Democratic Sentinel, Volume 10, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 February 1886 — A TALE OF THE RED PIKE. [ARTICLE]

A TALE OF THE RED PIKE.

“I thought I should find you with the girls, Mr. Godwin. You should have been with us. We’ve had such a scramble over the Honister Crag, and brought back no end of flowers for Gertrude. But one thing I must say, that fellow Losford is a jolly muff, though he doesn’t look it. Just a funk, girls, and nothing else. Will you give me soimp’ea, Mrs. Godwin?” “What nonsense you talk, Bob!” cried his sister, conscious by some feminine instinct that her friend’s face was hotter than a moment before; “you are a nerfect mauvaisen* funt bursting in like that. I wish Mr. Losford would teach you manners.” “I’d like to see him try. It would take a pluckier man than ho is. Why, he wouldn’t come within yards of the edge, Mrs. Godwin!” “He showed his usual good sense, Master Robert,” was that lady’s tart reply. She had her reasons for looking favorably upon Walter Losford, of Losford Court, Monmouthshire, by no means least honored guest at Mr. Godwin’s lake villa. -And they were a very cheery and pleasant party, the pleasantest set, Gertrude ■thought, that her mother had ever got together, and Gertrude was a young lady of •decided tastes and somewhat difficult to please. Even Bob Marston, when he was not talking nonsense and appearing where he was not wanted at inopportune moments, was as amusing as any other Eton hoy. Nevertheless, at this moment two people at least were ardently longing to make his cars tingle. “And what is the programme for to-mor-row, Mr. Godwin?” resumed the young gentleman, not a whit daunted by the unfavorable reception of his last remark. “Can we picnic on the Red Pike? It would he jolly fun.” The host hummed and hawed; he rather preferred an open-air entertainment at a place accessible in an open carriage. But if you have a house among the mountains, up them you must go. The climbing disease is infectious, and there is no evading it until by a permanent residence you become proof against its attacks. Mr. Godwin would have to succumb sooner or later. “Yes, Bob,” said Gertrude, suddenly laying down the fan with which she was playing, “we will go to the Red Pike to-mor-row.” And Boh, who thought he had rather put his foot in it, as he would say, was comforted, for he knew that to the Red Pike he ■Vould go. Gertrude’s face, as she went up to dress for dinner, was thoughtful. “He showed his usual good sense,” Mrs. Godwin had said, and the words kept ringing in her daughter’s ears until her lip began to curl with scorn. If there was one thing which ■Gertrude admired it was courage. Was she beginning to like a man who could be called ■a coward even by a boy? And the insinuation chimed in with other things. Walter Losford was hardly one to please a romantic girl at first sight. Cold, sensible, and wanting in enthusiasm even in his ambition, trying nearly everything by the arguments of reason, he would have made a just and not too merciful judge. And yet when Gertrude met him at dinner the hauteur she assumed melted away, and she blushed and smiled at his glance; for what is so fascinating as the homage of one who seems utterly careless of all besides? The Red Pike was red indeed in the evening sunlight, every cliff that buttressed its rugged top burnished to ruddiness, and yet the party lingered, reluctant to abandon the view of the sea and land from Forth to Windermere that held them entranced. It was Bob only who was on the move, skirmishing about untiringly. “I say, Gertrude, here’s a specimen for you! It is a blue gentian growing on this cliff, and a rare good climb it will be to get it.” The party hastened to the edge of the •cliff. In a cranny of the rock about twelve feet down grew the flower Gertrude had been longing to find. A slight opening in the wall of the cliff made it just feasible, if 'Somewhat dangerous, to reach it. “Robert, don’t go too near!” cried Mrs. Godwin. Gerture turned, with her face a little flushed, to Losford. “Can you get it for me Mr. Losford?” ishe said, gently. “Not without a rope,” he answered, calmly. “We will bring one to-morrow.” “To-morrow!” cried Gertrude, with sudden heat. “I want it now. Bob would get it for me in a moment, if I asked him, Mr. Losford.” “Bob’s head is steadier than mine, perhaps,” the other said. He was in no way discomposed until, as he finished, his eyes met the girl’s full of -contempt and anger. Stung by the look he made a hasty step toward the edge of the cliff and bent down to make the attempt. a moment he remained in that position, theh, with a quick shudder, he recoiled, white to the lips. “I can’t get it for you,” he said, hoarsely, -falling back, while the others looked at one in astonishment.

“And quite right, too, Mr. Losford; don’t try it, I beg,” cried Mrs. Godwin, loudly. Loudly, but not so that he failed to hear the word “Coward!” or to distinguish the tone of contempt in which it fell from her daughter’s lips. The next instant he was his old calm self again, but he knew that he had his dismissal.

As for the hit of blue gentian, Boh brought it up in a twinkling, and chattered on in such a way as to earn every one’s gratitude. Yet it was a dull party that wended its way down the hill, the littie blue gentian nestling in Gertrude’s fair hair, much to her mother’s disgust. If it was only an awkward hour at dinner that Mrs. Goodwin feared, fate was to save her hospitality from—to do her justice—an unwanted slur. “Where is Robert?” she asked pettishly, after helping the soup. “Do you know, Violet?” Miss Marston did not. Bob was not wont to he punctual, and she was about to say so, when the butler entered hastily and whispered something in his master’s ear. Mr. Godwin rose quickly, saying: “My dear, this is bad news. There has been a fall at the lead works.” “How unfortunate. I am thankful the men were not at work! Or, even worse, we might have been viewing them, as Robert has been plaguing us to do. and been all crushed together, like any common laborers. But where can Robert be?” Here the butler spoKe:

“I fear, ma’am, that Master Robert—leastwise ho went that way when he came back —is in there, and John has gone to the village for help.” The gentlemen rose and hurried from the room; but almost as soon as they reached the scene the women were there too. The hoy’s sister could not be restrained, and Mrs. Godwin signed to Gertrude to let her go. Anything was better than inaction.

Mr. Godwin’s wad-hole and works were hardly a quarter of a mile from the house, though hidden by a shoulder of the hill. He guessed at once that the hoy had taken the key that he might exhibit to the ladies the wonders of the wad-hole, and probably had gone to make his preparations. A servant seeking him when dinner was ready had discovered the accident and alarmed the village. “Is there any hope?” asked Gertrude, in a trembling voice. “No,” replied her father, with a groan. “The props at this end are gone, and the men say the hill is coming down. We must wait for help from Keswick.” Gertrude was turning to the group indignantly, but one was before her. “Now, men, I can handle a pick, though I am a Londoner. Ten pounds to every man who joins me. Don’t let them say that the Cumberland men left their master’s guest to perish because they were all cowards.”

The cold, impassive face was aglow with energy and excitement. Was it Gertrude’s fancy, or was it that that word, in his voice, struck her like a whip? "The hill is on the move, master, and he be dead, too.” said the foremost man.

'"‘•Hush, his sister be there!” put in a woman, in a low voice. There was an instant’s hesitation while the whole crowd watched the big miner. “We be with you, master!” eried he, seizing the tool nt his feet like a giant aroused. The spell was broken, and who then so reckless as the Cumberland men? Losford soon had to check them, and assist the foreman to underpin and take other pivcu ions ns they worked. In time more men flecked from neighboring pits to the spot, and the work was carried on in gangs. Notwithstanding Mr. and Mrs. Godwin's entreaties Violet would not leave, and hour after hour, while the countless loads of earth were being wheeled away, she walked to and fro with Gertrude’s hand in hers. How each workman was gazed at as he came from the darkness into the blaze of the lire and deposited his load. Whoever woiked by spells, the, figure Gertrude knew best did not appear. But, when the faint, lingering hope was dying out, one of the men staying in the house came quickly up to Violet.

“Miss Marstou, do not be too sanguine. There is hope yet, however. The fall is only partial, and he may be in the main workings. The men fancy they heard him knocking. Violet made no reply. She was sobbing on Gertrude’s shoulder. “Is any one hurt?” asked the latter, eagerly. “Hardly. Only a few cuts from stones.’’ Another hour passed, while the crowd thickened, and listened breathlessly to the dull sonud of the tools and the creaking of the barrows. A fresh gang was at work, and they came out more quickly. The sky was growing gray, and the hill-tops came out in cold majesty. Suddenly the work ceased; a barrow on its way out stopped inside the entrance. The crowd outside drew close aud breathed more quickly, and women hid their faces as the sound of voices came from the pit. Then a crowd of men pressed out, and in their midst Walter Losford, stained and ragged, with the boy in liis arms. He laid him on the wraps by the women. The blood was trickling from a cut in his own forehead, and his face, where it was not lead-grimed, was pallid with fatigue. “He has only fainted,” he said to the doctor.

“Just so; he only wanted a glass of whisky," said the latter, cheerily. Gertrude rose from the boy to thank his bearer, but he had turned away. “The worst time was just before they broke in, Gerty. I thought the earth must fall again, or something happen to prevent them reaching me,” Boh said to her, when she visited him in his room next day. “But that Losford is no end of a trump. He’s been up to say good-by, and I told him what an ass I’d made myseif about him. I heard his voice first, and Mrs. Godwin says they would not have got me out but for him.”

The likelihood of this alternative appeared to give him unnnxed satisfaction. “I don’t think they would,” said Gertrude, presenting him with a large bunch of grapes. “I’ll get you some more, Bob.” “You bet your boots they wouldn’t. It’s a pity he can’t climb. Fancy a fellow like that with what the doctor calls ‘ constitutional vertigo! ’ I can’t make it out.” And Bob fell into a brown study which passed into a doze; and thus refreshed, he was enabled to chatter all dinner time. Gertrude stole.out of the room, and, running down stairs, found him in the hall. He had mislaid a favorite stick. “Mr. Losl’ord,” she began, standing before him in she knew not what attitude of pretty humility, “I said something yesterday the memoiy of which is burning me with shame. I cannot forgive myself, but will you say that you do? Bob has made amends. Let me do so. What a foolish

girl said cannot have hurt you!" she pleaded, as he made no answer. “Rather should not have hurt me,” he replied, gravely; “yet it did, cruelly, Miss Godwin. But for the chance occurrence of last night, you would he thinking so still. It was ungenerous as well as thoughtless.” Gertrude winced under each almost contemptuous word. She had. not bargainee 1 for this. Too much hurt for tears, she murmured as she turned to leave him: “I am sorry.” “A moment, please. From auy other woman I should have accepted the apology without a word. I have scolded you tb it you might know what it was like before I asked you to give me the right to do it. Gertrude, will you be my wife?” And Gertrude said: “I will.” When she had fully satisfied him upon this point, she asked: “And vou have quite forgiven me, Walter?” “I shall have when you have done the Eenance I order. It is that you wear the it of blue g> ntiun at dinner this evening.” There was a twinkle of fun in his eyes that a stranger would not have believed could harbor there. The sight pf the harmless specimen caused Bob to blush,«the only blush he was guilty of in his schooldays.