Mary E. Ropes

“ The sun had gone down, the soft twilight was stealing over sea and sky, and close to him was a vessel, a good-sized schooner, laden with timber; even her decks were piled with it.
The skipper, a fat, red-headed, freckled man, with kind, blue eyes and a big voice, was looking over the ship's side at the poor solitary waif, in the oarless, sail-less boat, while another man threw a rope to Tad and called to him to catch hold. The boy had just sense enough to obey, and the sailor drew the boat close, and in a minute or two Tad was safe on the deck of the schooner. ”

“ CHAPTER V. STEPAN MAKES COFFEE.
"BAH!" said Stepan, moving not a muscle as Gavril brandished the great axe over his head. "It seems to me that, for a man no longer in his first youth, thou art passing foolish. Hast thou not sin enough yet upon thy soul but thou must add murder to thy wrongdoings? In truth, Red-scar, thou hast much to learn, and thou wilt one day learn thy last lesson too late, with a noose about thy neck." ”

“ Amid the noise of the rude, angry voices and the heavy blows of the axe, Blonda's clear voice sounded strangely calm and sweet.
"Great Father, Thou knowest that we are in fear, and are sore beset this night. Our other father is away, and the evil men would steal this treasure, which is not ours, but meant only for Thy poor and hungry ones. We cry to Thee for help. Show us what to do; send Thine angel to deliver us; take care of us, and likewise of this bag, for Christ's sake, Amen." ”

“ Beach's niece, Mabel Raye, whom the aunt had brought up from a child.
She was a very handsome girl, one of those dark beauties who light up into positive brilliance under strong excitement, and who reward a tasteful and painstaking maid by looking their very best when they emerge from her beautifying hands into the bright light of a ballroom. But Mabel's mother had been a Creole, and with the glorious dark eyes and beautiful features, the girl had inherited the hot blood, the passionate, vindictive temper, the unreasoning jealousy, of the darker race. ”

“ It was after three o'clock in the morning by Alf's watch when, in the middle of a pine forest, Red-scar pulled up the panting horse before the door of a rude shanty, a woodman's log hut, built of whole pines roughly trimmed with an axe, and with the crevices stuffed with moss and lichen.
Out of a chimney smoke curled upwards in fantastic shapes, and dispersed in the wintry sky.
"Get down," said Red-scar. He had scrambled out of the driver's narrow seat, and now threw back the furred apron that had protected his young passengers. ”

“ Renard waited quietly for a minute or two, furtively watching the boy's face. Tad glanced round and saw him, and recoiled from him as from some poisonous reptile. Indeed his fear of the man was so real that he hesitated to say the words which would pledge him to this new and strange service. Perhaps after all he would have decided to return with Jeremiah Jackson to England, had not Phil, the organ boy, gazed wistfully up into Tad's eyes, whispering "Do—do join us! I'm that lonely and desp'rate as I don't know how to bear myself." ”

“ For shame! How canst thou?" said the little girl indignantly. "Think but how faithful, how loyal he has been for years to our pastor! And besides, Tonie, would God have sent us a bad angel in answer to our prayer? Nay—if our earthly parents, as Jesus says, could never give us a stone when we ask for bread, is it likely that the loving Father in Heaven would send us a curse instead of a blessing, when we cried to Him for help? Nay, Tonie, I have full faith in poor Freskel, and I would answer for his honesty with my life."
"Poor Freskel thanks and blesses thee for that, Blonda!" ”

“ Margie had always told herself that she loved Harry Mayne as a dear brother, and she felt that she was well within her duties and privileges as sister, if she strongly resented his being badly treated by any one. She felt as if somehow she were responsible for Fay's good faith, and she was bitterly ashamed that the girl whom Harry loved, and who had confessed her love for him in return, should be suspected—with more or less reason—of disloyalty to one so whole-hearted and true as Harry. ”

“ And the child's voice broke, and her eyes filled with tears.
"Dad's not often nice to anyone," said Gerald after a brief pause; "but he was to her. If he'd been half as good to Brother Bob, he'd have been here now."
"Poor dear Brother Bob!" sighed Dina. "There's nothing now to keep him from going to the bad," and the little girl turned away sad at heart, and wandered off alone, brooding over the sorrow which had already come into her young life.
The next day the children had lessons all the morning, at which Miss Burnard showed herself an interesting teacher. ”

“ As the children neared the island they slackened their pace.
"I wonder," said Tonie, "if there is any truth in the old tradition about this place! Think, Blonda, what it would be if thou and I could but light upon the treasure hidden so long! How rich we should be, and how happy! And—"
"Hush, hush, Tonie; speak not so," cried Blonda. "If gold lies buried in that island, there let it lie for me! ”

“ The hot, indignant blood surged into poor Margie's face, and she looked appealingly at her mistress.
"Mabel," said the old lady sternly, "I cannot have you speak thus to any one in my house. And until you have proved, to my entire satisfaction, that Margery is guilty of this crime, you will please be good enough to treat her as the innocent girl I believe her to be."
"She has befooled every one in this house except myself," cried Mabel; "but I am not so easily deceived. I demand that her room shall be searched, every possible hole and corner looked into, and I will abide by the result." ”

“ IT was the month of January, and the keen Russian winter had wrapped the woods and marshes in a snowy garment, and put the rivers in prison behind thick panes of ice glass, and dressed up the tall pines and firs till they looked like sheeted ghosts under the cold starlight.
But in Mr. John Oliver's roomy wooden house, standing on ground somewhat raised, and overlooked by the huge chimneys of a big mineral oil factory, was perfect warmth and comfort, for the great stoves built into the walls of the room, and faced with white glazed tiles, kept the whole place of an equal temperature. ”

“ With their master they spoke the English tongue, and a hard, jaw-breaking, cursed language it is too. One of the boys was little with a pale face, and the other taller, with a big round head like one of thine own pumpkins, Claudine. Ah, let me but catch them, the young monkeys! And in the space of ten minutes, no one should know them for the same children."
To this the woman made no reply that the lads could hear; but they had heard enough to make them look at each other in renewed fear and horror.
"We can't stay here another moment, Phil," whispered Tad. "We must go." ”

“ Ah, Freskel, this love of money—this clinging to wealth—makes it very hard to follow Jesus. Our Lord goes before us, and the path is often rugged, and hills are steep, and the snares and pitfalls of the way are many; and yet we try to toil along after Him, dragging with us our heavy chains of gold and our burden of precious things, and we see not that while we are greedily clutching what we already have, or are eagerly searching for fresh treasure, the Lord passes on and is no more seen of us, the example of Jesus is forgotten, His love and favour are no longer the one thing needful for us. ”

“ Our fitter and friend, Stepan, says that Sharik is like a human being for sense, and like an angel for temper."
"Your fitter and friend, Stepan, young gentlemen?" exclaimed the man, who had hitherto kept his face away from the light, and had stolen only a glance or two at the young visitors.
"Yes, knowest thou him?" cried Alf. "We thought him at first our enemy, like Anton and Gavril of the Red-scar; but afterwards, he proved himself our friend."
"Yes," put in Bert, "and he would fain have come homeward with us, but that he felt he must go and seek his brother in prison, and see how he fared." ”

“ The bread and meat had been eaten, and the first hunger being appeased, Tad had once more fallen into a brown study, out of which he was roused only when the poor little organ lad and his monkey had come quite near, and were casting longing glances upon the dumpling which Tad held—only half folded in paper—in his hand.
The mute language of want is one which the eyes speak very plainly. At least this language is plain enough to those who have suffered from hunger, and Tad knew only too well what it was to be hungry. ”

“ And, moreover, we have an old grudge against thy father, Tonie, seeing that he is a friend of that meddling old pastor, Bertholm Oshart, and if thou do not our bidding, we are ready for revenge. But I waste time in parleying with thee. Once more, wilt thou open to us?"
"We have orders to open to none to-night, and we cannot choose but obey," replied Tonie firmly.
"It is so," said Blonda; "we are but children, and we cannot choose but obey."
There was the sound of a muttered oath from Dorlat, and an impatient exclamation from Hervitz. ”

“ The sudden shock, the heavy blow of shame and grief, brought on a severe illness which kept her in hospital for weeks, and it was when she emerged from the sick ward, a mere shadow of her former self, that she sent, in her sorrow and despair, the pathetic telegram to her aunt, though she hardly expected such generous forgiveness, such a hearty welcome. But the pride and the haughtiness were all gone, gone with the beauty and the passion and the longing for the love of Nicholas Beach. ”

“ Run! Run for your lives!"
And, knowing that they were running for their lives, away went the twins, like leaves driven by a gale; away, as with winged feet, towards the gate, while thundering after them and gaining at every stride, galloped Nero, Farmer Donn's fierce black bull.
"It's no good!" gasped Gerald after a minute or two of hard running. "I can't keep this up. I'm just done."
Geraldine snatched at his hand. She was both stronger and fleeter than her brother, and her little bare feet trod lightly and swiftly over the wet grass.
"Hold up another minute, Gerry!" she panted. ”

“ A pale, dark-eyed, sad-faced woman answered the timid knock at the door which Tad gave.
"What would you, my children?" she asked gently. "You look weary and ill. What ails you? Tell me!" And her kind eyes rested with a wondering pity upon Phil, whose thin, patient, white little face appealed to her motherly heart.
"We are starving, madame," said Tad, in the queer French he had picked up during his short stay in France; "and we have not a sou to buy bread. Will you, of your goodness, give us something to eat, that we may have strength to pursue our journey?" ”

“ But before I speak to thee further about thine own faults, Freskel, I would ask what makes thee think that thou hast found the ancient treasure of the legend? Were the coins very old and barbarous looking?"
"No, my father; they are even like the gold and silver of our own country."
"Strange!" muttered Pastor Oshart to himself. "That can be no ancient hoard."
"And thou hast not a single coin that thou couldst show me, Freskel?"
"Not one, my father. All were beneath the stone, and all have gone. And yet I was there only last night, and from the island I saw Blonda and Tonie skating on the lake. ”

“ Colouring deeply, she hastily gathered all her things together and hurried out of the room.
"Now we're alone, you might apologise, I think, for being so rude to me," suggested Mabel. "For people who are as good as engaged, I must say we behave queerly; or, at least, you do. I've a good mind to break with you for good and all."
"Well, do, and get done with it," said Nicholas savagely. "I'm sick of having it held over me as a threat. If you're so precious jealous now, what would you be if we were married?"
"Oh, Nick dear!" said Mabel, her voice trembling, her eyes filling with tears. ”

“ The good old man did not for one moment believe that any treasure existed at all on the island, save in the imagination of a few foolish or idle people. But he dreaded—and rightly—the strength of an absorbing, covetous passion on such a mind as that of poor Freskel, which was only too apt to lend itself to delusions of all sorts.
"Father," said Blonda to Grubert one afternoon as she sat down to her loom, "Father, hadst thou any special need for some of this linen last night or this morning?" ”

“ The children were already asleep in the waggons. A few of the women took out their knitting and worked their long needles rapidly, the bright steel gleaming in the fitful flare of the firelight. The men fed their horses, for there was not grass enough for their food, and went round looking for more wood to feed the fire, or sat in the circle, shaping garden sticks and broom-handles to sell at the fair.
As for Tad and Phil, when there seemed to be nothing further for them to do, they came and joined the cosy party round the fire, seating themselves between kind old Sophie and Pelagie. ”

“ Enough that Margie's ship has come home with joy and love, and that we can trust, as she does, all future voyages in the never-erring hands of the Master Pilot, knowing that all will—nay, must—be well for her both in this world and beyond, in that other, where there is no more sea. ”

“ And in a moment the young riders understood what had thrilled their brave little steed with fear.
"Wolves?" questioned Bert in a husky voice.
"Yes," replied Alf; "but not many of them yet; not enough to be dangerous. We may be able to get to some place where we can be safe before there are more of them. They haven't sounded their hunting-cry yet."
"Oh, Alf!" sighed poor Bert, "I never thought of such a thing as this! It's too dreadful."
"Go on, Sharik!" cried Alf, pressing his heels against the pony's fat sides. "You can gallop when you choose, and you, Bert, sit tight!" ”

“ If He takes from us that which we love, why is it, but that our hearts may cling to Him rather than to that which cannot help us. Tell me, Freskel, hast thou been happy all this time since the secret hoard became thine?"
"Happy? Oh, no," replied the lad, "for I was ever in fear."
"But the real treasure," said Pastor Oshart, "the blessing of God, maketh rich, and He addeth no sorrow—no, nor fear which hath torment. ”

“ As he came nearer, he saw that the gleam of colour was the corner of a red bandanna kerchief tied round something, in the form of a bundle. But as the boy—cramped and stiff with lying for twelve hours in damp things—stooped painfully to examine the bundle, the dog leaped past him, and lay down by the rock with his forepaws on the knot of the kerchief. Made bold by hunger, and feeling sure the bundle contained food, Tad laid his hand upon it and tried to lift it, but as he did so, the dog growled and showed his teeth. ”

“ Bread, cheese, a small kettle and tin of tea, and a few lumps of sugar, an axe, and his own revolver. The food he divided into two portions, one for himself, one for the children, all but the parcel of tea and sugar, which he gave to them just as it was.
"You may get up now," he whispered to Alf and Bert, as his preparations neared completion; "get up and put on your furs; and you," he added to Alf, "see to the pony. No," he said, with a smile, as the lad's eyes turned with fear to the snoring Gavril; "you need have no misgiving. He will not wake for hours. ”

“ Mrs. Beach rang the bell, and when it was answered by the housemaid, she said, "Send Margery Grayling to me, if Miss Raye can spare her for a few minutes."
Mabel was just going to leave the room, but her aunt said, "Don't go, Mabel. You have been laying this sin to the girl's charge; now you must accuse her to her face. It is only fair to Margery."
"You have more consideration for that shameless creature than for your own niece," said Mabel angrily.
But Mrs. Beach made no answer to this, and after a few minutes' silence, Margie entered. ”

“ The younger lad caught Tad's arm with a look of fear and horror. "Are you crazy, Tad?" he whispered. "Do you want to be as wicked as he is? After standin' out agen bein' burglars, are we goin' to be common thieves! Think, Tad—only think a moment! You must be well-nigh off your head, dear old boy, to speak of such a thing."
"But we may never have such a chance again, Phil," said Tad.
"Yes, that's true; and so let's clear out, and run away from Foxy. Better starve or die of cold alone and out in the open than live longer with this brute. Come, Tad—come quick, afore he wakes up." ”

“ It seemed to come from Blonda's room upstairs.
"What is that?" cried Tonie. "Surely the men have not got in through thy window?"
But the words were scarcely spoken when flying down the steep, narrow staircase came the lithe form of Freskel Valden.
"Question me not," he muttered hoarsely. "We have but a moment. Hast thou got the money, Blonda? It is well; then follow me. If but we can win forth out of these four walls, Nature shall keep the treasure for us."
So saying, Freskel led the way to the back door, and, stooping, listened intently with his ear to the key-hole. ”