Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1921-03-15
The WHITE CANOE
BY DORA NOLAN.

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20 1890. BY Mcclure Newspaper Syndicate
Every person. young or old. livinl
on the banks Of the beautiful Sc
gatchie river. has heard the tradition
Of the white canoe.
Now the tradition runs that Snow
bird. an Indian maiden, was murdere,
close by the shores of the river, Il
the moonlight then set adrtft In he
own canoe. long before the eye Of
white man first fell on the Segatchie
Ever since her ghost has appeared
from time to time, to mortal eyes
so goes the legend. And always ha
the coming foretold the sudden an,
Violent departure of another soul.
Cecil Horton was five when sh
spent her first summer on the Sc
gatchie; she had passed her twentieth
birthday when the events here re
corded took place.
1t was the tenth Of September. tn,
Horizons we're to return to the cit.
on the fifteenth. Cecil was plannin,
a dance for the evening of the twelfth
the last Of series in the Horton boat
house. Dick Harvey sat beside her OF
the boathouse steps.
Evidently the girls thoughts wer,
not bearing fruit for she turned t.
her companion. "Oh. Dick" sh,
pleaded, do try and think up some
thing unique for the feature Of m!
last something exciting; some
thing thrillingl"
Dick seized hopefully upon hi.
opportunity. "You might announce
our engagement" But the hopeful
ness died a-borning as he glimpset
the quick frown above his compan
ions eyes and he continued, In tragic
moroseness. "Or we might stage 6
murder; I'd be glad to help you out
In that"
II have 1t, Dick |" she CALCULATED
1.-THE white canoe"
Followed nearly an hour Of expla
nations, pleadings and overriding Of
Dicks objections by Cecil, and finally
reluctant consent from Dick. But
he made 1t conditional. "Now, re
member" he stipulated, mot a single
dance with that Perrone crook while
I'm away pulling the fadeaway Indian
maiden stuff"
"Of course, Dick; I promise. But
you've no business to speak Of him
that way just because you don't know
every bit Of his past history. Why do
your"
"shifty eyes," was Dicks laconic re
ioinder.
The night Of the dance came and
all too soon for Dick at least, came
eleven o'clock, the time agreed upon
for him to absent himself and take
up the spectacular role Of "Snowbird.'
The full moon carried out It's part
Of the program. At half after eleven
Cecil, pleading fatigue, seated herself
by the broad river-front doorway, pre-.
pared to jump up at any instant and
announce to the guests, with becoming
dramatic effect, that the Indian maiden
was abroad in her canoe.
But she waited fruitlessly. The
minutes passed; no white canoe
appeared. Midnight, and yet nothing
stirred on the broad bosom of the
Segatchie. Disappointed, a little angry;
Cecil yielded at last to the pleading
Of the fascinating Perrone and danced
three times in succession with him.
Dick Harvey did not appear again
that night and next morning, when he
came over to the Horton place, he gave
most unsatisfactory answers to Cecil's
peremptory questions. Also he wore
an inscrutable. self-satisfied expression
that enraged the young lady. She
let him know 1t. Yet Dick went of
whistling. Which affected Miss Hor-
ton so extremely little that at mid
night she was still awake.
Suddenly, as her distracted gaze
turned to the farther shore, SILVER
ran through Cecll's frame. From out
the shadows Of the forested bank
gilded a tenuous, flmy something that
while she strained her eyes in awe,
took clearly, Individually, as 1t crossed
the pathway Of the moon, the form Of
white canoe, silently padded by a
girlish figure in white. crowned by
snowy feathers.
Cecil started from her seat. She
would call some member Of the Sleep
ing household to witness this awesome
sight.
Then from the balcony roof out
side, close by her, came a whisper. It
was Dick Harvey's voice.
There's burglar inside, Cecil. The
officers have gone in. Keep still, don't
move. If he opens your door I can
see him from here in this light
Sh-sh-sh."
Slowly, without sound, the door
opened. A dark figure was vaguely
outlined on the threshold. Even In
the semi-darkness 1t looked strangely
familiar to Cecil. From the window
Dick Harvey's stacatto baritone
snapped: "That's far enough, you
stand still"
There was CLINT Of steel as the in
truder flung back, "Hold up your
hands and keep"
In the open window shot flashed
and roared. BY the door there was
q crumpled heap on the floor.
"Dobson, that detective friend Of
mine," Dick explained to Cecil after
the shock Of the tragedy had softened.
wired me to keep tab on Perrone till
they could get here. That's what kept
me away last night. Tonight we
followed him here. He was wanted
for burglary and murder. Clear bad
had to shoot. But it's rotten thing
to kill your rival"
"Rival2 Oh, Dicki"
Cecil believes the legend ran true.
Dick, however, insists that Snowbird
was dream maiden. They often
argue about 1t.