initial commit of ebook 23256HEADmain

13 files changed, 5834 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6833f05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+* text=auto
+*.txt text
+*.md text
diff --git a/23256-0.txt b/23256-0.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0a1dbfd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23256-0.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,1796 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The King Of Beaver, and Beaver Lights, by
+Mary Hartwell Catherwood
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The King Of Beaver, and Beaver Lights
+       From “Mackinac And Lake Stories”, 1899
+
+Author: Mary Hartwell Catherwood
+
+Release Date: October 30, 2007 [EBook #23256]
+Last Updated: March 8, 2018
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEAVER ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE KING OF BEAVER AND BEAVER LIGHTS
+
+From “Mackinac And Lake Stories”, 1899
+
+By Mary Hartwell Catherwood
+
+
+
+
+THE KING OF BEAVER
+
+
+Success was the word most used by the King of Beaver. Though he stood
+before his people as a prophet assuming to speak revelations, executive
+power breathed from him. He was a tall, golden-tinted man with a head
+like a dome, hair curling over his ears, and soft beard and mustache
+which did not conceal a mouth cut thin and straight. He had student
+hands, long and well kept. It was not his dress, though that was careful
+as a girl's, which set him apart from farmers listening on the benches
+around him, but the keen light of his blue eyes, wherein shone the
+master.
+
+Emeline thought she had never before seen such a man. He had an
+attraction which she felt loathsome, and the more so because it drew
+some part of her irresistibly to him. Her spirit was kin to his, and she
+resented that kinship, trying to lose herself among farmers' wives and
+daughters, who listened to their Prophet stolidly, and were in no danger
+of being naturally selected by him. This moral terror Emeline could not
+have expressed in words, and she hid it like a shame. She also resented
+the subservience of her kinspeople to one no greater than herself. Her
+stock had been masters of men.
+
+As the King of Beaver slowly turned about the circle he encountered this
+rebel defying his assumption, and paused in his speaking a full minute,
+the drowsy farmers seeing merely that notes were being shifted and
+rearranged on the table. Then he began again, the dictatorial key
+transposed into melody. His covert message was to the new maid in the
+congregation. She might struggle like a fly in a web. He wrapped her
+around and around with beautiful sentences. As Speaker of the State
+Legislature he had learned well how to handle men in the mass, but
+nature had doubly endowed him for entrancing women. The spiritual part
+of James Strang, King and Prophet of a peculiar sect, appealed to
+the one best calculated to appreciate him during the remainder of his
+exhortation.
+
+The Tabernacle, to which Beaver Island Mormons gathered every Saturday
+instead of every Sunday, was yet unfinished. Its circular shape and
+vaulted ceiling, panelled in the hard woods of the island, had been
+planned by the man who stood in the centre. Many openings under the
+eaves gaped windowless; but the congregation, sheltered from a July sun,
+enjoyed freely the lake air, bringing fragrance from their own fields
+and gardens. They seemed a bovine, honest people, in homespun and
+hickory; and youth, bright-eyed and fresh-cheeked, was not lacking. They
+sat on benches arranged in circles around a central platform which held
+the Prophet's chair and table. This was his simple plan for making his
+world revolve around him.
+
+Roxy Cheeseman, Emeline's cousin, was stirred to restlessness by the
+Prophet's unusual manner, and shifted uneasily on the bench. Her short,
+scarlet-cheeked face made her a favorite among the young men. She had
+besides this attraction a small waist and foot, and a father who was
+very well off indeed for a Beaver Island farmer. Roxy's black eyes, with
+the round and unwinking stare of a bird's, were fixed on King Strang, as
+if she instinctively warded off a gaze which by swerving a little could
+smite her.
+
+But the Prophet paid no attention to any one when the meeting was
+over, his custom being to crush his notes in one hand at the end of
+his peroration, and to retire like a priest, leaving the dispersing
+congregation awed by his rapt face.
+
+The two cousins walked sedately along the street of St. James village,
+while their elders lingered about the Tabernacle door shaking hands.
+That primitive settlement of the early '50's consisted of a few houses
+and log stores, a mill, the Tabernacle, and long docks, at which
+steamers touched perhaps once a week. The forest partially encircled it.
+A few Gentiles, making Saturday purchases in a shop kept by one of their
+own kind, glanced with dislike at the separating Mormons. The shouts
+of Gentile children could also be heard at Saturday play. Otherwise a
+Sabbath peacefulness was over the landscape. Beaver Island had not a
+rugged coastline, though the harbor of St. James was deep and good. Land
+rose from it in gentle undulations rather than hills.
+
+Emeline and Roxy walked inland, with their backs to the harbor. In
+summer, farmers who lived nearest St. James took short-cuts through the
+woods to meeting, and let their horses rest.
+
+The last house on the street was a wooden building of some pretension,
+having bow-windows and a veranda. High pickets enclosed a secluded
+garden. It was very unlike the log-cabins of the island.
+
+“He lives here,” said Roxy.
+
+Emeline did not inquire who lived here. She understood, and her question
+was--
+
+“How many with him?”
+
+“All of them--eight. Seven of them stay at home, but Mary French travels
+with him. Didn't you notice her in the Tabernacle--the girl with the
+rose in her hair, sitting near the platform?”
+
+“Yes, I noticed her. Was that one of his wives?”
+
+Roxy waited until they had struck into the woods path, and then looked
+guardedly behind her.
+
+“Mary French is the youngest one. She was sealed to the Prophet only two
+years ago; and last winter she went travelling with him, and we heard
+she dressed in men's clothes and acted as his secretary.”
+
+“But why did she do that when she was his wife according to your
+religion?”
+
+“I don't know,” responded Roxy, mysteriously. “The Gentiles on the
+mainland are very hard on us.”
+
+They followed the track between fragrant grapevine and hickory, and the
+girl bred to respect polygamy inquired--
+
+“Do you feel afraid of the Prophet, Cousin Emeline?”
+
+“No, I don't,” retorted the girl bred to abhor it.
+
+“Sometimes I do. He makes people do just what he wants them to. Mary
+French was a Gentile's daughter, the proudest girl that ever stepped in
+St. James. She didn't live on the island; she came here to visit. And he
+got her. What's the matter, Cousin Emeline?”
+
+“Some one trod on my grave; I shivered. Cousin Roxy, I want to ask you a
+plain question. Do you like a man's having more than one wife?”
+
+“No, I don't. And father doesn't either. But he was obliged to marry
+again, or get into trouble with the other elders. And Aunt Mahala is
+very good about the house, and minds mother. The revelation may be plain
+enough, but I am not the kind of a girl,” declared Roxy, daringly, as
+one might blaspheme, “that cares a straw for the revelation.”
+
+Emeline took hold of her arm, and they walked on with a new sense of
+companionship.
+
+“A great many of the people feel the same way about it. But when the
+Prophet makes them understand it is part of the faith, they have to keep
+the faith. I am a reprobate myself. But don't tell father,” appealed
+Roxy, uneasily. “He is an elder.”
+
+“My uncle Cheeseman is a good man,” said Emeline, finding comfort in
+this fact. She could not explain to her cousin how hard it had been
+for her to come to Beaver Island to live among Mormons. Her uncle had
+insisted on giving his orphan niece a home and the protection of a male
+relative, at the death of the maiden aunt by whom she had been brought
+up. In that day no girl thought of living without protection. Emeline
+had a few thousand dollars of her own, but her money was invested, and
+he could not count on the use of it, which men assumed a right to have
+when helpless women clustered to their hearths. Her uncle Cheeseman was
+undeniably a good man, whatever might be said of his religious faith.
+
+“I like father myself,” assented Roxy. “He is never strict with us
+unless the Prophet has some revelation that makes him so. Cousin
+Emeline, I hope you won't grow to be taken up with Brother Strang, like
+Mary French. I thought he looked at you to-day.”
+
+Emeline's face and neck were scarlet above her black dress. The Gentile
+resented as an insult what the Mormon simply foreboded as distasteful to
+herself; though there was not a family of that faith on the island who
+would not have felt honored in giving a daughter to the Prophet.
+
+“I hate him!” exclaimed Emeline, her virgin rage mingled with a kind of
+sweet and sickening pain. “I'll never go to his church again.”
+
+“Father wouldn't like that, Cousin Emeline,” observed Roxy, though her
+heart leaped to such unshackled freedom. “He says we mustn't put our
+hand to the plough and turn back. Everybody knows that Brother Strang
+is the only person who can keep the Gentiles from driving us off the
+island. They have persecuted us ever since the settlement was made. But
+they are afraid of him. They cannot do anything with him. As long as he
+lives he is better than an army to keep our lands and homes for us.”
+
+“You are in a hard case betwixt Gentiles and Prophet,” laughed Emeline.
+
+Yet the aspects of life on Beaver Island keenly interested her. This
+small world, fifteen miles in length by six in breadth, was shut off
+by itself in Lake Michigan, remote from the civilization of towns. She
+liked at first to feel cut loose from her past life, and would have had
+the steamers touch less often at St. James, diminishing their chances of
+bringing her hateful news.
+
+There were only two roads on the island--one extending from the harbor
+town in the north end to a village called Galilee at the extreme
+southeast end, the other to the southwest shore. Along these roads farms
+were laid out, each about eighty rods in width and a mile or two in
+length, so that neighbors dwelt within call of one another, and the
+colony presented a strong front. The King of Beaver could scarcely have
+counselled a better division of land for the linking of families. On one
+side of the Cheesemans had dwelt an excellent widow with a bag chin,
+and she became Elder Cheeseman's second wife. On the other side were the
+Went-worths, and Billy Wentworth courted Roxy across the fence until
+it appeared that wives might continue passing over successive boundary
+lines.
+
+The billowy land was green in the morning as paradise, and Emeline
+thought every day its lights and shadows were more beautiful than the
+day before. Life had paused in her, and she was glad to rest her eyes
+on the horizon line and take no thought about any morrow. She helped her
+cousin and her legal and Mormon aunts with the children and the cabin
+labor, trying to adapt herself to their habits. But her heart-sickness
+and sense of fitting in her place like a princess cast among peasants
+put her at a disadvantage when, the third evening, the King of Beaver
+came into the garden.
+
+He chose that primrose time of day when the world and the human spirit
+should be mellowest, and walked with the farmer between garden beds to
+where Emeline and Roxy were tending flowers. The entire loamy place sent
+up incense. Emeline had felt at least sheltered and negatively happy
+until his voice modulations strangely pierced her, and she looked up and
+saw him.
+
+He called her uncle Brother Cheeseman and her uncle called him Brother
+Strang, but on one side was the mien of a sovereign and on the other the
+deference of a subject. Again Emeline's blood rose against him, and she
+took as little notice as she dared of the introduction.
+
+The King of Beaver talked to Roxy. Billy Wentworth came to the line
+fence and made a face at seeing him helping to tie up sweet-peas. Then
+Billy climbed over and joined Emeline. They exchanged looks, and each
+knew the mind of the other on the subject of the Prophet.
+
+Billy was a good safe human creature, with the tang of the soil about
+him, and no wizard power of making his presence felt when one's back
+was turned. Emeline kept her gray eyes directed towards him, and talked
+about his day's work and the trouble of ploughing with oxen. She was
+delicately and sensitively made, with a beauty which came and went like
+flame. Her lips were formed in scarlet on a naturally pale face. Billy
+Wentworth considered her weakly. He preferred the robust arm outlined by
+Roxy's homespun sleeve. And yet she had a sympathetic knowledge of men
+which he felt, without being able to describe, as the most delicate
+flattery.
+
+The King of Beaver approached Emeline. She knew she could not escape the
+interview, and continued tying vines to the cedar palisades while the
+two young islanders drew joyfully away to another part of the garden.
+The stable and barn-yard were between garden and cabin. Long variegated
+fields stretched off in bands. A gate let through the cedar pickets to
+a pasture where the cows came up to be milked. Bees gathering to their
+straw domes for the night made a purring hum at the other end of the
+garden.
+
+“I trust you are here to stay,” said Emeline's visitor.
+
+“I am never going back to Detroit,” she answered. He understood at once
+that she had met grief in Detroit, and that it might be other grief than
+the sort expressed by her black garment.
+
+“We will be kind to you here.”
+
+Emeline, finishing her task, glanced over her shoulder at him. She did
+not know how tantalizingly her face, close and clear in skin texture as
+the petal of a lily, flashed out her dislike. A heavier woman's rudeness
+in her became audacious charm.
+
+“I like Beaver Island,” she remarked, winding the remaining bits of
+string into a ball. “'Every prospect pleases, and only man is vile.'”
+
+“You mean Gentile man,” said King Strang. “He is vile, but we hope to
+get rid of him some time.”
+
+“By breaking his fish-nets and stealing his sailboats? Is it true that
+a Gentile sail-boat was sunk in Lake Galilee and kept hidden there until
+inquiry ceased, and then was raised, repainted, and launched again, a
+good Mormon boat?”
+
+He linked his hands behind him and smiled at her daring.
+
+“How many evil stories you have heard about us! My dear young lady, I
+could rejoin with truths about our persecutions. Is your uncle Cheeseman
+a malefactor?”
+
+“My uncle Cheeseman is a good man.”
+
+“So are all my people. The island, like all young communities, is
+infested with a class of camp-follow-ers, and every depredation of these
+fellows is charged to us. But we shall make it a garden--we shall make
+it a garden.”
+
+“Let me train vines over the whipping-post in your garden,” suggested
+Emeline, turning back the crimson edge of her lip.
+
+“You have heard that a man was publicly whipped on Beaver Island--and he
+deserved it. Have you heard also that I myself have been imprisoned by
+outsiders, and my life attempted more than once? Don't you know that in
+war a leader must be stern if he would save his people from destruction?
+Have you never heard a good thing of me, my child?”
+
+Emeline, facing her adversary, was enraged at the conviction which the
+moderation and gentleness of a martyr was able to work in her.
+
+“Oh yes, indeed, I have heard one good thing of you--your undertaking
+the salvation of eight or nine wives.”
+
+“Not yet nine,” he responded, humorously. “And I am glad you mentioned
+that. It is one of our mysteries that you will learn later. You have
+helped me greatly by such a candid unburdening of your mind. For you
+must know that you and I are to be more to each other than strangers.
+The revelation was given to you when it was given to me in the
+Tabernacle. I saw that.”
+
+The air was thickening with dusky motes. Emeline fancied that living
+dark atoms were pressing down upon her from infinity.
+
+“You must know,” she said, with determination, “that I came to Beaver
+Island because I hated men, and expected to see nothing but Mormons
+here--”
+
+“Not counting them men at all,” indulgently supplemented the King of
+Beaver, conscious that she was struggling in the most masculine presence
+she had ever encountered. He dropped his voice. “My child, you touch me
+as no one has touched me yet. There is scarcely need of words between
+us. I know what I am to you. You shall not stay on the island if you do
+not wish it. Oh, you are going to make me do my best!”
+
+“I wish you would go away!”
+
+“Some Gentile has hurt you, and you are beating your bruised strength on
+me.”
+
+“Please go away! I don't like you. I am bound to another man.”
+
+“You are bound to nobody but me. I have waited a lifetime for you.”
+
+“How dare you talk so to me when you have eight wives already!”
+
+“Solomon had a thousand. He was a man of God, though never in his life
+was there a moment when he took to his breast a mate. I shall fare
+better.”
+
+“Did you talk to them all like this?”
+
+“Ask them. They have their little circles beyond which they cannot go.
+Have you thoughts in common with your cousin Roxy?”
+
+“Yes, very many,” asserted Emeline, doggedly. “I am just like Cousin
+Roxy.”
+
+“You have no mind beyond the milking and churning, the sewing and
+weaving?”
+
+“No, I have no mind beyond them.”
+
+“I kiss your hands--these little hands that were made to the finest uses
+of life, and that I shall fill with honors.”
+
+“Don't touch me,” warned Emeline. “They can scratch!”
+
+The King of Beaver laughed aloud. With continued gentleness he explained
+to her: “You will come to me. Gentile brutes may chase women like
+savages, and maltreat them afterwards; but it is different with you and
+me.” He brought his hands forward and folded them upright on his breast.
+
+[Illustration: Always prayed this prayer alone 124]
+
+“I have always prayed this prayer alone and as a solitary soul at
+twilight. For the first time I shall speak it aloud in the presence of
+one who has often thought the same prayer: O God, since Thou hast shut
+me up in this world, I will do the best I can, without fear or favor.
+When my task is done, let me out!”
+
+He turned and left her, as if this had been a benediction on their
+meeting, and went from the garden as he usually went from the
+Tabernacle. Emeline's heart and eyes seemed to overflow without any
+volition of her own. It was a kind of spiritual effervescence which she
+could not control. She sobbed two or three times aloud, and immediately
+ground her teeth at his back as it passed out of sight. Billy and Roxy
+were so free from the baleful power that selected her. They could chat
+in peace under the growing darkness, they who had home and families,
+while she, without a relative except those on Beaver Island, or a friend
+whose duty it was to shelter her, must bear the shock of that ruinous
+force.
+
+The instinct that no one could help her but herself kept her silent
+when she retired with Roxy to the loft-chamber. Primitive life on Beaver
+Island settled to its rest soon after the birds, and there was not a
+sound outside of nature's stirrings till morning, unless some drunken
+fishermen trailed down the Galilee road to see what might be inflicted
+on the property of sleeping Mormons.
+
+The northern air blew fresh through gable windows of the attic, yet
+Emeline turned restlessly on her straw bed, and counted the dim
+rafters while Roxy slept. Finally she could not lie still, and slipped
+cautiously out of bed, feeling dire need to be abroad, running or riding
+with all her might. She leaned out of a gable window, courting the moist
+chill of the starless night. While the hidden landscape seemed strangely
+dear to her, she was full of unspeakable homesickness and longing for
+she knew not what--a life she had not known and could not imagine, some
+perfect friend who called her silently through space and was able to
+lift her out of the entanglements of existence.
+
+The regular throbbing of a horse's feet approaching along the road at
+a brisk walk became quite distinct. Emeline's sensations were suspended
+while she listened. From the direction of St. James she saw a figure
+on horseback coming between the dusky parallel fence rows. The sound of
+walking ceased in front of the house, and presently another sound crept
+barely as high as the attic window. It was the cry of a violin, sweet
+and piercing, like some celestial voice. It took her unawares. She
+fled from it to her place beside Roxy and covered her ears with the
+bedclothes.
+
+Roxy turned with a yawn and aroused from sleep. She rose to her elbow
+and drew in her breath, giggling. The violin courted like an angel,
+finding secret approaches to the girl who lay rigid with her ears
+stopped.
+
+“Cousin Emeline!” whispered Roxy, “do you hear that?”
+
+“What is it?” inquired Emeline, revealing no emotion.
+
+[Illustration: Brother Strang serenading 134]
+
+“It's Brother Strang serenading.”
+
+“How do you know?”
+
+“Because he is the only man on Beaver who can play the fiddle like
+that.” Roxy gave herself over to unrestrained giggling. “A man fifty
+years old!”
+
+“I don't believe it,” responded Emeline, sharply.
+
+“Don't believe he is nearly fifty? He told his age to the elders.”
+
+“I haven't a word of praise for him, but he isn't an old man. He doesn't
+look more than thirty-five.”
+
+“To hear that fiddle you'd think he wasn't twenty,” chuckled Roxy. “It's
+the first time Brother Strang ever came serenading down this road.”
+
+He did not stay long, but went, trailing music deliciously into the
+distance. Emeline knew how he rode, with the bridle looped over his bow
+arm. She was quieted and lay in peace, sinking to sleep almost before
+the faint, far notes could no longer be heard.
+
+From that night her uncle Cheeseman's family changed their attitude
+towards her. She felt it as a withdrawal of intimacy, though it
+expressed reverential awe. Especially did her Mormon aunt Mahala take
+little tasks out of her hands and wait upon her, while her legal aunt
+looked at her curiously. It was natural for Roxy to talk to Billy
+Wentworth across the fence, but it was not natural for them to share
+so much furtive laughter, which ceased when Emeline approached. Uncle
+Cheese-man himself paid more attention to his niece and spent much time
+at the table explaining to her the Mormon situation on Beaver Island,
+tracing the colony back to its secession from Brigham Young's party in
+Illinois.
+
+“Brother Strang was too large for them,” said her uncle. “He can do
+anything he undertakes to do.”
+
+The next Saturday Emeline refused to go to the Tabernacle. She gave no
+reason and the family asked for none. Her caprices were as the gambols
+of the paschal lamb, to be indulged and overlooked. Roxy offered to stay
+with her, but she rejected companionship, promising her uncle and aunts
+to lock herself within the cabin and hide if she saw men approaching
+from any direction. The day was sultry for that climate, and of a vivid
+clearness, and the sky dazzled. Emeline had never met any terrifying
+Gentiles during her stay on the island, and she felt quite secure in
+crossing the pasture and taking to the farm woods beyond. Her uncle's
+cows had worn a path which descended to a run with partially grass-lined
+channel. Beaver Island was full of brooks and springs. The children had
+placed stepping-stones across this one. She was vaguely happy, seeing
+the water swirl below her feet, hearing the cattle breathe at their
+grazing; though in the path or on the log which she found at the edge
+of the woods her face kept turning towards the town of St. James, as the
+faces of the faithful turn towards Mecca. It was childish to think
+of escaping the King of Beaver by merely staying away from his
+exhortations. Emeline knew she was only parleying.
+
+The green silence should have helped her to think, but she found herself
+waiting--and doing nothing but waiting--for what might happen next. She
+likened herself to a hunted rabbit palpitating in cover, unable to reach
+any place of safety yet grateful for a moment's breathing. Wheels rolled
+southward along the Galilee road. Meeting was out. She had the caprice
+to remain where she was when the family wagon arrived, for it had been
+too warm to walk to the Tabernacle. Roxy's voice called her, and as she
+answered, Roxy skipped across the brook and ran to her.
+
+“Cousin Emeline,” the breathless girl announced, “here comes Mary French
+to see you!”
+
+Emeline stiffened upon the log.
+
+“Where?”
+
+Roxy glanced behind at a figure following her across the meadow.
+
+“What does she want of me?” inquired Emeline. “If she came home with the
+family, it was not necessary to call me.”
+
+“She drove by herself. She says Brother Strang sent her to you.”
+
+Emeline stood up as the Prophet's youngest wife entered that leafy
+silence. Roxy, forgetting that these two had never met before, slipped
+away and left them. They looked at each other.
+
+“How do you do, Mrs. Strang?” spoke Emeline.
+
+“How do you do, Miss Cheeseman?” spoke Mary French.
+
+“Will you sit down on this log?”
+
+“Thank you.”
+
+Mary French had more flesh and blood than Emeline. She was larger and
+of a warmer and browner tint--that type of brunette with startling black
+hair which breaks into a floss of little curls, and with unexpected
+blue eyes. Her full lips made a bud, and it only half bloomed when she
+smiled. From crown to slipper she was a ripe and supple woman. Though
+clad, like Emeline, in black, her garment was a transparent texture over
+white, and she held a parasol with crimson lining behind her head. She
+had left her bonnet in her conveyance.
+
+“My husband,” said Mary French, quiet and smiling, “sent me to tell you
+that you will be welcomed into our family.”
+
+Emeline looked her in the eyes. The Prophet's wife had the most
+unblenching smiling gaze she had ever encountered.
+
+“I do not wish to enter your family. I am not a Mormon.”
+
+“He will make you wish it. I was not a Mormon.”
+
+They sat silent, the trees stirring around them.
+
+“I do not understand it,” said Emeline. “How can you come to me with
+such a message?”
+
+“I can do it as you can do it when your turn comes.”
+
+Emeline looked at Mary French as if she had been stabbed.
+
+“It hurts, doesn't it?” said Mary French. “But wait till he seems to
+you a great strong archangel--an archangel with only the weakness of
+dabbling his wings in the dirt--and you will withhold from him nothing,
+no one, that may be of use to him. If he wants to put me by for a while,
+it is his will. You cannot take my place. I cannot fill yours.”
+
+“Oh, don't!” gasped Emeline. “I am not that sort of woman--I should
+kill!”
+
+“That is because you have not lived with him. I would rather have him
+make me suffer than not have him at all.”
+
+“Oh, don't! I can't bear it! Help me!” prayed Emeline, stretching her
+hands to the wife.
+
+Mary French met her with one hand and the unflinching smile. Her flesh
+was firm and warm, while Emeline's was cold and quivering.
+
+“You have never loved anybody, have you?”
+
+“No.”
+
+“But you have thought you did?”
+
+“I was engaged before I came here.”
+
+“And the engagement is broken?”
+
+“We quarrelled.”
+
+Mary French breathed deeply.
+
+“You will forget it here. He can draw the very soul out of your body.”
+
+“He cannot!” flashed Emeline.
+
+“Some one will kill him yet. He is not understood at his best, and he
+cannot endure defeat of any kind. When you come into the family you must
+guard him from his enemies as I have constantly guarded him. If you ever
+let a hair of his head be harmed--then I shall hate you!”
+
+“Mrs. Strang, do you come here to push me too! My uncle's family,
+everything, all are closing around me! Why don't you help me? I
+loathe--I loathe; your husband!”
+
+Mary French rose, her smile changing only to express deep tenderness.
+
+“You are a good girl dear. I can myself feel your charm. I was not so
+self-denying. In my fierce young girlhood I would have removed a rival.
+But since you ask me, I will do all I can for you in the way you desire.
+My errand is done. Good-by.”
+
+“Good-by,” said Emeline, restraining herself.
+
+She sat watching the elastic shape under the parasol move with its
+shadow across the field. She had not a doubt until Mary French was gone;
+then the deep skill of the Prophet's wife with rivals sprung out like a
+distortion of nature.
+
+Emeline had nearly three weeks in which to intrench herself with doubts
+and defences. She felt at first surprised and relieved. When her second
+absence from the Tabernacle was passed over in silence she found in
+her nature an unaccountable pique, which steadily grew to unrest. She
+ventured and turned back on the woods path leading to St. James many
+times, each time daring farther. The impulse to go to St. James came on
+her at waking, and she resisted through busy hours of the day. But the
+family often had tasks from which Emeline was free, and when the desire
+grew unendurable she knelt at her secluded bedside in the loft, trying
+to bring order out of her confused thoughts. She reviewed her quarrel
+with her lover, and took blame for his desertion. The grievance which
+had seemed so great to her before she came to Beaver Island dwindled,
+and his personality with it. In self-defence she coaxed her fancy,
+pretending that James Arnold was too good for her. It was well he had
+found it out. But because he was too good for her she ought to go on
+being fond of him at a safe distance, undetected by him, and discreetly
+cherishing his large blond image as her ideal of manhood. If she had not
+been bred in horror of Catholics, the cloister at this time would have
+occurred to her as her only safe refuge.
+
+These secret rites in her bedroom being ended, and Roxy diverted from
+her movements, she slipped off into the woods path, sometimes running
+breathlessly towards St. James.
+
+The impetus which carried Emeline increased with each journey. At first
+she was able to check it in the woods depths, but it finally drove her
+until the village houses were in sight.
+
+When this at last happened, and she stood gazing, fascinated, down the
+tunnel of forest path, the King of Beaver spoke behind her.
+
+Emeline screamed in terror and took hold of a bush, to make it a support
+and a veil.
+
+“Have I been a patient man?” he inquired, standing between her and her
+uncle's house. “I waited for you to come to me.”
+
+“I am obliged to go somewhere,” said Emeline, plucking the leaves and
+unsteadily shifting her eyes about his feet. “I cannot stay on the
+farm all the time.” Through numbness she felt the pricking of a sharp
+rapture.
+
+The King of Beaver smiled, seeing betrayed in her face the very vertigo
+of joy.
+
+[Illustration: You will give yourself to me now 142]
+
+“You will give yourself to me now?” he winningly begged, venturing
+out-stretched hands. “You have felt the need as I have? Do you think
+the days have been easy to me? When you were on your knees I was on
+my knees too. Every day you came in this direction I came as far as I
+dared, to meet you. Are the obstacles all passed?”
+
+“No,” said Emeline.
+
+He was making her ask herself that most insidious question, “Why could
+not the other have been like this?”
+
+“Tell me--can you say, 'I hate you,' now?”
+
+“No,” said Emeline.
+
+“I have grown to be a better man since you said you hated me. The
+miracle cannot be forced. Next time?” He spoke wistfully.
+
+“No,” Emeline answered, holding to the bush. She kept her eyes on the
+ground while he talked, and glanced up when she replied. He stood with
+his hat off. The flakes of sun touched his head and the fair skin of his
+forehead.
+
+He moved towards Emeline, and she retreated around the bush. Without
+hesitating he passed, making a salutation, and went on by himself to
+St. James. She watched his rapid military walk furtively, her eyebrows
+crouching, her lips rippling with passionate tremors. Then she took to
+flight homeward, her skirts swishing through the woods with a rush like
+the wind. The rebound was as violent as the tension had been.
+
+There were few festivities on Beaver Island, the Mormon families living
+a pastoral life, many of them yet taxed by the struggle for existence.
+Crops shot up rank and strong in the short Northern summer. Soft cloud
+masses sailed over the island, and rain-storms marched across it with
+drums of thunder which sent reverberations along the water world. Or
+fogs rolled in, muffling and obliterating homesteads.
+
+Emeline stayed in the house, busying herself with the monotonous duties
+of the family three days. She was determined never to go into the woods
+path again without Roxy. The fourth day a gray fog gave her no choice
+but imprisonment. It had the acrid tang of smoke from fires burning
+on the mainland. About nightfall the west wind rose and blew it back,
+revealing a land mantled with condensed drops.
+
+Emeline put on her hat and shawl to walk around in the twilight. The
+other young creatures of the house were glad to be out also, and Roxy
+and Roxy's lover talked across the fence. Emeline felt fortified
+against the path through the woods at night; yet her feet turned in that
+direction, and as certainly as water seeks its level she found herself
+on the moist elastic track. Cow-bells on the farm sounded fainter and
+farther. A gloom of trees massed around her, and the forest gave up all
+its perfume to the dampness.
+
+At every step she meant to turn back, though a recklessness of night
+and of meeting the King of Beaver grew upon her. Thus, without any
+reasonable excuse for her presence there, she met Mary French.
+
+“Is that you, Miss Cheeseman?” panted the Prophet's youngest wife.
+
+Emeline confessed her identity.
+
+“I was coming for you, but it is fortunate you are so far on the way.
+There is a steamboat at the dock, and it will go out in half an hour.
+I could not get away sooner to tell you.” Mary French breathed heavily
+from running. “When the steamboat came in the captain sent for my
+husband, as the captains always do. I went with him: he knows how I
+dread to have him go alone upon a boat since an attempt was made last
+year to kidnap him. But this time there was another reason, for I
+have been watching. And sure enough, a young man was on the steamboat
+inquiring where he could find you. His name is James Arnold. The captain
+asked my husband to direct him to you. You will readily understand why
+he did not find you. Come at once!”
+
+“I will not,” said Emeline.
+
+“But you wanted me to help you, and I have been trying to do it. We
+easily learned by letter from our friends in Detroit who your lover was.
+My husband had me do that: he wanted to know. Then without his knowledge
+I stooped to write an anonymous letter.”
+
+“To James Arnold?”
+
+“Yes.”
+
+“About me?”
+
+“About you.”
+
+“What did you tell him?”
+
+“I said you were exposed to great danger on Beaver Island, among the
+Mormons, and if you had any interested friend it was time for him to
+interfere.”
+
+“And that brought him here?”
+
+“I am sure it did. He was keenly disappointed at not finding you.”
+
+“But why didn't he come to the farm?”
+
+“My husband prevented that. He said you were on Beaver Island three or
+four weeks ago, but you were now in the Fairy Isle. It was no lie. He
+spoke in parables, but the other heard him literally. We let him inquire
+of people in St. James. But no one had seen you since the Saturday you
+came to the Tabernacle. So he is going back to Mackinac to seek you.
+Your life will be decided in a quarter of an hour. Will you go on that
+steamboat?”
+
+“Throw myself on the mercy of a man who dared--dared to break his
+engagement, and who ought to be punished and put on probation, and then
+refused! No, I cannot!”
+
+“The minutes are slipping away.”
+
+“Besides, I have nothing with me but the clothes I have on. And my
+uncle's family--think of my uncle's family!”
+
+“You can write to your uncle and have him send your baggage. I dare not
+carry any messages. But I thought of what you would need to-night, and
+put some things and some money in this satchel. They were mine. Keep
+them all.”
+
+Emeline took hold of the bag which Mary French shoved in her hand. Their
+faces were indistinct to each other.
+
+“For the first time in my life I have deceived my husband!”
+
+“Oh, what shall I do--what shall I do?” cried the girl.
+
+A steamer whistle at St. James dock sent its bellow rebounding from
+tree to tree in the woods. Emeline seized Mary French and kissed her
+violently on both cheeks. She snatched the bag and flew towards St.
+James.
+
+“Stop!” commanded the Prophet's wife.
+
+She ran in pursuit, catching Emeline by the shoulders.
+
+“You sha'n't go! What am I doing? Maybe robbing him of what is necessary
+to his highest success! I am a fool--to think he might turn back to me
+for consolation when you are gone--God forgive me such silly fondness!
+I can't have a secret between him and myself--I will tell him! You shall
+not go--and cause him a mortal hurt! Wait!--stop!--the boat is gone!
+It's too late!”
+
+“Let me loose!” struggled Emeline, wrenching herself away.
+
+[Illustration: Let me loose! 148]
+
+She ran on through the woods, and Mary French, snatching at garments
+which eluded her, stumbled and fell on the damp path, gathering dead
+leaves under her palms. The steamer's prolonged bellow covered her
+voice.
+
+Candles were lighted in St. James. The Tabernacle spread itself like a
+great circular web dark with moisture. Emeline was conscious of running
+across the gang-plank as a sailor stooped to draw it in. The bell was
+ringing and the boat was already in motion. It sidled and backed away
+from its moorings.
+
+Emeline knelt panting at the rail on the forward deck. A flambeau
+fastened to the wharf bowed its light to the wind as the boat swung
+about, showing the King of Beaver smiling and waving his hand in
+farewell. He did not see Emeline. His farewell was for the man whom
+he had sent away without her. His golden hair and beard and blue eyes
+floated into Emeline's past as the steamer receded, the powerful face
+and lithe figure first losing their identity, and then merging into
+night. What if it was true that she was robbing both him and herself of
+the best life, as Mary French was smitten to believe at the last moment?
+Her Gentile gorge rose against him, and the traditions of a thousand
+years warred in her with nature; yet she stretched her hands towards him
+in the darkness.
+
+Then she heard a familiar voice, and knew that the old order of things
+was returning, while Beaver Island, like a dream, went silently down
+upon the waters.
+
+Some years later, in the '50's, Emeline, sitting opposite her husband at
+the breakfast-table, heard him announce from the morning paper:
+
+“Murder of King Strang, the Mormon Prophet of Beaver Island.” All the
+details of the affair, even the track of the bullets which crashed into
+that golden head, were mercilessly printed. The reader, surprised by a
+sob, dropped his paper.
+
+“What! Are you crying, Mrs. Arnold?”
+
+“It was so cruel!” sobbed Emeline. “And Billy Wentworth, like a savage,
+helped to do it!”
+
+“He had provocation, no doubt, though it is a horrid deed. Perhaps I owe
+the King of Beaver the tribute of a tear. He befogged me considerably
+the only time I ever met him.”
+
+“You see only his evil. But I see what he was to Mary French and the
+others.” “His bereaved widows?” “The ones who believed in his best.”
+
+
+*****
+
+
+
+
+BEAVER LIGHTS
+
+A magnificent fountain of flame, visible far out on the starlit lake,
+spurted from the north end of Beaver Island. It was the temple, in which
+the Mormon people had worshipped for the last time, sending sparks and
+illumined vapor to the zenith. The village of St. James was partly in
+ashes, and a blue pallor of smoke hung dimly over nearly every hill
+and hollow, for Gentile fishermen crazed with drink and power and long
+arrears of grievances had carried torch and axe from farm to farm. Until
+noon of that day all householding families had been driven to huddle
+with their cattle around the harbor dock and forced to make pens for
+the cattle of lumber which had been piled there for transportation.
+Unresisting as sheep they let themselves be shipped on four small armed
+steamers sent by their enemies to carry them into exile. Not one of the
+twelve elders who had received the last instructions of their murdered
+king rose up to organize any defence. Scarcely a month had passed since
+his wounding unto death, and his withdrawal, like Arthur, in the arms
+of weeping women to that spot in Wisconsin where he had found his sacred
+Voree plates or tables of the law. Scarcely two weeks had passed since
+news came back of his burial there. And already the Mormon settlement
+was swept off Beaver Island.
+
+Used to border warfare and to following their dominating prophet to
+victory, they yet seemed unable to strike a blow without him. Such
+non-resistance procured them nothing but contempt. They even submitted
+to being compelled to destroy a cairn raised over the grave of one
+considered a malefactor, carrying the heap stone by stone to throw into
+the lake, Gentiles standing over them like Egyptian masters.
+
+Little waves ran in rows of light, washing against the point on
+the north side of the landlocked harbor. A primrose star was there
+struggling aloft at the top of a rough rock tower. It was the fish-oil
+flame of Beaver lamp, and the keeper sat on his doorsill at the bottom
+of the light-house with his wife beside him.
+
+The lowing of cattle missing their usual evening tendance came across
+from the dock, a mournful accompaniment to the distant roaring of fire
+and falling of timbers.
+
+“Do you realize, Ludlow,” the young woman inquired, slipping her hand
+into her husband's, “that I am now the only Mormon on Beaver Island?”
+
+“You never were a very good Mormon, Cecilia. You didn't like the breed
+any better than I did, though there were good people among them.”
+
+“Will they lose all their cattle, Ludlow?”
+
+“The cattle are safe enough,” he laughed. “The men that are doing this
+transporting will take the cattle. None of our Mormon friends will ever
+see a hoof from Beaver Island again.”
+
+“But it seems robbery to drive them off and seize their property.”
+
+“That's the way King Strang took Beaver from the Gentiles in the first
+place. Mormons and Gentiles can't live together.”
+
+“We can.”
+
+“I told you that you were a poor Mormon, Cecilia. And from first to last
+I opposed my family's entering the community. Tithes and meddling sent
+my father out of it a poor man. But I'm glad he went before this; and
+your people, too.”
+
+She drew a deep breath. “Oh yes! They're safe in Green Bay. I couldn't
+endure to have them on those steamers going down the lake to-night. What
+will become of the community, Ludlow?”
+
+“God knows. They'll be landed at Chicago and turned adrift on the world.
+I'm glad they're away from here. I've no cause to love them, but I was
+afraid they would be butchered like sheep. Your father and my father,
+if they had still been elders on the island, wouldn't have submitted, as
+these folks did, to abuse and exile and the loss of everything they
+had in the world. I can't understand it of some of them. There was Jim
+Baker, for instance; I'd have sworn he would fight.”
+
+“I can understand why he didn't. He hasn't taken any interest since his
+second marriage.”
+
+“Now, that was a nice piece of work! I always liked Jim the best of any
+of the young men until he did that. And what inducement was there in the
+woman?”
+
+The light-house keeper's wife fired up. “What inducement there was for
+him ever to marry Rosanne I couldn't see. And I know Elizabeth Aiken
+loved him when we were girls together.”
+
+“And didn't Rosanne?”
+
+“Oh--Rosanne! A roly-poly spoiled young one, that never will be a woman!
+Elizabeth is noble.”
+
+“You're fond of Elizabeth because she was witness to our secret marriage
+when King Strang wouldn't let me have you. I liked Jim for the same
+reason. Do you mind how we four slipped one at a time up the back stairs
+in my father's house that night, while the young folks were dancing
+be-low?”
+
+“I mind we picked Elizabeth because Rosanne would be sure to blab, even
+if she had to suffer herself for it. How scared the poor elder was!”
+
+“We did him a good turn when we got him to marry us. He'd be on one of
+the steamers bound for nowhere, to-night, instead of snug at Green
+Bay, if we hadn't started him on the road to what King Strang called
+disaffection.”
+
+The light-house keeper jumped up and ran out on the point, his wife
+following him in nervous dread.
+
+“What is the matter, Ludlow?”
+
+Their feet crunched gravel and paused where ripples still ran in,
+endlessly bringing lines of dimmer and dimmer light. A rocking boat was
+tied to a stake. Anchored and bare-masted, farther out in the mouth of
+the bay, a fishing-smack tilted slightly in rhythmic motion. While they
+stood a touch of crimson replaced the sky light in the water, and great
+blots like blood soaking into the bay were reflected from the fire. The
+burning temple now seemed to rise a lofty tower of flame against the
+horizon. Figures could be seen passing back and forth in front of
+it, and shouts of fishermen came down the peninsula. The King's
+printing-office where the _Northern Islander_ was once issued as a daily
+had smouldered down out of the way. It was the first place to which they
+had set torch.
+
+“I thought I heard some one running up the sail on our sail-boat,” said
+the light-house keeper. “No telling what these fellows may do. If they
+go to meddling with me in my little Government office, they'll find me
+as stubborn as the Mormons did.”
+
+“Oh, Ludlow, look at the tabernacle, like a big red-hot cheese-box on
+the high ground! Think of the coronation there on the first King's Day!”
+
+The light-house keeper's wife was again in imagination a long-limbed
+girl of fifteen, crowding into the temple to witness such a ceremony as
+was celebrated on no other spot of the New World. The King of Beaver,
+in a crimson robe, walked the temple aisle, followed by his council, his
+twelve elders, and seventy ministers of the minor order. In the presence
+of a hushed multitude he was anointed, and a crown with a cluster of
+projecting stars was set on his golden head. Hails and shouts, music of
+marching singers and the strewing of flowers went before him into the
+leafy July woods. Thus King's Day was established and annually observed
+on the 8th of July. It began with burnt-offerings. The head of each
+family was required to bring a chicken. A heifer was killed and
+carefully cut up without breaking a bone; and, while the smoke of
+sacrifice arose, feasting and dancing began, and lasted until sunset.
+Firstlings of flocks and the first-fruits of orchard and field were
+ordained the King's; and he also claimed one-tenth of each man's
+possessions. The Mosaic law was set up in Beaver Island, even to the
+stoning of rebellious children.
+
+The smoke of a sacrificed people was now reeking on Beaver. This
+singular man's French ancestry--for he was descended from Henri de
+L'Estrange, who came to the New World with the Duke of York--doubtless
+gave him the passion for picturesqueness and the spiritual grasp on
+his isolated kingdom which keeps him still a notable and unforgotten
+figure.
+
+“It makes me feel bad to see so much destruction,” the young man said to
+his wife; “though I offered to go with Billy Wentworth to shoot Strang
+if nobody else was willing. I knew I was marked, and sooner or later I
+would disappear if he continued to govern this island. But with all
+his faults he was a man. He could fight; and whip. He'd have sunk every
+steamer in the harbor to-day.”
+
+“It's heavy on my heart, Ludlow--it's dreadful! Neighbors and friends
+that we shall never see again!”
+
+The young man caught his wife by the arm. They both heard the swift beat
+of footsteps flying down the peninsula. Cecilia drew in her breath and
+crowded against her husband. A figure came into view and identified
+itself, leaping in bisected draperies across an open space to the
+light-house door.
+
+“Why, Rosanne!” exclaimed the keeper's wife. She continued to say “Why,
+Rosanne! Why, Rosanne Baker!” after she had herself run into the house
+and lighted a candle.
+
+She set the candle on the chimney. It showed her rock-built domicile,
+plain but dignified, like the hollow of a cavern, with blue china on
+the cupboard shelves and a spinning-wheel standing by the north wall. A
+corner staircase led to the second story of the tower, and on its lowest
+step the fugitive dropped down, weeping and panting. She was peculiarly
+dressed in the calico bloomers which the King of Beaver had latterly
+decreed for the women of his kingdom. Her trim legs and little feet,
+cased in strong shoes, appeared below the baggy trousers. The upper part
+of her person, her almond eyes, round curves and features were full
+of Oriental suggestions. Some sweet inmate of a harem might so have
+materialized, bruising her softness against the hard stair.
+
+“Why, Rosanne Baker!” her hostess reiterated.
+
+
+Cecilia did not wear bloomers. She stood erect in petticoats. “I thought
+you went on one of the boats!”
+
+“I didn't,” sobbed Rosanne. “When they were crowding us on I slipped
+among the lumber piles and hid. I've been hid all day, lying flat
+between boards--on top where they couldn't see me.”
+
+“Suppose the lumber had been set on fire, too! And you haven't had
+anything to eat?”
+
+“I don't want to eat. I'm only frightened to death at the wicked
+Gentiles burning the island. I couldn't stay there all night, so I got
+down and ran to your house.”
+
+“Of course, you poor child! But, Rosanne, where's your husband?”
+
+The trembling creature stiffened herself and looked at Cecilia out of
+the corners of her long eyes. “He's with Elizabeth Aiken.”
+
+The only wife of one husband did not know how to take hold of this
+subject.
+
+“But your father was there,” she suggested. “How could you leave your
+father and run the risk of never seeing him again?”
+
+“I don't care if I never see him again. He said he was so discouraged he
+didn't care what became of any of us.”
+
+Cecilia was going to plead the cause of domestic affection further,
+but she saw that four step-mothers could easily be given up. She turned
+helplessly to her husband who stood in the door.
+
+“Poor thing! Ludlow, what in the world shall we do?”
+
+“Put her to bed.”
+
+“Of course, Ludlow. But will anybody hurt you to-morrow?”
+
+“There are two good guns on the rack over the chimney. I don't think
+anybody will hurt me or her either, to-morrow.”
+
+“Rosanne, my dear,” said Cecilia, trying to lift the relaxed soft body
+and to open the stairway door behind her. “Come up with me right off. I
+think you better be where people cannot look in at us.”
+
+Rosanne yielded and stumbled to her feet, clinging to her friend. When
+they disappeared the young man heard her through the stairway enclosure
+sobbing with convulsive gasps:
+
+“I hate Elizabeth Aiken! I wish they would kill Elizabeth Aiken! I hate
+her--I hate her!”
+
+The lighthouse-keeper sat down again on his doorstep and faced the
+prospect of taking care of a homeless Mormon. It appeared to him that
+his wife had not warmly enough welcomed her or met the situation with
+that recklessness one needed on Beaver Island. The tabernacle began to
+burn lower, brands streaming away in the current which a fire makes.
+It was strange to be more conscious of inland doings than of that vast
+unsalted sea so near him, which moistened his hair with vaporous drifts
+through the darkness. The garnet redness of the temple shed a huger
+amphitheatre of shine around itself. A taste of acrid smoke was on his
+lips. He was considering that drunken fishermen might presently begin to
+rove, and he would be wiser to go in and shut the house and put out his
+candle, when by stealthy approaches around the lighthouse two persons
+stood before him.
+
+“Is Ludlow here?” inquired a voice which he knew.
+
+“I'm here, Jim! Are all the Mormons coming back?”
+
+“Is Rosanne in your house?”
+
+“Rosanne is here; up-stairs with Cecilia. Come inside, Jim. Have you
+Elizabeth with you?”
+
+“Yes, I have Elizabeth with me.”
+
+The three entered together. Ludlow shut the door and dropped an iron bar
+across it. The young men standing opposite were of nearly the same
+age; but one was fearless and free and the other harassed and haggard.
+Out-door labor and the skill of the fisheries had given to both depth of
+chest and clean, muscular limbs. But James Baker had the desperate
+and hunted look of a fugitive from justice. He was fair, of the
+strong-featured, blue-eyed type that has pale chestnut-colored hair
+clinging close to a well-domed head.
+
+“Yes, Rosanne is here,” Ludlow repeated. “Now will you tell me how you
+got here?”
+
+“I rowed back in a boat.”
+
+“Who let you have a boat?”
+
+“There were sailors on the steamer. After I found Rosanne was left
+behind I would have had a boat or killed the man that prevented me. I
+had to wait out on the lake until it got dark. I knew your wife would
+take care of her. I told myself that when I couldn't find any chance to
+land in St. James's Bay until sunset.”
+
+“She's been hiding in the lumber on the dock all day.”
+
+“Did any one hurt her?”
+
+“Evidently not.”
+
+The Mormon husband's face cleared with a convulsion which in woman would
+have been a relieving burst of tears.
+
+“Sit down, Elizabeth,” said the lighthouse-keeper. “You look fit to
+fall.”
+
+“Yes, sit down, Elizabeth,” James Baker repeated, turning to her with
+secondary interest. But she remained standing, a tall Greek figure in
+bloomers, so sure of pose that drapery or its lack was an accident
+of which the eye took no account. She had pushed her soft brown hair,
+dampened by the lake, behind her ears. They showed delicately against
+the two shining masses. Her forehead and chin were of noble and
+courageous shape. If there was fault, it was in the breadth and height
+of brows masterful rather than feminine. She had not one delicious
+sensuous charm to lure man. Her large eyes were blotted with a hopeless
+blankness. She waited to see what would be done next.
+
+“Now I'll tell you,” said Baker to his friend, with decision, “I'm not
+going to bring the howling Gentiles around you.”
+
+“I don't care whether they come or not.”
+
+“I know you don't. It isn't necessary in such a time as this for you and
+me to look back.”
+
+“I told you at the time I wouldn't forget it, Jim. You stood by me when
+I married Cecilia in the teeth of the Mormons, and I'll stand by you
+through any mob of Gentiles. My sail-boat's out yonder, and it's yours
+as long as you want it; and we'll provision it.”
+
+“That's what I was going to ask, Ludlow.”
+
+“If I were you I'd put for Green Bay. Old neighbors are there, my father
+among them.”
+
+“That was my plan!”
+
+“But,” Ludlow added, turning his thumb over his shoulder with
+embarrassment, “they're all Gentiles in Green Bay.”
+
+“Elizabeth and I talked it over in the boat. I told her the truth before
+God. We've agreed to live apart. Ludlow, I never wanted any wife but
+Rosanne, and I don't want any wife but Rosanne now. You don't know how
+it happened; I was first of the young men called on to set an example.
+Brother Strang could bring a pressure to bear that it was impossible to
+resist. He might have threatened till doomsday. But I don't know what
+he did with me. I told him it wasn't treating Elizabeth fair. Still, I
+married her according to Saints' law, and I consider myself bound by my
+pledge to provide for her. She's a good girl. She has no one to look to
+but me. And I'm not going to turn her off to shift for herself if the
+whole United States musters against me.”
+
+“Now you talk like a man. I think better of you than I have for a couple
+of weeks past.”
+
+“It ought to make me mad to be run off of Beaver. But I couldn't take
+any interest. May I see Rosanne?”
+
+“Go right up-stairs. Cecilia took her up to put her to bed. The walls
+and floors are thick here or she would have heard your voice.”
+
+“Poor little Rosanne! It's been a hard day for her.”
+
+The young Mormon paused before ascending. “Ludlow, as soon as you can
+give me a few things to make the women comfortable for the run to Green
+Bay, I'll take them and put out.”
+
+“Tell Cecilia to come down. She'll know what they need.”
+
+Until Cecilia came down and hugged Elizabeth silently but most tenderly
+the lighthouse-keeper stood with his feet and gaze planted on a braided
+rug, not knowing what to say. He then shifted his feet and remarked:
+
+“It's a fine night for a sail, Elizabeth. I think we're going to have
+fair weather.”
+
+“I think we are,” she answered.
+
+Hurried preparations were made for the voyage. Elizabeth helped Cecilia
+gather food and clothes and two Mackinac blankets from the stores of a
+young couple not rich but open-handed. The lighthouse-keeper trimmed the
+lantern to hang at the mast-head. He was about to call the two up-stairs
+when the crunching of many feet on gravel was heard around his tower and
+a torch was thrust at one of the windows.
+
+At the same instant he put Elizabeth and Cecilia in the stairway and let
+James Baker, bounding down three steps at once, into the room.
+
+Each man took a gun, Ludlow blowing out the candle as he reached for his
+weapons.
+
+“Now you stand back out of sight and let me talk to them,” he said to
+the young Mormon, as an explosive clamor began. “They'll kill you,
+and they daren't touch me. Even if they had anything against me, the
+drunkest of them know better than to shoot down a government officer.
+I'm going to open this window.”
+
+A rabble of dusky shapes headed by a torch-bearer who had doubtless
+lighted his fat-stick at the burning temple, pressed forward to force a
+way through the window.
+
+“Get off of the flower-bed,” said Ludlow, dropping the muzzle of his gun
+on the sill. “You're tramping down my wife's flowers.”
+
+“It's your nosegays of Mormons we're after having, Ludlow. We seen them
+shlipping in here!”
+
+“It's shame to you, Ludlow, and your own da-cent wife that hard to come
+at, by raison of King Strang!”
+
+“Augh! thim bloomers!--they do be makin' me sthummick sick!”
+
+“What hurts you worst,” said Ludlow, “is the price you had to pay the
+Mormons for fish barrels.”
+
+The mob groaned and hooted. “Wull ye give us out the divil forninst
+there, or wull ye take a broadside through the windy?”
+
+“I haven't any devil in the house.”
+
+“It's Jim Baker, be the powers. He wor seen, and his women.”
+
+“Jim Baker is here. But he's leaving the island at once with the women.”
+
+“He'll not lave it alive.”
+
+“You, Pat Corrigan,” said Ludlow, pointing his finger at the
+torch-bearer, “do you remember the morning you and your mate rowed in to
+the lighthouse half-frozen and starved and I fed and warmed you?”
+
+“Do I moind it? I do!”
+
+“Did I let the Mormons take you then?”
+
+“No, bedad.”
+
+“When King Strang's constables came galloping down here to arrest you,
+didn't I run in water to my waist to push you off in your boat?”
+
+“You did, bedad!”
+
+“I didn't give you up to them, and I won't give this family up to you.
+They're not doing you any harm. Let them peaceably leave Beaver.”
+
+“But the two wives of him,” argued Pat Corrigan.
+
+“How many wives and children have you?”
+
+“Is it 'how many wives,' says the hay then! Wan wife, by the powers; and
+tin childer.”
+
+“Haven't you about as large a family as you can take care of?”
+
+“Begobs, I have.”
+
+“Do you want to take in Jim Baker's Mormon wife and provide for her?
+Somebody has to. If you won't let him do it, perhaps you'll do it
+yourself.”
+
+“No, bedad!”
+
+“Well, then, you'd better go about your business and let him alone. I
+don't see that we have to meddle with these things. Do you?”
+
+The crowd moved uneasily and laughed, good-naturedly owning to being
+plucked of its cause and arrested in the very act of returning evil for
+good.
+
+“I tould you Ludlow was the foine man,” said the torch-bearer to his
+confederates.
+
+“There's no harm in you boys,” pursued the fine man. “You're not making
+a war on women.”
+
+“We're not. Thrue for you.”
+
+“If you feel like having a wake over the Mormons, why don't you get more
+torches and make a procession down the Galilee road? You've done about
+all you can on Mount Pisgah.”
+
+As they began to trail away at this suggestion and to hail him with
+parting shouts, Ludlow shut the window and laughed in the dark room.
+
+“I'd like to start them chasing the fox around all the five lakes
+on Beaver. But they may change their minds before they reach the
+sand-hills. We'd better load the boat right off, Jim.”
+
+In the hurrying Rosanne came down-stairs and found Elizabeth waiting at
+the foot. They could see each other only by starlight. They were alone,
+for the others had gone out to the boat.
+
+“Are you willing for me to go, Rosanne?” spoke Elizabeth. Her sweet
+voice was of a low pitch, unhurried and steady. “James says he'll build
+me a little house in your yard.”
+
+“Oh, Elizabeth!”
+
+Rosanne did not cry, “I cannot hate you!” but she threw herself into
+the arms of the larger, more patient woman whom she saw no longer as
+a rival, and who would cherish her children. Elizabeth kissed her
+husband's wife as a little sister.
+
+The lights on Beaver, sinking to duller redness, shone behind Elizabeth
+like the fires of the stake as she and Cecilia walked after the others
+to the boat. Cecilia wondered if her spirit rose against the indignities
+of her position as an undesired wife, whose legal rights were not even
+recognized by the society into which she would be forced. The world was
+not open to her as to a man. In that day it would have stoned her if she
+ventured too far from some protected fireside. Fierce envy of squaws who
+could tramp winter snows and were not despised for their brief marriages
+may have flashed through Elizabeth like the little self-protecting blaze
+a man lighted around his own cabin when the prairie was on fire. Why in
+all the swarming centuries of human experience had the lot of a creature
+with such genius for loving been cast where she was utterly thrown away?
+
+Solitary and carrying her passion a hidden coal she walked in the
+footsteps of martyrs behind the pair of reunited lovers.
+
+“Take care, Rosanne. Don't stumble, darling!” said the man to whom
+Elizabeth had been married by a law she respected until a higher law
+unhus-banded her.
+
+Cecilia noted the passionate clutch of her hand and its withdrawal
+without touching him as he lurched over a rock.
+
+He put his wife tenderly in the boat and then turned with kind formality
+to Elizabeth; but Ludlow had helped her.
+
+“Well, bon voyage,” said the lighthouse-keeper. “Mind you run up the
+lantern on the mast as soon as you get aboard. I don't think there'll be
+any chase. The Irish have freed their minds.”
+
+“I'll send your fishing-boat back as soon as I can, Ludlow.”
+
+“Turn it over to father; he'll see to it. Give him news of us and
+our love to all the folks. He will be anxious to know the truth about
+Beaver.”
+
+“Good-bye, Elizabeth and Rosanne!”
+
+“Good-bye, Cecilia!”
+
+A grinding on pebbles, then the thump of adjusted oars and the rush of
+water on each side of a boat's course, marked the fugitives' progress
+towards the anchored smack.
+
+Suspended on starlit waters as if in eternity, and watching the smoke of
+her past go up from a looted island, Elizabeth had the sense of a great
+company around her. The uninstructed girl from the little kingdom
+of Beaver divined a worldful of souls waiting and loving in hopeless
+silence and marching resistlessly as the stars to their reward. For
+there is a development like the unfolding of a god for those who suffer
+in strength and overcome.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The King Of Beaver, and Beaver Lights, by
+Mary Hartwell Catherwood
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEAVER ***
+
+***** This file should be named 23256-0.txt or 23256-0.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/2/5/23256/
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project
+Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the Foundation”
+ or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the phrase “Project
+Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase “Project Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+“Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, “Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.”
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+“Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right
+of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/23256-0.zip b/23256-0.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5b7f76e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23256-0.zip
diff --git a/23256-h.zip b/23256-h.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..206cd04
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23256-h.zip
diff --git a/23256-h/23256-h.htm b/23256-h/23256-h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ac5306a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23256-h/23256-h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,2227 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+
+<!DOCTYPE html
+   PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+   "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" >
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <title>
+      The King of Beaver and Beaver Lights, by Mary Hartwell Catherwood
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve">
+
+    body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify}
+    P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
+    H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; }
+    hr  { width: 50%; text-align: center;}
+    .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
+    blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
+    .mynote    {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+    .toc2      { margin-left: 20%;}
+    div.fig    { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; }
+    div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; }
+    .figleft   {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;}
+    .figright  {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;}
+    .pagenum   {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal;
+               margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%;
+               text-align: right;}
+    pre        { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;}
+
+</style>
+  </head>
+  <body>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The King Of Beaver, and Beaver Lights, by
+Mary Hartwell Catherwood
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The King Of Beaver, and Beaver Lights
+       From "Mackinac And Lake Stories", 1899
+
+Author: Mary Hartwell Catherwood
+
+Release Date: October 30, 2007 [EBook #23256]
+Last Updated: March 8, 2018
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEAVER ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+    <div style="height: 8em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h1>
+      THE KING OF BEAVER AND BEAVER LIGHTS
+    </h1>
+    <h2>
+      From &ldquo;Mackinac And Lake Stories&rdquo;, 1899 <br /><br /> By Mary Hartwell
+      Catherwood
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      Contents
+    </h2>
+    <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> THE KING OF BEAVER </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> BEAVER LIGHTS </a>
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      List of Illustrations
+    </h2>
+    <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#linkimage-0001"> Always Prayed This Prayer Alone 124 </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#linkimage-0002"> Brother Strang Serenading 134 </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#linkimage-0003"> You Will Give Yourself to Me Now 142 </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#linkimage-0004"> Let Me Loose! 148 </a>
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE KING OF BEAVER
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Success was the word most used by the King of Beaver. Though he stood
+      before his people as a prophet assuming to speak revelations, executive
+      power breathed from him. He was a tall, golden-tinted man with a head like
+      a dome, hair curling over his ears, and soft beard and mustache which did
+      not conceal a mouth cut thin and straight. He had student hands, long and
+      well kept. It was not his dress, though that was careful as a girl's,
+      which set him apart from farmers listening on the benches around him, but
+      the keen light of his blue eyes, wherein shone the master.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Emeline thought she had never before seen such a man. He had an attraction
+      which she felt loathsome, and the more so because it drew some part of her
+      irresistibly to him. Her spirit was kin to his, and she resented that
+      kinship, trying to lose herself among farmers' wives and daughters, who
+      listened to their Prophet stolidly, and were in no danger of being
+      naturally selected by him. This moral terror Emeline could not have
+      expressed in words, and she hid it like a shame. She also resented the
+      subservience of her kinspeople to one no greater than herself. Her stock
+      had been masters of men.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As the King of Beaver slowly turned about the circle he encountered this
+      rebel defying his assumption, and paused in his speaking a full minute,
+      the drowsy farmers seeing merely that notes were being shifted and
+      rearranged on the table. Then he began again, the dictatorial key
+      transposed into melody. His covert message was to the new maid in the
+      congregation. She might struggle like a fly in a web. He wrapped her
+      around and around with beautiful sentences. As Speaker of the State
+      Legislature he had learned well how to handle men in the mass, but nature
+      had doubly endowed him for entrancing women. The spiritual part of James
+      Strang, King and Prophet of a peculiar sect, appealed to the one best
+      calculated to appreciate him during the remainder of his exhortation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Tabernacle, to which Beaver Island Mormons gathered every Saturday
+      instead of every Sunday, was yet unfinished. Its circular shape and
+      vaulted ceiling, panelled in the hard woods of the island, had been
+      planned by the man who stood in the centre. Many openings under the eaves
+      gaped windowless; but the congregation, sheltered from a July sun, enjoyed
+      freely the lake air, bringing fragrance from their own fields and gardens.
+      They seemed a bovine, honest people, in homespun and hickory; and youth,
+      bright-eyed and fresh-cheeked, was not lacking. They sat on benches
+      arranged in circles around a central platform which held the Prophet's
+      chair and table. This was his simple plan for making his world revolve
+      around him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Roxy Cheeseman, Emeline's cousin, was stirred to restlessness by the
+      Prophet's unusual manner, and shifted uneasily on the bench. Her short,
+      scarlet-cheeked face made her a favorite among the young men. She had
+      besides this attraction a small waist and foot, and a father who was very
+      well off indeed for a Beaver Island farmer. Roxy's black eyes, with the
+      round and unwinking stare of a bird's, were fixed on King Strang, as if
+      she instinctively warded off a gaze which by swerving a little could smite
+      her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the Prophet paid no attention to any one when the meeting was over,
+      his custom being to crush his notes in one hand at the end of his
+      peroration, and to retire like a priest, leaving the dispersing
+      congregation awed by his rapt face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The two cousins walked sedately along the street of St. James village,
+      while their elders lingered about the Tabernacle door shaking hands. That
+      primitive settlement of the early '50's consisted of a few houses and log
+      stores, a mill, the Tabernacle, and long docks, at which steamers touched
+      perhaps once a week. The forest partially encircled it. A few Gentiles,
+      making Saturday purchases in a shop kept by one of their own kind, glanced
+      with dislike at the separating Mormons. The shouts of Gentile children
+      could also be heard at Saturday play. Otherwise a Sabbath peacefulness was
+      over the landscape. Beaver Island had not a rugged coastline, though the
+      harbor of St. James was deep and good. Land rose from it in gentle
+      undulations rather than hills.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Emeline and Roxy walked inland, with their backs to the harbor. In summer,
+      farmers who lived nearest St. James took short-cuts through the woods to
+      meeting, and let their horses rest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The last house on the street was a wooden building of some pretension,
+      having bow-windows and a veranda. High pickets enclosed a secluded garden.
+      It was very unlike the log-cabins of the island.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He lives here,&rdquo; said Roxy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Emeline did not inquire who lived here. She understood, and her question
+      was&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How many with him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All of them&mdash;eight. Seven of them stay at home, but Mary French
+      travels with him. Didn't you notice her in the Tabernacle&mdash;the girl
+      with the rose in her hair, sitting near the platform?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I noticed her. Was that one of his wives?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Roxy waited until they had struck into the woods path, and then looked
+      guardedly behind her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mary French is the youngest one. She was sealed to the Prophet only two
+      years ago; and last winter she went travelling with him, and we heard she
+      dressed in men's clothes and acted as his secretary.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But why did she do that when she was his wife according to your
+      religion?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't know,&rdquo; responded Roxy, mysteriously. &ldquo;The Gentiles on the
+      mainland are very hard on us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They followed the track between fragrant grapevine and hickory, and the
+      girl bred to respect polygamy inquired&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you feel afraid of the Prophet, Cousin Emeline?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I don't,&rdquo; retorted the girl bred to abhor it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sometimes I do. He makes people do just what he wants them to. Mary
+      French was a Gentile's daughter, the proudest girl that ever stepped in
+      St. James. She didn't live on the island; she came here to visit. And he
+      got her. What's the matter, Cousin Emeline?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Some one trod on my grave; I shivered. Cousin Roxy, I want to ask you a
+      plain question. Do you like a man's having more than one wife?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I don't. And father doesn't either. But he was obliged to marry
+      again, or get into trouble with the other elders. And Aunt Mahala is very
+      good about the house, and minds mother. The revelation may be plain
+      enough, but I am not the kind of a girl,&rdquo; declared Roxy, daringly, as one
+      might blaspheme, &ldquo;that cares a straw for the revelation.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Emeline took hold of her arm, and they walked on with a new sense of
+      companionship.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A great many of the people feel the same way about it. But when the
+      Prophet makes them understand it is part of the faith, they have to keep
+      the faith. I am a reprobate myself. But don't tell father,&rdquo; appealed Roxy,
+      uneasily. &ldquo;He is an elder.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My uncle Cheeseman is a good man,&rdquo; said Emeline, finding comfort in this
+      fact. She could not explain to her cousin how hard it had been for her to
+      come to Beaver Island to live among Mormons. Her uncle had insisted on
+      giving his orphan niece a home and the protection of a male relative, at
+      the death of the maiden aunt by whom she had been brought up. In that day
+      no girl thought of living without protection. Emeline had a few thousand
+      dollars of her own, but her money was invested, and he could not count on
+      the use of it, which men assumed a right to have when helpless women
+      clustered to their hearths. Her uncle Cheeseman was undeniably a good man,
+      whatever might be said of his religious faith.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I like father myself,&rdquo; assented Roxy. &ldquo;He is never strict with us unless
+      the Prophet has some revelation that makes him so. Cousin Emeline, I hope
+      you won't grow to be taken up with Brother Strang, like Mary French. I
+      thought he looked at you to-day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Emeline's face and neck were scarlet above her black dress. The Gentile
+      resented as an insult what the Mormon simply foreboded as distasteful to
+      herself; though there was not a family of that faith on the island who
+      would not have felt honored in giving a daughter to the Prophet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hate him!&rdquo; exclaimed Emeline, her virgin rage mingled with a kind of
+      sweet and sickening pain. &ldquo;I'll never go to his church again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Father wouldn't like that, Cousin Emeline,&rdquo; observed Roxy, though her
+      heart leaped to such unshackled freedom. &ldquo;He says we mustn't put our hand
+      to the plough and turn back. Everybody knows that Brother Strang is the
+      only person who can keep the Gentiles from driving us off the island. They
+      have persecuted us ever since the settlement was made. But they are afraid
+      of him. They cannot do anything with him. As long as he lives he is better
+      than an army to keep our lands and homes for us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are in a hard case betwixt Gentiles and Prophet,&rdquo; laughed Emeline.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet the aspects of life on Beaver Island keenly interested her. This small
+      world, fifteen miles in length by six in breadth, was shut off by itself
+      in Lake Michigan, remote from the civilization of towns. She liked at
+      first to feel cut loose from her past life, and would have had the
+      steamers touch less often at St. James, diminishing their chances of
+      bringing her hateful news.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There were only two roads on the island&mdash;one extending from the
+      harbor town in the north end to a village called Galilee at the extreme
+      southeast end, the other to the southwest shore. Along these roads farms
+      were laid out, each about eighty rods in width and a mile or two in
+      length, so that neighbors dwelt within call of one another, and the colony
+      presented a strong front. The King of Beaver could scarcely have
+      counselled a better division of land for the linking of families. On one
+      side of the Cheesemans had dwelt an excellent widow with a bag chin, and
+      she became Elder Cheeseman's second wife. On the other side were the
+      Went-worths, and Billy Wentworth courted Roxy across the fence until it
+      appeared that wives might continue passing over successive boundary lines.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The billowy land was green in the morning as paradise, and Emeline thought
+      every day its lights and shadows were more beautiful than the day before.
+      Life had paused in her, and she was glad to rest her eyes on the horizon
+      line and take no thought about any morrow. She helped her cousin and her
+      legal and Mormon aunts with the children and the cabin labor, trying to
+      adapt herself to their habits. But her heart-sickness and sense of fitting
+      in her place like a princess cast among peasants put her at a disadvantage
+      when, the third evening, the King of Beaver came into the garden.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He chose that primrose time of day when the world and the human spirit
+      should be mellowest, and walked with the farmer between garden beds to
+      where Emeline and Roxy were tending flowers. The entire loamy place sent
+      up incense. Emeline had felt at least sheltered and negatively happy until
+      his voice modulations strangely pierced her, and she looked up and saw
+      him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He called her uncle Brother Cheeseman and her uncle called him Brother
+      Strang, but on one side was the mien of a sovereign and on the other the
+      deference of a subject. Again Emeline's blood rose against him, and she
+      took as little notice as she dared of the introduction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The King of Beaver talked to Roxy. Billy Wentworth came to the line fence
+      and made a face at seeing him helping to tie up sweet-peas. Then Billy
+      climbed over and joined Emeline. They exchanged looks, and each knew the
+      mind of the other on the subject of the Prophet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Billy was a good safe human creature, with the tang of the soil about him,
+      and no wizard power of making his presence felt when one's back was
+      turned. Emeline kept her gray eyes directed towards him, and talked about
+      his day's work and the trouble of ploughing with oxen. She was delicately
+      and sensitively made, with a beauty which came and went like flame. Her
+      lips were formed in scarlet on a naturally pale face. Billy Wentworth
+      considered her weakly. He preferred the robust arm outlined by Roxy's
+      homespun sleeve. And yet she had a sympathetic knowledge of men which he
+      felt, without being able to describe, as the most delicate flattery.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The King of Beaver approached Emeline. She knew she could not escape the
+      interview, and continued tying vines to the cedar palisades while the two
+      young islanders drew joyfully away to another part of the garden. The
+      stable and barn-yard were between garden and cabin. Long variegated fields
+      stretched off in bands. A gate let through the cedar pickets to a pasture
+      where the cows came up to be milked. Bees gathering to their straw domes
+      for the night made a purring hum at the other end of the garden.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I trust you are here to stay,&rdquo; said Emeline's visitor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am never going back to Detroit,&rdquo; she answered. He understood at once
+      that she had met grief in Detroit, and that it might be other grief than
+      the sort expressed by her black garment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We will be kind to you here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Emeline, finishing her task, glanced over her shoulder at him. She did not
+      know how tantalizingly her face, close and clear in skin texture as the
+      petal of a lily, flashed out her dislike. A heavier woman's rudeness in
+      her became audacious charm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I like Beaver Island,&rdquo; she remarked, winding the remaining bits of string
+      into a ball. &ldquo;'Every prospect pleases, and only man is vile.'&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean Gentile man,&rdquo; said King Strang. &ldquo;He is vile, but we hope to get
+      rid of him some time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By breaking his fish-nets and stealing his sailboats? Is it true that a
+      Gentile sail-boat was sunk in Lake Galilee and kept hidden there until
+      inquiry ceased, and then was raised, repainted, and launched again, a good
+      Mormon boat?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He linked his hands behind him and smiled at her daring.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How many evil stories you have heard about us! My dear young lady, I
+      could rejoin with truths about our persecutions. Is your uncle Cheeseman a
+      malefactor?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My uncle Cheeseman is a good man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So are all my people. The island, like all young communities, is infested
+      with a class of camp-follow-ers, and every depredation of these fellows is
+      charged to us. But we shall make it a garden&mdash;we shall make it a
+      garden.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let me train vines over the whipping-post in your garden,&rdquo; suggested
+      Emeline, turning back the crimson edge of her lip.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have heard that a man was publicly whipped on Beaver Island&mdash;and
+      he deserved it. Have you heard also that I myself have been imprisoned by
+      outsiders, and my life attempted more than once? Don't you know that in
+      war a leader must be stern if he would save his people from destruction?
+      Have you never heard a good thing of me, my child?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Emeline, facing her adversary, was enraged at the conviction which the
+      moderation and gentleness of a martyr was able to work in her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh yes, indeed, I have heard one good thing of you&mdash;your undertaking
+      the salvation of eight or nine wives.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not yet nine,&rdquo; he responded, humorously. &ldquo;And I am glad you mentioned
+      that. It is one of our mysteries that you will learn later. You have
+      helped me greatly by such a candid unburdening of your mind. For you must
+      know that you and I are to be more to each other than strangers. The
+      revelation was given to you when it was given to me in the Tabernacle. I
+      saw that.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The air was thickening with dusky motes. Emeline fancied that living dark
+      atoms were pressing down upon her from infinity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must know,&rdquo; she said, with determination, &ldquo;that I came to Beaver
+      Island because I hated men, and expected to see nothing but Mormons here&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not counting them men at all,&rdquo; indulgently supplemented the King of
+      Beaver, conscious that she was struggling in the most masculine presence
+      she had ever encountered. He dropped his voice. &ldquo;My child, you touch me as
+      no one has touched me yet. There is scarcely need of words between us. I
+      know what I am to you. You shall not stay on the island if you do not wish
+      it. Oh, you are going to make me do my best!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wish you would go away!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Some Gentile has hurt you, and you are beating your bruised strength on
+      me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Please go away! I don't like you. I am bound to another man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are bound to nobody but me. I have waited a lifetime for you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How dare you talk so to me when you have eight wives already!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Solomon had a thousand. He was a man of God, though never in his life was
+      there a moment when he took to his breast a mate. I shall fare better.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you talk to them all like this?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ask them. They have their little circles beyond which they cannot go.
+      Have you thoughts in common with your cousin Roxy?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, very many,&rdquo; asserted Emeline, doggedly. &ldquo;I am just like Cousin
+      Roxy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have no mind beyond the milking and churning, the sewing and
+      weaving?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I have no mind beyond them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I kiss your hands&mdash;these little hands that were made to the finest
+      uses of life, and that I shall fill with honors.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't touch me,&rdquo; warned Emeline. &ldquo;They can scratch!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The King of Beaver laughed aloud. With continued gentleness he explained
+      to her: &ldquo;You will come to me. Gentile brutes may chase women like savages,
+      and maltreat them afterwards; but it is different with you and me.&rdquo; He
+      brought his hands forward and folded them upright on his breast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0001" id="linkimage-0001">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img src="images/p124.jpg" alt="Always Prayed This Prayer Alone 124 "   width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have always prayed this prayer alone and as a solitary soul at
+      twilight. For the first time I shall speak it aloud in the presence of one
+      who has often thought the same prayer: O God, since Thou hast shut me up
+      in this world, I will do the best I can, without fear or favor. When my
+      task is done, let me out!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He turned and left her, as if this had been a benediction on their
+      meeting, and went from the garden as he usually went from the Tabernacle.
+      Emeline's heart and eyes seemed to overflow without any volition of her
+      own. It was a kind of spiritual effervescence which she could not control.
+      She sobbed two or three times aloud, and immediately ground her teeth at
+      his back as it passed out of sight. Billy and Roxy were so free from the
+      baleful power that selected her. They could chat in peace under the
+      growing darkness, they who had home and families, while she, without a
+      relative except those on Beaver Island, or a friend whose duty it was to
+      shelter her, must bear the shock of that ruinous force.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The instinct that no one could help her but herself kept her silent when
+      she retired with Roxy to the loft-chamber. Primitive life on Beaver Island
+      settled to its rest soon after the birds, and there was not a sound
+      outside of nature's stirrings till morning, unless some drunken fishermen
+      trailed down the Galilee road to see what might be inflicted on the
+      property of sleeping Mormons.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The northern air blew fresh through gable windows of the attic, yet
+      Emeline turned restlessly on her straw bed, and counted the dim rafters
+      while Roxy slept. Finally she could not lie still, and slipped cautiously
+      out of bed, feeling dire need to be abroad, running or riding with all her
+      might. She leaned out of a gable window, courting the moist chill of the
+      starless night. While the hidden landscape seemed strangely dear to her,
+      she was full of unspeakable homesickness and longing for she knew not what&mdash;a
+      life she had not known and could not imagine, some perfect friend who
+      called her silently through space and was able to lift her out of the
+      entanglements of existence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The regular throbbing of a horse's feet approaching along the road at a
+      brisk walk became quite distinct. Emeline's sensations were suspended
+      while she listened. From the direction of St. James she saw a figure on
+      horseback coming between the dusky parallel fence rows. The sound of
+      walking ceased in front of the house, and presently another sound crept
+      barely as high as the attic window. It was the cry of a violin, sweet and
+      piercing, like some celestial voice. It took her unawares. She fled from
+      it to her place beside Roxy and covered her ears with the bedclothes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Roxy turned with a yawn and aroused from sleep. She rose to her elbow and
+      drew in her breath, giggling. The violin courted like an angel, finding
+      secret approaches to the girl who lay rigid with her ears stopped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Cousin Emeline!&rdquo; whispered Roxy, &ldquo;do you hear that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it?&rdquo; inquired Emeline, revealing no emotion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0002" id="linkimage-0002">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img src="images/p134.jpg" alt="Brother Strang Serenading 134 "   width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's Brother Strang serenading.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How do you know?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because he is the only man on Beaver who can play the fiddle like that.&rdquo;
+       Roxy gave herself over to unrestrained giggling. &ldquo;A man fifty years old!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't believe it,&rdquo; responded Emeline, sharply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't believe he is nearly fifty? He told his age to the elders.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I haven't a word of praise for him, but he isn't an old man. He doesn't
+      look more than thirty-five.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To hear that fiddle you'd think he wasn't twenty,&rdquo; chuckled Roxy. &ldquo;It's
+      the first time Brother Strang ever came serenading down this road.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He did not stay long, but went, trailing music deliciously into the
+      distance. Emeline knew how he rode, with the bridle looped over his bow
+      arm. She was quieted and lay in peace, sinking to sleep almost before the
+      faint, far notes could no longer be heard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From that night her uncle Cheeseman's family changed their attitude
+      towards her. She felt it as a withdrawal of intimacy, though it expressed
+      reverential awe. Especially did her Mormon aunt Mahala take little tasks
+      out of her hands and wait upon her, while her legal aunt looked at her
+      curiously. It was natural for Roxy to talk to Billy Wentworth across the
+      fence, but it was not natural for them to share so much furtive laughter,
+      which ceased when Emeline approached. Uncle Cheese-man himself paid more
+      attention to his niece and spent much time at the table explaining to her
+      the Mormon situation on Beaver Island, tracing the colony back to its
+      secession from Brigham Young's party in Illinois.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Brother Strang was too large for them,&rdquo; said her uncle. &ldquo;He can do
+      anything he undertakes to do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The next Saturday Emeline refused to go to the Tabernacle. She gave no
+      reason and the family asked for none. Her caprices were as the gambols of
+      the paschal lamb, to be indulged and overlooked. Roxy offered to stay with
+      her, but she rejected companionship, promising her uncle and aunts to lock
+      herself within the cabin and hide if she saw men approaching from any
+      direction. The day was sultry for that climate, and of a vivid clearness,
+      and the sky dazzled. Emeline had never met any terrifying Gentiles during
+      her stay on the island, and she felt quite secure in crossing the pasture
+      and taking to the farm woods beyond. Her uncle's cows had worn a path
+      which descended to a run with partially grass-lined channel. Beaver Island
+      was full of brooks and springs. The children had placed stepping-stones
+      across this one. She was vaguely happy, seeing the water swirl below her
+      feet, hearing the cattle breathe at their grazing; though in the path or
+      on the log which she found at the edge of the woods her face kept turning
+      towards the town of St. James, as the faces of the faithful turn towards
+      Mecca. It was childish to think of escaping the King of Beaver by merely
+      staying away from his exhortations. Emeline knew she was only parleying.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The green silence should have helped her to think, but she found herself
+      waiting&mdash;and doing nothing but waiting&mdash;for what might happen
+      next. She likened herself to a hunted rabbit palpitating in cover, unable
+      to reach any place of safety yet grateful for a moment's breathing. Wheels
+      rolled southward along the Galilee road. Meeting was out. She had the
+      caprice to remain where she was when the family wagon arrived, for it had
+      been too warm to walk to the Tabernacle. Roxy's voice called her, and as
+      she answered, Roxy skipped across the brook and ran to her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Cousin Emeline,&rdquo; the breathless girl announced, &ldquo;here comes Mary French
+      to see you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Emeline stiffened upon the log.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Roxy glanced behind at a figure following her across the meadow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What does she want of me?&rdquo; inquired Emeline. &ldquo;If she came home with the
+      family, it was not necessary to call me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She drove by herself. She says Brother Strang sent her to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Emeline stood up as the Prophet's youngest wife entered that leafy
+      silence. Roxy, forgetting that these two had never met before, slipped
+      away and left them. They looked at each other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How do you do, Mrs. Strang?&rdquo; spoke Emeline.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How do you do, Miss Cheeseman?&rdquo; spoke Mary French.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will you sit down on this log?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mary French had more flesh and blood than Emeline. She was larger and of a
+      warmer and browner tint&mdash;that type of brunette with startling black
+      hair which breaks into a floss of little curls, and with unexpected blue
+      eyes. Her full lips made a bud, and it only half bloomed when she smiled.
+      From crown to slipper she was a ripe and supple woman. Though clad, like
+      Emeline, in black, her garment was a transparent texture over white, and
+      she held a parasol with crimson lining behind her head. She had left her
+      bonnet in her conveyance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My husband,&rdquo; said Mary French, quiet and smiling, &ldquo;sent me to tell you
+      that you will be welcomed into our family.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Emeline looked her in the eyes. The Prophet's wife had the most
+      unblenching smiling gaze she had ever encountered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not wish to enter your family. I am not a Mormon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He will make you wish it. I was not a Mormon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They sat silent, the trees stirring around them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not understand it,&rdquo; said Emeline. &ldquo;How can you come to me with such
+      a message?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can do it as you can do it when your turn comes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Emeline looked at Mary French as if she had been stabbed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It hurts, doesn't it?&rdquo; said Mary French. &ldquo;But wait till he seems to you a
+      great strong archangel&mdash;an archangel with only the weakness of
+      dabbling his wings in the dirt&mdash;and you will withhold from him
+      nothing, no one, that may be of use to him. If he wants to put me by for a
+      while, it is his will. You cannot take my place. I cannot fill yours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, don't!&rdquo; gasped Emeline. &ldquo;I am not that sort of woman&mdash;I should
+      kill!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is because you have not lived with him. I would rather have him make
+      me suffer than not have him at all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, don't! I can't bear it! Help me!&rdquo; prayed Emeline, stretching her
+      hands to the wife.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mary French met her with one hand and the unflinching smile. Her flesh was
+      firm and warm, while Emeline's was cold and quivering.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have never loved anybody, have you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you have thought you did?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was engaged before I came here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And the engagement is broken?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We quarrelled.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mary French breathed deeply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will forget it here. He can draw the very soul out of your body.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He cannot!&rdquo; flashed Emeline.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Some one will kill him yet. He is not understood at his best, and he
+      cannot endure defeat of any kind. When you come into the family you must
+      guard him from his enemies as I have constantly guarded him. If you ever
+      let a hair of his head be harmed&mdash;then I shall hate you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mrs. Strang, do you come here to push me too! My uncle's family,
+      everything, all are closing around me! Why don't you help me? I loathe&mdash;I
+      loathe; your husband!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mary French rose, her smile changing only to express deep tenderness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are a good girl dear. I can myself feel your charm. I was not so
+      self-denying. In my fierce young girlhood I would have removed a rival.
+      But since you ask me, I will do all I can for you in the way you desire.
+      My errand is done. Good-by.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good-by,&rdquo; said Emeline, restraining herself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She sat watching the elastic shape under the parasol move with its shadow
+      across the field. She had not a doubt until Mary French was gone; then the
+      deep skill of the Prophet's wife with rivals sprung out like a distortion
+      of nature.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Emeline had nearly three weeks in which to intrench herself with doubts
+      and defences. She felt at first surprised and relieved. When her second
+      absence from the Tabernacle was passed over in silence she found in her
+      nature an unaccountable pique, which steadily grew to unrest. She ventured
+      and turned back on the woods path leading to St. James many times, each
+      time daring farther. The impulse to go to St. James came on her at waking,
+      and she resisted through busy hours of the day. But the family often had
+      tasks from which Emeline was free, and when the desire grew unendurable
+      she knelt at her secluded bedside in the loft, trying to bring order out
+      of her confused thoughts. She reviewed her quarrel with her lover, and
+      took blame for his desertion. The grievance which had seemed so great to
+      her before she came to Beaver Island dwindled, and his personality with
+      it. In self-defence she coaxed her fancy, pretending that James Arnold was
+      too good for her. It was well he had found it out. But because he was too
+      good for her she ought to go on being fond of him at a safe distance,
+      undetected by him, and discreetly cherishing his large blond image as her
+      ideal of manhood. If she had not been bred in horror of Catholics, the
+      cloister at this time would have occurred to her as her only safe refuge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These secret rites in her bedroom being ended, and Roxy diverted from her
+      movements, she slipped off into the woods path, sometimes running
+      breathlessly towards St. James.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The impetus which carried Emeline increased with each journey. At first
+      she was able to check it in the woods depths, but it finally drove her
+      until the village houses were in sight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When this at last happened, and she stood gazing, fascinated, down the
+      tunnel of forest path, the King of Beaver spoke behind her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Emeline screamed in terror and took hold of a bush, to make it a support
+      and a veil.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have I been a patient man?&rdquo; he inquired, standing between her and her
+      uncle's house. &ldquo;I waited for you to come to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am obliged to go somewhere,&rdquo; said Emeline, plucking the leaves and
+      unsteadily shifting her eyes about his feet. &ldquo;I cannot stay on the farm
+      all the time.&rdquo; Through numbness she felt the pricking of a sharp rapture.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The King of Beaver smiled, seeing betrayed in her face the very vertigo of
+      joy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0003" id="linkimage-0003">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img src="images/p142.jpg" alt="You Will Give Yourself to Me Now 142 "   width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will give yourself to me now?&rdquo; he winningly begged, venturing
+      out-stretched hands. &ldquo;You have felt the need as I have? Do you think the
+      days have been easy to me? When you were on your knees I was on my knees
+      too. Every day you came in this direction I came as far as I dared, to
+      meet you. Are the obstacles all passed?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Emeline.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was making her ask herself that most insidious question, &ldquo;Why could not
+      the other have been like this?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell me&mdash;can you say, 'I hate you,' now?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Emeline.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have grown to be a better man since you said you hated me. The miracle
+      cannot be forced. Next time?&rdquo; He spoke wistfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; Emeline answered, holding to the bush. She kept her eyes on the
+      ground while he talked, and glanced up when she replied. He stood with his
+      hat off. The flakes of sun touched his head and the fair skin of his
+      forehead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He moved towards Emeline, and she retreated around the bush. Without
+      hesitating he passed, making a salutation, and went on by himself to St.
+      James. She watched his rapid military walk furtively, her eyebrows
+      crouching, her lips rippling with passionate tremors. Then she took to
+      flight homeward, her skirts swishing through the woods with a rush like
+      the wind. The rebound was as violent as the tension had been.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There were few festivities on Beaver Island, the Mormon families living a
+      pastoral life, many of them yet taxed by the struggle for existence. Crops
+      shot up rank and strong in the short Northern summer. Soft cloud masses
+      sailed over the island, and rain-storms marched across it with drums of
+      thunder which sent reverberations along the water world. Or fogs rolled
+      in, muffling and obliterating homesteads.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Emeline stayed in the house, busying herself with the monotonous duties of
+      the family three days. She was determined never to go into the woods path
+      again without Roxy. The fourth day a gray fog gave her no choice but
+      imprisonment. It had the acrid tang of smoke from fires burning on the
+      mainland. About nightfall the west wind rose and blew it back, revealing a
+      land mantled with condensed drops.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Emeline put on her hat and shawl to walk around in the twilight. The other
+      young creatures of the house were glad to be out also, and Roxy and Roxy's
+      lover talked across the fence. Emeline felt fortified against the path
+      through the woods at night; yet her feet turned in that direction, and as
+      certainly as water seeks its level she found herself on the moist elastic
+      track. Cow-bells on the farm sounded fainter and farther. A gloom of trees
+      massed around her, and the forest gave up all its perfume to the dampness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At every step she meant to turn back, though a recklessness of night and
+      of meeting the King of Beaver grew upon her. Thus, without any reasonable
+      excuse for her presence there, she met Mary French.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is that you, Miss Cheeseman?&rdquo; panted the Prophet's youngest wife.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Emeline confessed her identity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was coming for you, but it is fortunate you are so far on the way.
+      There is a steamboat at the dock, and it will go out in half an hour. I
+      could not get away sooner to tell you.&rdquo; Mary French breathed heavily from
+      running. &ldquo;When the steamboat came in the captain sent for my husband, as
+      the captains always do. I went with him: he knows how I dread to have him
+      go alone upon a boat since an attempt was made last year to kidnap him.
+      But this time there was another reason, for I have been watching. And sure
+      enough, a young man was on the steamboat inquiring where he could find
+      you. His name is James Arnold. The captain asked my husband to direct him
+      to you. You will readily understand why he did not find you. Come at
+      once!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will not,&rdquo; said Emeline.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you wanted me to help you, and I have been trying to do it. We easily
+      learned by letter from our friends in Detroit who your lover was. My
+      husband had me do that: he wanted to know. Then without his knowledge I
+      stooped to write an anonymous letter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To James Arnold?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;About me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;About you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What did you tell him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I said you were exposed to great danger on Beaver Island, among the
+      Mormons, and if you had any interested friend it was time for him to
+      interfere.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And that brought him here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sure it did. He was keenly disappointed at not finding you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But why didn't he come to the farm?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My husband prevented that. He said you were on Beaver Island three or
+      four weeks ago, but you were now in the Fairy Isle. It was no lie. He
+      spoke in parables, but the other heard him literally. We let him inquire
+      of people in St. James. But no one had seen you since the Saturday you
+      came to the Tabernacle. So he is going back to Mackinac to seek you. Your
+      life will be decided in a quarter of an hour. Will you go on that
+      steamboat?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Throw myself on the mercy of a man who dared&mdash;dared to break his
+      engagement, and who ought to be punished and put on probation, and then
+      refused! No, I cannot!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The minutes are slipping away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Besides, I have nothing with me but the clothes I have on. And my uncle's
+      family&mdash;think of my uncle's family!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You can write to your uncle and have him send your baggage. I dare not
+      carry any messages. But I thought of what you would need to-night, and put
+      some things and some money in this satchel. They were mine. Keep them
+      all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Emeline took hold of the bag which Mary French shoved in her hand. Their
+      faces were indistinct to each other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For the first time in my life I have deceived my husband!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, what shall I do&mdash;what shall I do?&rdquo; cried the girl.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A steamer whistle at St. James dock sent its bellow rebounding from tree
+      to tree in the woods. Emeline seized Mary French and kissed her violently
+      on both cheeks. She snatched the bag and flew towards St. James.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Stop!&rdquo; commanded the Prophet's wife.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She ran in pursuit, catching Emeline by the shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You sha'n't go! What am I doing? Maybe robbing him of what is necessary
+      to his highest success! I am a fool&mdash;to think he might turn back to
+      me for consolation when you are gone&mdash;God forgive me such silly
+      fondness! I can't have a secret between him and myself&mdash;I will tell
+      him! You shall not go&mdash;and cause him a mortal hurt! Wait!&mdash;stop!&mdash;the
+      boat is gone! It's too late!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let me loose!&rdquo; struggled Emeline, wrenching herself away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkimage-0004" id="linkimage-0004">
+      <!-- IMG --></a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img src="images/p148.jpg" alt="Let Me Loose! 148 " width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      She ran on through the woods, and Mary French, snatching at garments which
+      eluded her, stumbled and fell on the damp path, gathering dead leaves
+      under her palms. The steamer's prolonged bellow covered her voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Candles were lighted in St. James. The Tabernacle spread itself like a
+      great circular web dark with moisture. Emeline was conscious of running
+      across the gang-plank as a sailor stooped to draw it in. The bell was
+      ringing and the boat was already in motion. It sidled and backed away from
+      its moorings.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Emeline knelt panting at the rail on the forward deck. A flambeau fastened
+      to the wharf bowed its light to the wind as the boat swung about, showing
+      the King of Beaver smiling and waving his hand in farewell. He did not see
+      Emeline. His farewell was for the man whom he had sent away without her.
+      His golden hair and beard and blue eyes floated into Emeline's past as the
+      steamer receded, the powerful face and lithe figure first losing their
+      identity, and then merging into night. What if it was true that she was
+      robbing both him and herself of the best life, as Mary French was smitten
+      to believe at the last moment? Her Gentile gorge rose against him, and the
+      traditions of a thousand years warred in her with nature; yet she
+      stretched her hands towards him in the darkness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then she heard a familiar voice, and knew that the old order of things was
+      returning, while Beaver Island, like a dream, went silently down upon the
+      waters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some years later, in the '50's, Emeline, sitting opposite her husband at
+      the breakfast-table, heard him announce from the morning paper:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Murder of King Strang, the Mormon Prophet of Beaver Island.&rdquo; All the
+      details of the affair, even the track of the bullets which crashed into
+      that golden head, were mercilessly printed. The reader, surprised by a
+      sob, dropped his paper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What! Are you crying, Mrs. Arnold?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was so cruel!&rdquo; sobbed Emeline. &ldquo;And Billy Wentworth, like a savage,
+      helped to do it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He had provocation, no doubt, though it is a horrid deed. Perhaps I owe
+      the King of Beaver the tribute of a tear. He befogged me considerably the
+      only time I ever met him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see only his evil. But I see what he was to Mary French and the
+      others.&rdquo; &ldquo;His bereaved widows?&rdquo; &ldquo;The ones who believed in his best.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      BEAVER LIGHTS
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      A magnificent fountain of flame, visible far out on the starlit lake,
+      spurted from the north end of Beaver Island. It was the temple, in which
+      the Mormon people had worshipped for the last time, sending sparks and
+      illumined vapor to the zenith. The village of St. James was partly in
+      ashes, and a blue pallor of smoke hung dimly over nearly every hill and
+      hollow, for Gentile fishermen crazed with drink and power and long arrears
+      of grievances had carried torch and axe from farm to farm. Until noon of
+      that day all householding families had been driven to huddle with their
+      cattle around the harbor dock and forced to make pens for the cattle of
+      lumber which had been piled there for transportation. Unresisting as sheep
+      they let themselves be shipped on four small armed steamers sent by their
+      enemies to carry them into exile. Not one of the twelve elders who had
+      received the last instructions of their murdered king rose up to organize
+      any defence. Scarcely a month had passed since his wounding unto death,
+      and his withdrawal, like Arthur, in the arms of weeping women to that spot
+      in Wisconsin where he had found his sacred Voree plates or tables of the
+      law. Scarcely two weeks had passed since news came back of his burial
+      there. And already the Mormon settlement was swept off Beaver Island.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Used to border warfare and to following their dominating prophet to
+      victory, they yet seemed unable to strike a blow without him. Such
+      non-resistance procured them nothing but contempt. They even submitted to
+      being compelled to destroy a cairn raised over the grave of one considered
+      a malefactor, carrying the heap stone by stone to throw into the lake,
+      Gentiles standing over them like Egyptian masters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Little waves ran in rows of light, washing against the point on the north
+      side of the landlocked harbor. A primrose star was there struggling aloft
+      at the top of a rough rock tower. It was the fish-oil flame of Beaver
+      lamp, and the keeper sat on his doorsill at the bottom of the light-house
+      with his wife beside him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The lowing of cattle missing their usual evening tendance came across from
+      the dock, a mournful accompaniment to the distant roaring of fire and
+      falling of timbers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you realize, Ludlow,&rdquo; the young woman inquired, slipping her hand into
+      her husband's, &ldquo;that I am now the only Mormon on Beaver Island?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You never were a very good Mormon, Cecilia. You didn't like the breed any
+      better than I did, though there were good people among them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will they lose all their cattle, Ludlow?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The cattle are safe enough,&rdquo; he laughed. &ldquo;The men that are doing this
+      transporting will take the cattle. None of our Mormon friends will ever
+      see a hoof from Beaver Island again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But it seems robbery to drive them off and seize their property.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's the way King Strang took Beaver from the Gentiles in the first
+      place. Mormons and Gentiles can't live together.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We can.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I told you that you were a poor Mormon, Cecilia. And from first to last I
+      opposed my family's entering the community. Tithes and meddling sent my
+      father out of it a poor man. But I'm glad he went before this; and your
+      people, too.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She drew a deep breath. &ldquo;Oh yes! They're safe in Green Bay. I couldn't
+      endure to have them on those steamers going down the lake to-night. What
+      will become of the community, Ludlow?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;God knows. They'll be landed at Chicago and turned adrift on the world.
+      I'm glad they're away from here. I've no cause to love them, but I was
+      afraid they would be butchered like sheep. Your father and my father, if
+      they had still been elders on the island, wouldn't have submitted, as
+      these folks did, to abuse and exile and the loss of everything they had in
+      the world. I can't understand it of some of them. There was Jim Baker, for
+      instance; I'd have sworn he would fight.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can understand why he didn't. He hasn't taken any interest since his
+      second marriage.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, that was a nice piece of work! I always liked Jim the best of any of
+      the young men until he did that. And what inducement was there in the
+      woman?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The light-house keeper's wife fired up. &ldquo;What inducement there was for him
+      ever to marry Rosanne I couldn't see. And I know Elizabeth Aiken loved him
+      when we were girls together.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And didn't Rosanne?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh&mdash;Rosanne! A roly-poly spoiled young one, that never will be a
+      woman! Elizabeth is noble.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're fond of Elizabeth because she was witness to our secret marriage
+      when King Strang wouldn't let me have you. I liked Jim for the same
+      reason. Do you mind how we four slipped one at a time up the back stairs
+      in my father's house that night, while the young folks were dancing
+      be-low?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mind we picked Elizabeth because Rosanne would be sure to blab, even if
+      she had to suffer herself for it. How scared the poor elder was!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We did him a good turn when we got him to marry us. He'd be on one of the
+      steamers bound for nowhere, to-night, instead of snug at Green Bay, if we
+      hadn't started him on the road to what King Strang called disaffection.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The light-house keeper jumped up and ran out on the point, his wife
+      following him in nervous dread.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is the matter, Ludlow?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Their feet crunched gravel and paused where ripples still ran in,
+      endlessly bringing lines of dimmer and dimmer light. A rocking boat was
+      tied to a stake. Anchored and bare-masted, farther out in the mouth of the
+      bay, a fishing-smack tilted slightly in rhythmic motion. While they stood
+      a touch of crimson replaced the sky light in the water, and great blots
+      like blood soaking into the bay were reflected from the fire. The burning
+      temple now seemed to rise a lofty tower of flame against the horizon.
+      Figures could be seen passing back and forth in front of it, and shouts of
+      fishermen came down the peninsula. The King's printing-office where the <i>Northern
+      Islander</i> was once issued as a daily had smouldered down out of the
+      way. It was the first place to which they had set torch.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought I heard some one running up the sail on our sail-boat,&rdquo; said
+      the light-house keeper. &ldquo;No telling what these fellows may do. If they go
+      to meddling with me in my little Government office, they'll find me as
+      stubborn as the Mormons did.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Ludlow, look at the tabernacle, like a big red-hot cheese-box on the
+      high ground! Think of the coronation there on the first King's Day!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The light-house keeper's wife was again in imagination a long-limbed girl
+      of fifteen, crowding into the temple to witness such a ceremony as was
+      celebrated on no other spot of the New World. The King of Beaver, in a
+      crimson robe, walked the temple aisle, followed by his council, his twelve
+      elders, and seventy ministers of the minor order. In the presence of a
+      hushed multitude he was anointed, and a crown with a cluster of projecting
+      stars was set on his golden head. Hails and shouts, music of marching
+      singers and the strewing of flowers went before him into the leafy July
+      woods. Thus King's Day was established and annually observed on the 8th of
+      July. It began with burnt-offerings. The head of each family was required
+      to bring a chicken. A heifer was killed and carefully cut up without
+      breaking a bone; and, while the smoke of sacrifice arose, feasting and
+      dancing began, and lasted until sunset. Firstlings of flocks and the
+      first-fruits of orchard and field were ordained the King's; and he also
+      claimed one-tenth of each man's possessions. The Mosaic law was set up in
+      Beaver Island, even to the stoning of rebellious children.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The smoke of a sacrificed people was now reeking on Beaver. This singular
+      man's French ancestry&mdash;for he was descended from Henri de L'Estrange,
+      who came to the New World with the Duke of York&mdash;doubtless gave him
+      the passion for picturesqueness and the spiritual grasp on his isolated
+      kingdom which keeps him still a notable and unforgotten figure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It makes me feel bad to see so much destruction,&rdquo; the young man said to
+      his wife; &ldquo;though I offered to go with Billy Wentworth to shoot Strang if
+      nobody else was willing. I knew I was marked, and sooner or later I would
+      disappear if he continued to govern this island. But with all his faults
+      he was a man. He could fight; and whip. He'd have sunk every steamer in
+      the harbor to-day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's heavy on my heart, Ludlow&mdash;it's dreadful! Neighbors and friends
+      that we shall never see again!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The young man caught his wife by the arm. They both heard the swift beat
+      of footsteps flying down the peninsula. Cecilia drew in her breath and
+      crowded against her husband. A figure came into view and identified
+      itself, leaping in bisected draperies across an open space to the
+      light-house door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, Rosanne!&rdquo; exclaimed the keeper's wife. She continued to say &ldquo;Why,
+      Rosanne! Why, Rosanne Baker!&rdquo; after she had herself run into the house and
+      lighted a candle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She set the candle on the chimney. It showed her rock-built domicile,
+      plain but dignified, like the hollow of a cavern, with blue china on the
+      cupboard shelves and a spinning-wheel standing by the north wall. A corner
+      staircase led to the second story of the tower, and on its lowest step the
+      fugitive dropped down, weeping and panting. She was peculiarly dressed in
+      the calico bloomers which the King of Beaver had latterly decreed for the
+      women of his kingdom. Her trim legs and little feet, cased in strong
+      shoes, appeared below the baggy trousers. The upper part of her person,
+      her almond eyes, round curves and features were full of Oriental
+      suggestions. Some sweet inmate of a harem might so have materialized,
+      bruising her softness against the hard stair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, Rosanne Baker!&rdquo; her hostess reiterated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia did not wear bloomers. She stood erect in petticoats. &ldquo;I thought
+      you went on one of the boats!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I didn't,&rdquo; sobbed Rosanne. &ldquo;When they were crowding us on I slipped among
+      the lumber piles and hid. I've been hid all day, lying flat between boards&mdash;on
+      top where they couldn't see me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Suppose the lumber had been set on fire, too! And you haven't had
+      anything to eat?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't want to eat. I'm only frightened to death at the wicked Gentiles
+      burning the island. I couldn't stay there all night, so I got down and ran
+      to your house.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course, you poor child! But, Rosanne, where's your husband?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The trembling creature stiffened herself and looked at Cecilia out of the
+      corners of her long eyes. &ldquo;He's with Elizabeth Aiken.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The only wife of one husband did not know how to take hold of this
+      subject.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But your father was there,&rdquo; she suggested. &ldquo;How could you leave your
+      father and run the risk of never seeing him again?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't care if I never see him again. He said he was so discouraged he
+      didn't care what became of any of us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia was going to plead the cause of domestic affection further, but
+      she saw that four step-mothers could easily be given up. She turned
+      helplessly to her husband who stood in the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor thing! Ludlow, what in the world shall we do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Put her to bed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course, Ludlow. But will anybody hurt you to-morrow?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There are two good guns on the rack over the chimney. I don't think
+      anybody will hurt me or her either, to-morrow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rosanne, my dear,&rdquo; said Cecilia, trying to lift the relaxed soft body and
+      to open the stairway door behind her. &ldquo;Come up with me right off. I think
+      you better be where people cannot look in at us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Rosanne yielded and stumbled to her feet, clinging to her friend. When
+      they disappeared the young man heard her through the stairway enclosure
+      sobbing with convulsive gasps:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hate Elizabeth Aiken! I wish they would kill Elizabeth Aiken! I hate
+      her&mdash;I hate her!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The lighthouse-keeper sat down again on his doorstep and faced the
+      prospect of taking care of a homeless Mormon. It appeared to him that his
+      wife had not warmly enough welcomed her or met the situation with that
+      recklessness one needed on Beaver Island. The tabernacle began to burn
+      lower, brands streaming away in the current which a fire makes. It was
+      strange to be more conscious of inland doings than of that vast unsalted
+      sea so near him, which moistened his hair with vaporous drifts through the
+      darkness. The garnet redness of the temple shed a huger amphitheatre of
+      shine around itself. A taste of acrid smoke was on his lips. He was
+      considering that drunken fishermen might presently begin to rove, and he
+      would be wiser to go in and shut the house and put out his candle, when by
+      stealthy approaches around the lighthouse two persons stood before him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is Ludlow here?&rdquo; inquired a voice which he knew.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm here, Jim! Are all the Mormons coming back?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is Rosanne in your house?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rosanne is here; up-stairs with Cecilia. Come inside, Jim. Have you
+      Elizabeth with you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I have Elizabeth with me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The three entered together. Ludlow shut the door and dropped an iron bar
+      across it. The young men standing opposite were of nearly the same age;
+      but one was fearless and free and the other harassed and haggard. Out-door
+      labor and the skill of the fisheries had given to both depth of chest and
+      clean, muscular limbs. But James Baker had the desperate and hunted look
+      of a fugitive from justice. He was fair, of the strong-featured, blue-eyed
+      type that has pale chestnut-colored hair clinging close to a well-domed
+      head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Rosanne is here,&rdquo; Ludlow repeated. &ldquo;Now will you tell me how you got
+      here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I rowed back in a boat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who let you have a boat?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There were sailors on the steamer. After I found Rosanne was left behind
+      I would have had a boat or killed the man that prevented me. I had to wait
+      out on the lake until it got dark. I knew your wife would take care of
+      her. I told myself that when I couldn't find any chance to land in St.
+      James's Bay until sunset.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She's been hiding in the lumber on the dock all day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did any one hurt her?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Evidently not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Mormon husband's face cleared with a convulsion which in woman would
+      have been a relieving burst of tears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sit down, Elizabeth,&rdquo; said the lighthouse-keeper. &ldquo;You look fit to fall.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sit down, Elizabeth,&rdquo; James Baker repeated, turning to her with
+      secondary interest. But she remained standing, a tall Greek figure in
+      bloomers, so sure of pose that drapery or its lack was an accident of
+      which the eye took no account. She had pushed her soft brown hair,
+      dampened by the lake, behind her ears. They showed delicately against the
+      two shining masses. Her forehead and chin were of noble and courageous
+      shape. If there was fault, it was in the breadth and height of brows
+      masterful rather than feminine. She had not one delicious sensuous charm
+      to lure man. Her large eyes were blotted with a hopeless blankness. She
+      waited to see what would be done next.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now I'll tell you,&rdquo; said Baker to his friend, with decision, &ldquo;I'm not
+      going to bring the howling Gentiles around you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't care whether they come or not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know you don't. It isn't necessary in such a time as this for you and
+      me to look back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I told you at the time I wouldn't forget it, Jim. You stood by me when I
+      married Cecilia in the teeth of the Mormons, and I'll stand by you through
+      any mob of Gentiles. My sail-boat's out yonder, and it's yours as long as
+      you want it; and we'll provision it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's what I was going to ask, Ludlow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I were you I'd put for Green Bay. Old neighbors are there, my father
+      among them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That was my plan!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But,&rdquo; Ludlow added, turning his thumb over his shoulder with
+      embarrassment, &ldquo;they're all Gentiles in Green Bay.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Elizabeth and I talked it over in the boat. I told her the truth before
+      God. We've agreed to live apart. Ludlow, I never wanted any wife but
+      Rosanne, and I don't want any wife but Rosanne now. You don't know how it
+      happened; I was first of the young men called on to set an example.
+      Brother Strang could bring a pressure to bear that it was impossible to
+      resist. He might have threatened till doomsday. But I don't know what he
+      did with me. I told him it wasn't treating Elizabeth fair. Still, I
+      married her according to Saints' law, and I consider myself bound by my
+      pledge to provide for her. She's a good girl. She has no one to look to
+      but me. And I'm not going to turn her off to shift for herself if the
+      whole United States musters against me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now you talk like a man. I think better of you than I have for a couple
+      of weeks past.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It ought to make me mad to be run off of Beaver. But I couldn't take any
+      interest. May I see Rosanne?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go right up-stairs. Cecilia took her up to put her to bed. The walls and
+      floors are thick here or she would have heard your voice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor little Rosanne! It's been a hard day for her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The young Mormon paused before ascending. &ldquo;Ludlow, as soon as you can give
+      me a few things to make the women comfortable for the run to Green Bay,
+      I'll take them and put out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell Cecilia to come down. She'll know what they need.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Until Cecilia came down and hugged Elizabeth silently but most tenderly
+      the lighthouse-keeper stood with his feet and gaze planted on a braided
+      rug, not knowing what to say. He then shifted his feet and remarked:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's a fine night for a sail, Elizabeth. I think we're going to have fair
+      weather.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think we are,&rdquo; she answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hurried preparations were made for the voyage. Elizabeth helped Cecilia
+      gather food and clothes and two Mackinac blankets from the stores of a
+      young couple not rich but open-handed. The lighthouse-keeper trimmed the
+      lantern to hang at the mast-head. He was about to call the two up-stairs
+      when the crunching of many feet on gravel was heard around his tower and a
+      torch was thrust at one of the windows.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the same instant he put Elizabeth and Cecilia in the stairway and let
+      James Baker, bounding down three steps at once, into the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Each man took a gun, Ludlow blowing out the candle as he reached for his
+      weapons.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now you stand back out of sight and let me talk to them,&rdquo; he said to the
+      young Mormon, as an explosive clamor began. &ldquo;They'll kill you, and they
+      daren't touch me. Even if they had anything against me, the drunkest of
+      them know better than to shoot down a government officer. I'm going to
+      open this window.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A rabble of dusky shapes headed by a torch-bearer who had doubtless
+      lighted his fat-stick at the burning temple, pressed forward to force a
+      way through the window.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Get off of the flower-bed,&rdquo; said Ludlow, dropping the muzzle of his gun
+      on the sill. &ldquo;You're tramping down my wife's flowers.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's your nosegays of Mormons we're after having, Ludlow. We seen them
+      shlipping in here!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's shame to you, Ludlow, and your own da-cent wife that hard to come
+      at, by raison of King Strang!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Augh! thim bloomers!&mdash;they do be makin' me sthummick sick!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What hurts you worst,&rdquo; said Ludlow, &ldquo;is the price you had to pay the
+      Mormons for fish barrels.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The mob groaned and hooted. &ldquo;Wull ye give us out the divil forninst there,
+      or wull ye take a broadside through the windy?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I haven't any devil in the house.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's Jim Baker, be the powers. He wor seen, and his women.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Jim Baker is here. But he's leaving the island at once with the women.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He'll not lave it alive.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You, Pat Corrigan,&rdquo; said Ludlow, pointing his finger at the torch-bearer,
+      &ldquo;do you remember the morning you and your mate rowed in to the lighthouse
+      half-frozen and starved and I fed and warmed you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do I moind it? I do!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did I let the Mormons take you then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, bedad.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When King Strang's constables came galloping down here to arrest you,
+      didn't I run in water to my waist to push you off in your boat?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You did, bedad!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I didn't give you up to them, and I won't give this family up to you.
+      They're not doing you any harm. Let them peaceably leave Beaver.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But the two wives of him,&rdquo; argued Pat Corrigan.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How many wives and children have you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it 'how many wives,' says the hay then! Wan wife, by the powers; and
+      tin childer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Haven't you about as large a family as you can take care of?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Begobs, I have.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you want to take in Jim Baker's Mormon wife and provide for her?
+      Somebody has to. If you won't let him do it, perhaps you'll do it
+      yourself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, bedad!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, then, you'd better go about your business and let him alone. I
+      don't see that we have to meddle with these things. Do you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The crowd moved uneasily and laughed, good-naturedly owning to being
+      plucked of its cause and arrested in the very act of returning evil for
+      good.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I tould you Ludlow was the foine man,&rdquo; said the torch-bearer to his
+      confederates.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There's no harm in you boys,&rdquo; pursued the fine man. &ldquo;You're not making a
+      war on women.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We're not. Thrue for you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you feel like having a wake over the Mormons, why don't you get more
+      torches and make a procession down the Galilee road? You've done about all
+      you can on Mount Pisgah.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As they began to trail away at this suggestion and to hail him with
+      parting shouts, Ludlow shut the window and laughed in the dark room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'd like to start them chasing the fox around all the five lakes on
+      Beaver. But they may change their minds before they reach the sand-hills.
+      We'd better load the boat right off, Jim.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In the hurrying Rosanne came down-stairs and found Elizabeth waiting at
+      the foot. They could see each other only by starlight. They were alone,
+      for the others had gone out to the boat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you willing for me to go, Rosanne?&rdquo; spoke Elizabeth. Her sweet voice
+      was of a low pitch, unhurried and steady. &ldquo;James says he'll build me a
+      little house in your yard.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Elizabeth!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Rosanne did not cry, &ldquo;I cannot hate you!&rdquo; but she threw herself into the
+      arms of the larger, more patient woman whom she saw no longer as a rival,
+      and who would cherish her children. Elizabeth kissed her husband's wife as
+      a little sister.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The lights on Beaver, sinking to duller redness, shone behind Elizabeth
+      like the fires of the stake as she and Cecilia walked after the others to
+      the boat. Cecilia wondered if her spirit rose against the indignities of
+      her position as an undesired wife, whose legal rights were not even
+      recognized by the society into which she would be forced. The world was
+      not open to her as to a man. In that day it would have stoned her if she
+      ventured too far from some protected fireside. Fierce envy of squaws who
+      could tramp winter snows and were not despised for their brief marriages
+      may have flashed through Elizabeth like the little self-protecting blaze a
+      man lighted around his own cabin when the prairie was on fire. Why in all
+      the swarming centuries of human experience had the lot of a creature with
+      such genius for loving been cast where she was utterly thrown away?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Solitary and carrying her passion a hidden coal she walked in the
+      footsteps of martyrs behind the pair of reunited lovers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Take care, Rosanne. Don't stumble, darling!&rdquo; said the man to whom
+      Elizabeth had been married by a law she respected until a higher law
+      unhus-banded her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia noted the passionate clutch of her hand and its withdrawal without
+      touching him as he lurched over a rock.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He put his wife tenderly in the boat and then turned with kind formality
+      to Elizabeth; but Ludlow had helped her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, bon voyage,&rdquo; said the lighthouse-keeper. &ldquo;Mind you run up the
+      lantern on the mast as soon as you get aboard. I don't think there'll be
+      any chase. The Irish have freed their minds.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll send your fishing-boat back as soon as I can, Ludlow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Turn it over to father; he'll see to it. Give him news of us and our love
+      to all the folks. He will be anxious to know the truth about Beaver.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good-bye, Elizabeth and Rosanne!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good-bye, Cecilia!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A grinding on pebbles, then the thump of adjusted oars and the rush of
+      water on each side of a boat's course, marked the fugitives' progress
+      towards the anchored smack.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suspended on starlit waters as if in eternity, and watching the smoke of
+      her past go up from a looted island, Elizabeth had the sense of a great
+      company around her. The uninstructed girl from the little kingdom of
+      Beaver divined a worldful of souls waiting and loving in hopeless silence
+      and marching resistlessly as the stars to their reward. For there is a
+      development like the unfolding of a god for those who suffer in strength
+      and overcome.
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 6em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The King Of Beaver, and Beaver Lights, by
+Mary Hartwell Catherwood
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEAVER ***
+
+***** This file should be named 23256-h.htm or 23256-h.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/2/5/23256/
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase &ldquo;Project
+Gutenberg&rdquo;), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  &ldquo;Project Gutenberg&rdquo; is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (&ldquo;the Foundation&rdquo;
+ or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase &ldquo;Project Gutenberg&rdquo; appears, or with which the phrase &ldquo;Project
+Gutenberg&rdquo; is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase &ldquo;Project Gutenberg&rdquo; associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+&ldquo;Plain Vanilla ASCII&rdquo; or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original &ldquo;Plain Vanilla ASCII&rdquo; or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, &ldquo;Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.&rdquo;
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+&ldquo;Defects,&rdquo; such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the &ldquo;Right
+of Replacement or Refund&rdquo; described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+
+</pre>
+  </body>
+</html>
diff --git a/23256-h/images/p124.jpg b/23256-h/images/p124.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8df8690
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23256-h/images/p124.jpg
diff --git a/23256-h/images/p134.jpg b/23256-h/images/p134.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..92b215b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23256-h/images/p134.jpg
diff --git a/23256-h/images/p142.jpg b/23256-h/images/p142.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..db89a62
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23256-h/images/p142.jpg
diff --git a/23256-h/images/p148.jpg b/23256-h/images/p148.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..da27671
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23256-h/images/p148.jpg
diff --git a/23256.txt b/23256.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b6548a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23256.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,1795 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The King Of Beaver, and Beaver Lights, by 
+Mary Hartwell Catherwood
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The King Of Beaver, and Beaver Lights
+       From "Mackinac And Lake Stories", 1899
+
+Author: Mary Hartwell Catherwood
+
+Release Date: October 30, 2007 [EBook #23256]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEAVER ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE KING OF BEAVER AND BEAVER LIGHTS
+
+From "Mackinac And Lake Stories", 1899
+
+By Mary Hartwell Catherwood
+
+
+
+
+THE KING OF BEAVER
+
+
+Success was the word most used by the King of Beaver. Though he stood
+before his people as a prophet assuming to speak revelations, executive
+power breathed from him. He was a tall, golden-tinted man with a head
+like a dome, hair curling over his ears, and soft beard and mustache
+which did not conceal a mouth cut thin and straight. He had student
+hands, long and well kept. It was not his dress, though that was careful
+as a girl's, which set him apart from farmers listening on the benches
+around him, but the keen light of his blue eyes, wherein shone the
+master.
+
+Emeline thought she had never before seen such a man. He had an
+attraction which she felt loathsome, and the more so because it drew
+some part of her irresistibly to him. Her spirit was kin to his, and she
+resented that kinship, trying to lose herself among farmers' wives and
+daughters, who listened to their Prophet stolidly, and were in no danger
+of being naturally selected by him. This moral terror Emeline could not
+have expressed in words, and she hid it like a shame. She also resented
+the subservience of her kinspeople to one no greater than herself. Her
+stock had been masters of men.
+
+As the King of Beaver slowly turned about the circle he encountered this
+rebel defying his assumption, and paused in his speaking a full minute,
+the drowsy farmers seeing merely that notes were being shifted and
+rearranged on the table. Then he began again, the dictatorial key
+transposed into melody. His covert message was to the new maid in the
+congregation. She might struggle like a fly in a web. He wrapped her
+around and around with beautiful sentences. As Speaker of the State
+Legislature he had learned well how to handle men in the mass, but
+nature had doubly endowed him for entrancing women. The spiritual part
+of James Strang, King and Prophet of a peculiar sect, appealed to
+the one best calculated to appreciate him during the remainder of his
+exhortation.
+
+The Tabernacle, to which Beaver Island Mormons gathered every Saturday
+instead of every Sunday, was yet unfinished. Its circular shape and
+vaulted ceiling, panelled in the hard woods of the island, had been
+planned by the man who stood in the centre. Many openings under the
+eaves gaped windowless; but the congregation, sheltered from a July sun,
+enjoyed freely the lake air, bringing fragrance from their own fields
+and gardens. They seemed a bovine, honest people, in homespun and
+hickory; and youth, bright-eyed and fresh-cheeked, was not lacking. They
+sat on benches arranged in circles around a central platform which held
+the Prophet's chair and table. This was his simple plan for making his
+world revolve around him.
+
+Roxy Cheeseman, Emeline's cousin, was stirred to restlessness by the
+Prophet's unusual manner, and shifted uneasily on the bench. Her short,
+scarlet-cheeked face made her a favorite among the young men. She had
+besides this attraction a small waist and foot, and a father who was
+very well off indeed for a Beaver Island farmer. Roxy's black eyes, with
+the round and unwinking stare of a bird's, were fixed on King Strang, as
+if she instinctively warded off a gaze which by swerving a little could
+smite her.
+
+But the Prophet paid no attention to any one when the meeting was
+over, his custom being to crush his notes in one hand at the end of
+his peroration, and to retire like a priest, leaving the dispersing
+congregation awed by his rapt face.
+
+The two cousins walked sedately along the street of St. James village,
+while their elders lingered about the Tabernacle door shaking hands.
+That primitive settlement of the early '50's consisted of a few houses
+and log stores, a mill, the Tabernacle, and long docks, at which
+steamers touched perhaps once a week. The forest partially encircled it.
+A few Gentiles, making Saturday purchases in a shop kept by one of their
+own kind, glanced with dislike at the separating Mormons. The shouts
+of Gentile children could also be heard at Saturday play. Otherwise a
+Sabbath peacefulness was over the landscape. Beaver Island had not a
+rugged coastline, though the harbor of St. James was deep and good. Land
+rose from it in gentle undulations rather than hills.
+
+Emeline and Roxy walked inland, with their backs to the harbor. In
+summer, farmers who lived nearest St. James took short-cuts through the
+woods to meeting, and let their horses rest.
+
+The last house on the street was a wooden building of some pretension,
+having bow-windows and a veranda. High pickets enclosed a secluded
+garden. It was very unlike the log-cabins of the island.
+
+"He lives here," said Roxy.
+
+Emeline did not inquire who lived here. She understood, and her question
+was--
+
+"How many with him?"
+
+"All of them--eight. Seven of them stay at home, but Mary French travels
+with him. Didn't you notice her in the Tabernacle--the girl with the
+rose in her hair, sitting near the platform?"
+
+"Yes, I noticed her. Was that one of his wives?"
+
+Roxy waited until they had struck into the woods path, and then looked
+guardedly behind her.
+
+"Mary French is the youngest one. She was sealed to the Prophet only two
+years ago; and last winter she went travelling with him, and we heard
+she dressed in men's clothes and acted as his secretary."
+
+"But why did she do that when she was his wife according to your
+religion?"
+
+"I don't know," responded Roxy, mysteriously. "The Gentiles on the
+mainland are very hard on us."
+
+They followed the track between fragrant grapevine and hickory, and the
+girl bred to respect polygamy inquired--
+
+"Do you feel afraid of the Prophet, Cousin Emeline?"
+
+"No, I don't," retorted the girl bred to abhor it.
+
+"Sometimes I do. He makes people do just what he wants them to. Mary
+French was a Gentile's daughter, the proudest girl that ever stepped in
+St. James. She didn't live on the island; she came here to visit. And he
+got her. What's the matter, Cousin Emeline?"
+
+"Some one trod on my grave; I shivered. Cousin Roxy, I want to ask you a
+plain question. Do you like a man's having more than one wife?"
+
+"No, I don't. And father doesn't either. But he was obliged to marry
+again, or get into trouble with the other elders. And Aunt Mahala is
+very good about the house, and minds mother. The revelation may be plain
+enough, but I am not the kind of a girl," declared Roxy, daringly, as
+one might blaspheme, "that cares a straw for the revelation."
+
+Emeline took hold of her arm, and they walked on with a new sense of
+companionship.
+
+"A great many of the people feel the same way about it. But when the
+Prophet makes them understand it is part of the faith, they have to keep
+the faith. I am a reprobate myself. But don't tell father," appealed
+Roxy, uneasily. "He is an elder."
+
+"My uncle Cheeseman is a good man," said Emeline, finding comfort in
+this fact. She could not explain to her cousin how hard it had been
+for her to come to Beaver Island to live among Mormons. Her uncle had
+insisted on giving his orphan niece a home and the protection of a male
+relative, at the death of the maiden aunt by whom she had been brought
+up. In that day no girl thought of living without protection. Emeline
+had a few thousand dollars of her own, but her money was invested, and
+he could not count on the use of it, which men assumed a right to have
+when helpless women clustered to their hearths. Her uncle Cheeseman was
+undeniably a good man, whatever might be said of his religious faith.
+
+"I like father myself," assented Roxy. "He is never strict with us
+unless the Prophet has some revelation that makes him so. Cousin
+Emeline, I hope you won't grow to be taken up with Brother Strang, like
+Mary French. I thought he looked at you to-day."
+
+Emeline's face and neck were scarlet above her black dress. The Gentile
+resented as an insult what the Mormon simply foreboded as distasteful to
+herself; though there was not a family of that faith on the island who
+would not have felt honored in giving a daughter to the Prophet.
+
+"I hate him!" exclaimed Emeline, her virgin rage mingled with a kind of
+sweet and sickening pain. "I'll never go to his church again."
+
+"Father wouldn't like that, Cousin Emeline," observed Roxy, though her
+heart leaped to such unshackled freedom. "He says we mustn't put our
+hand to the plough and turn back. Everybody knows that Brother Strang
+is the only person who can keep the Gentiles from driving us off the
+island. They have persecuted us ever since the settlement was made. But
+they are afraid of him. They cannot do anything with him. As long as he
+lives he is better than an army to keep our lands and homes for us."
+
+"You are in a hard case betwixt Gentiles and Prophet," laughed Emeline.
+
+Yet the aspects of life on Beaver Island keenly interested her. This
+small world, fifteen miles in length by six in breadth, was shut off
+by itself in Lake Michigan, remote from the civilization of towns. She
+liked at first to feel cut loose from her past life, and would have had
+the steamers touch less often at St. James, diminishing their chances of
+bringing her hateful news.
+
+There were only two roads on the island--one extending from the harbor
+town in the north end to a village called Galilee at the extreme
+southeast end, the other to the southwest shore. Along these roads farms
+were laid out, each about eighty rods in width and a mile or two in
+length, so that neighbors dwelt within call of one another, and the
+colony presented a strong front. The King of Beaver could scarcely have
+counselled a better division of land for the linking of families. On one
+side of the Cheesemans had dwelt an excellent widow with a bag chin,
+and she became Elder Cheeseman's second wife. On the other side were the
+Went-worths, and Billy Wentworth courted Roxy across the fence until
+it appeared that wives might continue passing over successive boundary
+lines.
+
+The billowy land was green in the morning as paradise, and Emeline
+thought every day its lights and shadows were more beautiful than the
+day before. Life had paused in her, and she was glad to rest her eyes
+on the horizon line and take no thought about any morrow. She helped her
+cousin and her legal and Mormon aunts with the children and the cabin
+labor, trying to adapt herself to their habits. But her heart-sickness
+and sense of fitting in her place like a princess cast among peasants
+put her at a disadvantage when, the third evening, the King of Beaver
+came into the garden.
+
+He chose that primrose time of day when the world and the human spirit
+should be mellowest, and walked with the farmer between garden beds to
+where Emeline and Roxy were tending flowers. The entire loamy place sent
+up incense. Emeline had felt at least sheltered and negatively happy
+until his voice modulations strangely pierced her, and she looked up and
+saw him.
+
+He called her uncle Brother Cheeseman and her uncle called him Brother
+Strang, but on one side was the mien of a sovereign and on the other the
+deference of a subject. Again Emeline's blood rose against him, and she
+took as little notice as she dared of the introduction.
+
+The King of Beaver talked to Roxy. Billy Wentworth came to the line
+fence and made a face at seeing him helping to tie up sweet-peas. Then
+Billy climbed over and joined Emeline. They exchanged looks, and each
+knew the mind of the other on the subject of the Prophet.
+
+Billy was a good safe human creature, with the tang of the soil about
+him, and no wizard power of making his presence felt when one's back
+was turned. Emeline kept her gray eyes directed towards him, and talked
+about his day's work and the trouble of ploughing with oxen. She was
+delicately and sensitively made, with a beauty which came and went like
+flame. Her lips were formed in scarlet on a naturally pale face. Billy
+Wentworth considered her weakly. He preferred the robust arm outlined by
+Roxy's homespun sleeve. And yet she had a sympathetic knowledge of men
+which he felt, without being able to describe, as the most delicate
+flattery.
+
+The King of Beaver approached Emeline. She knew she could not escape the
+interview, and continued tying vines to the cedar palisades while the
+two young islanders drew joyfully away to another part of the garden.
+The stable and barn-yard were between garden and cabin. Long variegated
+fields stretched off in bands. A gate let through the cedar pickets to
+a pasture where the cows came up to be milked. Bees gathering to their
+straw domes for the night made a purring hum at the other end of the
+garden.
+
+"I trust you are here to stay," said Emeline's visitor.
+
+"I am never going back to Detroit," she answered. He understood at once
+that she had met grief in Detroit, and that it might be other grief than
+the sort expressed by her black garment.
+
+"We will be kind to you here."
+
+Emeline, finishing her task, glanced over her shoulder at him. She did
+not know how tantalizingly her face, close and clear in skin texture as
+the petal of a lily, flashed out her dislike. A heavier woman's rudeness
+in her became audacious charm.
+
+"I like Beaver Island," she remarked, winding the remaining bits of
+string into a ball. "'Every prospect pleases, and only man is vile.'"
+
+"You mean Gentile man," said King Strang. "He is vile, but we hope to
+get rid of him some time."
+
+"By breaking his fish-nets and stealing his sailboats? Is it true that
+a Gentile sail-boat was sunk in Lake Galilee and kept hidden there until
+inquiry ceased, and then was raised, repainted, and launched again, a
+good Mormon boat?"
+
+He linked his hands behind him and smiled at her daring.
+
+"How many evil stories you have heard about us! My dear young lady, I
+could rejoin with truths about our persecutions. Is your uncle Cheeseman
+a malefactor?"
+
+"My uncle Cheeseman is a good man."
+
+"So are all my people. The island, like all young communities, is
+infested with a class of camp-follow-ers, and every depredation of these
+fellows is charged to us. But we shall make it a garden--we shall make
+it a garden."
+
+"Let me train vines over the whipping-post in your garden," suggested
+Emeline, turning back the crimson edge of her lip.
+
+"You have heard that a man was publicly whipped on Beaver Island--and he
+deserved it. Have you heard also that I myself have been imprisoned by
+outsiders, and my life attempted more than once? Don't you know that in
+war a leader must be stern if he would save his people from destruction?
+Have you never heard a good thing of me, my child?"
+
+Emeline, facing her adversary, was enraged at the conviction which the
+moderation and gentleness of a martyr was able to work in her.
+
+"Oh yes, indeed, I have heard one good thing of you--your undertaking
+the salvation of eight or nine wives."
+
+"Not yet nine," he responded, humorously. "And I am glad you mentioned
+that. It is one of our mysteries that you will learn later. You have
+helped me greatly by such a candid unburdening of your mind. For you
+must know that you and I are to be more to each other than strangers.
+The revelation was given to you when it was given to me in the
+Tabernacle. I saw that."
+
+The air was thickening with dusky motes. Emeline fancied that living
+dark atoms were pressing down upon her from infinity.
+
+"You must know," she said, with determination, "that I came to Beaver
+Island because I hated men, and expected to see nothing but Mormons
+here--"
+
+"Not counting them men at all," indulgently supplemented the King of
+Beaver, conscious that she was struggling in the most masculine presence
+she had ever encountered. He dropped his voice. "My child, you touch me
+as no one has touched me yet. There is scarcely need of words between
+us. I know what I am to you. You shall not stay on the island if you do
+not wish it. Oh, you are going to make me do my best!"
+
+"I wish you would go away!"
+
+"Some Gentile has hurt you, and you are beating your bruised strength on
+me."
+
+"Please go away! I don't like you. I am bound to another man."
+
+"You are bound to nobody but me. I have waited a lifetime for you."
+
+"How dare you talk so to me when you have eight wives already!"
+
+"Solomon had a thousand. He was a man of God, though never in his life
+was there a moment when he took to his breast a mate. I shall fare
+better."
+
+"Did you talk to them all like this?"
+
+"Ask them. They have their little circles beyond which they cannot go.
+Have you thoughts in common with your cousin Roxy?"
+
+"Yes, very many," asserted Emeline, doggedly. "I am just like Cousin
+Roxy."
+
+"You have no mind beyond the milking and churning, the sewing and
+weaving?"
+
+"No, I have no mind beyond them."
+
+"I kiss your hands--these little hands that were made to the finest uses
+of life, and that I shall fill with honors."
+
+"Don't touch me," warned Emeline. "They can scratch!"
+
+The King of Beaver laughed aloud. With continued gentleness he explained
+to her: "You will come to me. Gentile brutes may chase women like
+savages, and maltreat them afterwards; but it is different with you and
+me." He brought his hands forward and folded them upright on his breast.
+
+[Illustration: Always prayed this prayer alone 124]
+
+"I have always prayed this prayer alone and as a solitary soul at
+twilight. For the first time I shall speak it aloud in the presence of
+one who has often thought the same prayer: O God, since Thou hast shut
+me up in this world, I will do the best I can, without fear or favor.
+When my task is done, let me out!"
+
+He turned and left her, as if this had been a benediction on their
+meeting, and went from the garden as he usually went from the
+Tabernacle. Emeline's heart and eyes seemed to overflow without any
+volition of her own. It was a kind of spiritual effervescence which she
+could not control. She sobbed two or three times aloud, and immediately
+ground her teeth at his back as it passed out of sight. Billy and Roxy
+were so free from the baleful power that selected her. They could chat
+in peace under the growing darkness, they who had home and families,
+while she, without a relative except those on Beaver Island, or a friend
+whose duty it was to shelter her, must bear the shock of that ruinous
+force.
+
+The instinct that no one could help her but herself kept her silent
+when she retired with Roxy to the loft-chamber. Primitive life on Beaver
+Island settled to its rest soon after the birds, and there was not a
+sound outside of nature's stirrings till morning, unless some drunken
+fishermen trailed down the Galilee road to see what might be inflicted
+on the property of sleeping Mormons.
+
+The northern air blew fresh through gable windows of the attic, yet
+Emeline turned restlessly on her straw bed, and counted the dim
+rafters while Roxy slept. Finally she could not lie still, and slipped
+cautiously out of bed, feeling dire need to be abroad, running or riding
+with all her might. She leaned out of a gable window, courting the moist
+chill of the starless night. While the hidden landscape seemed strangely
+dear to her, she was full of unspeakable homesickness and longing for
+she knew not what--a life she had not known and could not imagine, some
+perfect friend who called her silently through space and was able to
+lift her out of the entanglements of existence.
+
+The regular throbbing of a horse's feet approaching along the road at
+a brisk walk became quite distinct. Emeline's sensations were suspended
+while she listened. From the direction of St. James she saw a figure
+on horseback coming between the dusky parallel fence rows. The sound of
+walking ceased in front of the house, and presently another sound crept
+barely as high as the attic window. It was the cry of a violin, sweet
+and piercing, like some celestial voice. It took her unawares. She
+fled from it to her place beside Roxy and covered her ears with the
+bedclothes.
+
+Roxy turned with a yawn and aroused from sleep. She rose to her elbow
+and drew in her breath, giggling. The violin courted like an angel,
+finding secret approaches to the girl who lay rigid with her ears
+stopped.
+
+"Cousin Emeline!" whispered Roxy, "do you hear that?"
+
+"What is it?" inquired Emeline, revealing no emotion.
+
+[Illustration: Brother Strang serenading 134]
+
+"It's Brother Strang serenading."
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"Because he is the only man on Beaver who can play the fiddle like
+that." Roxy gave herself over to unrestrained giggling. "A man fifty
+years old!"
+
+"I don't believe it," responded Emeline, sharply.
+
+"Don't believe he is nearly fifty? He told his age to the elders."
+
+"I haven't a word of praise for him, but he isn't an old man. He doesn't
+look more than thirty-five."
+
+"To hear that fiddle you'd think he wasn't twenty," chuckled Roxy. "It's
+the first time Brother Strang ever came serenading down this road."
+
+He did not stay long, but went, trailing music deliciously into the
+distance. Emeline knew how he rode, with the bridle looped over his bow
+arm. She was quieted and lay in peace, sinking to sleep almost before
+the faint, far notes could no longer be heard.
+
+From that night her uncle Cheeseman's family changed their attitude
+towards her. She felt it as a withdrawal of intimacy, though it
+expressed reverential awe. Especially did her Mormon aunt Mahala take
+little tasks out of her hands and wait upon her, while her legal aunt
+looked at her curiously. It was natural for Roxy to talk to Billy
+Wentworth across the fence, but it was not natural for them to share
+so much furtive laughter, which ceased when Emeline approached. Uncle
+Cheese-man himself paid more attention to his niece and spent much time
+at the table explaining to her the Mormon situation on Beaver Island,
+tracing the colony back to its secession from Brigham Young's party in
+Illinois.
+
+"Brother Strang was too large for them," said her uncle. "He can do
+anything he undertakes to do."
+
+The next Saturday Emeline refused to go to the Tabernacle. She gave no
+reason and the family asked for none. Her caprices were as the gambols
+of the paschal lamb, to be indulged and overlooked. Roxy offered to stay
+with her, but she rejected companionship, promising her uncle and aunts
+to lock herself within the cabin and hide if she saw men approaching
+from any direction. The day was sultry for that climate, and of a vivid
+clearness, and the sky dazzled. Emeline had never met any terrifying
+Gentiles during her stay on the island, and she felt quite secure in
+crossing the pasture and taking to the farm woods beyond. Her uncle's
+cows had worn a path which descended to a run with partially grass-lined
+channel. Beaver Island was full of brooks and springs. The children had
+placed stepping-stones across this one. She was vaguely happy, seeing
+the water swirl below her feet, hearing the cattle breathe at their
+grazing; though in the path or on the log which she found at the edge
+of the woods her face kept turning towards the town of St. James, as the
+faces of the faithful turn towards Mecca. It was childish to think
+of escaping the King of Beaver by merely staying away from his
+exhortations. Emeline knew she was only parleying.
+
+The green silence should have helped her to think, but she found herself
+waiting--and doing nothing but waiting--for what might happen next. She
+likened herself to a hunted rabbit palpitating in cover, unable to reach
+any place of safety yet grateful for a moment's breathing. Wheels rolled
+southward along the Galilee road. Meeting was out. She had the caprice
+to remain where she was when the family wagon arrived, for it had been
+too warm to walk to the Tabernacle. Roxy's voice called her, and as she
+answered, Roxy skipped across the brook and ran to her.
+
+"Cousin Emeline," the breathless girl announced, "here comes Mary French
+to see you!"
+
+Emeline stiffened upon the log.
+
+"Where?"
+
+Roxy glanced behind at a figure following her across the meadow.
+
+"What does she want of me?" inquired Emeline. "If she came home with the
+family, it was not necessary to call me."
+
+"She drove by herself. She says Brother Strang sent her to you."
+
+Emeline stood up as the Prophet's youngest wife entered that leafy
+silence. Roxy, forgetting that these two had never met before, slipped
+away and left them. They looked at each other.
+
+"How do you do, Mrs. Strang?" spoke Emeline.
+
+"How do you do, Miss Cheeseman?" spoke Mary French.
+
+"Will you sit down on this log?"
+
+"Thank you."
+
+Mary French had more flesh and blood than Emeline. She was larger and
+of a warmer and browner tint--that type of brunette with startling black
+hair which breaks into a floss of little curls, and with unexpected
+blue eyes. Her full lips made a bud, and it only half bloomed when she
+smiled. From crown to slipper she was a ripe and supple woman. Though
+clad, like Emeline, in black, her garment was a transparent texture over
+white, and she held a parasol with crimson lining behind her head. She
+had left her bonnet in her conveyance.
+
+"My husband," said Mary French, quiet and smiling, "sent me to tell you
+that you will be welcomed into our family."
+
+Emeline looked her in the eyes. The Prophet's wife had the most
+unblenching smiling gaze she had ever encountered.
+
+"I do not wish to enter your family. I am not a Mormon."
+
+"He will make you wish it. I was not a Mormon."
+
+They sat silent, the trees stirring around them.
+
+"I do not understand it," said Emeline. "How can you come to me with
+such a message?"
+
+"I can do it as you can do it when your turn comes."
+
+Emeline looked at Mary French as if she had been stabbed.
+
+"It hurts, doesn't it?" said Mary French. "But wait till he seems to
+you a great strong archangel--an archangel with only the weakness of
+dabbling his wings in the dirt--and you will withhold from him nothing,
+no one, that may be of use to him. If he wants to put me by for a while,
+it is his will. You cannot take my place. I cannot fill yours."
+
+"Oh, don't!" gasped Emeline. "I am not that sort of woman--I should
+kill!"
+
+"That is because you have not lived with him. I would rather have him
+make me suffer than not have him at all."
+
+"Oh, don't! I can't bear it! Help me!" prayed Emeline, stretching her
+hands to the wife.
+
+Mary French met her with one hand and the unflinching smile. Her flesh
+was firm and warm, while Emeline's was cold and quivering.
+
+"You have never loved anybody, have you?"
+
+"No."
+
+"But you have thought you did?"
+
+"I was engaged before I came here."
+
+"And the engagement is broken?"
+
+"We quarrelled."
+
+Mary French breathed deeply.
+
+"You will forget it here. He can draw the very soul out of your body."
+
+"He cannot!" flashed Emeline.
+
+"Some one will kill him yet. He is not understood at his best, and he
+cannot endure defeat of any kind. When you come into the family you must
+guard him from his enemies as I have constantly guarded him. If you ever
+let a hair of his head be harmed--then I shall hate you!"
+
+"Mrs. Strang, do you come here to push me too! My uncle's family,
+everything, all are closing around me! Why don't you help me? I
+loathe--I loathe; your husband!"
+
+Mary French rose, her smile changing only to express deep tenderness.
+
+"You are a good girl dear. I can myself feel your charm. I was not so
+self-denying. In my fierce young girlhood I would have removed a rival.
+But since you ask me, I will do all I can for you in the way you desire.
+My errand is done. Good-by."
+
+"Good-by," said Emeline, restraining herself.
+
+She sat watching the elastic shape under the parasol move with its
+shadow across the field. She had not a doubt until Mary French was gone;
+then the deep skill of the Prophet's wife with rivals sprung out like a
+distortion of nature.
+
+Emeline had nearly three weeks in which to intrench herself with doubts
+and defences. She felt at first surprised and relieved. When her second
+absence from the Tabernacle was passed over in silence she found in
+her nature an unaccountable pique, which steadily grew to unrest. She
+ventured and turned back on the woods path leading to St. James many
+times, each time daring farther. The impulse to go to St. James came on
+her at waking, and she resisted through busy hours of the day. But the
+family often had tasks from which Emeline was free, and when the desire
+grew unendurable she knelt at her secluded bedside in the loft, trying
+to bring order out of her confused thoughts. She reviewed her quarrel
+with her lover, and took blame for his desertion. The grievance which
+had seemed so great to her before she came to Beaver Island dwindled,
+and his personality with it. In self-defence she coaxed her fancy,
+pretending that James Arnold was too good for her. It was well he had
+found it out. But because he was too good for her she ought to go on
+being fond of him at a safe distance, undetected by him, and discreetly
+cherishing his large blond image as her ideal of manhood. If she had not
+been bred in horror of Catholics, the cloister at this time would have
+occurred to her as her only safe refuge.
+
+These secret rites in her bedroom being ended, and Roxy diverted from
+her movements, she slipped off into the woods path, sometimes running
+breathlessly towards St. James.
+
+The impetus which carried Emeline increased with each journey. At first
+she was able to check it in the woods depths, but it finally drove her
+until the village houses were in sight.
+
+When this at last happened, and she stood gazing, fascinated, down the
+tunnel of forest path, the King of Beaver spoke behind her.
+
+Emeline screamed in terror and took hold of a bush, to make it a support
+and a veil.
+
+"Have I been a patient man?" he inquired, standing between her and her
+uncle's house. "I waited for you to come to me."
+
+"I am obliged to go somewhere," said Emeline, plucking the leaves and
+unsteadily shifting her eyes about his feet. "I cannot stay on the
+farm all the time." Through numbness she felt the pricking of a sharp
+rapture.
+
+The King of Beaver smiled, seeing betrayed in her face the very vertigo
+of joy.
+
+[Illustration: You will give yourself to me now 142]
+
+"You will give yourself to me now?" he winningly begged, venturing
+out-stretched hands. "You have felt the need as I have? Do you think
+the days have been easy to me? When you were on your knees I was on
+my knees too. Every day you came in this direction I came as far as I
+dared, to meet you. Are the obstacles all passed?"
+
+"No," said Emeline.
+
+He was making her ask herself that most insidious question, "Why could
+not the other have been like this?"
+
+"Tell me--can you say, 'I hate you,' now?"
+
+"No," said Emeline.
+
+"I have grown to be a better man since you said you hated me. The
+miracle cannot be forced. Next time?" He spoke wistfully.
+
+"No," Emeline answered, holding to the bush. She kept her eyes on the
+ground while he talked, and glanced up when she replied. He stood with
+his hat off. The flakes of sun touched his head and the fair skin of his
+forehead.
+
+He moved towards Emeline, and she retreated around the bush. Without
+hesitating he passed, making a salutation, and went on by himself to
+St. James. She watched his rapid military walk furtively, her eyebrows
+crouching, her lips rippling with passionate tremors. Then she took to
+flight homeward, her skirts swishing through the woods with a rush like
+the wind. The rebound was as violent as the tension had been.
+
+There were few festivities on Beaver Island, the Mormon families living
+a pastoral life, many of them yet taxed by the struggle for existence.
+Crops shot up rank and strong in the short Northern summer. Soft cloud
+masses sailed over the island, and rain-storms marched across it with
+drums of thunder which sent reverberations along the water world. Or
+fogs rolled in, muffling and obliterating homesteads.
+
+Emeline stayed in the house, busying herself with the monotonous duties
+of the family three days. She was determined never to go into the woods
+path again without Roxy. The fourth day a gray fog gave her no choice
+but imprisonment. It had the acrid tang of smoke from fires burning
+on the mainland. About nightfall the west wind rose and blew it back,
+revealing a land mantled with condensed drops.
+
+Emeline put on her hat and shawl to walk around in the twilight. The
+other young creatures of the house were glad to be out also, and Roxy
+and Roxy's lover talked across the fence. Emeline felt fortified
+against the path through the woods at night; yet her feet turned in that
+direction, and as certainly as water seeks its level she found herself
+on the moist elastic track. Cow-bells on the farm sounded fainter and
+farther. A gloom of trees massed around her, and the forest gave up all
+its perfume to the dampness.
+
+At every step she meant to turn back, though a recklessness of night
+and of meeting the King of Beaver grew upon her. Thus, without any
+reasonable excuse for her presence there, she met Mary French.
+
+"Is that you, Miss Cheeseman?" panted the Prophet's youngest wife.
+
+Emeline confessed her identity.
+
+"I was coming for you, but it is fortunate you are so far on the way.
+There is a steamboat at the dock, and it will go out in half an hour.
+I could not get away sooner to tell you." Mary French breathed heavily
+from running. "When the steamboat came in the captain sent for my
+husband, as the captains always do. I went with him: he knows how I
+dread to have him go alone upon a boat since an attempt was made last
+year to kidnap him. But this time there was another reason, for I
+have been watching. And sure enough, a young man was on the steamboat
+inquiring where he could find you. His name is James Arnold. The captain
+asked my husband to direct him to you. You will readily understand why
+he did not find you. Come at once!"
+
+"I will not," said Emeline.
+
+"But you wanted me to help you, and I have been trying to do it. We
+easily learned by letter from our friends in Detroit who your lover was.
+My husband had me do that: he wanted to know. Then without his knowledge
+I stooped to write an anonymous letter."
+
+"To James Arnold?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"About me?"
+
+"About you."
+
+"What did you tell him?"
+
+"I said you were exposed to great danger on Beaver Island, among the
+Mormons, and if you had any interested friend it was time for him to
+interfere."
+
+"And that brought him here?"
+
+"I am sure it did. He was keenly disappointed at not finding you."
+
+"But why didn't he come to the farm?"
+
+"My husband prevented that. He said you were on Beaver Island three or
+four weeks ago, but you were now in the Fairy Isle. It was no lie. He
+spoke in parables, but the other heard him literally. We let him inquire
+of people in St. James. But no one had seen you since the Saturday you
+came to the Tabernacle. So he is going back to Mackinac to seek you.
+Your life will be decided in a quarter of an hour. Will you go on that
+steamboat?"
+
+"Throw myself on the mercy of a man who dared--dared to break his
+engagement, and who ought to be punished and put on probation, and then
+refused! No, I cannot!"
+
+"The minutes are slipping away."
+
+"Besides, I have nothing with me but the clothes I have on. And my
+uncle's family--think of my uncle's family!"
+
+"You can write to your uncle and have him send your baggage. I dare not
+carry any messages. But I thought of what you would need to-night, and
+put some things and some money in this satchel. They were mine. Keep
+them all."
+
+Emeline took hold of the bag which Mary French shoved in her hand. Their
+faces were indistinct to each other.
+
+"For the first time in my life I have deceived my husband!"
+
+"Oh, what shall I do--what shall I do?" cried the girl.
+
+A steamer whistle at St. James dock sent its bellow rebounding from
+tree to tree in the woods. Emeline seized Mary French and kissed her
+violently on both cheeks. She snatched the bag and flew towards St.
+James.
+
+"Stop!" commanded the Prophet's wife.
+
+She ran in pursuit, catching Emeline by the shoulders.
+
+"You sha'n't go! What am I doing? Maybe robbing him of what is necessary
+to his highest success! I am a fool--to think he might turn back to me
+for consolation when you are gone--God forgive me such silly fondness!
+I can't have a secret between him and myself--I will tell him! You shall
+not go--and cause him a mortal hurt! Wait!--stop!--the boat is gone!
+It's too late!"
+
+"Let me loose!" struggled Emeline, wrenching herself away.
+
+[Illustration: Let me loose! 148]
+
+She ran on through the woods, and Mary French, snatching at garments
+which eluded her, stumbled and fell on the damp path, gathering dead
+leaves under her palms. The steamer's prolonged bellow covered her
+voice.
+
+Candles were lighted in St. James. The Tabernacle spread itself like a
+great circular web dark with moisture. Emeline was conscious of running
+across the gang-plank as a sailor stooped to draw it in. The bell was
+ringing and the boat was already in motion. It sidled and backed away
+from its moorings.
+
+Emeline knelt panting at the rail on the forward deck. A flambeau
+fastened to the wharf bowed its light to the wind as the boat swung
+about, showing the King of Beaver smiling and waving his hand in
+farewell. He did not see Emeline. His farewell was for the man whom
+he had sent away without her. His golden hair and beard and blue eyes
+floated into Emeline's past as the steamer receded, the powerful face
+and lithe figure first losing their identity, and then merging into
+night. What if it was true that she was robbing both him and herself of
+the best life, as Mary French was smitten to believe at the last moment?
+Her Gentile gorge rose against him, and the traditions of a thousand
+years warred in her with nature; yet she stretched her hands towards him
+in the darkness.
+
+Then she heard a familiar voice, and knew that the old order of things
+was returning, while Beaver Island, like a dream, went silently down
+upon the waters.
+
+Some years later, in the '50's, Emeline, sitting opposite her husband at
+the breakfast-table, heard him announce from the morning paper:
+
+"Murder of King Strang, the Mormon Prophet of Beaver Island." All the
+details of the affair, even the track of the bullets which crashed into
+that golden head, were mercilessly printed. The reader, surprised by a
+sob, dropped his paper.
+
+"What! Are you crying, Mrs. Arnold?"
+
+"It was so cruel!" sobbed Emeline. "And Billy Wentworth, like a savage,
+helped to do it!"
+
+"He had provocation, no doubt, though it is a horrid deed. Perhaps I owe
+the King of Beaver the tribute of a tear. He befogged me considerably
+the only time I ever met him."
+
+"You see only his evil. But I see what he was to Mary French and the
+others." "His bereaved widows?" "The ones who believed in his best."
+
+
+*****
+
+
+
+
+BEAVER LIGHTS
+
+A magnificent fountain of flame, visible far out on the starlit lake,
+spurted from the north end of Beaver Island. It was the temple, in which
+the Mormon people had worshipped for the last time, sending sparks and
+illumined vapor to the zenith. The village of St. James was partly in
+ashes, and a blue pallor of smoke hung dimly over nearly every hill
+and hollow, for Gentile fishermen crazed with drink and power and long
+arrears of grievances had carried torch and axe from farm to farm. Until
+noon of that day all householding families had been driven to huddle
+with their cattle around the harbor dock and forced to make pens for
+the cattle of lumber which had been piled there for transportation.
+Unresisting as sheep they let themselves be shipped on four small armed
+steamers sent by their enemies to carry them into exile. Not one of the
+twelve elders who had received the last instructions of their murdered
+king rose up to organize any defence. Scarcely a month had passed since
+his wounding unto death, and his withdrawal, like Arthur, in the arms
+of weeping women to that spot in Wisconsin where he had found his sacred
+Voree plates or tables of the law. Scarcely two weeks had passed since
+news came back of his burial there. And already the Mormon settlement
+was swept off Beaver Island.
+
+Used to border warfare and to following their dominating prophet to
+victory, they yet seemed unable to strike a blow without him. Such
+non-resistance procured them nothing but contempt. They even submitted
+to being compelled to destroy a cairn raised over the grave of one
+considered a malefactor, carrying the heap stone by stone to throw into
+the lake, Gentiles standing over them like Egyptian masters.
+
+Little waves ran in rows of light, washing against the point on
+the north side of the landlocked harbor. A primrose star was there
+struggling aloft at the top of a rough rock tower. It was the fish-oil
+flame of Beaver lamp, and the keeper sat on his doorsill at the bottom
+of the light-house with his wife beside him.
+
+The lowing of cattle missing their usual evening tendance came across
+from the dock, a mournful accompaniment to the distant roaring of fire
+and falling of timbers.
+
+"Do you realize, Ludlow," the young woman inquired, slipping her hand
+into her husband's, "that I am now the only Mormon on Beaver Island?"
+
+"You never were a very good Mormon, Cecilia. You didn't like the breed
+any better than I did, though there were good people among them."
+
+"Will they lose all their cattle, Ludlow?"
+
+"The cattle are safe enough," he laughed. "The men that are doing this
+transporting will take the cattle. None of our Mormon friends will ever
+see a hoof from Beaver Island again."
+
+"But it seems robbery to drive them off and seize their property."
+
+"That's the way King Strang took Beaver from the Gentiles in the first
+place. Mormons and Gentiles can't live together."
+
+"We can."
+
+"I told you that you were a poor Mormon, Cecilia. And from first to last
+I opposed my family's entering the community. Tithes and meddling sent
+my father out of it a poor man. But I'm glad he went before this; and
+your people, too."
+
+She drew a deep breath. "Oh yes! They're safe in Green Bay. I couldn't
+endure to have them on those steamers going down the lake to-night. What
+will become of the community, Ludlow?"
+
+"God knows. They'll be landed at Chicago and turned adrift on the world.
+I'm glad they're away from here. I've no cause to love them, but I was
+afraid they would be butchered like sheep. Your father and my father,
+if they had still been elders on the island, wouldn't have submitted, as
+these folks did, to abuse and exile and the loss of everything they
+had in the world. I can't understand it of some of them. There was Jim
+Baker, for instance; I'd have sworn he would fight."
+
+"I can understand why he didn't. He hasn't taken any interest since his
+second marriage."
+
+"Now, that was a nice piece of work! I always liked Jim the best of any
+of the young men until he did that. And what inducement was there in the
+woman?"
+
+The light-house keeper's wife fired up. "What inducement there was for
+him ever to marry Rosanne I couldn't see. And I know Elizabeth Aiken
+loved him when we were girls together."
+
+"And didn't Rosanne?"
+
+"Oh--Rosanne! A roly-poly spoiled young one, that never will be a woman!
+Elizabeth is noble."
+
+"You're fond of Elizabeth because she was witness to our secret marriage
+when King Strang wouldn't let me have you. I liked Jim for the same
+reason. Do you mind how we four slipped one at a time up the back stairs
+in my father's house that night, while the young folks were dancing
+be-low?"
+
+"I mind we picked Elizabeth because Rosanne would be sure to blab, even
+if she had to suffer herself for it. How scared the poor elder was!"
+
+"We did him a good turn when we got him to marry us. He'd be on one of
+the steamers bound for nowhere, to-night, instead of snug at Green
+Bay, if we hadn't started him on the road to what King Strang called
+disaffection."
+
+The light-house keeper jumped up and ran out on the point, his wife
+following him in nervous dread.
+
+"What is the matter, Ludlow?"
+
+Their feet crunched gravel and paused where ripples still ran in,
+endlessly bringing lines of dimmer and dimmer light. A rocking boat was
+tied to a stake. Anchored and bare-masted, farther out in the mouth of
+the bay, a fishing-smack tilted slightly in rhythmic motion. While they
+stood a touch of crimson replaced the sky light in the water, and great
+blots like blood soaking into the bay were reflected from the fire. The
+burning temple now seemed to rise a lofty tower of flame against the
+horizon. Figures could be seen passing back and forth in front of
+it, and shouts of fishermen came down the peninsula. The King's
+printing-office where the _Northern Islander_ was once issued as a daily
+had smouldered down out of the way. It was the first place to which they
+had set torch.
+
+"I thought I heard some one running up the sail on our sail-boat," said
+the light-house keeper. "No telling what these fellows may do. If they
+go to meddling with me in my little Government office, they'll find me
+as stubborn as the Mormons did."
+
+"Oh, Ludlow, look at the tabernacle, like a big red-hot cheese-box on
+the high ground! Think of the coronation there on the first King's Day!"
+
+The light-house keeper's wife was again in imagination a long-limbed
+girl of fifteen, crowding into the temple to witness such a ceremony as
+was celebrated on no other spot of the New World. The King of Beaver,
+in a crimson robe, walked the temple aisle, followed by his council, his
+twelve elders, and seventy ministers of the minor order. In the presence
+of a hushed multitude he was anointed, and a crown with a cluster of
+projecting stars was set on his golden head. Hails and shouts, music of
+marching singers and the strewing of flowers went before him into the
+leafy July woods. Thus King's Day was established and annually observed
+on the 8th of July. It began with burnt-offerings. The head of each
+family was required to bring a chicken. A heifer was killed and
+carefully cut up without breaking a bone; and, while the smoke of
+sacrifice arose, feasting and dancing began, and lasted until sunset.
+Firstlings of flocks and the first-fruits of orchard and field were
+ordained the King's; and he also claimed one-tenth of each man's
+possessions. The Mosaic law was set up in Beaver Island, even to the
+stoning of rebellious children.
+
+The smoke of a sacrificed people was now reeking on Beaver. This
+singular man's French ancestry--for he was descended from Henri de
+L'Estrange, who came to the New World with the Duke of York--doubtless
+gave him the passion for picturesqueness and the spiritual grasp on
+his isolated kingdom which keeps him still a notable and unforgotten
+figure.
+
+"It makes me feel bad to see so much destruction," the young man said to
+his wife; "though I offered to go with Billy Wentworth to shoot Strang
+if nobody else was willing. I knew I was marked, and sooner or later I
+would disappear if he continued to govern this island. But with all
+his faults he was a man. He could fight; and whip. He'd have sunk every
+steamer in the harbor to-day."
+
+"It's heavy on my heart, Ludlow--it's dreadful! Neighbors and friends
+that we shall never see again!"
+
+The young man caught his wife by the arm. They both heard the swift beat
+of footsteps flying down the peninsula. Cecilia drew in her breath and
+crowded against her husband. A figure came into view and identified
+itself, leaping in bisected draperies across an open space to the
+light-house door.
+
+"Why, Rosanne!" exclaimed the keeper's wife. She continued to say "Why,
+Rosanne! Why, Rosanne Baker!" after she had herself run into the house
+and lighted a candle.
+
+She set the candle on the chimney. It showed her rock-built domicile,
+plain but dignified, like the hollow of a cavern, with blue china on
+the cupboard shelves and a spinning-wheel standing by the north wall. A
+corner staircase led to the second story of the tower, and on its lowest
+step the fugitive dropped down, weeping and panting. She was peculiarly
+dressed in the calico bloomers which the King of Beaver had latterly
+decreed for the women of his kingdom. Her trim legs and little feet,
+cased in strong shoes, appeared below the baggy trousers. The upper part
+of her person, her almond eyes, round curves and features were full
+of Oriental suggestions. Some sweet inmate of a harem might so have
+materialized, bruising her softness against the hard stair.
+
+"Why, Rosanne Baker!" her hostess reiterated.
+
+
+Cecilia did not wear bloomers. She stood erect in petticoats. "I thought
+you went on one of the boats!"
+
+"I didn't," sobbed Rosanne. "When they were crowding us on I slipped
+among the lumber piles and hid. I've been hid all day, lying flat
+between boards--on top where they couldn't see me."
+
+"Suppose the lumber had been set on fire, too! And you haven't had
+anything to eat?"
+
+"I don't want to eat. I'm only frightened to death at the wicked
+Gentiles burning the island. I couldn't stay there all night, so I got
+down and ran to your house."
+
+"Of course, you poor child! But, Rosanne, where's your husband?"
+
+The trembling creature stiffened herself and looked at Cecilia out of
+the corners of her long eyes. "He's with Elizabeth Aiken."
+
+The only wife of one husband did not know how to take hold of this
+subject.
+
+"But your father was there," she suggested. "How could you leave your
+father and run the risk of never seeing him again?"
+
+"I don't care if I never see him again. He said he was so discouraged he
+didn't care what became of any of us."
+
+Cecilia was going to plead the cause of domestic affection further,
+but she saw that four step-mothers could easily be given up. She turned
+helplessly to her husband who stood in the door.
+
+"Poor thing! Ludlow, what in the world shall we do?"
+
+"Put her to bed."
+
+"Of course, Ludlow. But will anybody hurt you to-morrow?"
+
+"There are two good guns on the rack over the chimney. I don't think
+anybody will hurt me or her either, to-morrow."
+
+"Rosanne, my dear," said Cecilia, trying to lift the relaxed soft body
+and to open the stairway door behind her. "Come up with me right off. I
+think you better be where people cannot look in at us."
+
+Rosanne yielded and stumbled to her feet, clinging to her friend. When
+they disappeared the young man heard her through the stairway enclosure
+sobbing with convulsive gasps:
+
+"I hate Elizabeth Aiken! I wish they would kill Elizabeth Aiken! I hate
+her--I hate her!"
+
+The lighthouse-keeper sat down again on his doorstep and faced the
+prospect of taking care of a homeless Mormon. It appeared to him that
+his wife had not warmly enough welcomed her or met the situation with
+that recklessness one needed on Beaver Island. The tabernacle began to
+burn lower, brands streaming away in the current which a fire makes.
+It was strange to be more conscious of inland doings than of that vast
+unsalted sea so near him, which moistened his hair with vaporous drifts
+through the darkness. The garnet redness of the temple shed a huger
+amphitheatre of shine around itself. A taste of acrid smoke was on his
+lips. He was considering that drunken fishermen might presently begin to
+rove, and he would be wiser to go in and shut the house and put out his
+candle, when by stealthy approaches around the lighthouse two persons
+stood before him.
+
+"Is Ludlow here?" inquired a voice which he knew.
+
+"I'm here, Jim! Are all the Mormons coming back?"
+
+"Is Rosanne in your house?"
+
+"Rosanne is here; up-stairs with Cecilia. Come inside, Jim. Have you
+Elizabeth with you?"
+
+"Yes, I have Elizabeth with me."
+
+The three entered together. Ludlow shut the door and dropped an iron bar
+across it. The young men standing opposite were of nearly the same
+age; but one was fearless and free and the other harassed and haggard.
+Out-door labor and the skill of the fisheries had given to both depth of
+chest and clean, muscular limbs. But James Baker had the desperate
+and hunted look of a fugitive from justice. He was fair, of the
+strong-featured, blue-eyed type that has pale chestnut-colored hair
+clinging close to a well-domed head.
+
+"Yes, Rosanne is here," Ludlow repeated. "Now will you tell me how you
+got here?"
+
+"I rowed back in a boat."
+
+"Who let you have a boat?"
+
+"There were sailors on the steamer. After I found Rosanne was left
+behind I would have had a boat or killed the man that prevented me. I
+had to wait out on the lake until it got dark. I knew your wife would
+take care of her. I told myself that when I couldn't find any chance to
+land in St. James's Bay until sunset."
+
+"She's been hiding in the lumber on the dock all day."
+
+"Did any one hurt her?"
+
+"Evidently not."
+
+The Mormon husband's face cleared with a convulsion which in woman would
+have been a relieving burst of tears.
+
+"Sit down, Elizabeth," said the lighthouse-keeper. "You look fit to
+fall."
+
+"Yes, sit down, Elizabeth," James Baker repeated, turning to her with
+secondary interest. But she remained standing, a tall Greek figure in
+bloomers, so sure of pose that drapery or its lack was an accident
+of which the eye took no account. She had pushed her soft brown hair,
+dampened by the lake, behind her ears. They showed delicately against
+the two shining masses. Her forehead and chin were of noble and
+courageous shape. If there was fault, it was in the breadth and height
+of brows masterful rather than feminine. She had not one delicious
+sensuous charm to lure man. Her large eyes were blotted with a hopeless
+blankness. She waited to see what would be done next.
+
+"Now I'll tell you," said Baker to his friend, with decision, "I'm not
+going to bring the howling Gentiles around you."
+
+"I don't care whether they come or not."
+
+"I know you don't. It isn't necessary in such a time as this for you and
+me to look back."
+
+"I told you at the time I wouldn't forget it, Jim. You stood by me when
+I married Cecilia in the teeth of the Mormons, and I'll stand by you
+through any mob of Gentiles. My sail-boat's out yonder, and it's yours
+as long as you want it; and we'll provision it."
+
+"That's what I was going to ask, Ludlow."
+
+"If I were you I'd put for Green Bay. Old neighbors are there, my father
+among them."
+
+"That was my plan!"
+
+"But," Ludlow added, turning his thumb over his shoulder with
+embarrassment, "they're all Gentiles in Green Bay."
+
+"Elizabeth and I talked it over in the boat. I told her the truth before
+God. We've agreed to live apart. Ludlow, I never wanted any wife but
+Rosanne, and I don't want any wife but Rosanne now. You don't know how
+it happened; I was first of the young men called on to set an example.
+Brother Strang could bring a pressure to bear that it was impossible to
+resist. He might have threatened till doomsday. But I don't know what
+he did with me. I told him it wasn't treating Elizabeth fair. Still, I
+married her according to Saints' law, and I consider myself bound by my
+pledge to provide for her. She's a good girl. She has no one to look to
+but me. And I'm not going to turn her off to shift for herself if the
+whole United States musters against me."
+
+"Now you talk like a man. I think better of you than I have for a couple
+of weeks past."
+
+"It ought to make me mad to be run off of Beaver. But I couldn't take
+any interest. May I see Rosanne?"
+
+"Go right up-stairs. Cecilia took her up to put her to bed. The walls
+and floors are thick here or she would have heard your voice."
+
+"Poor little Rosanne! It's been a hard day for her."
+
+The young Mormon paused before ascending. "Ludlow, as soon as you can
+give me a few things to make the women comfortable for the run to Green
+Bay, I'll take them and put out."
+
+"Tell Cecilia to come down. She'll know what they need."
+
+Until Cecilia came down and hugged Elizabeth silently but most tenderly
+the lighthouse-keeper stood with his feet and gaze planted on a braided
+rug, not knowing what to say. He then shifted his feet and remarked:
+
+"It's a fine night for a sail, Elizabeth. I think we're going to have
+fair weather."
+
+"I think we are," she answered.
+
+Hurried preparations were made for the voyage. Elizabeth helped Cecilia
+gather food and clothes and two Mackinac blankets from the stores of a
+young couple not rich but open-handed. The lighthouse-keeper trimmed the
+lantern to hang at the mast-head. He was about to call the two up-stairs
+when the crunching of many feet on gravel was heard around his tower and
+a torch was thrust at one of the windows.
+
+At the same instant he put Elizabeth and Cecilia in the stairway and let
+James Baker, bounding down three steps at once, into the room.
+
+Each man took a gun, Ludlow blowing out the candle as he reached for his
+weapons.
+
+"Now you stand back out of sight and let me talk to them," he said to
+the young Mormon, as an explosive clamor began. "They'll kill you,
+and they daren't touch me. Even if they had anything against me, the
+drunkest of them know better than to shoot down a government officer.
+I'm going to open this window."
+
+A rabble of dusky shapes headed by a torch-bearer who had doubtless
+lighted his fat-stick at the burning temple, pressed forward to force a
+way through the window.
+
+"Get off of the flower-bed," said Ludlow, dropping the muzzle of his gun
+on the sill. "You're tramping down my wife's flowers."
+
+"It's your nosegays of Mormons we're after having, Ludlow. We seen them
+shlipping in here!"
+
+"It's shame to you, Ludlow, and your own da-cent wife that hard to come
+at, by raison of King Strang!"
+
+"Augh! thim bloomers!--they do be makin' me sthummick sick!"
+
+"What hurts you worst," said Ludlow, "is the price you had to pay the
+Mormons for fish barrels."
+
+The mob groaned and hooted. "Wull ye give us out the divil forninst
+there, or wull ye take a broadside through the windy?"
+
+"I haven't any devil in the house."
+
+"It's Jim Baker, be the powers. He wor seen, and his women."
+
+"Jim Baker is here. But he's leaving the island at once with the women."
+
+"He'll not lave it alive."
+
+"You, Pat Corrigan," said Ludlow, pointing his finger at the
+torch-bearer, "do you remember the morning you and your mate rowed in to
+the lighthouse half-frozen and starved and I fed and warmed you?"
+
+"Do I moind it? I do!"
+
+"Did I let the Mormons take you then?"
+
+"No, bedad."
+
+"When King Strang's constables came galloping down here to arrest you,
+didn't I run in water to my waist to push you off in your boat?"
+
+"You did, bedad!"
+
+"I didn't give you up to them, and I won't give this family up to you.
+They're not doing you any harm. Let them peaceably leave Beaver."
+
+"But the two wives of him," argued Pat Corrigan.
+
+"How many wives and children have you?"
+
+"Is it 'how many wives,' says the hay then! Wan wife, by the powers; and
+tin childer."
+
+"Haven't you about as large a family as you can take care of?"
+
+"Begobs, I have."
+
+"Do you want to take in Jim Baker's Mormon wife and provide for her?
+Somebody has to. If you won't let him do it, perhaps you'll do it
+yourself."
+
+"No, bedad!"
+
+"Well, then, you'd better go about your business and let him alone. I
+don't see that we have to meddle with these things. Do you?"
+
+The crowd moved uneasily and laughed, good-naturedly owning to being
+plucked of its cause and arrested in the very act of returning evil for
+good.
+
+"I tould you Ludlow was the foine man," said the torch-bearer to his
+confederates.
+
+"There's no harm in you boys," pursued the fine man. "You're not making
+a war on women."
+
+"We're not. Thrue for you."
+
+"If you feel like having a wake over the Mormons, why don't you get more
+torches and make a procession down the Galilee road? You've done about
+all you can on Mount Pisgah."
+
+As they began to trail away at this suggestion and to hail him with
+parting shouts, Ludlow shut the window and laughed in the dark room.
+
+"I'd like to start them chasing the fox around all the five lakes
+on Beaver. But they may change their minds before they reach the
+sand-hills. We'd better load the boat right off, Jim."
+
+In the hurrying Rosanne came down-stairs and found Elizabeth waiting at
+the foot. They could see each other only by starlight. They were alone,
+for the others had gone out to the boat.
+
+"Are you willing for me to go, Rosanne?" spoke Elizabeth. Her sweet
+voice was of a low pitch, unhurried and steady. "James says he'll build
+me a little house in your yard."
+
+"Oh, Elizabeth!"
+
+Rosanne did not cry, "I cannot hate you!" but she threw herself into
+the arms of the larger, more patient woman whom she saw no longer as
+a rival, and who would cherish her children. Elizabeth kissed her
+husband's wife as a little sister.
+
+The lights on Beaver, sinking to duller redness, shone behind Elizabeth
+like the fires of the stake as she and Cecilia walked after the others
+to the boat. Cecilia wondered if her spirit rose against the indignities
+of her position as an undesired wife, whose legal rights were not even
+recognized by the society into which she would be forced. The world was
+not open to her as to a man. In that day it would have stoned her if she
+ventured too far from some protected fireside. Fierce envy of squaws who
+could tramp winter snows and were not despised for their brief marriages
+may have flashed through Elizabeth like the little self-protecting blaze
+a man lighted around his own cabin when the prairie was on fire. Why in
+all the swarming centuries of human experience had the lot of a creature
+with such genius for loving been cast where she was utterly thrown away?
+
+Solitary and carrying her passion a hidden coal she walked in the
+footsteps of martyrs behind the pair of reunited lovers.
+
+"Take care, Rosanne. Don't stumble, darling!" said the man to whom
+Elizabeth had been married by a law she respected until a higher law
+unhus-banded her.
+
+Cecilia noted the passionate clutch of her hand and its withdrawal
+without touching him as he lurched over a rock.
+
+He put his wife tenderly in the boat and then turned with kind formality
+to Elizabeth; but Ludlow had helped her.
+
+"Well, bon voyage," said the lighthouse-keeper. "Mind you run up the
+lantern on the mast as soon as you get aboard. I don't think there'll be
+any chase. The Irish have freed their minds."
+
+"I'll send your fishing-boat back as soon as I can, Ludlow."
+
+"Turn it over to father; he'll see to it. Give him news of us and
+our love to all the folks. He will be anxious to know the truth about
+Beaver."
+
+"Good-bye, Elizabeth and Rosanne!"
+
+"Good-bye, Cecilia!"
+
+A grinding on pebbles, then the thump of adjusted oars and the rush of
+water on each side of a boat's course, marked the fugitives' progress
+towards the anchored smack.
+
+Suspended on starlit waters as if in eternity, and watching the smoke of
+her past go up from a looted island, Elizabeth had the sense of a great
+company around her. The uninstructed girl from the little kingdom
+of Beaver divined a worldful of souls waiting and loving in hopeless
+silence and marching resistlessly as the stars to their reward. For
+there is a development like the unfolding of a god for those who suffer
+in strength and overcome.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The King Of Beaver, and Beaver Lights, by 
+Mary Hartwell Catherwood
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEAVER ***
+
+***** This file should be named 23256.txt or 23256.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/2/5/23256/
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/23256.zip b/23256.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7e2bd9c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23256.zip
diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6312041
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..961b5bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #23256 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23256)