LITERATURE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4546, 18 November 1882, Page 4

LITERATURE.

ON THE IOE. BY HAJOB HAMII/rOJT. Twenty years ago, more smuggling went on •long the northern border than anywhere else in the Onion, and one of the ohossn routes for illicit trade was aorois the 8t Lawrence Biver. At hundreds of points contraband articles were lanisd, and fanners throughout the entire northern portion of the States of New York and Vermont were more or leu in league with the Canadian fishermen and boatmen, so called, who engaged in this forbidden traffic, aiding them to seorete, and afterward to dispose of their merchandise. Much of this was liquor, from whioh these kindly farmers "took toll" as it passed, and it so happened that one could often find better whiskey among the ragged hills of Bssex, Bt Lawrence and Ohittenden Counties, than in the gilded saloons at Albany or New York. In 1863, 1 was appointed Special Deputy Marshal at a river port near Ogdonsburg. That is, 1 was aoting under authority of the Deputy Marshal at that point;, but was not confined in the extent of my territory ; and it was in the conduot of my duty while holding that office that the following adventure befel mo : — For some time prior to my appointment, the smuggling of liquors across the river had been carried on moat actively, to a greater extent than in any previous years, and it was for the more especial purpose of breaking up this importation, and capturing, if possible, lorae of the lawless importers, that an extra office had been created and I had been named to fill it. The persons with whom I would have to deal would be rough, perhaps desperato, and the duty ho be performed dangerous ; but these thug« only addod zeet to the undertaking. Perhaps I was foolhardy ; cerUialy I was not afraid. My appointment catna to me in September. When tho first snow fell, i *aa still hard at work, and still without w noted achievements to report. True, I had been shot twice on the river; I had met the Bmugglors* boat, and chased it, one dark night, in my open skiff, alone ; I had been " warned "by two notes, in the true Kuklux stylo; but I had not broken up lha traffic, nor caught the men engaged in it. And, therefore, I worked steadily on. The season was an unusual one that year, and winter came late. I well recollect that on Christmas Day the snow was but two inches deep on the main shore, and the river still open. This fact, of course, aided the contraband trade, and ib looked as if the year might close with the smugglers still in full feather and no captures made. I redoubled my efforts. Between Christmas and New Year's two things happened. Firßt wandering one moonlesß night along the shore, I surprised a party of three men unloading liquor, shot and frightened them away, capturing their cargo ; and, second, the weather turned suddenly very cold, to that, the lust day of the year, teams could cross tp-n (hi ioo which had formed on the river. It was on Deo. 31, noon, that my friend the Deputy Marshal oalled me into his offioe. Betiring with mo to the inner-room, he dosed the door carefully, then drew near andspolre. " Kavl, yon HVe the service P " 41 You know thofc I do." "And, if you could obtain the appointment a '•:>'.'c;ttl detective, with a good salary, you woulu remain in it ? " " I moat certainly would." " Then now is your ohance. I- have this morning received information that to-morrow night Dirk Sutton and his gang are to be on Bed Fox ial.uH, ic^en miles down the river, for a spree. If yon can go there, join the party in iomo <*ay, and decoy the fellows into Americas territory, for the island is Canada ground, I will be on hand with force sufficient to bag the party, and you shall have the strongest recommendation whioh I can give you to go with you to Washington. The duty's dangerous ; for, if they spot you as a spy, the nsoals would as soon drown you as look at yon. But the reward and honour are great. What do you say ? Will you try to coax them into the net P" I paused a moment, and than replied : "Yes." A few hourß later, just as the dim winter's sun sank behind the distant fringe of gloomy hemlocks, I left the main shore and struck out aoross the thin ice of the river for the island of Bed Fox. To a stranger I might easily have been taken for a wandering musician, for under my arm I oirried an ancient fiddle, but beneath my ragged jacket were two of tho best Amerioan revolvers, anH beneath the jacket upon the boßom of my shirt, was fastened the star of the detectivo service of the United States. My plan was simple, and yet I believed it to be all that was needed. I proposed to visit the island as a travelling fiddler, seeking a New Year's festival at which to earn an honeßt dollar, and if, qb I hoped, I should gain admission to tho danoe where Dirk Sutton and his companions were to be found, Itruated to my own wit and the circumstanoes of tho evening to afford me an opportunity of beguiling the man on to Amerioan soil. Bed Fox island lies a little more than a mile distant from the south shore of the river, and a little leas than tho same from the northern or Canadian coast. It is a amall bit of ground, containing leBS than a thousand acres of land, wooded and dear, and supports but two families, that of Branoh Button, Dirk's brother, a fiahorman farmer at the north end, and that of Olin Dakiu, a Norwegian, at the south end. The danoe, or merry-making, whioh I proposed to attend, was to be held at Branch's cabin. Just hb the firat eel had formed upon the rough floor within tho snug house, and the regular musician— a half-breed, from the Indian villago on the mainland— h ad drawn his bow aorosa tho afrings the first time, I entered the room and 0.-ied : 14 God save all here, and our Queen !" "What's tho Quaontouß?" growled the host, aa he left hia partner— a bright Canadian girl, with a most substantial pair of ankles showing boncuth her short, red skirt — and moved towardo ma. " Good evening friend 1 What would you ? " "That I might earn n fiddler's penny," said I, unbagcing my ancient violin. "I beg you let me join tho merrymaking." "But we have one fiddki now," said Sutton, doubtfully, when he was interrupted by one of theboys of the " gang," who oriad : " Give tho Borapor a chance ! Two squealers make more noise than one. Grease your bow, my man, and go at it !" Without further parley I obeyed, and tho revelry of the night began. I say revelry — I might say rioting. A a the hours passed, the fun became fast and furious, and the scoro of people who filled tho small house tnado more noieo than would a hundred in a hotel on shore. The girls laughed, shouted, sang, and danced; the boys romped with their partnors, stealing kisiOß while they shouted over the feat, drank, swore, and danced. Sometimes they evon qurrreled ; and qb the time flew, the liquor began to make itßelf felt on both women and men. When anpper was announced at midnight, all present, exoept myaolf wero half drunk. I saw that whatever was to be done must bo done quiokly. A plain farmer meal was spread in nn adjoining room. Dancers and fiddlers ate together. Aa wo Btood Bide by sido around the long tablo, I turnod and spoke to a buxom girl at my side. "Mistress, I can't stop playing to danoe, but I'll tell ye if I could thrro'B not a gossoon in the room could bato me!" and winked knowingly. "What's that, fiddlor ?"' oriod Dirk, from aoross the table. " Yer a dancer P" " Vis, mister," I replied j " an' a good one. I oan danoe, or ;jump, or run, to bate any man I ever met yitl" A roar from the asiemblod company answered this Movement, and opo of the gang shouted, " Yer's moat's got inter yer head, catgut ! Go baok to yor stool!" I felt that my time had come. Quicker than thought I dropped the glass I held, and turned to tho sooffor. "I'll run ye a race, ye mud turtlo from here to tho Amorioan shore and back, for a ton dollar note!" A sudden hush fell upon the room for an instant ; then Branoh Sutbon roared out, " Run, Jem ! Yo'll boat him, sure !" and the othora gathered around and urgod their comrade on.

"I will run," said he, separating hinAelf from the others with all of a drunken man's bravado j "an' I'll bet ye a twenty dollars, if ye will!" I was about to reply, when Dirk interposed : "Get out! You're too full to run. Ef fiddle-de-dee wants to lose his money, I'll win it," and he shook a greenback in my face. "See here, mister," said I, "you fellers is achiiffin' me, but I'll tell ye what— l've got just thirty-seven dollars in my pookefc, an' ef the entire crowd '11 put up twice that amount against it in one o' these yero gal's hands, 1 11 run yo all from here to tbe shore and re» turn!" A perfect bedlam of cries arose, the money was produced, I deposited my ettike in the hunde of tbe most sober of the women, and five minutes later stood in a line with Dirk Sutton and his entire gang, close to the hemlooks that fringed the islet, awaiting the word "Go I" " Across and back, mind !" said Dirk } and I Bmiled and nodded my head. Then came the work, and we sprang away. The game was mine ! For a short time I easily outstripped them all, for I was fleet of foot, but after a little tho chief drew along side. " I guess ye never run with Dirk Sutton," he pantod, as wo strained and flew over the Bmooth ice - " I guess—" The shore was becoming distinct. I interrupted my companion : " I guess nothing ; I kin beat Dirk Bntton at running or anything else. Bo ye see that tall pine ? That shall be tbe shore mark, an' I'll touch it firat." With clenohed teeth, outspread nostrils and panting breath, we swept onward. The terrible pace was telling upon me, but I would not give up. A little more and the game was won. Even now, as we neared the shore, it seemed to ne that I could see the motionless figures crouohing beneath the low-hanging trees. Three minutes more, and my quarry would run head first into the trap. Suddenly I heard a cry— not a shout, not a word spoken, only a cry, from one of the men behind. It was answered by an oath from Dirk ; then came a swift curve in his line of advance. I saw him half-faoe me, with ejen full of vengeful terror and surprise ; I caught the gleam of a knif .», and heard the words : "Fool— onrseyoal You have fooled me, but you die !" And then, befor<> I could halt, or even turn, the avenging blado descended, and throwing my arms wildly above my head, I sank quivering upon the ice, dyeing its smooth surface with my warm blood, while Dirk and all his men, i.-i a wide oirole, turned and fled. But even as they fl> I, and all things grew dim before my eyee, I heard a sharp, crackling sound, as of a dozen rifle shots— then I fainted. When oonsoionsneM returned I lay beneath the tall pine, the ragp-d wound in my shoulder bandaged. My frienJ, tho deputy, bent over me. 14 How do you feel P" he half-whispered. "Better," »aidl, fiintly. "And Button. M For answer my friend pointed to a dark objeofc a few steps awiy. "Dead! My men fired at him as he struck you, and he fell pieicod by half a dozen balls. Xou have lost the gang, but we have killed ihe leader." Smuggling on the river never thrived after Dirk's Button's death ; but I did not go to Washington for appointment. One experience was enough ; I went baok to farming.