Year: 1874

is noticed by both mother and daugh-
ters. The sun is already past the mer-
idian, and has commenced his descent of
the western sky. Absorbed in the anx-
iety of the search, they had taken no
thought of the flight of time and their
usual dinner-hour had come and gone
unnoticed by any of them. And the fa-
ther had forgotten that he had left his
oxen in the yoke attached to the plough
in the furrow. Besides the possibility
that Lucy might have fallen into the
pond and been drowned, there are other
possibilities, which all have thought of,
eat none have dared to trust tongue to
name. There are beasts of prey, wolves
certainly, and perhaps other wild beasts
upon the mountain. And there are hos
tile savagcs in the vicinity. Lucy may
have been carried off by wolves or In
dians. As we shall have occasion to
speak of these possibilities again, let US
for the sake of brevity and distinction,
designate them severally as tie wolf the
ory, the Indian theory, and the pond
theory.


Night is coming and an appalling
sense of their situation seems, simulta-
neously with the fathers glance at the
descending sun, to seize both parents
and children. All possible theories and
fears seem to occur to each of them at
once. The mother bursts out into loud,
heart-rending wall of despair, vainly
calling her child by name, my Lucy !
my Lucy p She reproaches first her.
self and then her daug ghters, and even
her husband for carelessness in not look
ing after the child, and again walls out
her despairing cry for her Lucy. Nor
is the grief of the sisters scarcely less
than their mothers. And the father
himself is for the moment completely
unnamed and undecided what to do.
Lucy is the pet and darling of his life.
He rushes wildly back into the woods,
shouting the child's name at the top of
his voice, which breaks and quivers un-
der the burden of grief that has come
over him. But in few moments he re-
turns, and calls his family into the house


He has plan he will appeal to his
neighbors to come and help him. One
daughter shall go in one direction the
other shall go in another he will 90 to
town and they will rally all the help
they can. He is a man of Puritan de-
scent, faith and practice and without
so much as stopping to mention his plan
to his family. as soon as they have come
into the house, he says, "Let US pray"
In their presence he explains his plan to
God, and invokes his blessing upon it.


The amen is no sooner said than the
daughters, without waiting for direct or
ders, hasten away to rally the neighbors.


He saddles his horse and rides to town
as fast as spurs and whip can drive him.


"Is Deacon Keyes going for the doc


tor and is his house on fire ? or is he
crazy ?' asked the people of one anoth-
er as they saw him come into the vii
lage. 1t did not take him long to tell
them what was the matter, and what he


wanted. Would they come and help


him Yes, indeed, they would And
as the farmer had left his plough to


hunt for his lost child, so his neighbor


the blacksmith leaves his iron In the
fire, and his neighbor the minister leaves
his sermon half finished, and his neigh


Dor the storekeeper leaves his store, and
brings along his customers, too, to help


the farmer find his child An hour be-
fore sunset at least fifty men have arriv-


ed at the house of their distressed neigh
Dor, and more are coming.


Among the first to come is Robert


Keyes' near neighbor, John Littlejohn.
, True, the two neighbors have been for a
. long time on bad terms and hard words
have passed between them only the day


before. Littlejohn is now profuse in Of
; fers of sympathy and assistance Zone


touch of nature makes the whole world
kin = and evidently the calamity of the
3 Keyes family has affected their old enc.


my like all the rest. He offers his ad
; vice about methods of hunting and pro
! poses to act as guide to the child-hunt
; ers. He is an old hunter, and knows
, the mountain like a book has hunted


foxes and partridges, and game of al
sorts, including wolves, bears and wild
: cats all over it !; can find his way by
/ night over every foot oft just as vel
= as by day. So says Littlejohn. And al
+ hunting was known to be his chief occu


patton and he was believed to have NOR
; knowledge of the mountain than any on
q else. he was selected to act as chief di
q rector of the whole party, and for th'
occasion called the captain.


It The captain divides up his force int
:. squads, or small parties, and sends on
It squad in this direction, another in that
Y and another in third, and SO on, Civ
: ing each its instructions. This squa'
it will find such and such paths, rocks AM
: blazed trees let them search them. An
$ other squad viii find other paths, bould
Is ers and trees let them search them AN.