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' ij5?utkd semi'weekl^ l. m. grist's sons, pobiuhen. } ' % dfamilg fJerosjajer: J(ar th< fromotion oj fhi> political, facial. Agricultural and Commercial Interests of the |eogte. {TEE8^oi2coPT.VriAvECK^VANCE' established 18557 yorkville79. c., frid ay7.jtjisre'28, 1907. no. 527 DAUGHTER 13y ETTA CHAPTER VII?Continued. There was what seemed to be a eternity of suspense?both Fleetwoo and Rube had laid hold of the catboa ?then came the dip of oars, the out lines of a skiff growing out of the fog and Fleetwood, from the cold blac water looked up and saw a girl's fac bending down to him?never would h forget it. It was of that rich, creamy pallo which Is entirely different from th hue of ill-health. The low forehea was half hidden in rings and tendril of night-black hair. The splendl eyes, unfathomably dark, grazed dowi on Fleetwood like dazzling moons. Fo the rest he saw a cotton handkerchle knotted under a soft round chin, long silky braids streaming cut beneath it a pair of statuesque arms, bared to th elbows, and shoulders that a goddes might have envied. "Mind what you're about!" she said sharply, as Fleetwood instinctivel; grasped the gunwale of her boat "Don't upset the dory! What!" derl sively, ."is that you. Rube Dexter floundering there like a dogfish? thought you knew how to sail a cat boat!" And then Fleetwood felt assured tha he was in the presence of Rube's en chantress. "And so I do. Miss Esther," stam mered poor, drenched Rube; "but tha darned schooner run us down in th( fog. Can you take Mr. Fleetwood int< your skiff?" The young Canadian had not wholly recovered from his Colorado wounds The coldness of the water struck t< his vitals. As Dexter was speaking t sudden falntness seizea mm. mo aw? fell helplessly Irom the boat. The glr who had been called Esther seized hln promptly by his fair hair. "He is swooning!" she called t< Rube. "Help me to get him into th< skiff." Rube, a vigorous swimmer, flew t< her aid, when, by their combined efforts, they had got Fleetwood safelj Into the dory, the dark-eyed maid ant Dexter, with some difficulty righted th< catboat, of which the young flshermai resumed possession. While the pal: were thus engaged. Fleetwood, ah though he lay limp as seaweed in th< bottom of the dory, was not so fai gone but that he could hear the fob lowing conversation: "Who Is this man?" said Esthei Hart. "He's a Canadian gentleman?Fleetwood Is his name, and a fine sort o: fellow he seems to be. I'd be sorrj to have anything happen to him here.' "What's he doing at dnderville?' disdainfully. "Well, looking arter a woman, a.near as I can find out. I don't rightly know what he wants of her?I dunno as he's ever told that part of th< story; but it's somebody as was nevei heard of hereabouts, and he's going t< leave tomorrow?" "Who is the woman?" "I'm DieSSCU 11 1 Aliun i ucvt.ia w .... you're mighty interested," with a quiv er of Jealously In his tone. "Tempos Is her name, he says. There's some thing that goes afore It?'Cordlan o Concertina. I don't remember which Nobody knows her at Clndervllle." For a moment Esther Hart sat a If dumfounded, then she broke Into i ringing laugh. "Think again, Reuben. You an frightfully stupid, you know. Wa: not the name Concordia instead o Concertina??Concordia Tempest, doe: that sound like it?" "Yes, that's it, I dare say." replie< Reuben, in an aggrieved tone, "but can't rightfully see as it's of any ac count to you or to me. How did yoi come to know it, anyway?" "A little bird whispered it in m; ear. Your Mr. Fleetwood is absurdl; good looking." "Is he? I ain't much of a jedgc Seems to me you will have to tak him to the Light. I'm afeard he's los his senses." Not altogether. Fleetwood, lylnj flat in the boat, was tingling with i new and sudden interest. This gii knew something of Concordia Temp y est. Her laughter, the very tone c her voice as she pronounced the od name, told him that. Immediately h became aware that the dory was gild ing swiftly off through fog and watei with the catboat in its wake. The gii pulled with long, steaciy, praunte strokes. Not even the dense mist could baffl her, for directly a great black objec loomed dimly up through the vapo before her. and straight as an arrot to its mark, the skiff shot up to th rude landing place of Porgy island. Here, with suspicious suddennesi Fleetwood revived, and sat up in th boat. He saw a bare, lonely rock, with n vegetation upon it save clumps of dog weed and hills of potatoes distribute wherever the soil could be found t receive them, and no sign of huma habitation but the tall light and th attached dwelling house of the keep er, both painted white, and standin up with ghostly effect against th gloomy darkness of bare rocks an tumbling waves. "Gran'ther!" called Esther Hart frot the landing place. An old man came shuffling dow the path from the tower?a weather beaten Triton, with a face like wrlnh led leather, and the rolling gait of sailor. "Here's a gentleman," explained tf girl, briefly, "who has been capsized I Rube Dexter's boat. Take him up I the I>ight, ana qsk Aunt ueo 10 km him a change of clothes, while I mo( the boat." "Ay, ay," responded the Triton gruf lyFleetwood followed him to the hou; ?a snug little place, shining wit neatness. The Aunt Deb referred t was a lank, tall spinster of fifty, with washed-out look, and a solemn, ww begone air. She stood at an old fast S OF CftHt W. PIERCE |loned dresser, peeling: potatoes, as the n two men appeared in me aoor, aim d singing in a high, cracked voice. t "My thoughts on awful subjects roll, Damnation and the dead!" Life on barren Porgy Island, with jj the storms and the seagulls, seemed conducive to melancholy. "HI! Debbie," shouted the Triton, "git this young man a glass of hot grog and a change of clothes, he's drenched to the skin, and his teeth be e . a-clattering like castanets." u s Miss Debbie Jumped nervously, j "Oh, goodness gracious me! How you do scare one. Father Joe!" she r cried, shrilly. "We must be mindful to entertain strangers, for thereby some r have entertained angels unawares. I ? misdoubt, though, if your clothes will e fit him. Things seldom come right in g this world, even to coats and trousers. His legs are too long." I "I do not see how I can make them ^ shorter, madam," shivered Fleetwood. . "Believe me, I am very sorry to tax your kindness in this way"? "Tut, young man," she interrupted; j "you'll find the rum and sugar in the cupboard, and I'll throw the shirts and pantaloons down the stairs." ^ And she vanished through a door leading to the upper story of the cottage. Fleetwood had effected a change of raiment, and warmed his chattering teeth before Hester Hart appeared in the path. He was watching for her, and as she came into view, he thought of what Rube Dexter had likened her to?the sun breaking upon the sea. She was not above the medium height, but her superb carriage, and the proud turn of her full throat, made her appear taller. Her black braids rippled like unraveled silk down her shoulders. Betwixt the exquisite creamy pallor of her skin, and the j dark splendor of her turbulent eyes, her beauty was something startling. Rube followed humbly behind her, carrying her oars. Through the open window Fleetwood could hear the un, lucky lover pleading. 3 "Haven't you any sort or kind of 3 good word for me, Essie?" r "No," she replied, shortly, and wlth. out turning her handsome head. 3 A moment after Rube thrust a disr consolate face in at the door. "Mr. Fleetwood." he said, "I've got to get back to Cinderville to go ar trawling with dad, but you'd better stay here till your clothes dry?the fog . is a-liftlng a'ready, and old Joe will t bring you over to the mainland, byr and-by, In his boat. ' "All right, Reuben." answered Fleet wood, with admirable resignation. Rube went off down the path, and 3 left Guy Fleetwood stranded for three . long hours at Porgy Island Light. There was a dinner of savory chow? ders, baked bluefish, hot corncake and r coffee?in all his life Fleetwood had 3 never tasted such a delicious meal. The girl Esther paid no heed whatever to the unbidden guest, but old ? Joe and Aunt Debbie entered readily . into conversation with him. The latt ter. who never lost an opportunity to . wipe her pale faded eyes on anybody r who approached her, groaned over the u scarcity of the rainfall, the unsatisfactory state of the potatoes, and the gen3 enal hardship of life on Porgy Island, i "Father and I and Essie," she lamented, "have lived on this rock for e seventeen year', come next Christmas, a and it's worse than the abomination of f desolation spoken of by Daniel the s Prophet. Lor', if one of us should die here, there ain't soil enough on the i whole island to dig a grave in. A dead I body would have to be thrown to the - sharks, that you'll see a-coursing ii round the rocks almost any fine day, sir. The time that Essie went off to y the mainland to get her eddication, I y thought I should clean give up. I war as lonesome as a pelican in the desert ?. ?you could hear the bones a-rattling e in my skin for clear lonesomeness." t "Have you no assistant at the Light?" Fleetwood asked of old Joe. S "Ay, sir," replied the old keeper, a "here's Essie?she's my assistant. She i tends the light when I'm away, and - she goes to the mainland for supplies, if and she can handle a boat as well as d the oldest sailor on the whole coast, e There ain't a rope in this ship that she - don't know." r, Neither pride nor fondness was in 1 his tone?only business, pure and simd pie. As far as Fleetwood could see, little affection seemed to exist between e the girl and her kindred, or else they :t were a singularly undemonstrative ir family. ,v "I congratulate you upon having so e able a lieutenant." said Fleetwood, quietly. 3. As he arose from the table, he espied e a stand or doors in a corner or me room?Shakespeare's plays, histories, ? and some of the best known poets. "Most of them are the books that d Essie took as prizes over at Barton ? academy," explained Aunt Deb. "She n was an awful smart scholar?was our e Essie?the smartest, all the teachers said, in the whole school." S Considerable Interest was manifested by the light-keeper and Aunt Deb d in Fleetwood himself. "I take it you're a summer boarder n at Cinderville?" said the old spinster; "though the Lord only knows what peon pie want to come to Cinderville for, even in summer?nothing there but hake and pollock, and fish-flakes, and a the smell of old rotting wharves and fish-houses. ie For the first time Esther Hart turnm ed, and fastened her grand eyes on to Fleetwood. Highly amused, he an'c s we red: >r "Yes, I am boarding at Cinderville. A private matter brought me to the f- town. Just now I am not at liberty to speak of it." He fancied he saw a mocking smile h on the girl's lips. Shortly after, she to went out upon the rocks with the Ilghta keeper. - Fleetwood followed her. l- The fog had vanished. The sun was shining brightly now on the wastes of Igneous rock and Aunt Deb's scattering hills of potatoes. His blue flannel yachting suit was swinging in a stiff breeze, and seemed rapidly approaching a state of dryness. He found Esther Hart standing on a black, weeddraped ledge, with old Joe's battered telescope in hand, looking out to sea. "In my semi-conscious state out there in the water," he began, "I overheard your conversation with Rube Dexter. May I ask, Miss Hart, if you really know a person called Concordia Tempest?' She lowered the glass. There was a I mischievous gleam in her grand black I eyes, the quiver of a dimple about her red lips. "Do you know her?" "I do not," he replied with great frankness. "Have you any particular business with her?" "No." "Then, pray, what do you want with Concordia Tempest?" "Well, really, I am somewhat curious to see her?nothing more." "I always supposed curiosity to be a strictly feminine weakness," said Esther Hart, with fine Irony; "I never before knew that the mighty mind of man could harbor It. Pardon me, Mr. Fleetwood, I cannot tell you anything about Concordia Tempest." He leaned lazily against the ledge, his bold eyes eagerly drinking In a beauty which perplexed as much as it dazzled him. "Very well. My Interest In her is on the wane. Another object has pushed It aside, and is absorbing that feminine trait of curiosity at which you rail. You may remain silent till doomsday on the subject of Concordia If you will only consent to tell me something about yourself." Her lip curled. She put up the glass again. "Have you not been told that I can tend the beacon, and manage a boat, and that I have been to Barton academy, and taken all the prizes for superior scholarship there?" "Vague and unsatisfactory. You are not Ihdlgenous to this soil. I feel the same wonder that a botanist might experience In coming upon a Qloire de Dijon rose, growing in volcanic scoriae." It was quite a speech for Fleetwood, but the blood was plunging through his veins more rapidly than usual. She | received the compliment without the quiver of an eyelash. "A Gloire de Dijon rose," dryly; "that Is something I have never seen ?Indeed, one sees very few things at Porgy Rock." "At least, I have seen one thing here which I shall never forget. When I embarked In Rube Dexter"s boat this morning, it was my intention to leave Cindervllle tomorrow. Now, however, I have changed my plans. I shall remain awhile longer, and with undaunted resolution pursue my search for Concordia Tempest." A genuine girl's laugh bubbled over her lips. "You may find many tempests In Cindervllle, but scarcely Concordia Why does hope revive In you so suddenly? Have you discovered any trace of this elusive female since you set sail with Rube?" "No," he replied, "but all the same, I can make her useful to me. She will serve as a pretext to lengthen my stay on this hospitable Maine coast." Half an hour after, Guy Fleetwood, clothed In his own garments, came down tne rocics a grain, xo xaixe leavts ui Esther Hart. She was still leaning against the ledge, her black braids streaming In the wind, her dark eyes fixed upon the tossing sea. The fair, good-looking Canadian extended his hand to the island girl. "For the service you did me out yonder In the water?for bringing me hither In your boat, I thank you?for all your hospitable kindness I thank you. "Then, his gay, debonair manner changing to almost tragic earnestness, Maud Loftus's lover added, In another tone: "Miss Hart, may I come again?" Her hand Just touched his own, then slipped away. "No," she replied, with lowered eyelids, "do not come again." "Very well," said Fleetwood, audaciously. "I will not. until tomorrow." CHAPTER VIIT. Esther Hart's Journal. It was at Barton academy that I first began to keep a Journal, and I have continued the practice since leaving school, because It sometimes helps to beguile the loneliness of life on this bleak Island. After the departure of Mr. Fleetwood In grand'ther's boat today, I sat for a long time on the. rocks, looking away In the direption of Clndervllle, and battling with one of my darkest and most discontented moods. Presently Aunt Deb came to the door and called me in. "I hope to goodness that man will never come here again!" was her first salutation. I asked for no explanations. She eyed me asaance ior a momem, men burst out, fretfully: "You be as trying a critter, Essie Hart, as ever I set eyes on! There ain't a gal up and down the whole Maine coast that's better provided for than you be. You've got handsome gowns and rings and chains and spending money, and a comfortable home with gran'ther and me; and In spite of It all, you're as oneasy from morn till night as a flsh out of water. I don't believe you ever felt contented for a single hour here at Porgy Island." "No," said I, sadly enough; "I never did." "Ongrateful!" sniffed Aunt Deb, behind a huge cotton handkerchief. "The worst thing that can befall a gal is to have too many good looks." "You were never tried in that way, Aunt Deb," said I; and then I was sorry for the words, and drew the immense handkerchief away and kissed her. "If you had a squint and freckles, Esther, you would not be the restless, oneasy critter that you are," pursued Aunt Deb; "a-chaflng and a-fumlng at your lot with gran'ther and me! Seeins as if you never cared much for either of us, and we your own flesh and blood, too! If I'd a-had my way, you never would have gone to Barton academy; but your father was possessed to have you eddlcated in first-class style, and this Is what comes of It? pride and discontent and vanity and vexation of sperrlt!" Her charges .against me are tru enough. I am all that she says, an more. I care very little for Aunt De or gran'ther, and I detest Porgy Roc! and Its barren solitude. Watched the beacon for gran'the the first half of the night. The set was. very quiet, only the breaker boomed on the other side of the islanc Large and bright the stars shone li the deep purple sky. Up In the towe the lamp flamed with a steady llgh through the slow hours. A ship wen 1 ?,iU ??' ?> onrno/1 In thp fltur uy, W1 til paic n iiigo opivttu ?u %..w lit silence. Shall I ever see him again? Wednesday. Before the sun had reached meridiaj he came along:, in Rube Dexter's boal I was Just pushing oft from the land ing-place. "Where are you going?" he cried eagerly. "To catch a string of mackerel fo dinner," I answered. "Delightful! Pray let me go witl you." I sat stiff and ungracecious while hi scrambled with more speed than gTK> into my dory. "Will you permit me to take thi oars?" he asked. "No," I replied. . "I probably knov how to use them much better than yoi do." "Now am I annihilated, indeed!" hi said, with a gay laugh. "At least, le me humbly beg permission to help yoi secure the mackerel." He looked like a young viking, witl his broad shoulders and blue eyes, anc hair as fair as flax. "Have you had much experience ii nsning : 1 qucncu, Dtumiunj. "Yes," he replied, "I know all abou lobster traps, and weirs, and drag-nets and trawls. I have been pollocklnf and haddocklng and haking with youi friend Rube Dexter. A week at Clndervllle has transformed me Into f purely amphibious creature." A little bird, somewhat larger than < sandpiper, was hovering: over the water near by. I nodded toward It. "That Is a sea-groose," I said; "ant wherever you see It, there you will fine mackerel." "What am I to do? Command me.' "Drop the anchor." Down It splashed over the boat's side "Now mind your tackle. There's ? box of bait under the seat." We had struck a shoal of fat, mottied beauties. How fast we drew then In! The sun glowed hot overhead, s land wind combed the current lntt languid ripples. Trouble very ofter with Mr. Fleetwood's tackle, and constant appeals to me for help. "I think you are tangling It purposely," I said, at last, with stern suspicion. He colored to his eyebrows. "Like the father of his country, 1 cannot tell a lie," he said; and ther seized upon the hands which he hal called so often to his aid, and pressec them to his lips. "There are temptations, Miss Hart, which no man oouk find it in his heart to resist." I snatched away my hands. "W< will fish no more today," I said, wit! high displeasure. He drew in the anchor meekly, and we started back tc the Light. "Pray, what brought you to Porgj Island again today?" I demanded. H< gave me a reproachful look. "Pardon me, is that quite?quite polite, Miss -Hart? Is it hospitable? Yoi brought me! I came because I coulc not help myself any more than thai silly sea-goose can help following th< mackerel shoal." Some birds flew over the boat ai that moment, uttering a sharp, queei cry. It was like a woman's name? "Maud! Maud!" He started violently. "The deuce!" ! heard him mutter. He does not !lk< the name, perhaps. "What sort of a bird is that?" hi asked. "I do not know," I answered, carelessly "The same, maybe, that Tennyson's young man had in. mind wher he said: " 'Birds in the high Hall garden, When twilight.was falling; Maud, Maud, Maud, Maud, They were crying and calling.'" "I have a cousin by that name," hi said, with a short laugh. "I couk have sworn that It was her voice overhead. Pray let me take my turn .a quoting Tennyson." And then, with his bold eyes flxei steadily on my face, he said over thesi lines in a low, effective tone: " 'Is there a voice coming up with th< voice of the deep from the strand, One coming up, with a song, in th< flush of the glimmering red? Love that is born of the deep cominf up with the sun from the sea, Love that can shape or can shatter i life till the life shall have fled? Nay. let us welcome him, Love tha can lift up. a life from the dead. Keep him away from the lone little isle Let us be, let us be. Nay, let him make it his own, let hln reign In It?he, it is he? Love that is borne of the deep cominj up with the sun from the sea.'" I spoke not a word. We landed, an< he carried the mackerel up to thi house. Aunt Deb sat at her big wool wheel in the kitchen?rsuch things an still used along the Maine coast?an< being in a hospitable mood, she lnvit ed Mr. Fleetwood to dine with us fo the second time. Grand'ther also urge< him. He stayed. Dinner?broile< mackerel and potatoes, fried lobster and one of Aunt Deb's famous Indlai puddings. After the meal, grand'ther carrle< him up to the tower, to look at th< light. Determined not to encounte him again, l went off over the chaotli rocks, to the furthest end of the is land, and hid myself among the ledge: there in the Mermaid's Chair?a dan gerous cleft, scarcely above high-wate mark. The gulls and I know the plae well. T rinwn In mv wllrl rpfllET and gazed gloomily out to sea, my chli In my hand, my hair flying In thi wind, the great waves crashing u] around my feet, and spattering m with thin salt spray. A shark wa cruising just below?I could see hi sinister flns rising now and then abov the water. "He is waiting for me to make i misstep," I thought?as, without doubl he was. Higher and higher the waves dashei up; they had quite drenched the skir of my dress, when I heard a voice 01 the rocks overhead; "To look on a pair of bright black eye Is the life of a pair of blue ones!" it sang gayly; after which followed ai imperative call: "Come out of that, Miss Hart! I> you want to drown?" e I did not stir or answer. He thought th< d I was deafened by the waves?he lean- De b ed down and touched me. I started ' k Incautiously up, with the blood rac- gn Ing furiously through my heart; my shi tr foot slipped; a moment and I should 'tu a have been within reach of the shark's Ing s Jaws; but, with a cry, Guy Fleetwood pla L had leaped down into the Mermaid's I n Chair. He seized me, as I clung, in a set r cloud of flying spume, to. the bare, per- pot t pendlcular, waveswept rock, ahd lifted pai t me bodily to his own level. wh There was a moment of silence, In chi which I stood looking at my hands, the all torn and bleeding from my desper- " I - A - aU- 1 - J At U. I 1 me ciui.cn on me leuge; men ue cncu sat ti out: mo L "My poor child; I frightened you, did my - I not?" And he drew forth his hand- by kerchief and wrapped It about my ml: I, wounds. He was deadly pale. "For- difl give me for following you.here?It Is a 1 r matter of civility! I must say good- Int by! Rube Dexter has Just brought me ove i a telegram from Clnderville." Crl "Ah," I said, with a wicked little sor e laugh, "perhaps some one has, at last, ast e discovered Concordia Tempest?" wa "No," he answered, very gravely; sllj e "things of greater Importance have dre quite driven that perplexing female ste 7 from my mind. My mother Is danger- net i ously ill, and I am called home to I Canada." He caught his breath in a off z very odd way. "Look me In the face, lea t Esther! Shall I ever come .to this 'lone bill i little isle' again, or shall I not? Do wh you ever wish to see me again?" sllj l Would I have this stranger to rule a 1 1 over, me? Did I desire his dominion? arc My heart swelled fiercely. I looked hira sue l full in his pale face, as he had re- my quested, and answered: to t "I never wish to see you again! sec i, Come no more to Porgy Light!" the r "You have saved my honor!" he " p said, bitterly, "perhaps I ought to " . thank you for that." / i Then he turned, and hurried away rio over the rocks, never looking back. up i The sea lay under the low afternoon ope sky?a great dazzle of berylllne tints? me a vast field scaled with changeful opal the 1 and amethyst. His boat faded away las 1 in that wealth of costly color. He will as come no more! " ' Thursday. isle Gray clouds trailing low over the I o i rioting sea. Miserable winds complain- er, i Ing across the rock, and around the ads tower. Aunt Debbie, lugubrious and tun tearful, bent upon chanting such flgl ? cheerful hymns as: ma 1 "Hark! from the tombs a doleful > sound." W01 i if s Gran'therdown with a "spell" of rheu- wa mat Ism, and so Irritable that there.Is j ^ perpetual warfare In the house. Aunt an^ Deb and I attend the light. No matter , goc what may happen on Porgy Island, He j the light must burn on. , Friday. A I Without doubt he has reached his bu{ j mother by this time. What did he jng, mean when he said that I, by refusing by I jto see him again, had saved his honor? ]a Everything at the light the same as gtQ, } yesterday. A heavy storm approach- ter] ^ lng. A Jigger went by toward Cinder- wjr vllle; a schooner and a few fishing- yoj ) boats passed?all making for port j "Love that Is bom of the deep, coming my f up with the sun from the sea; ? Love that can shape or can shatter a v life till the life shall have fled." lips How those lines that he.quoted out ( there on the water buzz through my mg j head. Gran'ther's .'heumatlsm Is in- ? t creasing. i "Let me go to Clndervllle for a doc- Jov ' tor." I said. gor . "No," answered gran'ther; "It's comr lng on to blow great guns. I ain't a- I goin' to have you running any risks, Essie! You're too precious to Aunt j Deb and me!" Bai 4 I stared. I never before knew that I was precious to anybody. > 4 "We depend on your board, you bel know," he explained, naively. wai Gran'ther's pay for keeping: the cou light is very small, and Aunt Deb wh loves money even better than she hac loves Watt's hymns. Of course they bra depend on my board, and of course ter they value me from that standpoint ^ai only. Why should one care about such ?i, trifles?why, In fact, should one care j i for anything or anybody in the world? tj0, 1 Saturday. pr?; Gran'ther's rheumatism remains the ||g) t same. Desolation at the Light, and fu|| silence, save for the roaring of hungry we] 1 tides. Toward nightfall the wind be- to s gan to blow, and the rain to beat aen against the windows. Storms at Por- bar s gy Island are no trifling affairs. I sov s hurried to the tower to light the bea- cor con. wh j As I stood there, with gran'ther's om glass In hand, looking out upon the e(j 1 sea, I discovered?could I believe my rep t own eyes??a boat making for the Is- bal land. Its sole occupant?a man?ex- we| ' hlblted considerable skill in managing trei 1 his frail craft. Now down in a white a|8l trough of foam, it went, then up on |n > the curling crest of a wave. The m|. boat was Rube Dexter's, but who was ( * the man? a i< 8 He made straight for the landing- (n place. I thought he could never reach gUj 8 It through the surf that was running; ac^ 1 but when I descended the tower-stair, j " and passed into the dwelling house, lo! bar r he was there before me?a pale, smll- tjV( * Ing, dripping spectre, standing on wh 1 Aunt Deb's best braided mat. sor "We thought you was gone 10 v^au- on. 1 ady, sir," I heard gran'ther say as I an( opened the door. he * "I tried to go, but I could not," he 8 answered; then he turned and looked ?] r at me. Neither of us spoke. Ing 0 "You're rnore of a sailor than I took thr " you for," said gran'ther, "If you've pQ 3 brought a boat from Clnderville In this tw< " sea. You can't go back tonight!" his r "Well, It's a mercy somebody has to e come," cried Aunt Deb; "for I don't gn know of anything lonesomer than two |n !> women and a crippled man shut up to- to 1 gether on this rock, with the storm tur B a-peltlng, and the water making a sto P clean breach over everything, and that jCa e light to 'tend, if all of us go to de- to 3 struction together. And father, with ret 3 no regard for his immortal soul, a fly- br< e lng in the face of Providence, and no swearing about his rheumatiz fit to to 1 raise the roof!" cot ' "Did you come across in Rube's boat, fls< Mr. Fleetwood?" piped gran'ther. cai ^ "Yes." he answered. pol 1 "It was reckless doings In such a wh n storm; you risked your life, sir." Vli "Maybe?I didn't think of that." wr s Night fell, black and terrible. The Cu gale steadily increased, the waves beat pia n with tremendous force on the island? vii we could hear them creeping up, like tio o hungry wolves, to the very door. oui "Maybe we'll have to take refuge In cr0 ? tower afore morning," said Aunt b. 'Like enough we shall," assented m'ther, cheerfully, "like enough the irks will be a-feedlng on us all 'Ixt now and sunrise. There's nothr, as I can see, to hinder the whole ice from being washed away." n spite of this prospect, Aunt Deb forth a supper of broiled bacon and I' tatoes, of which our unbidden guest P" rtook sparingly. During the meal, 61 lie talking with gran'ther, he ^ inced to call him "Mr. Hart." Gran'- P" ir made haste to correct the error. 'My name Is Joe Runnel, sir," he ?' d. "Hart belongs only to Essie. Her ul ther was my darter; Deb here is ^ ' stepdarter?the child of my wife 5a' first marriage. We're a sort of ,a xed up lot Each of us answers to a 01 ferent name." e< dr. Fleetwood showed no particular ot erest in our family-tree. Supper w sr, the trio gathered around the Are. ppled gran'ther began to croon over ^ ne wild tales of shipwreck and dis- d( er. I did not Join them. My place tr s up in the tower with the light. I C jped into the passage, donned my w adnaught, took up my lantern, and T pped out upon the bridge which con- 45 :ts the house with the tower. "l iere a terrific blast nearly swept me el my feet. My lantern went out, dl vlng me in utter darkness. I clung ai idly to the iron railing, over ^ ich the sea was hurling its foam and jpery spray. At the same moment, z< land, strong, but cold as ice, closed ai >und mine?took possession of me, d< Idenly, resolutely. He was there at lr side, in the deep darkness, trying shield me with his own body. A 18 ond gust dashed us both against D i wall of the tower. 'c Go back!" I gasped. w Impossible!" he answered. 81 Lnd so, through the thunderous p< t, the pitch-black night, we groped 11 the Bteep ladders, through narrow sn traps, to the light, his hold upon a' tightening all the way. There, at sI top of the tall tower, we stood, at 81 t, revealed to each other. He was ei pale as the dead. You told me never to come to the ind again," he said. "I knew that dl ught to obey you. Duty to my moth- 'n honor, everything called me to CSan- CI i, but I could not go. For days I tc re been over there at Cinderville, ,n iting as hard a battle with self as dl n ever fought. And here I stand, bl her, lgnominlously conquered! I ai uld have come to this rock tonight i legion of demons had stood in my y?if death Itself had been the pen- ay y! I love you against my own will, I In defiance of all sound reason and th a judgment. v^u, yvu Bi/ruei^oo; opened his arms with a great cry. H in you?will you love me?" 8,1 l wild thrill of Joy went through me, 1)1 swift upon it followed a shudder- s' dread. Perhaps I am superstitious th nature. At any rate, the dreary ? ce, the night, the black, shrieking m rm, filled me with a sudden strange c* ror. Across the glass of the high, ? id rocked tower a legion of demon 11 ces seemed screaming, "Beware!" 'n staggered back a step and covered face. Esther!" ^ le snatched me to his heart. His i pressed mine. Speak!" he urged; "do you love la ?? di |q Yes," I answered, solemnly, "I love i; but something tells me it is a is e which will bring us nothing but ^ row, despair and death!" To Bo Continued. $2 COPPER FOR GOLD. U ti ik of England Branch Swindled an SS Unusual Way. w {remarkable story of halfpennies di ng substituted for half sovereigns >2 s told at the Manchester city police fa irt recently, says the London Mail, C en Henry Douglas Anderson, who 5C 1 been employed at the Manchester nch of the Bank of England and at- A absconding had been arrested in ?? iada, was charged with stealing 081. Si n stating the case for the prosecu- H a, F. E. Smith, M. P., said that the c? soner^s duty was that of separating 12 it weight gold coins from those of >2 I weight, and he had to put the full P* Ight coins Into bags which he had N label and sign. On July 13, he ab- L ited himself, and on August 2 the 'a ik Issued twenty-five bags of half erelgns to Messrs. Williams, Deai's bank, and fourteen of them, fa lch has been made up by the pris- hi >r. were found to have been tamper- fr with, half sovereigns having been fa laced by the necessary number of A fpennles to make up the correct Ight. Two other bags in the bank's asury which bore his signature were o found lo have been tampered with ei the same way, and the total sum 4 fsing was ?1081. ?" )n September 13 the bank received etter from the prisoner In Winnipeg:, ^ which he practically admitted his a1 It, and made reference to the mad hi he had committed. !vidence was given by a number of tr lk clerks, including a retired detec- 98 s inspector, named John. Woolven, 0? 0, describing his search for Ander- P< 1, said he went down to Whitstable- 22 Sea and found the prisoner's wife P< 1 family living there. In a drawer n< found ?647. "i t cc Tkk Wbbpiko WrLLOw.?The weep- ce : willow tree came to America ?' ough the medium of Alexander ai pe, the poet, who planted a willow Ig on the banks of the Thames at ai Twickenham villa. The twig came him In a box of figs sent from T. lyrna by a friend who had lost all th the South Sea bubble, and had gone st that distant land to recoup his for- tr les. Harper's Encyclopedia tells the S5 iry of the willow's arrival in Amer- gl . A young British officer, who came 18 Boston with the army to crush the N >ellion of the American colonies, Ci jught with him a twig from Poe's JS w beautiful willow tree, Intending 5C plant it In America when he should ss nfortably settle down on lands con- 24 :ated from the conquered Amerl- 72 i.;. The young officer was dlsap- ^ nted in these expectations, and en the British finally evacuated ?? rglnia, he gave his willow twig, tl apped? in oil silk, to John Parke ai stis, Mrs. Washington's son, who H inted It on his Abingdon estate In 8, rglnia. It thrived under his atten- 61 n, and became the progenitor of all r willow trees.?Woman's Home N mpanlon. ai Idisccllananis grading. U. 8. PEN8I0NS. heir Territorial Distribution at Home and Abroad. "The territorial distribution of the 139,000,000 annually appropriated for ensloning among the 985,971 reciplits affords an interesting comparison s to .'where the money goes,'" said a enslon officer to a Star reporter: "About $750,000 annually goes tor ther lands, In which reside men nowlj pon our pension rolls, who served the I nlon In the various wars. There are | 268 of these pensioners in foreign < .nds who look forward to the receipt f their pension vouchers with their lulvalents exchanged into the money .' the nationality of the country in | hlch they are abiding. "The largest amount which goes to ny one country outside of our boun- , iries is $397,000, and this sum is dlsibuted among 2,657 pensioners in ' anada. Germany comes next in line, ' ith 600 pensioners, receiving $86,000. he sons of Ireland follow?in number ' >5 and in amount $70,000. On the ight little isle' there are 391 pension- ] -s in England, getting $56,000; ICS, rawing $15,000, in bonnle Scotland, id 27, receiving $4,000, in hardy rales. ' "In the mountain fastnesses of Swlt- ( >rland are 70 ex-soldiers, who draw i aggregate of $10,000 annually. Swe?n has about the same number, both ' i men and in amount, and by a cu- ' ous coincident, fair Prance likewise Lilies almost to a man and a dollar. imlnutlve Denmark shelters 38 of our ( irmer defenders, receiving $5,500, ' hile in sunny Italy 51 of the king's lbjects are $7,000 to the good on the *nalnn arnru exrhanflred into Italian ' re. "Twenty-one reside in Belgium, and re allotted about $3,000; Russia has xteen, who divide $2,600; Norway has xty-eight, receiving $9,600; the Nethlands eight, who receive $1,800; reece has eleven, receiving about $2,10, while in Emperor Francis Joseph's ml monarchy there are thirty-seven, receipt of $5,200. Under the star and escent of the sultan there are now urteen former Union soldiers, drawg $1,700. Spain has but two, who vide $262.73 annually. Portugal has it one, and he gets a yearly allowice of $36. Siam likewise has a sola.ry pensioner, and he gets $72 a year, i India there are ten, who receive an rerage of about $100 a year. "On the many islands scattered troughout the world are former merican soldiers who anxiously await ncle Sam's pay day as regards penons. On St. Helena, where Napoleon -eathed his last, is a solitary penoner getting $108 a year to help pass e long hours on that lonely rock, n St Martin there is another disabled an who draws $150, while in the Seytelles islands, in the far away Orient -so far away that you can hardly find on the map?is another 'solitary,' receipt of $108. There are two on ie Isle of Man, getting $216; Ave on ie Isle of Pines, getting $600; two on ie rock of Malta, receiving $288; one Mauritius in the Indian ocean, getng $84; one in the Cape Verde lands, getting $48. four in the Axores, "awing $500; one in the Comoro lands, receiving $90; four in the Danh West Indies, getting $700; two in ' ie Dutch West Indies, receipt of $360; ve in the Bahamas, receiving $650 ro in the Windward islands, getting f 140; five in the Bermudas, drawing * 150; Ave in far away Hongkong, get- 1 ng $260; one in sunny Samoa, getting ' 16; still another 'solitary' in Hayti, 1 TO V?a1? klm ai?4 An tPOnlpftl 1 1111 #16 IU ttcip lulu VUi vu wwy ? tys; Ave In Jamaica, drawing about * 100 a year each; four In the Madeira les, with an $850 allotment, while in 1 uba there are Blxty, who divide $8,- 1 10. 1 "In the various Central and South { merican republics there are about * fventy-flve pensioners drawing an ' fgregate of about $10,000 a year. In ( >uth Africa there are five getting ' 100; in Panama there are thirteen re- 4 riving $900; in Mexico the number is 8 1 and the amount distributed is about 15.000 annually; the Dominican Re- 1 jblic boasts of two in receipt of $260; ' ewfoundland has three with $288; i Iberia twelve with $2,000; New Zea- 1 nd an equal number, but with only 1 .,100 allowance, while Japan has 4 kenty-two with $3,000; China seven- 1 en, with $2,500, and unhappy Corea 1 us a 'solitary' who draws $84 a year 1 om the vaults of the treasury build- 1 g on Fifteenth street Northwest * ustralia' numbers seventy-nine, with 4 1,000 distribution, while on the hot 1 inds of Algeria is an ex-soldier who ' its $120 a year, to remind him of oth- 1 days in another land. In what we 1 ill our 'insular possessions' there are c fty-slx pensioners living In Hawaii, ( itting an aggregate of $6,500 a year; ( ilrty-flve in the Philippines receiving 1 )out $7,000 and a baker's dozen in ? :tle Porto Rico who get $1,500. "Of the various states in this coun- 1 y, Ohio leads off in total amount with 8 1,564 pensioners, who receive $14,900,- * 10 annually; Pennsylvania, 98,829 1 insloners with an allotment of $13,- 8 !5,000; New York follows with 89,240 8 Till 1 msloners receiving ?tt,s.io,uuu, *ui- >ls with 69,704 ex-soldlers within her nits, receiving 19,903,000, closely ac>mpanled by Indiana, with 61,440, re- * ivlng 39,916,000, while Michigan is c xth with 41,674 pensioners, getting 1 l aggregate of 36,436,000. "In the District of Columbia there 5 e 8,740 on the pension rolls, drawing 1 le comfortable total sum of 31,367,000. I he pensioners In the states forming f le former Confederacy and the border 1 ates and the aggregate amounts dls- l ibuted are as follows: Alabama, 3,943, 1 .04,700; Florida, 3,852, 3509,400; Geora, 3,632, 3486,900; Louisiana, 6,620, 105,100; Mississippi, 4,856, $588,600; < orth Carolina, 4,204, $557,200; South i arollna, 2,095, $259,900; Tennessee, i 1,288, $2,753,900; Texas, 8,913, $1,800,- ! (0; Virginia, 8,865, $1,260,800; Arkan- < LS. 10,997, $1,480,300; Kentucky, 27,- ] 14, $3,850,400; Maryland, 12,771, $1,- i 10,100; Missouri, 50,434, $7,300,000; i rest Virginia, 12,211, $1,740,800. < "T W U-J 4 in me lien CjIIbiuuu auu mc imuuic . ates the number of pensioners and 1 ie aggregate amounts to each state i :e: Maine, 18,741, 12,855,200; New I ampshire, 8,212, $1,208,400; Vermont, s 347, $1,377,200; Massachusetts, 40,- j 10. $5,250,800; Rhode Island, 5,468, I 128,100; Connecticut, 12,611, $1,580,600; 1 ew Jersey, 20,686, $2,450,200; Dela- t kvare, 2,683, $381,900. ? "in me remaining central ana western states and territories the figures and the amounts are as follows: Alaska, 79. $10,100; Arlxona, 862, $118,900; California, 26,888, $3,360,200; ColDrado, 8,747, $1,220,400; Idaho, 2,263, 1311,800; Indian Territory, 4,321, $580,100; Iowa, 36,132, $6,300,000; Kansas, 19,076, $6,400,700; Minnesota, 16,207, 12,100,300; Montana, 2,082, $290,200, Nebraska, 16,103, $2,176,100; Nevada, ?84 260 000! New Mexico. 2.106. 8310. >00; North Dakota, 2,013, $289,900; Oklahoma, 9,236, $1,296,000; Oregon, 7,940, $1,047,300; South Dakota, 4,392, 1628,000; Utah, 1,028, $181,700; Washington, 10,312, $1,338,200; Wisconsin, 27,044, $3,870,900, and Wyoming, 922, >125,800."?Washington Star. 8ELF-8ATI8FIED YANKEE8. Briton Declares We Think We Have a Monopoly of Freedom. A carping Briton by the name of Whlbley seems to be quite stirred up >ver the quality of the American brand >f liberty and of patriotism. "Liberty," says he, in the course of i few somewhat heated remarks, in Blackwood's Magazine, "is a thing which no one in America can escape, rhe old Inhabitant smiles with satisfaction as he murmurs the familiar word. At every turn It Is clubbed Into the unsuspecting visitor. "If an aspirant to the citisenshlp of the Republic decline to be free he would doubtless be thrown into a dun reon, fettered and manacled, untune consented to accept the precious boon. "Tou cannot pick up a newspaper without being reminded that liberty Is the exclusive possession of the United 9tates. The word. If' not the quality, Is the commonplace of American history. It looks out upon you?the word Lgain, not the quality?from every iioardlng. It Is uttered in every discourse, but the truth is that American Iberty Is the mere creature of rhetorc. "America's view of patriotism is distinguished by the same ingenious exiggeration as her view of liberty. She las as little doubt of her grandeur as >f her freedom. She is, in brief, Dod's own country, and in her esteem Columbus was no mere earthly explorer; he was the authentic discoverer >f the promised land. "Neither argument nor experience will ever shake the American's conIdence in his noble destiny. On all >ther questions uncertainty Is possl>le. It is not possible to discuss Amerca'fl supremacy. In arms as In arts, he United States is unrivaled. It klone enjoys the blessings of dvlllsaion. It alone has been permitted to combine material with moral progress. :t alone has solved the Intricate probems of life and politics. "It has the biggest houses, the best rovernment, and the purest law that he world has ever known. Perfect reedom is its exclusive privilege, as ikyscrapers and elevate4 railways are ts exclusive possessions. Its univeriltles surpass Oxford and Cambridge, Paris and Leipzig in learning, as Us churches surpass the churches of the Did World in the proper understanding yt theology. In brief, to use its own phrase, America la 'it,' tne aoie nome )f the rood and great." MAN 8HOULD LiVE BY WORK. Must Perform Some 8ort of Labor or Perish,From the Earth. The preliminary preparations of the idjoinlng territories of Indian and Dklahoma for statehood In one comnonwealth under the name of the later is one of the most striking demonitratlons of the truth of the law of abor, says the New Orleans Plcayine. . J | The edict that man should live by vork, whether by hand or brain, was pronounced against our race in the jeglnnlng of Its history. By the sweat >f his face shall man eat bread. In jrdec to earn a subsistence he must perform some sort of labor and the :onverse of this Is that they who re,'use to render some useful service ?hall perish from the face of the iarth. The first people in the New World to iuffer the penalties of this law of la>or have been the aborigines, the American Indians. It has been estlnated that at the first coming of the U'orn In thp Pntlrft fVIIIie IIICUI lliUt O nw?o * ??? ? sxtent of North America 11,000,000 of [ndlans. By the census of 1900 there vere In the entire limits of the contilental United States, including clvilzed and uncivilized, taxed and untax?d, only 237,196 Indians. There are tome 98,000 in British America, so :hat north of Mexico there are scarcely nore than 300,000 Indians In the vast -eglon inhabited by English speaking peoples. Mexico Is still the stronghold )f the red race, where out of 13,000,000 it population 80 per cent, or about 10,100,000, are mixed and pure-blooded ndlans, the pure bloods aggregating ibout 4,000,000. What has caused the disappearance >t the Indians among the English ipeaklng peoples of North America? 31mply the fact that they were from he first a migratory race with no flx!d habitation or agriculture and sublisting by the chase upon the wild anmal and vegetable products of the ountry. The Indians refused to labor and they lave perished from the vast region A?AA *v\Q moH a t will >ver wiuuii me; v/uw tuwuivu ...... n Mexico the situation was different 'rom the first advent of the white men. Spanish conquerors found an lndusrious and civilized people living: in >ermanent habitations and often in treat cities built chiefly of stone and tontainlng all the evidences of highly irganlzed political and religious instlutions. WDoctor Wiley, the government food sxpert, has been connected with the igricultural department for a good nany years, says the Kansas City 3tar. When Uncle Jerry Rusk of Wis:onsln, was secretary of agriculture, Doctor Wiley brought him a letter to sign. It had been written to an impertinent but influential correspondent tnd was couched in cunningly sarcastic vein. Mr. Rusk read it with delight, roared out his laughing approval ind then tore It up. In answer to Doctor Wiley's look of amazement, he said: "That was a bully letter. Now jo and write one that we can send to the blame fool. Doctor Wiley learned there and then that witty and sarcastic letters are not in favor in the govjrnment service.