The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1921-11-25

On the banks of Allan Water
None was gay as she.
That very night the soldier came in
to her life, came as she walked about
the farm to see that all was secure.
Her skirt was caught as she trod fear
fully through growth of high frs f;
she heard the mutter of mans voice.
A dark lantern revealed spur en-
tangled in her skirt, a young and
and scarlet. 1t flashed like a CLEAN
Of romance in gray days, that scarlet
coat that was afterwards to be re-
membered as so sinister a portent.
The man was Sergeant Troy, a
light-hearted scoundrel whose ready
fiattery sounded sweeter in Bath
sheba's ears than the stammering long
ing of Gabriel or Boldwood. He
courted her Economically, wooing her
with his sword. She stood, few days
later, in hollow of ferns and about
her flashed his whirling, edged weapon,
slashing so close to her that she could
hear its sharp hiss as it carved out
in the air her lissome figure, and when
he turned to leave her, he stopped
swiftly and kissed her on the lips.
Gabriel tried to warn Bathsheba but
she scorned his reproaches. So he bore
silently with his grief and he did not
tell her that Troy had beguiled little
Fanny Robin away from Weatherbury.
Boldwood, whose heart had never be-
fore beat faster at womans ap-
proach, could not so control his anger.
He shouted maledictions upon the man
who had robbed him of all that had
made life joyous. His madness pre-
cipitated that which he most dreaded,
Bathsheba's marriage to Troy.
The hasty marriage led swiftly to
sorrow. inevitably to tragedy. Troy
celebrated the wedding by a revel in
the barn where he and all the jovial
rustics were soon hopelessly befud-
died. Gabriel dared not drink with
them. The creeping things of the
night and the huddled sheep had
warned him of the nearing storm and.
in the fields the high ricks of wheat
and barley lay uncovered.
The moon vanislol and the wind
on far horizons baleful fires
futtered. The mutter of distant thun-
der rolled into sharp rattle. The
flashes grew bright as he worked to
protect the grain. Then Bathsheba
was with him and their laboring forms
we're outlined in black by the green
snakes of fire that darted venomously
AS she trembled with
fright, Gabriel felt her warm arm
remble in his great, sheltering hand.
She was another mans wife; she did
Tot love him; but there was soIace
n the strange ways of fate that had
brought her nearer to him than when
Ter heart was free.
Tragedy came when Fanny Robin
rept home to die. Her body, with
hat of her child, was brought back
o the house where she had worked.
by the coffin, Bathsheba
earned that Troy had never loved her
s he had this girl who had borne
cath and shame for him. He fled from
and word was brought
D Bathsheba that he had been swept
ut to sea and drowned.
The seasons rolled on and sorrow
ave to Bathsheba's face a serious
ess that added to her charm. Bold
God dreamed again and he was made
Apply by promise, although six years
Just pass before its fulfillment
To celebrate his joy, he planned a
hristmas-eve party, more than year
tier Troy had disappeared. And it =
as on this night that Troy chose to
appear, striding like a spectre among
lie merrymakers. AS he advanced
pom her. Bathsheba stood like
riclSen thing. half-convinced that de-
sion had enthralled her. But there
as nothing ghostly in the rough COM
and that he shouted at her no. in
e brutal grip that he took upon her
m. Then only did she stir, but she
uld not speak. A strangled scream
as heard, then q deafening roar
me eyes were upon Troy, pitching
rward and never to rise again; 9TH
5 upon Boldwood, standing with a
loking gun in his hands.
WI uhth tiic hcAl Angus lOliS dllcl
was known that Boldwood was to
imprisoned for life, was Bathsheba
lie to walk as far as the village
'eet. Fate had been hard to her.
three men who had loved her. one
4 been killed by another who would
yer stride on the daylight again.
d now word had come to her that
briel-honest. sturdy Gabriel
ON she had found the one man in
world who did not fail her in her
ID, was leaving her. She sought
4 in his humble cottage and he
fessed that he was going because
pie were coupling his name with
s. "Such thing as that is too alb
d--toO soon-to think of, by fari''
cried. When he agreed with her
t it was "too absurd she insisted
t she had not said that, but too
n" Even then minutes clicked
~ before Gabriel could realize that
1t he had so long sought was to
his.
heir lives. In calm and storm, had
q so close that, after the wedding,