LITERATURE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4077, 16 May 1881, Page 4

LITERATURE.

-4 ANNA CARTER.

(Concluded.) j " * Are you there, Watson?' in a whisper. ■Tea.* - 'Help me with him. We will bury Irim in your goof.' We dragged him in and buried hhn deep. Then, putting in a top •shot, we knocked fifty tons of slate down on lie body. Grasping my hand, Haskell said : * Tou will have to get away from here tonight. He will be missed by nine o'clock, ■when the society meets. Go to the surface aa soon as it is dark. Bid Anna good-by, and get away at once. I will not be suspected. Tou wiU be killed to-night if you remain. Get out of "the anthracite regions.' I went to the surface in tbe last car. Hastening from the shaft to the house, I saw Anna standing at fche gate waiting for me. She cheerfully asked : ' What makes you so late ? I feared an accident in the mine.' Befor* I could answer she ran into the house to prepare sapper. I though tleaaly followed. On my entering the room she saw blood nn my hands and clothing. Anxious, alarmed, she asked if I waa hurt. Assuring her that I was uninjured, I went into my room, washed, and put on my holiday clothes. Excitedly Anna looked at me when I reentered fche kitchen, bnt eaid nothing until I had eaten my supper Then, standing in front of me, she clasped my hands, and looking into my eyeß, said : 'Tell me the truth. Have you had trouble -with the Molly Maguireß?' I told the story briefly. Her mother had entered the kitchen, and, standing by Anna's side, heard all. Both •women said : ' Ton must leave here instantly. Tou will be killed for this before morning if you stay. If you escape and can be found you will be brought back and convicted of murder by false testimony.' " Anna kept our money. She went to a EttJe holt* in a slab and drew out a roll nf bills and handed it to me' saying : * I thought; ire would have this- to Btart our married lifs with; but we cannot think of that now.' Tears filled her eyes as she saw our happiness passing away- I divided fche mciey, giving her two- third s. Then, thinking J '<card whispering and light footsteps on tb • mountain side below the honse, I passed out of the back door. Anna clasped her armß around my neck, and whispering, 'Do not «mte, as the postmarks will betray your whereabouts,' kissed me and said : ' Make haste, my love,' and turning, entered the house, and closed the door behind her. I sprang lightly over tiie vine-clad fence, and was in the forest. I -walked over the monntains, and by daybreak -was at a railroad flag station. I flagged the first train thafc passed, gofc on, went to Harrisburg, and from there direct to Leavenworth ITrom there I wrote to Anna, saying that I could not tell her where to write to me, even if ehe dared, but liat as soon as the power yf the Molly Ma»uires was broken I would return to her. I joined a party of miners and went to Montana with them. I made a fortune in the Little Blackfoot diggings. My comrade in mining on this glush was a Miseourian, a pnntleman. When he returned East I gave him money and a letter to deliver to Anna. He returned the letter and money to me, saying he could not find Anna. I engaged in quartz-mining, and had yreat success. Tears rolled by, and I drifted up and down the Bocky Mountains, making money out of every mine I bought. I finally drifted into the San Juan country. Whilo there I saw in the papers thafc the Molly Moguires had fallen into the hands of -the law, and that tho reign of terror was over. I started on my return at once. Arriving at the village I found only a few charred and blackened ruins of the house where my Tiapniest days had been passed. The miners I knew when I worked in the mine had left the works. The keeper of tho saloon where I had first met Donavan was in jail," under sentence of death. I had an interview with him. In the presence of death he had softened a little, and probably uttered the truth. He told me that daily for two years a young girl had asked for Anna Carter's mail. The Society gofc the letter I wrote from Leavenworth. After waiting two years and not hearing further from me, and believing that Anna heard from me, they, in revenge, burned her home. Her mother and Willie were burned to death. Anna left the town after the funeral, and the Molly Maguireß, rot doubting that she was going to join me, had one of their men follow her to New Tork. There he lost Bight of her. I gave up all hopes of finding her, and returned to the San Juan. Ido not suppose I shall ever see her again. The thought that she may bein want, thafc she may be sick, that she is slowly wearing her life ont waiting for me, and the knowledge that she is alone in the world, haunts me constantly." Watson sat silent in his chair. There was not a shadow of doubt of the girl'B constancy in my friend's mind. Haskell oame into the room, and fearing to be a check on their free conversation, I excused myself, after promising to breakfast -with Watson the next day. _ At the hotel the next morning I found him in a high stata of excitement, that he vainly strove to conceal. He was exceedingly restless during the meal. Noticing my inquiring looks, he flushed, and, -with a fretful oath, exclaimed : " So. I have not been drinking. Meetirg yon and Haskell has brought back the past so vividly that I could not Bleep last night. I am nervous and irritable. Let us walk." There had been a sharp change in the temperature. The streets of Leadville were -white with newly fallen snow, and the air was thick with snow flakes. On coming to the main street we saw an ambulance slowly moving up the hill. Watson spoke to the driver, saying — "Have you patients for the hospital ?" "Tes," he answered, " 9ome of the smelters are leaded, and there are some cases of pneumonia." Turning about, Watson said — " Let us go to the hospital. I have been here six weeks, and, to my shame be it said, I havo not been near the hospital nor given it a dollar. I will go up now and make amends for my neglect." We followed the ambulance up the hill and entered the building. There were some dead men there. There were many who would never leave the house alive. In one ward were many plants and vines growing in pots and tin cans. This ward was scrupulously neat and Bweet. There were ten or twelve sick men lying on as many cots. They were queerly irritable and unreasonable. We did not receive a civil answer from any of them. All looked as if t'iey thought the mere presence of a healthy man was an insult to. them — a cowardly -tsulfc, inflicted when they were unable to resent it. At the further end of the room a woman stood, her back towards us. Bho bent over a sick man ; then seating herself on the edge of his cot, seemed to be feeding him with a spoon. Watson regarded her with a pleased look on his fine face, and we walked toward her. Standing at the foot of the cot we listened to her talking cheerily to the sick man, and good-humouredly laughing when he denounced the fellow who invented gruel and demanded fried oysters. I was startled by a clutch on my BhouJder. I turned quickly to my comrade, and was shocked at the change in him. His eyes fairly blazed ; his face was white. His lips firmly compressed, and his nostrils were expanded and quivering. His cheßt heaved painfully. I could feel his pulse throb as his wrist pressed against my neck. The sick man turned in hiß bed. I saw the petulant look flit from his face, and one of angry fear take its place. Then the dim eyes of the sick man flamed with the dauntless courage of the American miner as he glared at the spectre standing motionless at the foot of his bed. The woman, seeing the look on tbe face of her patient, Bprang np and wheeled angrily around. She looked at Watson. Tho blood left her face, her eyes op?r.ed widely, her lips slightly parted. She stood firmly for an infltant, then wavered a? if about "to fall. Watson sprang to her side, and, encircling her with his arms, drew her to his breast. She recovered ar.d struggled weakly to free herself. Closer and closer she was drawn to my friend's heart. Bending over her, he kissed her lip* jjnssionately. Her arms coiled around his neck," und I heard the murmurs, " Anna! " "Henry!" I was alone when I waikoi back through the dead and dying and out into the snow-man-tled street. .