Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-02-22

make her come there will be no a
DIAL. will help you. II you dom,
come I'll do II alone, vetal, scandal OF
no scandal, for I'm going to have her
and have her now. I'm going to have
her even IL I lead fifty men across the
line and fight a pitched battle to gel
her. BY the gods, 1 would have
brought her away long ago IL It had
not been for an old priest-but tina,
old priest will be taken care of mighty
soon!"
He strobe about the big ROOM, clap
Ing his gloved hands. melting the
gloomy father to action.
He rang changes upon the spectacle
presented by the daughter Of the rich
Vetal Beaulieu. sitting under the open
sky. ~disgracing herself in the eyes of
the people by making Yankees out
OF Acadian children. Vetal had list.
ened with some alarm to Roi's predic.
lions Of bitter trouble in the north.
But what made his eyes sparkle at
last with determination was this in.
sistent harplng on Evangeline's humil.
iation Of herself for the sake OF their
enemies.
In the end vetal Beaulieu smote
his fists together and roared his in.
tention to assert his authority. From
the broad door he shouted orders to
his stable to have his horses put to
his b~uckboafd.
"Ba gar" he declared. II went that
first time alone with my little horse
to find my girl and bring her to her
home. For was ashamed. II was
bad II the folks of this border should
know she had run away. 1 was going
to be the very kind father to her. Yes,
I went alone so that she could not be
ashamed. But now 1 shall make the
loud noise. I shall not care who
knows that Vetal Beaulieu Is going to
bring home his daughter, no matter
how many Yankees stand In the way.
She shall come to my house and be
IN Acadian girl who must obey her
ldtltT anu IldlIy lHt lidn W WIlOIl
she has been promised"
Dave Roi, flushed and staggering.
encouraged this new and noisy deter.
mination.
Beaulieu banged the windows down
and barred them with the shutters. He
double-locked the big door. He thrust
the keys deep in his trousers pockets
along with jingling coins and crum.
pied bills. He patted a huge pistol,
and hid 1t on his hip.
When the two sturdy little horses
were harnessed he took his place in
state on the rear seal of the wagon
and ordered his man to drive on to
the north country.
Roi cantered ahead. As he rode he
wondered how he had allowed a mere
girl to defy him so long, to make a
fool of him, for he knew that the
border people had already begun TO
gossip about the n in which
Vetal Beaulieu's girl had thrown over
the rich Dave Roi to take up with a
mere Yankee who rode the border for
the customs service of his country.
But In this new exaltation Of resolu.
ton Dave Roi did not forget the pru.
dence that those who knew him we'll
called cowardice. He rode north by
the route on the Canadian side. He
hurried on, but kept looking behind
to assure himself hat Vetal Beaulieu
was at his heels. Those same persons
who knew Roi well might have said,
to secure the services of the father,
that Roi was not actuated solely by his
desire to avoid a scandal-they would
not have allowed this compliment to
his sense Of the proprieties where a
girl was concerned; 1t would have
seemed more probable that he needed
Vetal Beaulieu for a task which he
did not dare to undertake himself.
They came to Felix Cyr's tavern for
the night.
Cyr's'is a halfway halting-place for
all travellers in that section. 1t squats
fatty on a high. domed hill, and a
solitary Lombardy poplar tree thrusts
itself high above the eaves at one cor
ner of the houseS and the tree is of
a bald head surmounted by a cap with
a feather in 1t.
Many persons loafed in the yard.
A man who had eight hounds clustered
about his legs argued with Felix Cyr
at the door OF the house, appealed for
admission. and met profane refusal.
Felix Cyr had hated all dogs for many
years. In the old days, when Felix
was a smuggler. he owned a fighting
bulldog. and once pom a time he
rushed across the boundary to rescue
his pet from the jaws Of a dog which
had come into that section at the
heels of a stranger. The stranger was
a United States deputy marshal In
disguise, and he had a warrant for
the arrest Of Cyr. and had brought
along an able fighting dog in order
to cajole the smuggler upon Yankee
territory.
ITO BE CONTINUED)