Cavalier County farmers press. (Langdon, N.D.) 1920-1921, 1920-07-22

wv .- o.
There was a little haze out to sea,
for it, had been very misty in the early
morning, though the sun had thinned
It. AS we looked seaward we sud-
denly say the sail Of a small boat
break out through the fog and come
bobbing along toward the land. A
single man was seated in the sheets,
and she waved about as she ran, as
though he were Of two minds whether
to beach her or no. At last, deter
mined, it may be, by our presence, he
made straight for us, and her keel
grated upon the single at our very
feet. He dropped his sail, climbed out,
and pulled her bows up onto the beach.
"Great Britain, I believer" said he.
turning round and facing us.
He was a man somewhat above
middle height, but exceedingly thin,
we'll dressed in a suit of brown with
brass buttons, and he wore high boots,
which were all roughened and dulled
by the sea water. His face and hands
were so dark that he might have been
a Spaniard, but as he raised his hat
to us we saw that the upper part of
his brow was quite white, and that i
was from without that he had his
swarthiness. He looked from one to
the other of us, and his gray eyes had
something in them which I had never
seen before. You could read the
question, but there seemed to be a
menace at the back of it, as If the
answer were a right and not a favor.
"Great Britain?" he asked again,
with a quick tap of his foot on the
Single.
eyes" said L. while Jim burst out
laughing.
England? Scotland"
Scotland. But it's England past
yonder trees"
"Bon! 1 know where I am now. I've
been in a fog without a compass for
nearly three days, and I didn't thought
I was ver to see land again." He
spoke English glibly enough, but with
some strange turn of speech from
time to time.
Where did you come from, them"
asked Jim.
Il was in a ship that was wrecked"
said he shortly. "What is the town
down yonder"
ct is Berwick"
"Ah, we'll, I must get stronger be-
fore I can go further" He turned to-
ward the boat, and as he did so he
gave a lurch, and would have fallen
had he not caught the PROV. On this
he seated himself, and looked round
him with a face that was flushed and
two eyes that blazed, like a wild
beasts. &5s
"Voltigeurs de la Garde!" he roared
then again, "Voltigeurs de la Garde!"
He waved his hat above his head, and
suddenly pitching forward upon his
face on the sand, he lay all huddled
into a little brown heap.
Jim Horscrofts and I stood and
stared at each other. The coming Of
the man had been so strange, and his
questions, and now this sudden turn.
We took him by a shoulder each and
turned him upon his back. His lips
were bl~oodless, and his breath would
scarce shake a feather.
"He's dying, JIM" I cried.
AYE, for want of food and water.
There's not a drop n a. crumb in the
boat. Maybe there's something. in the
bag" He sprang in and brought out
a black leather bag, which, with a
large blue coat, was the only thing in
the boat. 1t was locked, but Jim had
1t open in an instant. It was half
full Of gold pieces.
Neither of us had ever seen so much
before-no, nor a tenth part of it.
There must have been hundreds Of
them, all bright new British SOW
ereigns. Indeed, so taken up were we
that we had forgotten all about their
owner, until a groan took thoughts
back of him. His lips were bluer than
ever, and his jaw had dropped. Lean
see his open mouth now, with Its row
of white. wolish teeth.
sMy God! he's off," cried Jim.
"Here. run to the burn. Jock, for a
hatful of water. Quick, man, or he's
gone! I'll loosen his things the
while"
Away 7 tore, and was back in a
minute with as much water as would
stay in my Glengarry. Jim had pulled
open the mans coat and shirt and we
doused the water over him, and forced
some between his lips. 1t had a good.
effect, for after a gasp or two he sat
up, and rubbed his eyes slowly, like a
man who is waking from a deep sleep.
But neither Jim nor I were looking at
his face now, for our eyes were fixed
on his uncovered chest.
There were two deep red Fuckers in
1T, one just below the collar bone, and
the other about halfway down on the
right side. The skin Of his body was
extremely white up to the brown line
OF his neck, and the angry crinkled
spots looked the more vivid against
1t. From above r could see there was
a corresponding quicker in the back n