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•YNOPSI 8 ,
Senator John Calhoun Is Invited to be¬
come secretary of state in Tyler's cab-
met. He declares that if he accepts Texas
and Oregon must be added to tne Union.
He sends his secretary. Nicholas Trist, to
ask the Baroness von Rltz, spy of the
British ambassador. Pakenharn. to call at
his apartments. While searching for th»
baroness' home, a carriage drives up and
Nicholas Is Invited to enter. The occupant
Is the baroness, and she asks Nicholas to
•aslst In evading pursuers Nicholas notes
that the baroness lias lost a slipper. She
give# Sledge him the remaining slipper as a
that she will tell Calhoun what he
wants to know regarding England's As !n-
tentlons 1 toward Mexico. security
Nicholas gives her a trinket he Intended
for his sweetheart, Elisabeth Churchill.
Tyler tells Pakenharn that Joint occupa¬
tion of Oregon with England, must cease,
that the west hus raised the cry of "Flf-
ty-four Forty, or Flght.” Calh oun be-
comes secretary of state. H« orders
Nicholes to Montreal on state business,
and I he latier plans to be married that
night. The baroness says she will try to
prevent the marriage. A drunken con¬
gressman in whom Nicholas asks to assist
the wedding arrangements, sends the
baroness’ Bllpper to Elizabeth, by mis¬
take, and the wedding Is declared off.
Nicholas find* the baroness In Montreal,
•he having succeeded, where he failed. In
discovering England's Intentions regard¬
ing Oregon. She tells him that the slip¬
per lie had In his possession contained a
note from the attache of Texas to the
British ambassador, saying that If the
United States did not annox Texas wltli-
In 90 days, Nicholas she would lose both Texas and
Oregon. Ttlttenhofen, meets a naturalist. Von
about Oregon. who gives him Information
The baroness and a British
warship disappear from Montreal Von simul¬
taneously. hofen Calhoun engages Ritten-
to make maps of the western coun¬
try. Calhoun orders Nicholas to head a
party of settlers bound for Oregon.
Nicholas ElIzabeth.^HHHiii^H^^H has an unsatisfactory Interview
with Calhoun excites the
Jealousy the of Henora Yturrlo the and thereby
•ecures signature of Texas at¬
tache to a treaty of annexation. Nicholas
start# for Oregon.
CHAPTER XXV. n
. Oregon.
The spell and the light of each path we
pursue—
If W'oman be there, there Is happiness
too. —Moore.
Twenty miles a day, week in and
Week out, we edged westward up the
Platte, In heat p.nd dust part of the
time, often plagued at night by clouds
of mosquitoes. Our men endured the
penalties oi the Journey without com¬
ment. I do not recall that I ever
heard e/ven the weakest woman com¬
plain. Thus at last we reached the
South pass of the Rockies, not yet
hq-lf done our Journey, and entered
xipon that portion of the trail west of
the Rockies, which had still two moun¬
tain ranges to cross, and which was
even more apt to be Infested by the
hostile Indians. Even when we
reached the ragged trading post. Fort
Hall, we had still more than GOO miles
to go.
Ily this time our forces had wasted
as though under assault of arms. Far
back on the trail, many had been
forced to leave prized belongings, rel¬
ics, belrloomB, Implements, machinery,
all conveniences. The finest of ma¬
hogany blistered In the sun, aban-
i oned and unheeded. Our trail might
ave been followed by discarded Im¬
plements of agriculture, and by
jwhlteDed bones as well. Our footsore
teams, gaunt and weakened, began to
Jfalnt and fall. Horses and oxen died
In the harness or under the yoke, and
were perforce abandoned where they
fell. Each pound of superfluous weight
was cast away as our motive power
thus lessened. Wagons were aban¬
doned, goods were packed on horses,
oxen and cows.
1 We put cows into the yoke now. and
used women Instead of men on the
drivers’ seats, and boys who started
riding finished afoot.
Gaunt and brown and savage, hun¬
gry and grim, ragged, hatless. shoe¬
less, our cavalcade closed up and came
on. and so at last came through. Ere
autumn had yellowed all the foliage
back east in gentler climes, we crossed
the shoulders of the Blue mountains
and came Into the valley of the Walla
Walla; and so passed thence down the
Columbia to the valley of the Wil¬
lamette. $00 miles yet farther, where
there were then some slight centers
of our civilization which had gone for-
ward the year before.
Here were some few Americans. At
Champoeg, at the little American mis¬
sions. at Oregon City, and other scat¬
tered points, we met them, we hailed
and were hailed by them.
Measengers spread abroad the news
of the arrival of our wagon train,
Messengers, too, came down from the
Hudson bay posts to scan our equip-
meat and estimate our numbers. There
was no word obtainable from these of
any Canadian column of occupation to
the northward which had crossed at
the head of the Peace river or the
(Saskatchewan, or which lay ready at
the head waters of the Fraser or the
Columbia to come down to the lower
settlements for the purpose of bring-
Ing to an Issue, or making more dlffl-
cult, this question of the joint occu-
patty of Oregon. A» a matter of fact,
ultimately we won that tranacon-
tiaental race so decidedly that there
never was admitted to have been a
second.
So we took Oregon by the only law
of right. Our broken and weakened
cavalcade asked renewal from the soil
Itself. We ruffled no drum, fluttered
no flag, to take possession of the land.
Hu! the canvas covers of our
gave way 10 permanent roofa.
»« vad knewu a hundred
54 i* *
FIIGHT
BY EMERSON HOUGH
AUTHOR or THE MlfflfflPPI’BPBBW
ILIUJTRAnONy COPYRIOMT ly MAGNUT C.KJETTNER.
1909 HOBBS' - MBRRILt. COMWlW
now we lighted the fires of many hun¬
dred homes.
CHAPTER XXVI.
The Debated Country.
The world was sad, the garden was a
wild!
The man, the hermit, sighed—till woman
smiled! —Campbell.
Our army of peaceful occupation
scattered along the more fertile parts
of the land, principally among the
valleys., Of course, it should not be
forgotten that what was then called
Oregon meant all of what now la em¬
braced In Oregon, Washington and
Idaho, with part of Wyoming as well.
It extended south to the Mexican pos¬
sessions of California. How far north
It was to run. It wag my errand here
to learn.
I settled near the mouth of the Wil¬
lamette river, near Oregon City, and
not far from where the city of Port¬
land later was begun; and builded for
myself a little cabin of two rooms,
with a connecting roof. This I fur¬
nished, as did my neighbors their
similar abode, with a table made of
hewed puncheons, chairs sawed from
blocks, a bed framed from poles, on
which lay a rude mattress of husks
and straw.
From the eastern states I scarcely
could now hear In less than a year,
for another wagon train could not
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Our Men Endured the Penalties of the Journey Without Comment.
start west from the Missouri until the
following spring. We could only
guess how events were going forward
In our diplomacy.
The mild winter wore away, aud I
learned little. Spring came, and still
no word of any land expedition out of
Canada. We and the Hudson bay
folk still dwelt in peace. The flowers
began to bloom In the wild meads,
and the horses fattened on their na-
tive pastures.
Summer came on. The fields began
to whiten with the ripening grain. 1
grew uneasy, feeling myself only an
idler in a land so able to fend for
itself. I now was much disposed to
discuss means of getting back over
the long trail to the eastward, to
carry the news that Oregon was ours,
it was at this time that there occurred
a startling and decisive event,
I was on my way on a canoe voy-
^, e up the wide Columbia, not far
the point where It receives its
greatest lower tributary, the WU-
lamette, when all at once 1 heard the
g 0 und of a cannon shot. J. turned to
Bee the c l ou d of blue smoke still hang
j n g over the surface of the water,
Slowly there swung into view an
ocean going vessel under iteam and
auxiliary canvas. She made a gal-
lant spectacle. But whose ship was
she? I examined her colors anxiously
enough. I caught the import of her
ensign. She flew the British Union
Jack!
England had won the race by sea!
Something of the ship's outline
seemed to me familiar. I knew the
set of her short masts, the pitch of
her smoke-stacks, the number of hor
guns. Yes. she was the Modeste of
the English navy—the same ship
which more than a year before I had
seen at anchor off Montreal!
News travels fast in wild countries,
and it took us little time to learn the
destination of the Mode&te. She came
to anchor above Oregon City, and well
below Fort Vancouver. At once, of
course, her officers made formal calls
upon Or. McLaughlin, the factor at
Fort Vancouver, and accepted head of
the British elements thereabouts. Two
weeks passed in rumors and counter
rumors, and a vastly dangerous ten¬
sion existed in all the American set¬
tlements, because word was spread
that England had sent a ship to oust
us. Then came to myself and certain
others at Oregon City messengers
from peace-loving Or. McLaughlin,
asking us to join him In a little cele¬
bration In honor of the arrival of her
1 majesty’s vessel.
Here at last was news; but It was
news not wholly to my liking which I
soon unearthed. The Modeste was
but one ship of 15! A fleet of 15 ves¬
sels, 400 guns, then lay in Puget sound.
The watch-dogs of Great Britain were
at our doors. This question of mon-
arcby and the republic was not yet
nettled after all'
I pass the story of the banquet at
Fort _ . Vancouver, „ . because it .. is . im- „
pleasant . . to . recite .. the difficulties , tl of . „ a
kindly host who finds himself with
jarring elements at his board. Pre-
cisely this was the situation of white-
haired Dr. McLaughlin of Fort Van-
couver. It was an Incongruous as-
sembly In the first place. The officers
of the British navy attended in the
splendor of their uniforms, glittering
in braid and gold. Even Dr. McLaugh-
lin made brave display, as was bis
wont, In his regalia of dark blue cloth
an<^ shining buttons—his noble lea-
tures and long, snow-white hair m»
king him the most lordly figure of
them all. As for us Americans, lean
and brown, with hands hardened by
toil, our wardrobes scattered over ft
thousand miles of trail, buckskin
tunics made our coats, and moccasins
our hoots I have seen some noble
gentlemen so clad in my day.
It was, as may be supposed, late In
the night when our somewhat discord-
ant banqueting party broke up. We
were all housed, as was the hospitable
fashion of the country, 1n the scattered
log buildings which nearly always
hedge in a western fur-trading post.
The quarters assigned me lay across
! open space, or what might be
j ! couver, <' alled the flanked Parade by ground Dr. McLaughlin's of Fort Van
! little cannon.
As I made my way home, stumbling
among the stumps In the dark, I passed
{ many semi-drunken Indians and voy-
ageurs, to whom special liberty had
been accorded in view of the occasion.
all of them now engaged in singing
the praises of the "King George" men
as against the "Bostons."
I was almost at my cabin door at
the edge of the forest frontage at the
rear of the old post, when l caught
zlimoie. in the dim light, of a hurry-
w i r
.
*
if
t»«
fng figure, which in some w»y seemed
to be different from the blanket-cov- j
ered squaw 3 who stalked here and :
there about the post grounds, She
passed steadily on toward a long and
low log cabin, located a short dis-
tance beyond the quarters which had :
been to assigned the to me. I saw her step j
up door and heard her knock; 1
then there came a flood of light—more
light than was usual in the opening
door of a frontier cabin. This dis-
played the figure of the night walker,
showing her tall and gaunt and a little
stooped; so that, after all, I took her
to he only one of our American fron¬
tier women, being quite sure that she
was not Indian or half-breed.
This emboldened me, on a mere
chance—an act whose mental origin 1
could not have traced—to step up to
the door after it had been closed, and
myself to knock thereat.
l heard women's voices within, and
as T knocked the door opened Just a
trifle on its chain. I saw appear at
the crack ;he face of the woman
whom I had followed.
She was, as I had believed, old and
wrinkled, and her face now, seen
plo « e - was as mysterious, dark arid in-
scrutable as that of any Indian
3quaw ’ ^ er hair {eU heav >’ and SW
across her forehead, and her eyes were
small and dark as those .. of a nat re
woman. Yet, as she stood there with
the light streaming upon her, I saw
something in her face which made me
puzzle, ponder and start—and put my
foot within the crack of the door.
"Threlka,” I said quietly, "tell
madam the baroness it is I, Mons,
Trist of Washington.”
CHAPTER XXVII.
In the Cabin of Madam.
Woman must not belong to herself; she
Is bound to alien destinies.—Friedrich von
Schiller.
With an exclamation of surprise the
old woman departed from the door. I
heard the rustle of a footfall. 1 could
have told in advance what face would
now appear outlined In the candlo
glow—with eyes wide and startled,
with Ups half parted In query. It was
the face of Helena, Raroness voa
Rltz!
"Eh bien! madam, why do you bar
me out?" I said, ns though we had
parted but yesterday.
In her sheer astonishment, I pro-
surae, she let down the fastening
chain, and without her invitation l
stepped within. I heard her startled
“Mon Dieu!” then her more deliberate
exclamation of emotion. “My God!"
she said. She stood, with her hand 3
caught at her throat, staring at me. I
laughed and held out a hand
"Madam baroness,” I said, "how
glad I am! Come, has not fate beeu
kind to us again?"
1 pushed shut the door behind me.
Still without a word, she stepped
deeper into th^ room and stood look-
ing at me, her hands clasped now
loosely and awkwardly, as though sha
were a country girl surprised, and aot
the Baroness Helena von Rltz, toist
or talk of more than one < pita) of
the world.
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
WHERE MAN IS NOT MASTEil
Unable to Discover Secret of Avoiding
That Troublesome Cold in
the Head.
Man, says Perslus, Is a very nobis
piece of work, and is Indeed king of
kings except at those times when ha
is troubled with a cold In his head.
If it be not Perslus. it was Horace or
Juvenal.
It is a fact of great Interest that
they are so common. Other epIdemU
diseases—measles, typhoid, scarlet fe-
ver. diphtheria— may get bold on us
once and there is an end; it Is not
usual to have any of them twice. lVs
brew In our blood immunity. The pol-
son of the disease evokes in us
Its proper antidote; our blood
cells make a sort of natural
; antitoxin and keep it in stock.
so that we are henceforth protected
against the disease. A well-vaccinated
i nurse, for instance, works with saTety
in <t smallpox hospital, where the vety
. air is infective: but her blood was so
changed by vaccination that the small-
pox cannot affect her. By scarlet le¬
' ver. again we are. as it were, varcl-
nated against scarlet ferer—the reac-
"on of our blood against the disease
immunizes us. No such result follows
; influenza or a common cold; we brew
nothing that is permanent; we are
Just as susceptible to a later Invasion
as we were to the invasion that la just
over,
. The Mean Thing,
The Suffragette (smilingly) —Won't
you ,j 0 something to help our good
j cause along. Mr Goodcraft?
; jj r Goodcraft—I'd like very much
, 0 do one thing for ycu. but 1 fear
|t'g impossible.
The Suffragette—T—ut! tut! Noth-
Ing's impossible—what would you like
to do for us?
Mr. Goodgraft—Endow a fww cell*
in your favorite prisonal
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I H. J. PEAGLER, President J. F. HUGHES, Cashier
W. T. DICKERSON, Vice President
Bank of Homerville
HOMERVILLE, GEORGIA
Capital and Surplus $30,000
i DIRECTORS
H. J. Peagier, W. T. Dickerson, R. G. Dickerson,
H. J. Dame, Geo. M. Dame, D. E. Kirkland,
S. A. Sweat, F. B. Sirmans, J. T. Dame.
This bank solicits the accounts of individuals,
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