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j. lewis mc. grist, proprietor. Jiibtptitirfnl Jfatitilj fttfespptr: Jfor fyt |}rontotioit of t{|j Uriitkal, Social, ^grintlfnral attit Commtrriaf Jiatosfs of l|jt Souffj. j terms?$2.50 a year, in advance. VOL. 33. .YOEKVILLE, S. C.. WEp"E8DAY, JULY SO, 1887. ISTO. 29. ? Serial . JESS7~ BY H. RIDER HAGGARD, AUTHOR OF "KINO SOLOMON'S MINES,' "SHE," ETC., ETC. CHAPTER XXVIII BESSIE IS PUT TO THE QUESTION. Meanwhile another little tragedy was being enacted at the back of the house. After the one eyed witch doctor Hendrik had knocked Silas Croft down and assisted in the pleasing operation of dragging him to the flagstaff, it had occurred to his villainous heart that the present would be a good opportunity to profit personally by the confusion, and possibly to -JJ * ? miefnrftinnc Kriiftinfl! OUU W UIO ^U^UJUtimn a utwi-VA vuuw ?j UVWQ him some injury on his own account. Accordingly , just before Frank Muller began to read the dispatch announcing the English surrender, ho slipped away into the house, which was now totally deserted, to see what he could stool. Passing into the sitting room, he annexed Bessie's gold watch and chain, whioh was lying on the mantelpiece, a present that her uncle had made her on the Christmas day before the last. Having pocketed this he proceeded to the kitchen, where there was a goodly store of silver forks and spoons that Bessie bad been engaged in cleaning that morning, lying on the dresser ready to be put away. These he also transferred, to the extent of several dozens, to the capacious pockets of the tattered military great coat that he wore. While doing so he was much disturbed by the barking of the dog Stomp, tb? same animal that had mauled him so severely a few weeks before, and who was now, as it happened, tied up in his kennel?an old wine barrel?just outside the kitchen door. Hendrik peeped out of the window, and having # ascertained that the dog was secured, proceeded, with a diabolical chuckle, to settle his account with the poor animal. He had left his gun behind on the grass, but he still held his assegai in his hand, and, going out of the kitchen door with it, he showed himself within a few feet of the kennel. The dog recognized him instantly, and went nearly mad with fury, making the most desperate efforts to break its chain and get at him. For some moments he stood exciting the animal by derisive gestures and pelting it with stones, till at last, fearing that the clamor would attract attention, he suddenly transfixed it with his spear, and then, thinking that ho was quite unobserved, sat down and snuffed and enjoyed the luxury of watching the poor beast's last agonies. But, as it happered, he was not'quite alone, for, creeping along in the grass and rubbish that grew on the further side of the wall, his brown body squeezed tightly against the brown stones?so tightly that an unpracticed eye would certainly have failed to observe it at a distance of a dozen paces?was the Hottentot Jantje. Occasionally, too, he would liit his head above the level of the wall and observe the proceedings of the one eyed man. Apparently he was undecided what to do, for he husitated a little, and while he did so Hendrik killed the dog. How Jantje had all a Hottentot's natural love for animals, which is, generally speaking, as marked as is the Kaffir's callousness toward them, and he was particularly fond of the dog Stomp, which always went out walking with him on those rare occasions when he thought it safe or desirable to walk lib? an nrrlirnrv man. instead of creeDing from bush to bush like a panther, or wriggling through the grass like a snake. The sight of the animal's death, therefore, raised in his black breast a very keen desire for vengeance an the murderer, if vengeance could be safely accomplished; and he paused torefleet if this could be done. Ashe did so Handrik got up, gave the dead dog a kick, withdrew his assegai from the carcass, and then, as though struck by a sudden desire to conceal the murder, undid the collar, and, lifting the dog in his arms, carried him with difficulty into the house and laid him under the kitchen table. This done ho came out again to the wall, which was built of loose, unmortared stones, pulled one out without trouble, deposited the watch and the silver he bad stolen in the cavity, and replaced the stone. Next, before Jantje could guess what he meant to do, he proceeded to make it practically impossible for his rdbbery to be discovered, or, at any rate, very improbable, by lighting a match, and, having iirst glanced round to see that nobody was looking, reaching up and applying it to the thick thatch with which the house itself was roofed, and of which the fringe just here was not more than nine feet from the ground. No rain had fallen at Mooifontein for several days, and there had been a hot sun and dry wind, and, as a result, the thatch was as dry as tinder. The light caught in a second, and in two more a thin line of Are was running up the roof. Hendrik paused, stepped a few paces back, resting his shoulders against the wall, immediately the other side of which was Jantje, and proceeded to chuckle aloud and nib his lionrla no Via nrlmirtvl thft results of his haildi work. This was too much for the Hottentot on the farther side. The provocation was too great, and" so was the opportunity. In his hand was the thick stick on which he was so fond of cutting notches. Raising it in both hands he brought the heavy knob down with all his strength upon the one eyed villain's unprotected skulL It was a thick 6kull. but the knob prevailed against it and fractured it, and down went the estimable witch doctor as though he were dead. Next, taking a leaf out of his fallen enemy's book, Jantje slipped over the wall, and, seizing the senseless man, dragged him by one arm into the kitchen and rolled him under the table to keep company with the dead dog. Then, filled with a fearful joy, he slipped out, shutting and locking the door behind him, and crept round to a point of vantage in a little plantation seventy or eighty yards to the right of the house, whence lie could watch the conflagration that he knew must ensue, for the fire had taken instant and irremediable hold, and also see what the Boers were doing. Ten minutes or so afterward that amiable character Hendrik partially regained his senses, to find himself surrounded by a sea of fire, in which he perished miserably, not having power to move, and his feeble cries being totally swallowed up and lost in the fierce roaring of the flames, even had there been anybody there to hear them. And that was the very appropriate end of Hendrik and the magic of Hendrik. Down by the flagstaff the old man lay in his fit, with Bessie tending him and a posse of Boers standing round, smoking and laughing or lounging about with an air of lordly superiority well wcrtby or victors in possession. "Will none of you help me to take him tc the house?1' she cried. "Surely you have ill treated an old man enough." Nobody stirred, not even Frank Muller, who was gazing at her tear stained face witb a fierce smile playing round the corners of his clean cut mouth, which his beard wai trimmed to leave clear. . "It will pass, Miss Bessie," he said; "it will pass. 1 have often seen such fits. They conn from too much excitement, or too mud drink" Suddenly he broke off with an exclamation, and pointed to the house, from the rooi of which pale curls of blue smoke were rising. "Who has fired tdo house?" he shouted. "By Heaven! I will shoot the man." The Boers started round and stared ill astonishment, and as they did so tiie tindei like roof buret into a broad sheet of flamt that grew and gathered breadth and height with an almost marvelous rapidity. Jusl then, too, a light breeze sprang up from ovei the hill at the rear of the house, as it some times did at this time of the day, and bent the flames over toward them in an inimens* arch of fire, so that the fumes und heat anc smoke began to beat upon their faces. "Oh, the house is burning down!" criet Bessie, utterly bewildered by this new mis fortune. "Here, you!" shouted Muller to the gapinj Boers, "go and see if anything can be saved Phew! we must get out of this," and, stoop ing down, he picked up Silas Croit in hi: arms and walked off with him, followed bi Bessie, toward the plantation 011 their left which was the same where Jantje had takei refuge. In tho center of this plantation wa a little glade surrounded by young orangi and blue guin trees. Here he put the old mai doivn upon a bed of dead leaves and soft springy grass, and then hurried away, with out a word, to the fire, onlv to find that t.hi bouse was utterly unapproachable. In fifteen minutes, such was the rapidity with which the flames did their work upon the mass of dry straw and the wooden roof and floorings beneath, the whole of the interior of the house was a glowing, incandescent pile, and in half an hour it was complete^* gutted, i nothing being left standing but the massive outer walls of stone, over which a dense ' column of smoke hung like a pall. Mooifon- i tern was a blackened ruin; only the stables i and outhouses, which were roofed with gal- < vanized iron, being left uninjured. < Frank Muller had not been gone five 1 minutes when, to Bessie's joy, her uncle < opened his eyes and sat up. : "What is it? what is it?" he said. "Ah! I recollect. What is all this smell of fire? Surely they have not burned the place?" i "Yes, uncle," sobbed Bessie, "they have." < The old man groaned. "It took me ten i years to build, bit by bit, almost stone by stone, and now they have destroyed it. Well, i why not? God's will be done! Give me your arm, love; I want to get to the water. I i f?pl faint and Rick." ] 1 She did as he bade her, sobbing bitterly, i Within fifteen yards, on the edge of the plantation, was a little spruit or runnel of water, 1 and of this he drank copiously and bathed his wounded head and face. "There, love," he Baid, "don't fret; I feel quite myself again. I fear I made a fool of myself. I haven't learned to bear misfortune and dishonor as I should yet, and, like Job, I felt as though God hod forsaken us. But, as I said, his will be done. What is the next move, I wonder? Ah! we shall soon know, 1 for hero comes our friend Frank Muller." "I am glad to see that you have recovered, uncle," said Muller, politely, "and I am sorry 1 to have to tell you that the house is beyond help. Believe me, if I knew who fired it I 1 would shoot him. It was not my wish or intention that the property should be destroyed." i The old man merely bowed his head and mode no answer. His fiery spirit seemed to be crushed out of him. "What is it your pleasure that we should do, sir?" said Bessie at last. "Perhaps, now that we are ruined, you will allow us to go to Natal, "^hich, I suppose, is still an English country?" "Yes, Miss Bessie, Natal is still English, for thopreseut; soon it will be Dutch; but I am sorry that I cannot let you go there now. My orders are to keep you both prisoners and to try your uncle by court martial. The wagon house," he went on, quickly, "with the two little rooms on each side of it, has not been touched by the fire. I will have them made ready for you, and as soon as the heat is less you can go there;" and, turning to the men who had followed him, he gave some rapid orders, which two of them departed to carry out. Still the old man mode no comment; he did not even seem indignant or surprised; but J poor Bessie was utterly prostrated and stood | helpless, not knowing what to say to this terrible, remorseless man, who stood so calm and unmoved there before them. Frank Muller paused a while to think, stroking his beard as he did so, then turned agaiu and addressed the two remaining men behind him. "You will keep guard over the prisoner," indicating Silas Croft, "and suffer none to communicate with him by word or sign. As soon as it is ready you will place him in the little room to the left of the wagon house, and see that he is supplied with all he wants. If he escapes, or converses, or is ill treated, I will hold you responsible. Do you under- , stand?" "Yah, meinheer," was the answer. "Very good; be careful you do not forget 1 And now, Miss Bessie, I shall be glad if you can give me a word alone" "No," said Bessie; "no, I will not leave my uncle." "I fear you will have to do that," he said, with his cold smile. "I beg you to think < again. It will be very much to your advan- i tage to speak to me, and to your uncle's ad- t vantage also. I should advise you to come.'J c Bessie hesitated. She hated and mistrusted < the man, as she had good reason to do, and ? feared to trust herself alone with him. t While she hesitated the two Boers under i whose watch and ward Muller had placed her i uncle came and stood between him and her, t cutting her off from him. Muller turned and walked a few paces?ten or so?to the i rieht. and in desperation she followed him. < He baited behind a busby orange tree of some eight years' growth. Overtaking him, she stood silent waiting for him to begin. They were quite close to the others, but the roaring of the dames of the burning house was still sufficiently loud to have drowned u much more audible convei-sation than theirs. "What is it you have to say to me?" she said at length, pressing her hand against her heart to still its beating. Her woman's instinct told her what was coming and she was trying to nerve herself to meet it. 1 "Miss Bessie, he said slowly, "it is this. For ; years I have loved you and wanted to marry ] you. I again ask you to be my wife." f "Mr. Frank Muller," she answered, her i spirit rising to the occasion, "I thank you for ' your offer, and the only answer that I can give you is that I once and for all decline it." i "Think," he said, "I love you as women are not often loved. You are always in my mind by day and by night, too. Everything I do, i every step I go up the ladder, I have said and ! 'say to myself, 'I am doing it for Bessie Croft, i whom I mean to marry.' Things have ' changed in this country. The rebellion has 1 been successful. It was I who gave the cast- i ing vote for it that I might win you. I am 1 now a great man and shall one day be a < greater. You will bo great with me. Think i what you say." i "I have thought, and I will not marry you. i You dare tc come and ask me to marry you i over the ashes of my home, out of which you ] have dragged me and mj' poor old uncle! I < hato you," I tell you, and I will not marry ? 1. you! I haid rather marry u Kaffir than marry 1 you, Frank Muller, however great you may < be." "I WOULD RATHER MARRY A KAFFIR THAN MARRY YOU, FRANK MULLER." | He smiled. "Is it because of the Englishman Niel that you will not marry me? Hois ' dead. It is useless to cling to a dead man." "Dead or alive, 1 love him with all my I heart; and if he is dead, it is at the hands of your j>cople, and his blood rises up between us." "His blood has sunk down into the sand. He is dead, and I am glad that he is dead. ' Once more, is that your last word?" "It is." "Very good. Then I tell you that you sho'l marry mo or" "Or what?" i "Or your uncle, the old man you love so much, shall die!" 5 "What do you mean?" she said, in a choked t voice. I " W hat I say; no more and 110 less. Do you tnmlc time 1 win jet one out man s mu suiuu between me and my desire? Never. If you | t will not marry me, Silas Croft shall be put 1 ' upon his trial for attempted murder and j 1 I for treason within an hour from this. With- | 1 in an hour and a half he shall bo condemned i 1 1 to die, and to-morrow at dawn he shall die, by | warrant under my hand. I am commandant | here, with power of life and death, and I tell ! > you thut he shall certainly die?and his blood will be oil your head." Bessie grasped at the tree for support. s "You dare not," she said; "you dare not T murder an innocent old man." i "Dare not!" he answered; "you mustunderi stand me very ill, Bessie Croft, when you talk s of what I dare not do for you. There is noth^ ing," he udded, with a thrill of his rich voice, 1 "thut I dare not do to gain you. Listen; ? promise to marry me to-morrow morning. I will get a clergyman hero from Wakkera stroom, and your uncle shall go freo as air, though be is a traitor to the land, and though be has tried to shoot a burgher after the declaration of peace. Refuse, and ho dies. Choose now." "I have chosen," she answered with passion. "Frank Muller, perjured traitor?yes, murderer that you arc, I will not marry you!" "Very good, very good, Bessie; as you will. But now one more thing. You shall not 6ay that I have not warned you. If you persist in this your uncle shall die, but you shall not Bscape me. You will not marry mo? Well, even in this country, where I can do most things, I cannot force you to do that. But I can force you to be my wife in all but the name without marriage; and this, when your uncle is stiff in his bloody grave, I will do. You shall have one more chance after the trial, and one only. If you refuse he shall lie, and then, after his death, I shall take you away by force, and in a week's time you will be glad enough to marry me to cover up your shame, my pretty!" "You are a devil, Frank Muller, a wicked devil; but I will not be frightened into dis- . honor by you. I had rather kill myself. I trust to God to help mo. I will have nothing to do with you;" and she put her hands before her face and burst into tears. "You look lovely when you weep," he said, with a laugh; "to-morrow I shall be able to uw owaj JVJUI ucaio. juu WUJ, julci C, you!" he shouted to some men, who could be seen watching the progress of the dying fire, "come here." Some of the men obeyed, and he proceeded bo give instructions in the same terms that he had given to the other two men who were watching old Silas, ordering Bessie to be instantly incarcerated in the corresponding little room on the other side of the wagon house, and kept strictly from all communication with the outside world, adding, however, these words: "Bid the burghers assemble in the wagon house for the trial of the Englishman, Silas Croft, for treason against the state and attempted murder of one of the burghers of the state in the execution of the commands of the triumvirate." The two men advanced and seized Bessie by both arms. Then, faint and overpowered, she was led through the little plantation, over a gap in the garden wall, down past the scorched syringa trees that lined the roadway that ran along the hillside at the back of the still burning house, till they reached the wagon house with the two little rooms which served respectively as a store and harness room. She was then thrust into the store room, which was half full of loose potatoes and mealies in sacks, and the door locked upon her. There was no window to this room, and the only light in it was such as found its way through the chinks of the door and an air hole in the masonry of the back wall. She sank on a half emptied sack of mealies and tried to reflect Her first idea was of escape, but she soon realized that that was a practical impossibility. The stout, yellow wood door was locked upon her, and a sentry stood before it She rose and looked through the air hole in the rear wall, but there another sentry was posted. Then she turned her attention to the side wall that divided the room from the wagon house. It was built of fourteen inch green brickwork, and had cracked from the shrinkage of the bricks, so that she could hear anything that went on in the wagon house, and even see anybody who might be moving about in it But it was far too strong for her to hope to be able to break through, and even if she did, it would be useless, for there were armed men there also. oesiaes now conn sne run away ana leave ner aid uncle to his fate? CHAPTER. XXIX. CONDEMNED TO DEATH. Half an hour passed in silence, which was >nly broken by the footsteps of the sentries is they tramped, or rather loitered, up and lown, or by the occasional fall of some caluned masonry from the walls of the burned>ut house. What between the smell of smoke md dust, the heat of the sun on the tin roof ibove, and of the red hot embers of the bouso 11 frout, the little room where Bessie was shut lp was almost unbearable, and sh<? felt as bough she should faint there upon tho sacks, through one of the cracks in tho wagon liouso vail there blew a little draught, and by this track Bessie placed herself, leaning her head igainst the wall so as to get the full benefit )f the air and command a view of the place. Presently, several of the Boers came into the wagon house and proceeded to pull some of the tarts and timber out of it, leaving one buck vagon, however, placed along the wall on the side opposite to the crock through which she vas looking. Then they pulled the Scotch tart over to her side, laughing about something among themselves as they did so, and arranged it with its back turned toward the wagon, supporting the shafts upon a wagon jack. Next, out of the further comer of the placo, they extracted an old saw bench and set 16 at the top or the open space. 1 hen lies?ie understood what they were doing; they were arranging a court, and the saw bench was the judge's chair. So Frank Muller meant to carry out his threat! Shortly after this all the Boers, except those who were keeping guard, filed into the place and began to clamber on the buck wagon, seating themselves with much rough joking in a double row upon the broad side rails. Next appeared Hans Coetzee, his head bound up in a bloody handkerchief. He was pale ind shaky, but Bessie could sco that he was but little the worse for his wound. Then tame Frank Muller himself, looking white and very terrible, and as he came the men stopped their joking and laughing. Indeed, it was curious to observe how strong was bis ascendency over them. As a rule, the weak part of Boer organization is that it is practically impossible to get one Boer to pay defer- j' ence to or obey another; but this was cer- I tainly not the case where Frank Muller was 1 concerned. Muller advanced without hesitation to the saw bench at the top of the space, and sat down on it, placing his rifle between his knees. After this there was a pause, and next minute Bessie saw her old undo conducted in by two armed Boers, who halted in the middle of the space, about three paces from the saw bench, and stood one on either side of their prisoner. At the samo time Hans Coetzee climbed up into the Scotch cart, and Muller drew a note book and a pencil l from his pocket. "Silence!" he said. "We are assembled hero I * ?? o:i i 4. I i/u u y wc ^.ugmuiuuu, oum v^iun, uy uuun nartial. The charges against him are thai ! >y word and deed, notably by continuing to ' ly the English flag after the country had jecn surrendered to the republic, he has trait>rously rebelled against the government of lie country. Further, that he has attempted o murder a burgher of the republic by shoot- i ng at him with a loaded rifle. If these | hurges are proved against him he will bo [ iable to death, by martial law. Prisoner i >oft, what do you answer to the charges J igainst you?" The old man, who seemed very quiet and \ :omposed, looked at his judge and then re- | died: l,I am an English subject I only defended ny house ufter you had murdered one of my j servants. I deny your jurisdiction 'over me, | uid I refuse to plead." Frank Mullermade some notes in his pocket j book, and then said, "I overrule the prison- j ?r's objection as to the jurisdiction of the j ;ourt. As to the charges, wo will now take ividence. Of the first charge no evidence is needed, for wo all saw the flag flying. As to j iho second, Ilans Coetzee, the assaulted j burgher, will now give evidence. Hans Coetzee, do you swear in the name of God and Lhe republic to speak the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?" "Almighty, yes," answered Ilans, from the j part on which he liud enthroned himself, "so ; belp nic, the dear Lord." ' Proceed then." UT !??* 1i/uil<a nf flin nwcAiini? t"/> i "1 nus cinrniig iijv uvuov ul ?uv. puvuv> . arrest him, iii obedience to your worshipful ! commands, when the prisoner lifted a gun j and llred at me. The bullet from the gun j struck ino on the ear, cutting it and putting me to much pain and loss of blood. That is the evidence I have to give." "That's right, that is not a lie," said some of the men on the wagon. "Prisoner, have you any question to ask the witness?" said Muller. "I have no questions to ask; I deny your jurisdiction," said tho old man with spirit. "The prisoner declines to question tho witness, and again pit-ads to tho jurisdiction, a plea which I have overruled. Gentlemen, do you desire to hear any further evidence?" "No, no." "Do you then find the prisoner guilty of the charges laid against him?' "Yes, yes," from the wagon. Mailer made a further note in his book and then went on: "Then, the prisoner having been found guilty of high treason and attempted murder, the only matter that remains is the question of the punishment required to be meted out by the law to such wicked and horrible offenses. Every man will give his verdict, having duly considered if there is any way by which, in accordance with the holy dictates of his conscience, and with the natural promptings to pity in his heart, he con extend mercy to the prisoner. As commandant and president of the court the first vote lies with me; and I must tell you, gentlemen, that I feel tho responsibility a very hearty one in the sight of God and my country; and I must also warn you not to be influenced or overruled by my decision, who am, like you, only a man, liable to err and be led away." "Hear, hear," said tho voices on the wagon, as he paused to note the effect of his address. "Gentlemen and burghers of the state, my natural promptings in this cose are toward pity. The prisoner is an old man, who ha3 1 irr*.A mo?tf roorc omnrxr lie tilrn n hrrtfJlflP. Indeed, be is a 'voortrekker,1 and, though an Englishman, one of the fathers of the land. Can we condemn such a one to a bloody grave, more especially as ho has a niece dependent upon him?" t ,r "No, no," they cried, in answer to this skill-, ful touch upon the better strings in their nature. "Gentlemen, those sentiments do you honor. My own heart cried but now 'No, no; whatever his sins have been, let the old man go free.' But then came reflection. True, the prisoner is old; but should not age have taught him wisdom? Is that which is not to be forgiven to youth to be forgiven to the ripe experience of many years? May a man murder and be a traitor because he is old?" "No, certainly not!" cried the chorus on the wagon. "Then there is the second point He was a 'voortrekker1 and a father of the land. Should he not therefore have known better than to betray it into the hands of the cruel, godless English ? For, gentlemen, though that charge is not laid against him, we must remember, as throwing a light upon his general character, that the prisoner was one af thoso vile men who betrayed the land to Shepstone. Is it not a most cruel and unnatural thing that a father should sell his own child into slavery??that a father of the land should barter away its freedom? Therefore on this point, too, does justice temper mercy." "That is so," said the chorus with particular enthusiasm, most of them having themselves been instrumental in bringing the annexation about. "Then one more thing: this man has a niece, and it is the care of all good men to see that the young should not be left destitute and friendless, lest they should grow up bad and become enemies to the well being of the Tint. ?? fhie r?ncA that, will nnh Ivt cn for the farm will go to the girl by law; and, indeed, she will be well rid of so desperate and godless an old man. "And now, having set my reason toward one side and the other before you, and having warned you fully to act each man according to his conscience, I give my vote. It is"? and in the midst of the most intense silence he paused and looked at old Silas, who never oven quailed?"it is death." There was a little hum of conversation, and poor Bessie, surveying the sceno through the crack in the store room wall, groaned in bitterness and despair of heart. Then Hans Coetzee spoke. It cut his bosom in two, he said, to have to say a word against one to whom ho had for many years been as a brother. But, then, what was he to do? The man had plotted evil against their land, the dear land that the dear Lord had given them, and which they and their fathers bad 011 various occasions watered, and were still continuing to water, with their blood. "What could be a fitting punishment for so black hearted a traitor, and how would it bo possible to.insure the better behavior of other d?d Englishmen, unless they inflicted that punishment? There could, alas! be but one answer?though personally speaking, ho uttered it with many tears, and that answer' was death. After this there were 110 more speeches, but each man voted according to his age, upon his name being called by the president. At first there was a little hesitation, for some among them were fond of-old Silas, and loath to destroy him. But Frank Muller had played his game very well, and, notkwithstanding his appeals to their independence of judgment, they knew full surely what would happen to him who gave his vote against the president. So they swallowed their better feelings with all the ease for which such swallowing is noted, and one by one uttered the fatal word. When they had all done Frank Muller addressed Silas: "Prisoner, you have heard the judgment against you. I need not now recapitulate your crimes. You have had a fair and open trial by court martial, such as our law directs. Have you anything to say why sentence of death should not be passed upon you ill accofdonce with tho judgment?" Old Silas looked up with flashing eyes, and shook back his fringe of white hair like a lion at bay. "I have nothing to say. If you will do murder, do it, black hearted villain that you are! I might point to my gray hairs, to my murdered servant, to my home that took mo ten years to build, destroyed by you! I might tell you how I have been a good citizen aud lived peaceably and neighborly in the land for more than twenty years?ay, and done kindness after kindness to many of you who aro going to murder in# in coid blood! But I will not. Shoot me if you will, and may my death lie heavy on your heads. This morning I would have said that my couutry would avenge fne; I cannot say that now, for England has deserted us and I have 110 country. Therefore I leave the vaigeance in the hands of God, who never fails to avenge, though sometimes ho waits ior long to do it. I aui not afraid of you. Sboot me now if you like. I have lost my honor, my home and my country; why should I not lose my life also?" Frank Muller fixed his cold eyes upon the old man's quivering face and smiled a dreadful smile of triumph. "Prisoner, it is now my duty, in the name of God and the republic, to sentence you to be shot to-morrow at dawn, and may the Almighty forgive you your wickedness and have mercy upon your soul. RECEIVING SENTENCE. "Let tho prisoner bo removed, and let a man ride full speed to tho empty house on the hillside, where the Englishman with the red beard used to live, one hour this sido of Wakkerstroom, and bring back with him the clergyman be will iind wuiting there, that the prisoner may be offered his ministrations. Also let two men be set to dig tho prisoner's grave in the burial place at the back of tho house." The guards laid their hands upon the old man's shoulders, and he turned and went with them without a word. Bessie watched liirn go, through her crack in tho wall, till the dear old head with its fringo of whito hairs and tho bent frame were no longer visible, and then, at last, her faculties, benumbed and exhausted by tho horrors she was passing through, gave out, and she fell forward in a faint there upon tho sacks. Meanwhile Aluller was writing tho death warrant on a sheet of his pocket book. At the foot he left a space for his own signature, but ho did not sign it for reasons of his own. What ho did do was to pass it round to ho countersigned by all who hod formed the court in this mock trial, his object being to implicato every man there present in tho judicial murder by the direct and ?tft controvertible ovidenco of liis sign manual. *How, Boers aro simple pastoral folk, but they are not quite so simple as not to seo through a move like this, and thereon followed a very 'instructive little scene. They hod, to a man, ;been willing enough to give their verdict for the old man's execution, but jtfcey were by no means ready to record it in hiack and white. As soon as ever they uncLrstood the object of their feared and reabected commandant a general desire manifested itself to make themselves respectively and collectively scarce. Suddenly they found that they had business outside, and something jHke a general attempt at a bolt ensued. Several of them had already tumbled off their ' Stemporized jury box, and, headed by the ^doubtable Hans, were approaching the enroll co to the wagon house, when Frank Mul'er perceived their design and roared out in a '/blco of thunder: f*"Stop! Not a man leaves this place till the Varrant is signed." , instantly tno men uaitea ana Degan to ioojc ; unocent and converse. '"Hans Coetzee, como here and sign," said ] fuller again, whereupon that unfortunate i iv&ueed with as good a grace as ho could j mster, murmuiing to himself curses, not nud but deep, upon the head of "that devil g ft man, Frank Muller." there was no-help for it, so, with a sicl^y smile, he put his name to the fatal document in big, shaky letters. Then Muller called another mau, who instantly tried to get out of it on tho ground that his education had been leglected and that he could not write, nn excuse that availed him little, for Frank Muller quietly wrote his name for him, leaving a space for his mark. After that there was to more trouble, and in five minutes the entire back of the warrant was covered with the scrawling signatures of the various members of the court. Oue by one the men went, till at last Muller was left alone, seated th?re on tho saw bench, his head sunk upod his breast, holding the warrant in one hand, while with the other he stroked his golden beard. Presently ha (topped stroking his beard and sat for some minutes perfectly still, so still that ho might havo been carved in stone. By this time' the afternoon sun had got behind tho hill and tho deep wagon house was full of ihadow that seemed to gather round nun uiiu iiivl*s& nun witu u, bUEuuery mysterious grandeur. He looked like a king of evil, for evil has her princes as well as good, and stamps them with her imperial seal of power, and crowns them with a diadem of her own; among these Frank Muller was surely great. A little smile of triumph played upon his beautiful, cruel face, a little light danced within his cold eyes and ran down the yellow beard. At that moment he might have eat for a portrait of his master, the devil Presently he awoke from his reverie. "I have her!" he said to himself; "I have her in a vise! She cannot escape me; she cannot let the"old man die.' Those curs havo served my purpose well; they aro as easy to play on as a fiddle, and I am a good player. Yes, and now we are getting to the end of tha tune." [TO BE CONTINUED.] 8?* It is remarkable how small a population of uncivilized Indians occupies vast areas of land. The Osages, numbering 1,500, have a reservation of 1,500,000 acres. The Iowas, numbering 84, hold 228,418 acres; 240 Kickapoos hold 200,466 acres; Quawpaws, 56,000 acres; 69 Easter'.Shawnees, 13,000 acres, and 225 Kansas Indians, 100,000 acres. The entire Indian territory, containing over 44,000,000 acres, has a population of only 79,000. Out of this condition of a.Tairs grows the demand for the opening of the territorYfcosettlement. The difficulty lies 'diTThe fact that the treaties of the government with the Indians guarantee to them the possession of their lands and this guarantee has been held sacred. It is now proposed to give each Indian family a large farm and open the rest of their reservation - . mi _ 1,1 to settlement. mis woum mvc about 40,000,000 acres to civilization. It remains to be seen whether the Indians will accept an arrangement of this kind. If allotments in severalty are made to them they will demand pay for the land that is open to white settlement. For years, the white men or "boomers" about the Indian reservation have been hungry to obtain these lands. i The Third Syllable is "Saw." There is one point upon which the Arkansan istouchy. He pronounces the third syllable of Arkansaw, as he spells it, "saw." One of his next door neighbors is a state named Kansas. There is too much similarity in the names, and if he could by some means change Kansas into anything else he would do so. As he sees no hope of this he insists that there must be at least this difference in pronunciation, and to hear a stranger say Arkansas, with the accent on the second syllable, is, except in polite circles, accepted as a casus belli. He insists, moreover, that the French, who were its first settlers, pronounced it Arkansaw, and he maintains that the first settlers should be accorded such privilege, as they obtained little else. The t Arkansan is more tenacious of his'rights and privileges, and there are more of him than in 1803 when Arkansaw was purchased by the United States from France, or in [ 1819 when it was organized as a territory, or even in 183G when it was admitted to the Union.?N. Y. Times. The Work of a Moment.?Did j you ever write a letter, and just as ; you were finishing it let your pen fall on it, or a drop of ink blot the I 5 > mama O T 4- mmyu fho ?ir/\t*lr r\f u rnn. Jttir ; it nno wie mnn 1/1 1? ...? raent, but the evil could not be effectually effaced. Did you never cut yourself uuexpectly and quickly? It took days or weeks to heal the wound, and even then a scar remained. It is related of Lord Brougham, a celebrated English nobleman, that one day he occupied a conspicuous place in a group to have his daguereotype taken. But at an unfortunate moment he moved. The picture was taken, but his face was blurred. Do you ask what application we would make of these facts? Just this: "It takes a life-time to build a character; it only takes one moment to destroy it." "Watch and pray," therefore, "that ye enter not into temptation." "Let him that thinketh heed lest he fall."?Baptist Weekly. Sleeping Alone.?It is very much healthier to sleep alone. The unhealthfulness of two persons occupying the same bed very much depends on the physical condition of either or both. If one is diseased, injury to the other is sure to result. rni\n l-iro/it-inQ ia linhoa 1 f.h fill hpffllise the exhalations from the body of one come in contract with and are absorbed by the skin of the other, and because each one must of necessity, breathe some of the air which lias been breathed by the other, and consequently rendered impure.? Herald of Health. fiST1 The idea that the quiet, decent observance of the Sabbath as a day of rest is a'concomitant of civilization appears to be gaining ground in some of the cities where it has been the custom to allude to all Sunday laws as "blue laws." The movement against Sunday-ball playing is gaining strength in all the principal cities. There is a feeling among the best friends of the sport that either the national game or the Sunday playing of it must go .?Orangeburg Times. I pisCvltattwus fkatfowj. | AN OLD-TIME TRAGEDY. ' On the 14th of December, 1842, the j United States brig Homers, Captain Alexander Slidell Mackenzie, arrived at the Brooklyn Navy Yard from the coast of Africa. She had sailed 1 from New York on the 13th of Sep- 1 tember of the same year, with dis- ] patches for the squadron at that sta- 1 tion, and left Cape Mesurado on the | 10th of November on her homeward | voyage. Upon her arrival in New 1 York it was noticed that but little ' communication was held 011 the shore and that upon the same daj^an officer from on board left for Washington. Soon a rumor grew into certainty 1 that upon the homeward voyage Philip Spencer, a midshipman and a son of John Canfield Spencer, the then Secretary of War; Samuel Cromwell, the acting boatswain of the ship, and Elisha Smith, a seaman, had been hanged at the yard arm for mutiny. Captain Mackenzie, through his influence in the navy, he being connected by marriage with the Perrys, and the rallying of the commercial classes, ever tender on the subject of mutiny and having no feeling against a captain either in the mercantile or government marine in his favor, had for a while the press of the metropolis in his favor. He asked for a court of inquiry, which composed of three senior captains in the navy, found I on the 19th of July, 1843, that he and his officers were completely justified in the acts which resulted in the execution. Then came a reaction. The papers connected with the political party of which Secretary Spencer v was a representative demanded a further investigation, claiming that the court of inquiry was packed for an acquittal, and boldly accused the commander of the Somers of murder, and the partisan press on the other side were as bitter in his defense. Finally a court-martial was ordered by Secretary Upshur, of the Navy, and began its session on the United States ship North Carolina on February 1,1844, and continued in session forty days, during which time nearly every man and boy on board of the brig from the commander down was examined under oath. The charges against Captain Mackenzie were murder on the high seas of the men named, of insulting and taunting Spencer when about to be executea and of inflicting cruel and unusual punishment upon others of the crew. The court was composed of eleven post captains and two commanders. Before the examination of witnesses began Benjamin F. Butler, Attorney General of the United States under General Jackson, and Charles O'Conor, of New York, asked permission of the court to appear on behalf of the relatives of Mr. Spencer. This was refused. THE STORY OF THE TRAGEDY. The testimony before the courtmartial, which appears to have been fairly conducted, whatever may be the opinion as to its result, established these facts: The Somers was a brig-rigged, double-decked vessel, of 2G6 tons, pierced for fourteen guns, but carrying only ten 32-pound carronades, and manned with a crew of 120, including officers, the majority of the foremastmen beingapprentices under the age 01 twenty. Spencer,who was not quite 20 years old, and who appears to have taken pains to make himself a favorite with the crew by distribution of cigars, tobacco and money, on the evening of the 2oth of November called J. W. Wales, the purser'ssteward, forward, and then, according to the latter's testimony before the court-martial, said to him: "Do you fear death ? Dare you kill a person?" Wales having answered that he would not hesitate to kill if circumstances demanded, Spencer then, afterswearing him to secrecy, told him that there were twenty of the ship's company beside Spencer who had agreed to murder the ship's officers and take the brig and begin pirating ; that the affray was to begin some night when he (Spencer) had the middle watch; that' there was to be a seuffie in the forecastle and that he would bring the men to the jpast and call Mr. Rogers, the officer of the deck in that watch, and as soon as he got to the gangway he was to be thrown overboard ; that the mutineers would then station themselves at the hatches to keep any one from coming on deck, he in the meantime arming them from the arm chests on the quarter-deck, of which he had a key; that he would then go into the cabin and inurderthe commander and then, with some of his men, go into the ward room and murder the other officers; that he would then have two guns strewed around so as to command the deck, call the whole crew up, select such men as he wanted and have the rest thrown overboard; then clear the deck of spare spars and rigging and of the launch, expecting to get these when necessary from captured vessels, and sail for Cape St. Antonio or it-_ r?i? u:r>"i*>r* M lUtJ J.SICT Ul JLluca, niicicaiimu nuuiu be taken on board familiar with the business; then cruise for prizes; when a vessel was taken murder all hands and sink her after taking out what was valuable aud if women were on board to take them for the use of the officers and men and when tired of them to make way with them. The conversation with Spencer, Wales testified, lasted nearly two hours and before it ended Spencer called Small to him and told him that Wales was all right and one of them and Small appeared to be much pleased at this. The only corroboration before the court martial of the testimony of Wales was that of seamen who saw him and Spencer and Small in conversation on that occasion. THE CONSPIRACY REVEALED. Late on that evening Wales communicated the story to the purser who managed through the ship's lieutenant to get it to Captain Mackenzie's ear the same night. At evening quarters on the 2Gth, Spencer, I while aft. was disarmed, double ironed, handcuffed and placed on the port arm chest, and Small double-ironed and handcuffed and put upon the starboard arm chest, where both remained until their execution. On the following day Cromwell was ironed and put in confinement. On the :30th of November Captain Mackenzie addressed a letter to each of the following officers: Lieutenant Guest Gansevoort, Assistant Surgeon It. W. Lacock, Purser H. M. Ilieksell, Acting Master McPerry and Midshipmen Henry Itogers, Egant Thompson and Charles W. Hayes, asking their opinion as to what should be done with the prisoners in view of the probable extent of the conspiracy to seize the brig. On this day these officers sat from !) A. M. to G P. M. examining witnesses, thirteen in all, as to the matter, Captain Mackenzie and the three acting midshipmen on board having charge of the deck, and on the following morning, December 1, addressed to their commander a communication signed by all, in which it was said that "the safety of the public property, the lives of themselves md of those committed to their charge, requires that, giving them sufficient time to prepare for death, the prisoners should he put to death." Within an hour all three were swinging at the yard arms. CONFESSION AND EXECUTION. The testimony is overwhelming that Spencer on the morning of his execution, and even on the day before, fully confessed his intended crime, and that Small made a like confession. But Spencer died protesting Cromwell's innocence and Small said nothing to implicate him. Cromwell, too, maintained his innocence to the last. There is not one tittle of evidence against this unfortunate man developed in all the forty days of testimony before the court, He was simply hanged on general principles. He was a first-class sailor, was intimate with Spencer, had been heard to curse the captain and the ship, aside, was believed to have been a slaver or a pirate before, and the captain got it into his head that he was the soul of the mutiny and Qnonnor Vita fnnl k^^/vuvvA U4M vvvi , Spencer asked' for more tirae'tc prepare for death, and, this denied begged to be shot. The taunting o: the dying man with which Macken zie was charged was in saying tc him when he begged for time and life that "if he was taken home his father's political influence would save him, and therefore it was bettei to hang him now.". Mackenzie explained to the court-martial that hf simply said to him that "his fathei would be better served if he was now hanged instead of being broughl home"?a distinction hard to understand. The men were hanged in irons. Caps were drawn over theii eyes. None showed signs of weakness when the time arrived. Twc whips were rigged to the starboard yard arm for Cromwell and Sma'l and one to the port for Spencer, all manned by the entire ship's company, with the officers each with a brace of pistols ready to shoot at the first man who failed to pull. The flag was ran to the masthead, a gur fired and in an instant the three met were chock-a-block, spinning anc writhing in their death agonies Then Captain Mackenzie delivered an oration on the heinousness of mutiny, after which he called for thre( cheers for the flag, which the cowec rkwrwtr rrotfO irifh Q will Qnfl \UPTA thpf Lit ? HI VII U HJlij UUU ?? X..X. piped down to dinner. The bodies swung aloft for an hour and wen then lowered and buried at sundown The remains of Cromwell and Smal were sewed in their hammocks with shot at their feet. A coffin was im provised for Spencer out of two men's chests, and this loaded with shot was with that of the other two launchec into the sea. HANGED WITHOUT A TRIAL. The main charges upon which Mackenzie was tried before a court matial was that of the murder o these three men, based upon the un denied fact that they were never fur nished with any charges or specifi cation of crime, nor any investiga tion as to their guilt made to theii prisoner. The only answer to this and the one that caused theacquitta of Mackenzie, was that the intend ed mutiny was proved by the con fession of Spencer and Small; tha how far it had spread among tin crew it was impossible to determine and that the only hope for the safety of the ship was the terror inflictet upon the other conspirators by tin speedy death of the principals, anc this seems to have overcome in th< minds of the court-martial the effect of the fact that the brig, when th< execution took place, was within bu a few days sail of home, and tha four seamen who were put under ar rest on the day of the execution wen brought home and then discharget without trial. James Fennimore Cooper, the his torian of the United States Navy ends a long and exhaustive but rath er tedious review of the court-mar tial in these words, alluding to th< execution : "God alone can say hov far a selfish feeling was mixed uj with the mistakes of a terrible trans action. The act was unquestionably one of high moral courage, one o the basest cowardice, one of deej guilt or one of lamentable deficiency of judgment." Mackenzie, after distinguishing himself in the navy during the wa with Mexico, returned to his coun try seat in Tarrytown, New York where he broke his neck by a fal from his horse in 1848. He was i brother of John Slidell, who, witl Mason, of Virginia, represented thi Confederacy in France during thi war of the rebellion. The brig Som ers was lost during a storm, witl nearly all on board, off Vera Cruz ii 1848. The Skin of the Earth.?W< talk a good deal about boring am digging into the bowels of the earth It is mistake. We have never reach ed the bowels of the earth any mor than the bill of a gnat that prick you on the abdomen reaches you bowels. The human skin is about one twi hundreths and fiftieth of the diame ter of the body; allow the earth : skin proportionanately thick and i will be 30 miles through. The deepest borings have beei about a half mile, not through thi false or outer layer of skin ; not nea to the cutis vera. The highes mountains have only shown us wha may be about one fifteenth the thick ness of the earth's skin. Could w go through this thick hide into th< real flesh and blood of the eartl ivhnfc wnnrlprs mieht he discovered At the last session of congress ther was a movement to get an appropri ation to bore a hole as deep as i could possibly be made under thi diction of the best engineers, but i failed. Money so appropriated woul< he spent to much better purpose than that appropriated fore.xplora tions to the north pole and man; other objects. The heat and gasses of the earth' interior are to be the forces of tin future for motor power, lighting an< heating. A bore 10, 15, 20, 30 mile deep may be impossible, but he i not wise who says impossible of any thing within human endeavor. We simply mean that, since s< much has been discovered by mere ly scratching and puncturing tin false skin of the earth, might no wonderful results be obtained b; reaching through its skin? Be Happy Xow.?Oye tired moth ers, and daughters, and occupants o the sitting room generally, listen nov and let me tell you a secret?a secre worth knowing. This taking no com fort as you go along, but forever look ing forward to all the enjoyment does not pay. From what I knov of it I would as soon chase butter flies for a living, or bottle moonshini for a cloudy night. The only tru< way to be happy is to take the drop; of happiness as God gives them t< us every day of our lives. What i: work but something to keep us ou' of mischief? and she who does tor much of it, instead of keeping out o mischief is playing the very mischie with herself. How can a woman b< at her best to entertain her husband m - j or to instruct or amuse her family, I who makes a perpetual slave of heri self, and keeps her poor tired body j in a state of drudgery and physical I weakness? Better let some things I go undone than so completly unfit one's self for all enjoyment at home. The great thing is to learn to make the most of one's self, and to be happy over our work. INCENTIVES TO EETTER WORK. One of the strongest inducements the mechanic can see in striving to learn to work better and quicker is th# prospect of increased wages. While to a certain extent there may bea'desire to excel, yet if there is no particular profit in excelling the principal inducement is gone. It is of course sometimes difficult, where large numbers of men are employed, to grade them so that justice will be done to all. EmDlovers . recognize this fact, yet it can be [ done. Where men are working under the piece system, the better , workman gets pay at least for his ability to do more rapid work. And' ! here, too, comes one of the worst difficulties with labor unions oror' ganizations. They, to a certain exi tent, have the question to deal with. Where men are paid by the piece, . the difficulty isapparently overcome. . But there are so many kinds of labor ; in the performance of which this ! system cannot be carried out, that it ; is utterly impossible to solve the . question by this plan. To a class one ! of the strongest inducements to join' ing a labor organization is the prospect of securing an increase in wages. . This class is greatly benefitted, in , the matter of wages, by membership J in a labor union, for they receive the i same wages as their fellows, providL ed the piece system is not in vogue; I whereas if working outside the pale of a labor organization, they would [ be compelled to stand on their raer> its, and consequently put up with [ the wages their abilities command? [ in short, receive what they earn, { and no more. Masons, carpenters, i blacksmiths, machinists, in fact the skilled workmen of most trades, [ place themselves on a level with the unskilled and incompetent when they join a labor union, and without [ the piece system receive the same rate of wages, no matter how much, 5 more profitable their labor may be , to the employer. Does not such a system tend to } discourage men who have the ability to excel? Does it lower the standard of excellence and merit? Does J 11 UUIl piuuutc i UU111C1 CIIV.C RUU laic3 lessness in the ranks of labor? The j Industrial Gazette, after asking the above questions, pertinently adds: So long as the superior workman is obliged to work for the same wages i as other men who are unable to cope - with him either in quality orquantif ty of work done, just 30 long will - he fail to see the object of striving to - improve. He is not benefitted by - the union, because the wage rate es. tablished by fellow members is lowr er than his ability would command , under other circumstances. He pays 1 a penalty for being a good workman, . and membership in the union en. tails pecuniary loss. Not only himt self, but his employer is injured al3 so, for th,e latter has a right to ext pect hisNemploye to do his best, ,r which he cannot do when conscious i that a slouch workman receives the e same rate of pay for a smaller amount i of poor work than he does for a great3 er amount of first class work. A s reform in this direction is the cry3 ing need of the hour. t CONCEIT. There is nothing more amusing to 3 people who know, than the preten1 sion and conceit of those who only think they know. A long time ago, " when there were some slaves even ? in New England, one of the celebri ties of East Windsor, Conn., was " "Doctor Primus," a large, flne-look? ing negro. He had been the slave of f a distinguished physician, Dr. Wol5 cott, who resided at Windsor, on the - west side of the Connecticut River. * Primus was employed by his masf ter to prepare medicines and to at- . 5 tend him in his visits irom house to I house. He proved himself to be so able and so faithful that the doctor, ? in gratitude for his services, gave P Uio fHAA/1 AIY> 111111 llio liC^UVUii The negro's attendance on his mas? ter and his experience in mixing 1 drugs had given him a little medi- 9 * cal knowledge, which he determin1 ed to turn to his own account. As 2 soon as he became a free man, he 2 moved over to the other side of the - river, and, announcing himself as i "Doctor Primus," laid in a small i stock of drugs, and waited for patients. They came, tor Primus was reb spected, and there was no other phy1 sician in the village. As business, . grew, Primus'self esteem increased. One day, he was sent to visit a sick e child in Poquonnock, on the west s side of the river and beyond where r his old master lived. He went, and on his return called upon Dr. "YVol0 cott, who gave him a hearty recep-, - tion, and asked what business had 1 brought him across the river. t "Oh," answered Primus, a little inflated, "I was sent for to see the i child of our old neighbor at Poquone nock; but I told the mother that r there was nothing very serious the t matter, and that she need not have t sent so far for a physician; that yon - would have anwsweredjust as well."? e Youth's Companion. e , ? , ] Care of Children in Summer. * The hot weather is especially troue blesome to young children and in* fants, and a9 the little tender creatures cannot tell their pains and ? discomforts, they whine and fret, [ and are thought to be cross and illtempered, when they are really sufe fering. A little care and precaution " will tend to relieve them very much. ^ ; A strip of flannel buttoned about 1 lUn mill hn r\f rrroat eorvinp In UIC JUllia Will UU V/4 fct %**%v wv* ? ? ^ preventing stomach aches, diarrhoea, ? and to feed little and often, will avoid much discomfort to them. , Xursing infants should be supplied b often, and with little at a time, but not too often ; once in three hours is enough for them, and the mother should be very careful about her " own health and comfort lest the child ? suffer with her. Children a year old should be fed ^ upon milk with one half water add; ed ; an excellent food for them- is made by boiling a pound of dried - flour, tied up in a cloth for four hours, f and when cold kept for use as fol7 lows: grate off a sufficient quantity, t stir it into milk and boil for five - minutes to a thin gruel, add sugar, - and give it out when new, milk , warm. Hot milk when sipped from 7 a teaspoon is excellent, given in small - quantities now and then. Nursing3 bottles should be kept in a bowl of 3 water to which a teaspoonful of soda 3 is added to keep it sweet. Avoid all ) sour food. Bathe in tepid water ev3 ery evening before bed-time. Keep t one room in the house dark and ) closed during the day-ti me, and well f aired during the night. It will be f cool and free from flies, and the cbili dren may rest there when tired in , the afternoon.