Newspaper Page Text
WILD JWORK;
A Study of Western Life.
BY MARY E. BRYAN.
CHAPTER XY.
The spring, now close at hand, would make
it just two years since Zoe met this man, who
had taken such a hold upon her sympathy or
her imagination as to make her feel it a duty to
tell Royal of her interest in hiun She had then
been in New Orleans waiting the departure of
the steam-ship that would take her to Havana
to visit her father, who had gone there a year
before, and, entering into the tobacco business
had endeavored to repair his damaged fortune.
He had had yellow fever the fall before, and
had ever since been rather weak in health and
depressed in spirits. His usually cheerful mind
was clouded with presentiments, and he longed
to see his daughter. In this mood, but without
frightening Zoe by any gloomy expressions, he
wrote to her to come to him—for a visit, if she
should not fancy living on the island, or the
warm climate did not agree with her health. It
would be a pleasant trip, and she would be well
taken care of by any of the captains of the
three U. S. packets plying regularly between
New Orleans and Cuba and touching at various
ports along the gulf coast to put off freight-
much of it supplies for the U*S. troops station
ed at various points on the coast or along the
rail road line in the interior. He knew the
commanders of these government vessels; had
had business transactions with them and found
them gentlemanly aud honorable.
Zoe had come down to the city in company
with some .friends, had found the Lavaca in
port, and advertised to leave on next Tuesday.
The Captain, who called on her and gave her a
letter from her father, assured her his vessel
would leave promptly on time. He had the
brusque manner of a seaman—a tall, lean, sandy
haired giant with quick, blunt speech; active,
calculating and shrewd—Yankee to the core,
which evidently did not prevent him from being
struck with Zoe’s dark southern eyes and dusky
bloom.
Tuesday, at the hour announced for the
steamer to leave, Zoe drove up to the levee, but
on looking from the carriage window, she saw
no sign of preparation on board the Lavaca; no
smoke issuing from its chimneys and no hurrying
and shouting of deck-hands or sailors. Instead,
she saw groups of people turning away from
the boat, with disappointed looks, and grumb
ling discontentedly. The captain saw her, and
coming up to the carriage apologized for unex
pected delay in the time of his vessel’s leaving.
She could not get away before the next morn
ing owing to the fact that a portion of her
cargo had not arrived, and he had recieved
official orders by telegraph to wait for it.
‘ Government stores I presume,’ said Royal,
who with his sister, had accompanied Zoe to the
ship.
The Captain bowed, but he looked embar
rassed and under restraint some way. In spite
of his very reasonable explanation of the ckuse
of his ship’s detention, Zoe could not help feel
ing there was something cpneealed—some mys
tery about the Lavaca’s delay. She did not find
out what it was until next day—some hours
after the vessel had left the harbor of New Or
leans and when it was just leaving the mouth
of the grand river and entering upon the broad,
blue gulf. Zoe had gone to the rear of the
ship for an undisturbed look at the prospect.
On the deck in front, there were a number of
strange passengers end some United Stites sol
diers under a burly Lieutenant, whose staring
regards annoyed her. ( Here, she leaned unmo
lested on the railing.and gazed in calm lenjoy-
ment at the lessening shores—the wide eipacse
of colorful sea, ruffled with light waves that
here and there were fleeked or crested with
foam. The chatter of some birds behind her,
drew her attention at last, and she turned round
and admired the plump, active little creatures,
hupping about their rough cage, with green-blue
baoks, white breasts and short bills, red as
coral—‘Jamaica sparrows;' so the old sailor who
was feeding them, called them. He, himself
was not an unpicturesque figure—a little wiry,
weather-beaten man, in a red shirt and tar
paulin cap, but with a bright, kindly eye set
like a round black bead under his browned and
wrinkled brow. He laughed merrily at the
frolics of his pets, let them peck bits of banana
from his mouth through the bars of their cage,
scolded them for not having taken their bath,
and played with them as if he and they were
children.
‘I wish all captives could be as happy as your
birds are,’ Zoe said, amused at their antios.
‘Yes, Miss; so do I: for instance, them poor
prisoners here on board with us. If they could
take more kindly to their fate, ’twould be better
for them. Their stubborn independent ways
will only provoke the Lieutenant in charge of
’em and our Captain, what’s none too good
natured already. ’
‘Prisoners on board this vessel! What do
you mean ?’
‘What! you don’t know about 'em, Miss?
Maybe I ought’nt to spoke then. I knew ’twas
a secret on land, but I don’t see how it can be
hid here, when we’re all in one ‘hollow oak,’
together, as the song says. The prisoners was
brought to the city last night, and brought on
board here after midnight, for fear of there
being a row and a rescue by the mob, if they
come through the streets in the day. They tell
me that it was in the night, too, that they took
’em out of jail in some town in Alabama, where
they had been since committing the offense. It
was feared there’d be a rush to get ’em and
set ’em free if they took daylight to bring ’em
•at,’
‘What had the prisoners done?’
‘Went to the house of a Northern man that
was teaching the darkies, Miss, and rode him
on a rail, tarred and feathered him and sent
the purty bird back to his country, where
he set up such a croakin’ as scared and
angered the big bugs so, they ordered the
bunch of law-breakers clapped into jail,
and when they got afraid there’d be a row,
they telegraphed to the Lavaca to hold on and
get the prisoners, and take ’em on to the Dry
Tortugas—the black rock in the middle of the
sea, Miss, where they’ve got Dr. Mudd for splin
tering the leg of the chap that killed Lincoln.’
‘Where have the prisoners been put?'
'In the ship’s hold, Miss,—a dirty, close box
for the likes of them. I’m told they are gentle
men, and belong to good families—all seven of
them.’
‘Then, there must be some error—some mis
take as to their offense. Southern gentlemen,
with good blood in their veins would not mal
treat a man simply because he taught negroes.’
The man looked at her shrewdly from under
his old cap. Then his little eyes twinkled with
pleasure.
‘I see yon are not U. S., Miss. I mean yonr’e
no Yankee. So I don’t mind telling you. You
see this steamer's a United States packet, and
everything a-board her, is U. S.—the captain
most of all; he’s the strongest Rad you ever
saw. But a few of the crew—myself amongst
’em—is just tother way, only we keep dark for
the sake of the wives and babies, or the old
fathers and mothers that have to be fed. Well,
them chaps below are real gentlemen and good
fellows, Miss. One of ’em was my lieutenant
in the Confederate nfcvy during the war, and I
got a chance to speak with him last night.
[They’re being treated this way for doing just
■*‘t; for punishing a scoundrel that they had
reported to the law, only to get insulted them
selves, and nothing done to the thief, because
he was a Northerner, and a Republican. Nigger
school-teacher was what he pretended to be,
but he was a rogue, and he lived by robbing the
planters, getting the niggers to steal cotton and
corn from their employers and bring them to
him in the night and get whisky and tobacco
for them. He bought a little cotton for a blind
and packed and sent off his bales by thd dozen.
The planters had stood it a long time, with only
a little cursin’ and threatin’, that just tickled
the thief; when a fellow, a Texan, I believe he
is, happened to stop in the neighborhood, and
being daring and hot-headed, put them up to
taking the law in their own hands, and getting
clear of the rascal in the way I told you of. He
wasn't hurt, only scared out of his cowardly
wits, and thought he’d do a good job by playing
martyr to Southern prejudices. That’s the
prisoners’ story, Miss, and I believe every word
of it. They don’t look a bit like rowdies, not
even the Texan,though he’s all torn and bloody.’
‘Bloody ?’
‘He fought before he’d let’em tako him, Miss.
‘Was he wounded badly?’
‘I can’t tell. He doesn’t talk any, but he
won’t eat, and he looks dreadful. Them hand
cuffs are bad for him, in his fix.’
‘Hand-cuffs! Have .they got chains upon
them ?’
‘You bet they have, though one of them sol
diers told me the hand-cuffs was to be taken
off as soon as we were fairly out at sea, aud
only put on when we stop in port or go near
the shore. The Texan though, is to have’em on
all the time, to punish him for—Whist! here
comes the captain. Be ruum about the prison
ers, Miss,’ and the old sailor turned off and be
gan to whistle unconcernedly, as the Captain
approached.
It was probable that the commander did not
wish his passengers to know the nature of the
‘government stores’ he had delayed his vessel
to take on board, but it had already transpired,
and his passengers had been besieging him to
give them a sight of the prisoners. He told
Zoe he had just had the hatch-way thrown
open, ‘and now,’ he said, sarcastically, ‘I sup
pose you too have your feminine sympathies
excited, and want beside a chance to rail at the
government and the Yankees. So, will you
come and see my show?’
She hesitated a little, before she went round
with him to the forward part of the vessel,
where the heavy iron clamped door of the hatch
way had been thrown open and a group of
men and ladies were standing around the ob
long opening looking down into the hold. Mrs.
Moss—a pretty young married woman, the pet
of a husband twice as old as herself—was down
upon her knees dropping flowers to the prison
ers. ‘Flirting with them already,’ the Captain
said, sardonically.
He pushed a gentleman aside, and made
room for Zoe and himself near the edge of the
hatch-way.
‘There are your high-toned countrymen, Miss
Vincent,’ he said.
The men below heard the sneer. Eyes were
raised and flashed defiance at the insolent speak
er. Others stood in stoical quiet, a curl of con
tempt just perceptible on their lips. They were
no common out-laws. One could see that in
spite of their soiled, disordered looks. Their
hand cuffs had been taken off, and lay in a
pile at the feet of the soldier, who had been
sent to remove them.
‘Here are only six men,’ said some one to the
Lieutenant, who was puffing at a cigar, and
staring with bold admiration at the uncon
scious Zoe. ‘Where’s the seventh ?’
‘Yonder he lies. His bracelets are not to be
taken off. He is too important a personage.’ (
‘The lead wolf of the pack,’* put in the Cap
tain. ‘Fought, a^d nearly killed a good soldier
before he'd be taken. Stir him up. These ladies
want to see the whole show; make him come
out from under that hat—can’t you ?’
The man spoken of, sat, or rather lay apart
from the others, upon an old wooden chest,
with another box covered by a coat propping
his heal. His shirt sleeve was torn and bloody,
his manacled arms were folded on his chest,
his hat slouched over his face. He did not
move when the Captain spoke, nor when the
soldier touching him, said: 'Look up, Hirne.’
‘Stop.’ cried the Captain, and taking up a
long bamboo cane that lay on the deck, he
reached down and tipped off the prisoner’s hat
from his head.
The man sprang to his feet; his eyes blazed
upon his insulter with the glare of a caged and
maddened lion—The captain recoiled under the
sudden fury of that look.
‘Yankee coward,’ said the prisoner, between
his set teeth, ‘you would not dare insult a man
unless his chains made it safe for you.’
The Captain was furious, but the Lieuten
ant prevailed on him to say no more.
‘You brought it on yourself, by noticing the
fellow.’ he said.
That night the Lavaca reached Pensacola,
and lay at anchor for some hours in its mag-
nificient bay; and the next afternoon she was
lying at the wharf of . the Navy Yard. It was
warm and sultry; the hatch-way was open, and
passing near it, Zoe saw that the men were in
hand cuffs again, as the old sailor had said they
would be whenever the vessel approached the
shore. A tajl, bony woman, in black bomba
zine and green spectacles, and with the look of
a Yankee female lecturer, was standing up un
der an umbrella, close to the edge of the open
ing, haranging the unfortunates below, upon
the error of their ways and dropping down
upon them a shower of tracts. Most of them
sat passive under her eloquence; a few smiled
disdainfully as they took the tracts that flutter
ed down to them in their manacled hands. As
she turned off out of breath, one of them re
turned thanks with humorous unction; another
read the title.of his tract, ‘Bread of Life.’
‘Considering our short rations, I’d thank the
marm a little more, if this was literal instead of
figurative bread,' he said.
‘If it was, be sure the close-fisted Yankee
wouldn’t be so quick to give it,’ responded the
bitter,bell-toned voice of the man with blood on
his sleeve, as he turned his head on its hard
pillow and smiled grimly.
There was a small schooner from Cedar Keys
loaded with oranges and bananas, that had come
along side the Lavaca. Zoe bought the finest
bunch of yellow bananas in the lot, and got the
old sailor, Jack Barnes,to take them down to the
prisoners.
‘With the compliments of a true-hearted
Southern girl, my boys, who wants you to know
there’s one friend you have on board if no more,’
said Jack as he deposited his luscious burden on
the floor and looked up to see that none of the
‘blue coats’ or the ship officers were in hearing.’
'Thank her for us Jack, and beg her to let us
have a glimpse of her,’said one boyish young
F risoner. ‘She’s even nicer than her bananas ;
dare swear.’
‘And you wouldn’t be wrong either, my hearty
—Whist! there she is !’ he broke off as Zoe step
ped near the edge of the hatchway and glanced
down. Instantly all eyes were lifted, all heads
bowed—all but the sick man’s. He did not see
her, he had turned away his head, and closed
his eyes again. The drawn brow and haggard
cheek and the manacled hands moved the girl's
pity.
‘Will not your comrade try some of the fruit?’
she asked, indicating him by the direction of
her eye.
‘He’s feverish. Miss, and doesn’t care for
any,’ said one of the prisoners; whereupon the
man spoken of turned his head and nodded,
Baying:/Butjhe thanks you all the same,Sonora.’
He smiled, too, a smile that lit his stern, rug
ged features into singular attractiveness. His
bronzed cheek was flushed with fever, his eyes
watery bright, but the forehead, from which the
hat had been pushed away, was broad and white,
though it had lines of care upon it. It looked
a totally different face from the one she had seen
before with the scowl of sullen endurance, or
the flash of scornful resentment, upon it.
As she walked off, she said to the sailor:
‘He looks to be suffering; I wish I could do
something for him.’
‘It is his wound, Miss. It is an ugly bayonet
thrust in the shoulder; the heat frets and fevers
it, and I don’t think it’s been half dressed. The
ship surgeon is sick—or, to tell the truth, he's
on a spree. It’s hot and close down there,
and the flesh flies are swarmin’.’
Zoe shuddered.
‘I musi try to help him,’ she said. ‘Does he
complain ?’
‘Only of thirst, Miss; the water is so bad.’
‘And there is plenty of ice on board. At least,
he shall have a cool drink.’
Going into the cabin, she sent at once for
iced lemonade. It came in a glass pitcher, look
ing cool and tebafliug. The Captain accompa-
the boy who brought it.
‘It’s nice,’ he siJd; ‘I made it myself.’
‘Thanks. As yin made it, I will drink a little
of it, though I inraid it for another—the poor
wounded man down stairs. He has fever, and
is consumed with thirst.’
‘If I had known that, I certainly would not
have made the lemonade,’ the Captain said,
gruffly. ‘Miss Vincent, do you make it a point
to encourage law-breaking ?’
‘No, Captain L/ster; but I try to follow the law
of the highest Latf-giver, which enjoins upon
us care for our fellow creatures. That prisoner
is suffering from neglect, and want of proper
food and medicine. His wound may mortify,and
death ensue.’
‘I can’t help that; it’s the place of Osborne
and his fellows to see to their prisoners. If I
had my way, I’d toss the lot of them overboard,
and save expense to the government.’
Zoe made no reply, beyond a look under which
the Captain changed countenance, though he
affected to laugh. Presently she asked:
‘Will you not at least speak to Lieutenant
Osborne about the sick prisoner ?’
‘No, Mis3 Vincent, it’s no business of mine,
and the fellow has been insolent to me.’
‘Will you introduce me to Lieutenant Os
borne ?’
He gave her a qjwck glance out of the corner
of his eye, and no answer on the instant.
At last, he said:—™
‘I can introduce 'you; but I warn you that
Osborne is not a man that a girl traveling with
out her friends ou^ht to know.’
‘I am not afraid he will do me any harm. I
can take care of myself,’ she said coldly.
‘Oh ! in that case, I will give you the intro
duction. Here, Osborne, come this way. Here’s
a young lady who wishes to know you. You’re
in luck, you see.’
The officer came up at once, and with a flush of
anger on his forehead, the Captain introduced
the two in his curtest way, and, turning on his
heel, left them. The burly Lieutenant, much
flattered, bowed low and began an elaborate
compliment, which Zoe cut short, by telling
him at once her reason for wishing to speak to
him, and pleading the cause of the sick pris
oner with so maj^i gentle earnestness that 03-
borne, with his fa?hand on his heart, promised
the man should beflooked after at once—a prom
ise which he mm^.it convenient to forget, or
whose fulfillment*!.'* indefinitely postponed.
That evening, wyile most of the passengers
were eating theirV^arly supper in the cabin,,
and the Captain,’*ms%urser, the lieutenant, and
some ladiesk wh£*T\.5ester ^Lad invited tot sup
with him, were’ epjfjfag oysters, lobster salad
and wine in the officer's private mess room, Zoe,
who had declined tl ie Captain’s invitation to his
supper, much to his chagrin, took the opportunity
to stroll about the c eck; to look out over the sea
where, low in the \ est, the sunset fires had not
yet died into the si ver gray of the rest of the
sky, through whicl the white stars were throb
bing and casting tleir tremulous images in the
gently heaving sea beneath.
The hatchway door was down, and she heard
nothing of the prisoners. Presently, however,
confused sounds from below came to her ears,
and in the midst of them, Jack Barnes came
running towards her, having come up from that
lower world by some ladder and trap door in
another part of the ship.
‘ Hirne has a fainting fit; he looks like death.
I believe he]will die if he is kept down there, ’ he
said to her.
Shocked and distressed, she ran at once to
the door of the mess 300m and called Lt. Osborne.
The officer, bowing gallantly, tossed off the
glass of wine, he had just lifted to his lips, and
coming out to t her, was told of the prisoner’s
condition. ^
‘Let him be brought up here, and his wound
attended to’ pleaded Zoe. ‘ If there are extra
charges for his being brought up here, I will
pay them, and I will stand for his good conduct.’
Then, as she saw his hesitating, indifferent look
—her indignation flamed.up. Coming close to
him, she said, ‘If you do not do this Sir, I will
report you, publish you for inhumanity. I can
not believe that your orders were to treat your
prisoners worse than brutes.’
He flushed. ‘Look here Miss’ he began excit
edly, but he calmed down and took on an injured
tone. ‘Miss Vincent, I hope I know my duty to
my.fellow man as well as to my country,’ he said
‘I don’t need to be badgered about that prisoner.
If he’s sick, I’ll have him attended to. There’s
so much infernal shamming about his sort, it
takes a smart one to know when there’s anything
real the matter.’
He gave orders to have the prisoner brought
up and laid on deck, under the canvas awning
that had been put up during the day as a pro
tection from the sub. Zoe found him there
when she came with water and ice. He was
lying on a blanket, and kneeling down, she put
her folded shawl under his head. The light of
a lantern, flashing over his face, showed that he
had recovered consciousness, and his hands, as
Zoe touched them, alinost scorched her, so hot
were they with fever- „
‘Take off these hand-cuffs for the love of
mercy,'she said; ‘they are a mockery in his
condition.’
‘Better let them be; he’s only playing pos
sum,’ sneered the Captain, who stood looking
on; but the Lieutenant gave orders to have the
manacles removed, and the poor prisoner gave
a sigh of relief as they fell from his hands. The
surgeon, still in no condition to attend the man,
sent word that the dressing on his wound must
be kept constantly wqt in cold water, and coid
applications must be made to his head. Seeing
that no one else offered to attend to these direc
tions, Zoe set herself to the task. The Lieu
tenant, seeing that she took no notice of him,
and the Captain, finding that she would not
reply to his sarcasms, went away after awhile;
and then the ladies, whom curiosity or compas
sion had drawn around the sick man, gradually
dropped away, except the stewardess-an hon
est, good-natured woman—whom Zoe detained
and begged to stay with her. The two soldiers
on guard hung the lantern near Zoe and with
drew to the railing where they could chew their
tobacco and wonder when they were going back
to the oommand. The good stewardess talked
herself tired, and began to nod. Zoe kept up
unremittingly her applications of cold water to
the bandages of the wound and to the hot fore
head that throbbed so under her palm. He lay
quiet; only at times, he seemed to lapse into
delirium and muttered incoherently. Once, he
started up and gave the word of command—
“Forward, march,” then stared around, met the
soothing look of Zoe, seemed to gather con
sciousness and dropped back upon his pallet.
Another time, he spoke in Spanish, and once,
when Zoe had her hand wet in ice water on his
forehead, he snatched it away, exclaiming:
‘ Ofl, snake ! All women are snakes. They
creep into your heart and sting it. They poison
your life.’
The instant after, as if vaguely remembering
that he had said something unkind, he turned
towards Zoe, and taking her hand pressed it
mutely to his lips.
It was hours before the fever cooled, and he
feel asleep. Zoe sat watching him. He looked
much younger now, with the long lashes lying
against his thin cheeks, his wet hair in dark
rings on his forehead, and the fierce, bitter look
gone from his mouth. His face was strangely
attractive to Zoe. At first sight she had seen a
history written upon it—a record of stormy ex
periences and strong passions; characters almost
repelling in their fierceness. Now, that sleep
had obliterated or softened these, one could see
the fine points about the face—the intellectual
breadth of the brow, a hint of tender strength in
the mouth, Qf manly energy in the chin and the
round, full throat exposed by the ojmn shirt; a
broad breast was also laid bare, across which
was seen a long, purplish scar, evidently a sabre
cut.
Jacli Barnes—the old sailor and ex-Confeder-
ate, came up now, being at last relieved of duty,
and took Zoe’s place beside her sleeping patient.
At her direction he was covered with a blanket
from the chillness that was apt to set in as a reac
tion from the fever. Then leaving him with Jack,
who promised to watch him till morning, she
waked the stewardess, thanked her, and told her
good-night and went into the cabin. The lights
were turned almost down: she thought every
body had retired until Captain Lester stood be
fore her.
‘I have been waiting for you,’ he said: -Do you
think your father w T ould approve of this noctur
nal devotion to an outlaw, a desperado that has
worn the handcuffs before to-day?’
‘I do not think my father would disapprove
of my trying to alleviate the sufferings of a sick
and friendless man, and I am sure my consci
ence does not.’
‘It’s a great salve to conscience in such a case
when the sufferer happens to be young and good
looking,’ the Captain said with his short sneer
ing laugh. ‘Miss Vincent, good night; don’t re
fuse to shake hands. No doubt you think ms a
savage, but I only hate to see sweet meats thrown
to dogs. There are others in this ship would
give its whole cargo for the sweet attentions you
are wasting on that vagabond.’
Early next morning, before anyone but the
sailors and soldiers on guard were stirring, Zoe
was dressed and out on deck. The morning
was fresh and delightful, the sea was furrowed
by a light wind, and in the blue distance the
coast line was visible, just edging the horizon.
Jack came up, cap in hand, and gave a good ac
count of his patient. He had slept pretty well,
and was now almost clear of fever, but very
weak. He (Jack) had prevailed on the cook to
make the sick man some soup, as he had tasted
nothing since he came on board, it being im
possible for him to eat the bread and salt pork
rations of the prisoners.
Zoe went to him, and found him quiet, but
by no means rid of fever. He put out his hand
to her, and the slight pressure of his fingers and
the look he gave her touched her more than any
word of thanks. He reported himself ‘better—
almost ready again for the hand-cuffs and the
black hold,’and then, as he lay propped up, his
eye went out over tha sea to the shore line not
many miles distant, a^nd kindled with a,n eager;
flash. r'u 'i J
‘I could swim it, I think,’ he said low, ‘and I’d
make the jump and try it, in spite of this hole
in my shoulder, if it was’nt that I know the
bullets of those blue coats yonder would’ntgive
me half a chance. I don’t want’to die at last by
a Yankee ball. My work is not ended yet.’
‘I hope you will not think of running such a
risk,’ Zoe said earnestly. ‘I know you will not
when I tell yon I made myself responsible for
your good conduct. I pledged my word that
you would not try to escape.’
‘Then your word must not be broken. I’ll
not abuse your confidence. You have been very
good to me, Miss Vincent—disinterestedly good
—and that’s rare with women.’
‘Is it ?’
‘Yes; their goodness has usually dregs of sel
fishness at the bottom. In your case, there are
none. You could havejno motive but pure be
nevolence in being kind to a dirty, friendless
outlaw, especially when your kindness to him
drew on you the disfavor of your friends. I’ve
seen that last well enough, and I don’t want you
to make such a sacrifice for my sake, young
lady. Best avoid me; I am an unlucky dog, and
I always bring trouble op the few that espouse
my cause.’
‘I have no friends on board or acquaintances
for whose favor I care. I will not avoid you,
unless you wish it for your own sake.’
Again he gave her the look that had seemed bet
ter than thanks. His blue-gray eyes, that could
seem points of fierce, wild flame at times, had at
other times a strangely soft and melancholy look,
that in connection with the bloody sleeve, the
wan cheek and throbbing temples, so moved
Zoe’s sympathy that she determined to give him
every attention, unmindful of the Captain’s
sneers, the impertinences of the Lieutenant and
the gossip of the women. She sat by him all
the morning, listening to him. He had just
fever enough to excite him and make him talk—
a little wildly and disconnectedly at times, but
peculiarly,—with such a charm of expression,
such sudden flashes of quaint fancy, such wild,
humorous, imaginative turns of thought, that
Zoe, looking at him, said impulsively;
‘ You are a poet. Did you never write poetry ?’
‘ Yes; once. Once I dreamed I was a poet
and wrote things poured out of my heart
because it v a; so full.’
* Where are some of them now?’
‘Where? Oh! that was long ago,’ he said,
passing his hand over his forehead. ‘Long ago
it seems long long. Before ; the simoon
passed through my heart and dried all its foun
tains of fancy, and feeling, before ’
His brow gathered into a tumult, his long
slender fingers grasped his temples convulsively
as if to pluck out some memory that writhed
within his brain.
The spasm passed; his hand*fell to his side,
and he turned to Zoe with a smile of self-mockery.
‘How grandiloquent that was! I meant to
say young lady that I wrote verses in my green
and tender youth; and thought myself destined
to the poet’s crown. I have gotten bravely over
that illusion, together with some others born of
the same verdant imagination.’'
His talk gave Zoe glimpses into his past life.
She felt that he had suffered some hard trial,
some cruel wrong that had warped his nature
Northern men, Federal soldiers seemed in some
way connected with this wrong, for his hatred
of them amounted almost to mania. Whenever
allusion was made to them, the fieroe fire leaped
into his eyes, the expression, Zoe shuddered to
see, came intd his face—that wild, troubled,
savage look that transformed his features like a
convulsion. A bloody cloud seemed to come
over his faculties; when it passed, his face
cleared. There were expressions of that change
ful face almost as tender as a woman’s, almost as
sweet and wiBtful as a child’s.
He was without ties of blood or of law, neith
er parents, brother, sister, wife nor child, he
said; nor any to care if his bones Bhould be left
to rot on the Dry Tortugas. And Zoe heard of
this solitariness with pity, and yet with a satis
faction that she never thought of analyzing.
Strange, that she should forget that she had ties,
if he had none. Strange, that not once did the
thought of Royal West come into her mind.
She was alone with Hirne the greater part of the
morning: others came up, and stood or sat near
for a while, but the stolid look that came into
his face, and the silence he maintained while
they stayed, was not encouraging and they soon
moved off. The soldiers stood out of hearing of
his low tones, and Zoe paid no attention to their
occasional glances in her direction, nor to their
hah audible jokes and occasional laughter.
Mrs. Moss fluttered lip and made musical in
quiries of the patient afeer his health, and ex
pressed her detestation of Radical tyranny and
iankee soldiers, but finding*- that he took no
notice o! her pretty morning toilet, was off
again, and was soon lending a willing ear to
he broad flattery of the lieutenant. The female
exhorter came and offered to read Hirne a little
treatise with the cheerful title of “A Voice from
the iomb,” but went off disgusted on his de
claring that be was too sleepy to listen to it.
i ie Lieutenant lounged up with some coarse,
but good natured banter, and finding his wit
unheeded, went to seek a more apnreciativo au
dience.
Captain Letter came up often, sometimes
standing by with folded arms, and eyeing Zoe
with a look ot haughty displeasure, sometimes
uttering a sarcasm intended for her ears.
‘His tongue wags all right,’ he said once to the
Lieutenant. ‘If he can use his legs and arms
as well as he does his tongue (and I believe he
can) you’d better call up your jeweler. I see
he has put the bracelets on the others. I hear
there’s a lot more of sympathetic females, who
have got wind of our precious cargo,and are com-
ingfrom Apalachacola in the Shamrock this after
noon with pies and pound cakes, bouquets and
tears, and such like feminine incense for our
martyrs. Confound such nuisances! I wish
the block-head government had found some
quicker way of getting rid of these fellows, or
some other vessel to send them off on. If there’s
a thing I hate, it’s to be annoyed with aympa-
thetic women.’
‘Don’t let your jealousy run away with your
patriotism, Lester,’ retorted the burly Lieuten
ant, with a chuckle. The Captain, affecting not
to hear him, strode away.
The Lavaca was now anchored in the harbor
of Apalachacola, half a mile or more from the
picturesque little town. The bay was too shal
low to admit of the steam ship’s nearer approach
to shore, but a lighter—a little steamer called
the Shamrock— was busy transporting the por
tion of the cargo that was consigned to this pert.
Little boats containing fresh fish and vegeta
bles came up alongside the anchored steam
ship. In one of them sat a bright-eyed, nut-
brown woman, with a basket of green peas on
her lap, a-top of which lay a bunch of fresh
flowers. Seeing Zoe’s lovely face as she leaned
for a moment over the deck railing, the wo
man rose up, held out her bouquet, and laugh
ing while her white teeth gleamed from her
brown face, she threw the flowers up into the
girl’s outstretched hands.
Zoe carried them with her to her sent, and
gave a cluster of the English honeysuckles to
her patient. She sat with the other flowers in
her hand, when the Lieutenant came up. He
had been drinking ratner freely; his face was
even redder than its wont; he leered at the
girl as his small, sensuous eye took in the grace
of her figure, the ivory curve of her neck, the
dusk bloom of her cheek as she bent over the
flowers she was rearranging.
‘Well, Miss Vincent,’ he said, ‘I’ve come to
claim the fulfillment of your pledge. You
promised to pay all extra charges if I would
have your pet brought up here and give him the
privilege of fresh air and.the light of your lovely
face. I’ve done so, and now I’m come to claim
my pay.’
Zoe saw the look that darkened over Hirne’s
face, and thought it best for his sake to give a
playful rejoinder.
‘Will you take my roses in pay?’ she said,
smiling, and holding out her nosegay. ‘Kind
acts should only be paid for in flowers.’
‘I’d rather have one of the roses that bloom
on your cheeks,’ he said, bending over her until
bin whiskeyed breath was hot upon her face.
‘Come, now, it's only fair, and there’s nobody
looking.’
His arm went around her neck and tightened
as she struggled. The next instant he was
stretched upon the deck and Hirne was stamp
ing him. Instantly, three soldiers rushed up
and caught him from behind. He turned on
them furiously, but as he did so, he staggered,
gasped, threw his arm up wildly, and fell back
swooning from weakness, excitement and the
pain of his re-opened wound.
The Lieutenant scrambled to his feet, panting
and cursing as he wiped his perspiring fore
head and felt of the spot where the Texan had
planted the blow. Most of the passengers were
in the cabin; only one or two had seen the in
cident, which had been all over in less than two
minutes. The Captain came up, and quickly
understanding what was the matter, seemed
inwardly rejoiced.
‘Now,’ he said, pointing to Hirne, who had
recovered from his swoon, ‘I guess you’ll have
that fellow hand-cuffed, and send him below, as
I told you to do. You’ll have him to account
for else. He’s shamming for a purpose.’
Hirne was taken below. He nerved himself
to walk firmly, but Zoe could see that he stag
gered. As he passed her he held out his hand ;
she had just time to give him hers, to feel* her
fingers pressed in a convulsive clasp, when he
was roughly pushed on by the soldiers.
Fresh blood stains were on his arm and shoul
der from his opened wound; his face was ghast
ly, bis eyes shining.
‘He will die,’ moaned Zoe in the solitude of
her stateroom, ‘l have hurt him, killed him
instead of helping him.’
She saw him no more during the trip, save one
glimpse she got of him by the light of the ship’s
torches, as the prisoners were carried ashore at
the Dry Tortugas. From her stateroom win
dow she was watching with strained eyes ; she
saw him oome out supported by Jack Barnes
and walking with difficulty.The light of the torch
flared one moment over his pale face and over
the gloom and barrenness of the island prison.
Then the file of prisoners, and the bine coats and
flashing bayonets of the soldier guard were
swallowed up in the shadows of midnight
[to be continued.]
At Prague Count Runnerskirch had a chair
pulled from underneath him, and landed himself
on the floor, for which he challenged Count Max
Thun and had his finger slashed off, so the latter
had his joke aud the other’s finger besides.
Reuben Field, of Sharpsburg, Ky.,is a natural
mathematician who knows not one figure from
another, yet correctly solves intricate problems
in his mind, without hesitation, computes the
time of day almost in an instant, and tells how
many revolutions the driving wheel of a loco
motive will make between given points. He
can not read or write.
The Hindoos bolieve that India will be sub
ject to England only so long as the Koh-i-noor
of the Crown jewels remains in possession of
the Queen. As it is to be exhibited at Paris it
is believed that efforts may be made to steal it,
a la Wilkie Collins’ moonstone.
At a pentecostal ratio of 3,000 conversions a
day it would take 3,000 years to convert the
world.
r*r«