Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1916-06-16
CHAPTER xxiI-continued.

And then ne drew out the other let
ter and the carl in his lip Strengthened
but to a line of sweetness and the
light in his eyes turned to a fiery, blind
liberation. The letter had been sent
o him, sealeda by J. Y. who had ac-
Fompanied it with a note. The letter
pegan, "To my boy at Thirty" and
igned, "WitQ undying love, your
riend and Mother" In life he could
OF remember his mother, but he saw
er now in three pages of laboring
lords traced by a dying hand. In her
elf, dying at t5hirty, she had seen her
oy revealed She had had no
.rength-no Mme-left for slow ap-
reaches. with the first words of her
tier she laid a cooling hand on his
1rning soul. She spoke the all-seeing
isGom of death. She held him close
her heart and fed him with her life's
PDlood. All that she had been, all that
she had learned, all that she foresaw,
was crowded into those three pages.
They were brittle with age, the ink
yellow and faded In words that no
eyes but his and hers had ever seen.
They gripped his soul and held 1t
steady. Without this letter he would
have torn up the other. But the other
had come as a complement and he kept
It because it helped him to see himself.
AS Alan weakened the bridge az.
preached completion. Batches Of men,
as special work was finished, were
dispatched to the coast. With each
batch McDougal strove to send his
master, but Alan was too weak to go,
though he did not say so. He had
realized it with terror and then with
calm. "No, McDougal, not this time"
he would say, and finally, 81 think I
might just as well stay on till they
send up to take over. It's unprofes-
sional to chuck it before. 1t won't be
dong now" And McDougal had cursed
low, rolling oaths and taken it out on
the men.
Alan seemed to have become child
Ssh in his weakness. He spent what
strength he had left in cutting words
shtO u bOulu llpDCu llOIu IL hClO0cuc
box. When he had finished he called
McDougal and showed him his handi-
work. "McDougal," he said, IF any
thing should happen to keep me here
permanently just cut these words into
some big rock and lay me under 1t.
BE careful you get them just so. The
French are mighty particular about the
way we use their lingo, and while 1t
wasn't a Frenchman that wrote this
hit, | guess he'd be just as particular"
"Aweel, sir" said McDougal. sitting
p his rage within him, an do as you
wish" He took the board and looked
at it. The words meant nothing to
him but the scene meant much. He
went out and concluded his agreement
with twelve quiet, lowering men gath
cred from the countryside. They were
pioneers without knowing it. They
and their fathers and their fathers
fathers had held these far depths of
the world against wild beasts and
drought and food since, centuries ago,
the Jesuits swept through the subcon.
tinent and left a trail of settlers be.
hind them. They were proud, narrow
Independent. They were uninventive
unimaginative. No man among them
had eve thought to lie. They did moi
steal, though they were robbed when.
ever they invaded civilization will
their wares.
From them McDougal had learned
that due east, halfway to the sea, was
place called Lieber's and that this
Lieber was known as the Americana
and bad fame as a curador of fevers
-Four men could carry a sick man t
GjeDer's In a hammock in four days
Gwelve men could do 1t In two, anC
quicker than that a hundred men coult
iot go. For the price of three steer.
Mch-~iWo-year-olds-they would un