong, rea-
or unreasonable. It was almost
than he could do to resist that
at times. And at times 1t
rAnpoaI kL1k IT, .-faI. ~. Ia 49, |