A Woman Rice Planter

by Elizabeth W. Allston Pringle

No. 1, however, said he was all right, and pointing to his overcoat on the seat said he had not even put that on yet. They parted and Zeb and Sportsman No. 1 were never seen again alive.

They did not return to Gregory that night, nor the next. Then search was made, and the sportsman was found drowned and Zeb was found frozen holding on to some puncheons on the edge of an old canal. Near by was the boat, not capsized, and the things in it except the overcoat.

It was surmised by those who knew the circumstances that the sportsman, not being familiar with a dugout canoe, and not knowing that it is dangerous to stand up in one, rose to put on his overcoat, lost his balance and fell overboard, and Zeb plunged in to rescue him, a thing he could easily have accomplished under ordinary circumstances. But the spirits he had taken from time to time paralyzed his great strength and skill in the water, and he not only could not save the man but perished himself. He succeeded in reaching the puncheons on the edge of the canal, but was unable to pull himself out, and froze stiff there.

Of course I did not go into all these details to Willing, but made him see that without that fatal bottle Zeb could have saved himself and the man, and I tried to make him see that with such a family history the only hope for him was to swear off absolutely. He seemed much impressed and thanked me for my "chastisement," as they call any solemn counsel and admonition, and promised to heed it.

The chicks are very lively and eat bread crumbs and oatmeal very heartily. I have enclosed a space in the garden of fifty feet in circumference, with a netted wire fence six feet high, which I will keep locked, and I hope to defy hawks, foxes, and bipeds as well. Chloe is perfectly devoted to the chicks and feeds them with enthusiasm every two hours.

Chloe is devoted to the chicks—feeds them every two hours.

I am having much trouble at Casa Bianca. The hands continue to resent my having given the keys to Nat, and they will not take orders from him. They will not bind themselves either to rent any certain amount of land, but sulk steadily.

I knew that the loss of my good foreman Marcus was irremediable, and when I met him in "town" the other day he told me he was perfectly wretched; that he missed the country so. Of course it must be so at first.