Pembina

“ Some women came in from the Pembina Mountains, bringing a pack of prime beaver which they were taking to the X. Y. post on the Scratching to pay their men's debt. We had a hut in the mountains and a small assortment of goods to catch the Cree and Assiniboin as well as the Chippewa trade. Had there been any chance of honourably trading for the pack, our men would have done so. ”

“ It is a muddy and sluggish stream, navigable to the mouth of Sioux Wood River for vessels of three feet draught for four months in the year. So that the extent of its navigation within the territory alone (between Pembina and the mouth of Sioux Wood River) is 417 miles. Buffaloes still feed on its western banks. Its tributaries are numerous and copious, abounding with the choicest kinds of game, and skirted with a various and beautiful foliage. It cannot be many years before this magnificent valley shall pour its products into our markets, and be the theatre of a busy and genial life. ”

“ Head chief of the Pembinas, residing at Turtle Mountain, in Dakota. His father and grandfather were chiefs of the same band before him. Took an active part against the Sioux in the Minnesota massacres in 1863. Visited Washington in 1874, at the head of a delegation in behalf of their bands, to protest against being removed from their old homes about Turtle Mountain.
1002. Mis-to-ya-be. Little Bull.Pembina.
Head brave of the Pembinas, and resides at Pembina. Is a man of considerable influence, his word being law with his band. Has good common sense and fine executive ability. ”

“ Those who had neither the money nor the credit to buy provisions, followed hunters afield. The snow was late in falling, but the winter had set in bitterly cold. There was neither canoeing nor sleighing. Over the wind-swept plains trudged the colonists, ill-clad against such cold, [145] camping at nights in the hospitable tepee of wandering Indians or befriended with a chance meal by passing hunters. At Pembina log cabins with sod roofs were knocked up for wintering quarters, and the place was called Fort Daer after one of Selkirk’s names. ”

“ At each of these places are men and women looking eternally for those who will surely come. So Pambe waited at the docks. Time was no object to him; and the wives could wait, as he did from day to day, week to week, and month to month, by the Blue Diamond funnels, the Red Dot smoke-stacks, the Yellow Streaks, and the nameless dingy gypsies of the sea that loaded and unloaded, jostled, whistled, and roared in the everlasting fog. When money failed, a kind gentleman told Pambe to become a Christian ”

“ So the priest talked a little, learned nothing, gave some advice, recommended himself to her prayers, gave her his benediction, and went. Then Pepina called her to see the trunk all packed with linen that had been laid by for her for years, and Matteo, who had really been lurking about the house, told her to go to bed, and himself really went off this time to the Lungara. Pepina’s lover came for her to sit out on the doorstep with him, and Silvia was left alone. Nobody cared for her. ”

“ For a moment Beppina stood drinking in the freshness of the lovely spring morning, then, stepping softly to the door of her room, she opened it cautiously and peered into the dark corridor. She listened; there was not a sound in the house except the gurgle of a distant snore.
“Ah, that Teresina!” murmured Beppina to herself. “She sleeps like a kettle boiling! First the lid rattles, then there is a whistle like the steam. Why does she not put corks in her nose at night and shut the noise up inside of her?”
She slipped silently into the hall and listened at the door of Beppo’s room. ”

“ Peppina is the second maid, and as arrant a coquette as lives in all Italy. Her picture has been painted on more than one fisherman’s sail, for it is rumoured that she has been six times betrothed and she is still under twenty. The unscrupulous little flirt rids herself of her suitors, after they become a weariness to her, by any means, fair or foul, and her capricious affections are seldom good for more than three months. Her own loves have no deep roots, but she seems to have the power of arousing in others furious jealousy and rage and a very delirium of pleasure. ”

“ Then Pepin jumped from his seat, rushed into the arena, and with a thrust of his sword killed the lion.
In the early years of Pepin’s rule as mayor of the palace the throne was occupied by a king named Childeric (Chil’-der-ic) III. Like his father and the other “do-nothing” kings, Childeric cared more for pleasures and amusements than for affairs of government. Pepin was the real ruler, and after a while he began to think that he ought to have the title of king, as he had all the power and did all the work of governing and defending the kingdom. ”

“ This guide was our friend Peppino, who dashed into the thicket of high weeds, through a path which none but lizards or weasels could have imagined to be an open road.
Peppino stopped before a rock overhung by thick hedges; the rock, with its half-hidden opening, afforded a passage to the young man, who disappeared like the evil spirits of fairy dramas into their traps. The voice and gesture of the man who followed Danglars ordered him to do the same. ”

“ In Pimminee were no hilarious running and shouting: none of the royal good cheer of old Borabolla; none of the mysteries of Maramma; none of the sentiment and romance of Donjalolo; no rehearsing of old legends: no singing of old songs; no life; no jolly commotion: in short, no men and women; nothing but their integuments; stiff trains and farthingales. ”

“ At this rather impertinent order, Peppino raised his torch to the face of Danglars, who hastily withdrew that he might not have his eyelashes burnt. His agitated features presented the appearance of pale and hideous terror. "The man is tired," said the captain, "conduct him to his bed." ”

“ Beppo sent a stinging reproof in verse to Peppina by the new gardener, and the Little Genius read it to us, to show the poetic instinct of the discarded lover, and how well he had selected his rebuke from the store of popular verses known to gondoliers and fishermen of Venice:—
“No te fidar de l’ albaro che piega,
Ne de la dona quando la te giura.
La te impromete, e po la te denega;
No te fidar de l’ albaro che piega.”
(“Trust not the mast that bends.
Trust not a woman’s oath;
She’ll swear to you, and there it ends,
Trust not the mast that bends.”) ”

“ I was not, however, going to be baulked of my intention by any superstitious feeling on the part of an Italian cab-driver, so I ordered Peppino to tie up his horse and come with me into the palace. This modest request, however, so horrified Peppino that he absolutely squeaked with horror, like a rabbit caught in a snare.
"I, Signore!" he whimpered, touching the relic on his breast. "Dio! not to be King of Italy would I go into that house! If you are wise, Signore, look and come away lest evil befall you. Cospetto! Signore, remember the Frate. Think of Madonna Matilda!" ”

“ Beppina clutched Beppo’s arm as they were pushed along by a fat man behind them. “We must find Teresina!” she shouted in his ear.
“We can’t get back!” Beppo shouted in reply, punching the fat man in the stomach with his elbow and pulling Beppina closer to his side; “and besides,” he went on in a lower key, “I’m glad to get away from her. We’ll have a good time by ourselves and go home when we get ready without being followed around by a nurse like two babies.”
“What will Mammina say?” gasped Beppina. ”

“ The man gathered up his reins, and, by some sleight-of-hand, the jaded horse which drew the botte was suddenly transformed into a fine Roman steed, the botte itself into a light carriage as swift as the Tuscan carrozzelle, and the whole disappeared in a cross street, while Peppino said to himself:
“There is a fine fellow who would do so much better to remain with his friend Ardea than to go whither he is going. This affair will end in a duel. ”

“ A Sicilian story in Gonzenbach, No. 16, "The Story of the Merchant's Son Peppino," is a very close counterpart of "The King of Love," above given. Peppino is wrecked on a rock in the sea; the rock opens, fair maidens come out and conduct Peppino to a beautiful castle in the cave. There a maiden visits him at night only. After a time Peppino wishes to see his parents, and his wife allows him to depart, with the promise to return at a certain date. His parents, after hearing his story, give him a candle with which to see his wife. Everything happens as in the first story ”

“ They will keep us like slaves to work for them! If we want to see our home again, we must obey everything they say, no matter how hard. Then some day, when they aren’t watching, we will run away. Only not in these mountains! We should only die of hunger and be eaten by the wolves.”
Beppina shuddered. “Oh, Beppo,” she sobbed, “there is a lump in my throat as big as an egg! I cannot swallow it. When I think of Mammina, it seems to me I shall die!”
Beppo gave her a little shake. “But you must be brave,” he said. “Every day we will have a word together, and soon our chance will come.” ”

“ Percy Mardner poured out a great deal of whisky and a very little soda-water. The glass clattered against his teeth as he drank. Then he wiped his ragged moustache with his hand and resumed with more confidence of manner.
"Thank you, Mr. Pembridge; that's done me good. Ill tell you the business at once; only don't send me away until I've told you the story as well. The business is buried treasure—money buried in a little piece of land that is for sale at this moment."
"Ah!" said Pembridge reflectively. "You seem a particularly candid person. ”

“ The clerk seized his pen, and Peppino his beads; one was writing and the other praying when the door opened. Danglars looked radiant with joy; the banker accompanied him to the door. Peppino followed Danglars.
According to the arrangements, the carriage was waiting at the door. The guide held the door open. Guides are useful people, who will turn their hands to anything. Danglars leaped into the carriage like a young man of twenty. The cicerone reclosed the door, and sprang up by the side of the coachman. Peppino mounted the seat behind. ”

“ When Carloman became a monk (747) , Pepin was left as the sole ruler of all France, but still under a phantom Merovingian king. In 751, with the consent of the Franks in their annual assembly, two churchmen were sent to Rome to ask Pope Zacharias, acting in the capacity of an international arbiter, whether the real king ought not to take the name of king. The Pope answered in the affirmative, and thus authorised the usurpation. [304:2] Thus a new prerogative of the Holy See came into active existence. The next year the assembly of Soissons elected Pepin and his wife King and Queen of France. ”

“ Next morning, when the prince arrived to claim his bride, he found her wrapped in a large white veil. “It is so that maidens are received from their parents’ hands,” said the mother, who hoped to make the king’s son marry Peppina in place of her sister, and had fastened the donkey’s tail round her head like a lock of hair under the veil. The prince was young and a little timid, so he made no objections, and seated Peppina in the carriage beside him. ”

“ Ambermere?" asked Peppino.
"The smoking-parlour?" asked she. "How very strange to lay tea in a smoking-room."
Peppino explained that nobody had in all probability used the smoking-parlour to smoke in for five or six years.
"Oh, if that is so, I will come," said she. "Better bring Pug along, too, Miss Lyall. There is a croquet-hoop. I am glad I saw it or I should have stumbled over it perhaps. Oh, this is the smoking-parlour, is it? Why do you have rushes on the floor? Put Pug in a chair, Miss Lyall, or he may prick his paws. Books, too, I see. That one lying open is an old one. ”

“ Of the world’s censure! What you call my soul
Flees as a shy girl that escapes pursuit.
BONIFACE.
Take your shame meekly. Do not let your eyes
Grow wild and hostile!
[Boniface, who has seen Pepin approaching, withdraws to the back of the hall, stands before the Crucifix in mute prayer, and then passes out, looking back at the brothers. Pepin is a short, stout man, with florid complexion and much vehemence of manner. He wipes the perspiration from his face and addresses Carloman without looking at him.]
{6}
PEPIN.
Woden, what a sight! ”

“ The Pampa plains, immense and limitless, those mysterious sea-like horizons of the solid land, stimulate the fancy like the unknown, and cause her to express herself in glowing language and exaggerated ideas. ”

“ Oh, if Teresina could have heard that! Here were people who thought him quite big enough to lead a live bear, while she—and Mammina, too, for that matter—thought he still should be followed by a nurse!
Beppo leaped boldly forward, though Beppina tried to hold him back, and, seizing the bear’s rope, marched proudly along behind the van. The woman laughed and clapped her hands. “Bravo, bravo!” she cried. Then, turning to the panic-stricken Beppina, she said comfortingly: “The old Ugolone will not hurt him. He is very old and as tame as a kitten. ”

“ Well—my cousin Vassia was a warder, and he bribed Pamphil's warder with my gold cross (which had been in our family for eighty years) to let my husband escape. Pamphil came straight here to me.
"My father is a woodman, and this is his hut where he sleeps when he is wood-cutting. Here we are safe. And now and then, I go to our village for flour, and salt, and butter and tea, and Pamphil sometimes snares a hare or shoots a bird, and so we manage to live. ”

“ He has blent his tattooing into one mass of blue, and thus disguised, must have palmed himself off here in Pimminee, for the man he is not. But I see many more like him."
"Oh ye Tapparians," said Babbalanja, "none so easily humbugged as humbugs. Taji: to behold this folly makes one wise. Look, look; it is all round us. Oh Pimminee, Pimminee!" ”