Clearwater Republican. [volume] (Orofino, Idaho) 1912-1922, 1921-01-21

| the English, so III there's any rage
! II should have been over yonder,"
| said he.
This was clearly news to the
stranger, and II silenced him for the
| moment.
well. but your laws are made
down there. and surely that Is not
good" he said at last.
"No; 1t would be well to have q
| parliament back In Edinburgh" said
| my father; "but l am kept SO busy
| with the sheep that Il have little
enough time to think OF such things"
ut is for fine young men like you
! two to think of It," said De Lapp.
when country Is injured 1t is to its
young men that 1t looks to avenge it."
"Aye. the English take too much
upon themselves sometimes" said Jim.
well, II there are many OF that
way of thinking about, why should
we not form them into battalions and
march them upon London?" cried De
Lapp.
THAT would be rare little picnic"
said !, laughing; 'and who would
| lead us?"
He jumped up. bowling with his
hand on his heart in his queer fashion.
| "f you would allow me to have the
honor!" he cried and then, seeing that
we were all laughing, he began to
| laugh also, but l am sure that there
was really no Thought of a joke in his
mind.
l could never make out what his age
could be, nor could Jim HorscrOft
either. Sometimes we thought that
he was an Oldish man that looked
young, and at others that he was a
youngsh man who looked old. On the
whole. we thought that he might be
about forty or fOrty-five, though it
was hard to see how he could have
seen SO much of life in the time. But
one day we got talking Of ages, and
then he surprised us.
l had been saying that was just
| twenty, and Jim said that he was
| twenty-seven.
"Then l am the most old of the
! three" said De Lapp.
We laughed at this, for by our
reckoning he might almost have been
| our father.
"But not by so much" said he. arch
| ing his brOws. II was nine-and-twen
| ty in December"
| And 1t was this even more than his
talk which made us understand what
an extraordinary life 1t must have
been that he had led. He saw our as
| constituent, and laughed at 1t.
| no
cried II have spent my days and my
nights. l led a company in battle
where five nations were engaged when
l was but fourteen. / made a king
turn pale at the words whispered in
his ear when l was twenty. l had a
hand in remaking kingdom and put
ting fresh king upon fresh throne
the very year that l came of age.
Mon Dieu! have lived my life"
That was the most that ever heard
him confess of his past life. and he
only shook his head and laughed when
we tried to get something more out
of him. There were times when we
| thought that he was but a clever i'm
postOr-for what could man Of such
| influence and talents be lettering here
| In Berwickshire fOr?-but one day
there came an incident which showed
us that he had, indeed, history In the
past.
You will remember that there was
| an old officer Of the Peninsular war
who lived no great way from us, the
same who danced round the bonfire
with his sister and the two maids. He
had gone up to London on some busi-
ness about his pension and his wound
money and the choice Of having some
work given him, so that he did not
| come back until late in the autumn.
One of the first days after his return
he came down to see us, and there for
the first time he clapped eyes on De
I.app. Never in my life did l look
upon so astonished face, and he
stared ut our friend for long minute
without SO much as a word. De Lapp
looked back at him equally hard, but
there was no recognition in his eyes.
II do not know who you are, SIR" he
said at last, but you look at me as Il
you had seen me before"
$50 have" answered the major.
"Neyer to my knowledge"
but I'll swear it!''
"Where, thenT
"At the village of Astorga. In the
year g."
De Lapp started, and stared again
at our neighbor. mon Dieu! what a
chance!" he cried; land you were the
English parliamentaire! l remember
you very we'll indeed. sir. Let me
have whisper in your ear" He took
him aside, and talked very earnestly
with him In French for a quarter OF
an hour. gesticulating with his hands
and explaining something, while the
major nodded his old grizzled head
from time to time. At last they
seemed to come to some agreement,
and l heard the major say .'parole
d'honneur" several times, and after
wards fortune de la guerre." But
after that l always noticed that the
major never used the same free fash
Ion of speech that we did toward our