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ISSUED TWICE A WEEK-WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY. i. m. gkist & sons, Publishers, j <| Ifamilg lleicspnper: jfor the promotion of the political, Social, Agricultural, and Commeitriat Interests of the ?oufh. 1TER sino^'ctpy,Ythree coa?.NCE' xrrvr. j.:t YOEKVILLE, S. C., WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 1897. ' NO. 44. A DEPDTV CULPRIT By FBANOIS LYNDE. ["Copyright, 1837, by the Author.] Vigo?not the Spanish city of that name, bnt Vigo of the coal mines in Harmony valley, Tennessee?had two jaily events?the departure of the pa?lenger train in the morning and its arrival at supper time. To do honor to both of these the Vigon corps de loisir was wont to gather in force on the station platform twice a day, and, knowing this, Inspector Jaffray dropped from the farther 6ide of the incoming train and beckoned to a man who stood in the shadow of a loaded coke car on the mine siding. "How are you, Layne? Let's get away from here before anybody recognizes me," he said. "You got my letter?" "I did sa Hit come last night" "Good. I hope it won't put you out to take care of ma " "I reckon you know better'n that," Baid Layne reproachfully. He was a Tennessee farmer in whom hospitality was in some sort a birthright, and Inspector Jaffray was an old friend. "I do know it, but it's one of those things a man 6ays from force of habit Have you seen Cantrell?" "Yes. He'll be 'long up to the house after he's called the mail. I didn't tell him you all was comin." "That was right." Layne led the way up to the mine Bhoot, keeping behind the coal and coke cars, and from thence they skirted the village, reaching the farmhouse in its farther fringe without meeting any one. As a man the inspector was known throughout his district as a jovial companion, the best of story tellers and an undisguised good fellow, but as an officer of the postoffice department he was skillful to plan, quick to execute and a very beagle of the service in the secrecy of his methods and the rapidity of his movements. And it was an as officer that he came to Vigo on this September evening. The little mining town was the terminal station on the Long Mountain branch of the railway and the distributing office for a biweekly mail route which included a half dozen villages in the upper end of the valley. Within a month a number of valuable letters and packages had been missing on this route, and the inspector had come to Vigo to locate the leak, and, having found it, to stop it. Will Cantrell, the Vigo postmaster, met him at Layne's after rapper, and the inspector was soon in possession of rach information as Cantrell had to give. "Yon say it's always money that's missing-"'asked Jaffray after the postmaster had told what he knew. ' 'Yes, mostly. But as far as we know it began with a ring that John Corny , ordered from Nashville for his girl. It came this far all right because I mind , seein a little package marked to John. But he says it nev' did ro'cb him." j "What kind of a ring was it?" ( "Plain gold was what he sent for. There was goin to be a marryin, I reckon." '' Where does Corny live?" "Up in Loder's Cove. GrafTville's his postoffice." "That's this side of the gap, isn't it?" "No, it'son the far side, the way the route's carried. Ande'son goes up on ( this side of the valley and comes back , on the other?makes a circuit" ( "Humph! Anderson's the carrier, I , suppose. What do you know about him?" "Well, I don't know. Lafe's a toler'ble good sort of a boy?son of old man ( Ande'son up on Long mountain. Does his work all right, far as I know, and ( I nev' beard anything against him." ( The inspector nodded absently and began to make idle hieroglyphs with his pencil on the margin of a newspaper he had been reading. Cantrell waited patiently for the final question, and presently it came. "What is your theory about this thing, Cantrell?" The postmaster tilted his chair and thrust his hands deep into his pockets. , "I don't know as I've got any, Mr. ( Jaffray. Seems like it's amongst half a dozen of us up here, and I reckon I'd better stand on a line with the rest till you find out who's doiu it." "But you reported the thing your- , self," said the inspector. Cantrell smiled. "Ye-es. But a heap bigger fool than I am might'vc thought ( of doin that." "That's so. We'll keep you in mind as one of the possibles," said the inspector. But he laughed in a way to set Cantrell's mind at rest upon that score. Then, with a sudden return to the business of the moment: "Let'ssee. Tomorrow is the regular mail day. I suppose you have the pouch Anderson carries?" , " Yes. It's down at the store." "Get your hat, and we'll godownand havo a look at it." They went out together and stumbled along the rocky road through a half mile of inky darkness ?o the country store. Cautrell admitted his companion, struck a light and found the pouch. It was old and well worn, and tho inspector pointed out a small hole frayed through one of the creases in the leather. "Why haven't you reported this?" he sked. "I have. I've kicked about it till I'm plumb tired. You know the supplies for the route arc ordered by Godfrey at the gap, and I've sent word to him by Lafe half a dozen times." Jaffray threw the pouch under tho counter. "That's the leak," he said! briefly. '' Good niuht.'' A lit! the ucxr morning, when Farmer I Layne would have called his guest to breakfast, the porch bedroom was empty, j At half past 8 the same morning I young Anderson rode up to the porch in front of Cautrell Bros.' store, threw the i lean mail pouch across his saddle and set out whistling upon his 28 mile ride to the gap. He was a handsome young fellow, as the|mountain youth go, which is to say that he was not leaner than was consistent witn grace and suppleness, that his face had not yet taken on the expression of settled melancholy which seems to be the heritage of the mountain folk, men and women, and that his eye was bright and fearless, and his laugh had the ring in it which is supposed to vouch for a light heart and a clear conscience. If Inspector Jaffray, being endowed with the gift of invisibility, could have ridden beside the mail carrier through the September forenoon, he would have seen nothing amiss. At Bray's Flat, at Powderville, and again at Long Mountain, Anderson kept well within the letter of his instructions, handing the locked pouch to the postmaster and lounging about in front of the store until it was brought out to him again. At the Gap, however, v~L4.aU wna Li a mn fo fnr tV?A Y> w3 ilic vuu Vi uao 1VU vv aw* v*aw day, he hitched his horse before the largest of the three stores and carried the pouch back to the high desk, 'where uiiikiJ "What is your theory ahout this thing, Cantrcllt" a young girl was perched upon a stool, knitting her brows over a dog's eared account book. "Howdy, Lafe?" she said, getting down to open the pouch. "Purty toler'ble. "Whar's you uns pawr?" v "I don't know?down to Lukens', I reckon." She pulled the strap through the staples and, dumping the mail on the counter, began to cau it on to too group of expectant loungers and towuspeop??, keeping up a desultory conversation with the .nail carrier at the same time. "Doc Parks, Many Golfin, John Trevor?what?all news is there down at Vigo, Lafe?" "Nothin much, not as I heerd." "You'd nev' hear anything, nohow? Jeff Greer?Eph Binders?here's a letter for you?all, Eph?hawss gone lame, Lafe?" "No. Why?" "Thought you?all seemed sort of tired?Bud Gordon?Wiley Pryor"? Lafe straightened up, and then thought better of it, resuming his lounging position on the counter because it brought him nearer to her. She went on calling the names, and he watched her dexterous fingers juggling the letters and 6tole occasional glances under the brim of his soft hat at her face. It was a face for which the language provides no adjective. "Pretty" is too trivial. "Beautiful" is too fine. It was b face on which strength of character was written very legibly and yet without marring its womanly attractiveness; dark eyes that mocked oftener than they caressed; finely penciled brows; masses of dark hair gathered back into a heavy knot which was transfixed by a lead pencil; a nose that would have been pert without the correcting suggestion of firmness about the mouth and chin; ??** trnnl/1 tnon fn lmr ' a ) UUUg >> UUiUU ?UU VVWJ.I* 4iOV iv AAVA opportunities, oue would say, addiug tho saving clause that she would probably never miss them if they should happen to pass by on the other side. When the last of the expectant ones had gone, Lafe asked, "Have you told you uns pawr yet, Willie?" "No-o. Seems likeyi.u'ro in a powerful hurry, Lafo." "Reckon I have to be, don't I?" She twisted the ring on her finger and smiled down upon him. "There's plenty of time." Thou suddenly, "Where did 1 you?all get this?get this ring, Lafe?" "Bought hit, of course. Whar did you 'low I got hit?" "I didn't know. I was just thinkin of John Corny and Annie Hester. He 'lowed to get her a ring and says he sent to Nashville for it. It nev' did come, and now Annie she don't believe he ever meant to get it, and she won't so much as say 'Howdy?' to him. Didn't vou all hear about it down at Graff ville?" Lafe's lips 6aid "No," but he looked up into her eyes and changed it to "Yes." Then someone came in, and there was no more said about John Corny or his ring. The dew was still on tho grass the following morning when Lafe called at Godfrey's store for the mail pouch. The girl brought it out to hiiu. "Lookout you all don't fall off the hawss," she said, mocking him. And 1 then, by way of compensation, "Maydo I'll tell paw before Friday." "I wisht you weald, Willie. Seems like I cayu't look him in tho face no mo' till you do. He wouldn't tako notbin from me, but he'll listen at you." "Maybe," wus all she would say. But she stood on the porch and watched , him as long us he was in sight. Graffvilllo was the first office on the return route, and when the carrier went in with the mail tho postmaster was busy. When he got around to tho gov- ' erument's business, he made a show of hurrying. He was relockiug the pouch, ' when a farmer drove up and came in ! with a letter in his band. "Hold up a minute, Mr. Johnson? 1 got a letter to go in thar, and I reckon it'll have to be registered." ^ "Cayn't take it now nohow; mail's . all ready to go." "Shucks!" said the farmer, mopping his face with a bandanna. "Done druv fo' mile to get that thar letter off this moruin. Hit's got $ 10 in for that feller t?at sold me the mowin machine, and r 'lowed to him be could count on hit shore today." "Cayn't he'p it, Mr. Kilgore. Like mighty well to do you all a favor, but I cayn't hold the mail to register no letters now. Orders is mighty strict" Then Lafo spoke up: "Thess put hit in with the rest of 'em," he suggested. "Might' nigh ever'body does that away." The farmer hesitated for a moment and then concluded to risk it, and five minutes later Anderson was once more jogging on his way to Vigo. There was the usual crowd of loafers in Cantrell Bros.' store when the mail carrier rode up to the porch and dismounted on the high platform. Throwing the bridle to his 10-year-old brother and giving the pouch to Will uantreu, ijaie ecigea ois way miu mo group of loungers to distribute his budget of up valley gossip. Cantrell weut behind the counter and disappeared beyond the low partition which fenced off a sleeping room in tho end of the building. Behind the partition Inspector Jaffray was smoking a cigar, sitting with his chair tilted buck at a comfortable angle agninst the wall. But be came out of his listlessness with a jerk when Cantrell entered with the mail pouch. "Open it quick?right hero," he commenced. And in a moment ho had scanned tho address on every letter in the small heap. "It's gouo. I know it would be. Slip out quietly and send your brother back here." When Bud Cantrell came in, tho inspector handed him a $10 bill. "Go into the crowd out there and ask if any one can change it. Give Anderson a chance to do it if he will." Cantrell came back almost immediately and gave the inspector four bank notes. There were two twos, a one and a five, and Jaffray glanced at tho numbers before putting the money into hia pocket. "He's our man," he said quietly. "(io and talk to mm ana take mm to the door with you. When you see me at his other elbow, grab him and hold him. Do you understand?" Cantrell nodded and sauntered back into the store. "Want to see you a minute, Lafc," he said, linking his arm in that of the mail carrier and leading him toward the front door. On the step Cantrell saw the inspector over Lafe'S shoulder and obeyed his instructions literally. There was a fierce struggle, like that of on unbroken horse when he first feels the weight of a man on his back, ending in the ratchetlike click of the handcuffs, and then the prisoner relapsed quickly into quietude and sullenness. J affray spoke to Cantrell. , "I want you to come with me. We'll take him up to Layne's for the night." Lafe suffered himself to be walked away between them, and no word was 6pokeu until they reached the porch of the farmhouse. Thero the inspector placed three chairs and 6at down to question his prisoner. "You may as well make a clean breast of it, my boy," he said after Lafe had sulkily resisted for a time. ' 'It'll go easier with you in the end, and I'll do what I can to get your sentence shortened if you'll open your head and tell us all about it." In tho silence that followed this ap- 1 peal there was a rustling in the laurel i bush at the end of the porch, and Jaffray got up to investigate. Ho came back in J a moment, apparently satisfied, but this t was because ho failed to see little Joo i Anderson cowering under the drooping I branches of the laurel. 1 "You'd better open up, Anderson," he repeated. "We'vo got all tho cvi- i deuce wo need; but, as I say, I'll do all I 3 can to help you if you'll tell us tho whole story." t Whereupon, heing something less thun a hardened criminal, the young mountaineer broke down. 1 "I don't keer much what?all you do with me, 's long as you git me out of i here 'fore pawr 'r?'r Willie Godfrey fin's out," he said. "I reckon she'd say things'at I nov'could forgit. Hit all i commence' with that thar ring of John Coruy's. You see, I done ast Willie, and I was a -wonderin which way I could git a ring wheif that thar littlo box dropped out thoo the hole in the mail bug. I knowed what hit was, 'caze John be 'lowed to me he wasa-lookin for hit. I didn't 'low to keep hit, and I on'y opened the box to see what for kind of ring hit was. But that thar very evenin I slipped hit on Willie's finger, thess in fun, an she 'lowed I done meant hit to bo her'n." The sweat stood thickly on his forehead, and he tried to get his manacled bands around to his pocket for a handkerchief. Jaffray helped him and said, "Well, what then?" "Then I didn't have sense enough to tell her the straight of hit, an after that tho fence seem' sort of broke down, and ?and they's been other things come out thoo that hole?money mostly." "How much?" asked the inspector. " 'Bout $G5, countin hit all, I reckon. You uns'll find hit under the chimley Btone in the room up at Ma'am WilkeBon's, whar I been sleepin." ^ "I see. Yon were afraid to spena it, I suppose." Lafe hung his head. "I nev' thort , much about beiu afraid. I was savin hit ag'inst the time when Willie'd let on ] liko she was ready." "Oh I" Inspector Jaffray went into a brown study, coining out of it presently to say to Cantrell: "You can go now, Bud, if you want to. I can take care cf him all right. I only wanted you to bear what ho had to say for himself." Cantrell went back to the store, where he found little Joe Anderson trying to climb into his brother's saddle. The boy had been crying, and his face was 1 streaked with dirt and tears. ' "Mighty tough, ain't it, Joey?" said * Cantrell. lifting the boy to the horse's * back. "What all was you 'Iowin to do 1 with the hawss?" "I thess gwiuc take him home," said ^ the small oue, gathering up the reins and wriggling his bare feet into the Btirrup leuthers. But Cantrell noticed \ that instead of turning off up the lane o HaTam Wilkeson's (lie child Kept the road toward the Gap, urging the lorse into a gallop as soon as he was iver the rocky hillside beyond Layne's. Inspector Jaifray's guard duties during the remainder of the afternoon were if a kind merely nominal. Layne was iway, and the inspector and his prisoner lad the front porch to themselves. Jaf!ray said little, but he encouraged Anlerson to talk, tilting his chair against the side of the house and shrouding limself in clouds of smoke while Lafe old of bis life on Long mountain with lis old father; of bis courting of Willie 3odfrey; of the young girl's loyalty, ind of her father's contempt for the son if a mountaineer. "The valley folks *? wto nno iUii t UJUX1J rvinu no uuo, u a ttv uuo with them, though I reckon they ain't 10 law 'gainst hit,"he said in explanaion, and Jaffray agreed with him. When Layne came home, a few words jxplained the situation, and the fanner's lospitality was broad enough to cover iot only his friend's friend, but in this :ase his friend's prisoner. The inspector inmanacled Lofe when they went in to mpper, but he put the handcuffs on igain afterward, and when the early ledtime of the family came he led the poung mountaineer into the porch bedroom and took additional precaution of mapping another set of irons on his inkles. "Not very pleasant for you, my boy," in said, "but I can't help it. I mustn't ;ivo you a chance to slip through my ingers." After which the inspector went back ;o his chair on the porch, where he imoked many cigars and communed with himself for want of abetter listen;r. Once his reflections slipped into ipecch: "It all goes back to the sanm rhiug in the end. We've got no manner )f right to take a man who has never jeen taught the lesson of responsibility ind put him in a place where he has to rub up against temptation every day. Chat's the long and short of it Just the tamo I wish I mizht have riven this youngster a shock without catching lim. That might have been tho making )f him, bnt this is going to rnin him vorld without end." At 10 o'clock the inspector had series thoughts of turning in, but before ;he inclination gathered force enough ? overcome the inertia of the tilted :hair there came a clattering of a lorsc's hoofs on the loose shingle of the 3ap road. The rider dismounted at Lajne's gate, and the inspector lighted i fresh cigar when he saw the figure of i woman coming up the path toward ;he house. "This is the girl in the case of :ourse," he muttered. "Now, how the levil did she find out?" In another moment she stood before iim, and though the cigar was burning veil enough he made it the excuse to itrike another match, in the brief flare )f which he got a glimpse of a pair of lashing eyes set in a face whereon grief md resolution fought for the mastery. "You're Mr. Jaffray, ain't you?" she >egan. "Yes, and you are Willie Godfrey. Sit down, Miss Godfrey." She dropped into a chair as if thank!ul for the permission. ' 'I reckon you enow what I've como for. I hoard you ill had taken Lafe Anderson for rob)in the mail, and"? "Pardon me, Miss Godfrey," interrupted tho inspector. " How did you find hat out?" "Bad news don't wait for an ox team. [ heard about it, and I'vo conic 23 miles m that hawss to keep you all from car yin an innocent man to jail. Lafe lev' did take anything that didn't beong to him, Mr. Jaffray." Tho inspector smoked in silence for a ;ull minute. "Supposing I were to tell rou that ho has confessed?" "It don't make any difference. He lin't tho thief." "Then why should ho say ho was?" "Cayu't you see? Ho just told you a leap of lies to cover up the real ono.'' "And who is tho real one, Miss God!rcy?" "I am." It was well for tho girl's peace of niud that she could not sco tho inefface 1 Lafe hunu his head. able smile that stole over thefaco of the inspector at this, but thero was no hint Df levity in his voice when he said, "Tell ino all about it, Miss Willie." She held out her baud and dropped a ring into his palm. "That's John Coray's," she said. "I took it out of tho aaail myself. And I've taken other Shings?letters with money in them." "What did you do with the money?" "I?I gave it to Lafe to keep forme." "And what did he do with it?" "I don't know. I nev' asked him." "Did he know where you got it?" Tho questions followed each other too rapidly, and the girl caught her breath md fought for consistency. Being natirally truthful, slit- nuigcd in the wrong jlace. "He?he sort of suspected It, I eckon." "Being an honest fellow himself, I vouder ho didn't try to stop you." "You wouldn't say that if you knew. Fou see, Lafe and me?that is?well, ie thinks a mighty sight of me, Mr. raffn\y." "That's so. I'd lost sight of that for the moment," said the inspector gravely. Then he sprang an innocent little trap that had been gradually taking shape in his mind. "Now, what clears up some things I couldn't quite understand. I wonder what Lafe did with the "money." The girl wm too new to the business of equivocation and she promptly betrayed herself. "He put it under the hearthstone at Ma'am Wilkeson's"? she began, and then she saw the trap. "Ah, I seel" said the inspector. "Of course this is merely supposition on your part, since he never spoke to you about biding the money." He smiled under cover of the darkness. It was transparently clear now. all save one particular detail. How did it happen that the girl knew Anderson's confession word for word ? Jaffray was puzzled for a moment, and then there flashed across the field of recollection the rustling in the laurel Dusii ana tne picture 01 a Dareieggea t boy galloping northward on Anderson's t horse. Having thus solved the puzzle, 1 be asked quietly, ' 'What is it you want f me to do, Miss Godfrey?" "It seems to mo liko there ain't but I one thing to do. Lafe hain't done anything and?aud I have. Cay n't you all just turn him loose and take me instead?" The inspector fought a good fight for self control aud lost it. "By God, young woman, he isn't worth it!" he burst out. But she put her hand 011 his arm and straightway forgot her part "Oh, yes, indeed he is, Mr. Jaffray! You don't know Lafe, and younev' can , know how much I?I love him. Cayn't ! you take me?" "No," said the inspector roughly, ' driven to the last resort of the sorely 1 tempted. "You go back home, and I'll see what can be done toward getting him off easy? No, don't say anything more. You don't know what you ask." Before ho could stretch out his hand to prevent her she went on her knees beside his chair. "I do know," she said piteously, "and it s such a little, little thing?just to let me go in his place. What do you r care as long as you got somebody to own f nptoeverythingyoua.sk?" i "Get up, Miss Godfrey," he said * sternly. "I repeat, you don't know f what you ask. The law is not to be set t aside or tampered with simply because ^ its workings happen to hurt some of b us." c "Ob, no, it isn't that," she went on, unmindful of his command. "I don't t mind the hurt only for Lafe'sfeake. It'll t kill him, Mr. Jaffray. It'll spoil his c whole life, and I reckon the law don't mean to be that hard. Oh, please take a me and let him go, won't yon?" "No, I tell you, once for all. Now get up and go homo before I get angry j and say things I'll bo sorry for." She felt herself refused and dismissed, t and she rose, trembling. "Cayn't I see fc Lafc?just for a minute?" she pleaded c "No; I can't allow even that" f= She went down the steps slowly and with evident reluctance, turning on the j last one to ask softly, "Where is he v now, Mr. Jaffray?" t "He's asleep in that room. Now go, B and don't ask any more questions." t She paused a moment and then went b swiftly to the gate, and the inspector sat listening until the click of horse- | shoes on stone stopped suddenly. Then fe he sprang to his feet and began to talk B to his beard. r "That's what I might have expected. a She cantered the horse up the hill to f make me think she's gone home, and c now she is coming back afoot to get a t word with the boy. By the Lord Harry, t I've a mind to? No; that would never do. And yet"? t He tramped up and down the porch, ^ this sworn officer of the law who was i yet but a man, fighting over again the j old battle between justico and mercy as v many a loyal servant of justice has t fought it since the law first set itself over against lawlessness. Then he flung tho stump of his cigar far out into the grass and went into the porch bedroom, wbero he bent over the sleeping man as if to satisfy himself that the fetters ^ were still in place. c Anderson stirred uneasily. "Is that r you uns, Mr. Jaffray?" he asked. I? "Yes." Ho took the irons from the D boy's ankles. "Now you can stretch E your legs a bit. I'm going to take E chances on your running away." 8 Anderson laughed mirthlessly. "I couldn't do much with these here on," * he said, holding up his hands. The inspector felt the handcuffs on i the boy's slender wrists. "They're too E tight," he said. And ho loosened them, i "Is that better?" ' "A mighty sight better, thank you." ^ Jaffray threw up the window at the c head of the bed and listened. It was a t calm night, but there wus a sound as of F the wind rustling the dry leaves in the t little grove at tho side of the house. ' The inspector heard it and turned to ' take his overcoat from its peg on the | wall. i "What the devil did you do it for?" ho broke out savagely. "Why on earth f couldn't you be content with the girl's < love and let other people's property I alone?" ' Tho handcuffn rattled, and though i Jaffray could see nothing in the thick t darkness he knew that the boy was try- ' ing to cover his faco with his hands. t " 'Cause I didn't have no better sense, 1 I reckon." The inspector hoard some- ? thing like a sob, and then the boy went ? on, "I wish to uoa youa cness put mo j out of my mis'ry, Cap'n Jaffrayl" t "How?" I "Anyways; I don't keer how. Thess > lemmegit outside, and then you can make i out like I was a-tryin to git away and turn loose on me with you uns gun." "And you'd rather die than stand trial?" i "For shore I would?for Willie's < sake. Hi< wouldn't be nigh as hard on , her." i "Lord! Tiord!" groaned the inspector behind his teeth. "Did anybody ever hear of two such young fools?'' Then to ( Anderson, "You mean that, do you?" " 'Fore God, I do, Cap'n Jaffray. Thess you try mo and see." "Then as the Lord liveth yon shall have your choice," said the inspector jolennily. "Get up." Anderson obeyed. "Now climb out of that window? No; hold on till I take the irons off. I lon't want the narno of having shot a landcuffed man. Now, then, out with pou." Lafe climbed out and dropped to the jrouud. Then he took a deep breath of he free night air and began to realize limly that it was going to be hard to lie in the full flush of youth and health. None the less he turned quickly and 'aced the inspector, who stood with socked pistol at the open window. "I'm ready," he said firmly. Jaffray snorted: "Run, you fooll Do rou suppose I'm going to commit a cold jlooded murder and shoot you standng?" Lafe hesitated a moment as if in loubt as to whether he had heard aright Then he turned and walked slowly iway. At the third step the pistol barkid thrice, and Layuc's dog, chained in he barnyard, set up a sympathetic lowl. After that nil was still until the : ,'armer came hurrying to the porch bed t * "Run, ynu fool!" oom with a light. The inspector was tanding at the window, peering out nto the darkness, and he put back his land for silence. Layne heard rapid ootfalls as of some one running over he dry leaves in the grove. Then there ras a glad little cry and the impatient niff of a horse, quickly followed by a liminishing clatter of hoofs and silence. "Layne, he's gone, and I'd be willing o bet a hen worth $50 that I never so uch as winged him," said the inspector oolly. "How do you reckon he got loose?" aked the farmer excitedly. Jaffray held up the locked handcuff a 'You can see for yourself. I got here ust in time to hurry him a little." Layne put the lamp down to examine he fettera "By Jacks, I wouldn't have lelieved itl But, then, Lafe's hands ] iev' was no bigger than a woman's. Shall I saddle the hawsses?" ^ "To chase him tonigntr jnoe mucn. '11 know where to find him when I rant him. Go yon back to bed and tell he women there's nobody killed. And ay, Layne, when this thing gets itself alked about, just tell the facts as yon mow them. Good night." The next morning Layne looked to ee the chase organized in due form, but le was disappointed. Inspector Jaffray te his breakfast leisurely, never once eferring to the events of the night, and fterward took the train south. The armer wondered at this lack of zeal mtil he went around behind the porch ledroom and saw three bullet scars on he brick waJk under the window. "Well, by Jacksl" was all he said at he time. But later in the day he went [own to the Cantrell boys' store and ied to the corps deloisir until Inspector [affray's reputation for daring bravery vas second only to that of Buck Branlan, the revenue collector. the end. Beautiful Dismal Swamp. The Dismal swamp is by no means so lismal as it has been painted, and acording to the description of local geogaphers possesses features which ought 0 make it an attractive watering place md sanitarium. It is not, as most peoile imagine, a vast bog sunk low in the , pound, into which the drainage of the urrounding country flows. On the conrary, according to accurate surveys, it , s above the level ground some 16 or 20 ( eet, and instead of being the receptaole j 8, in its immense, spongelike bulk, , gathering the waters that descend upon { 1 ' 1 wrvvivnvi c, me source ui nvwn, ma ui nu.uu ake their origin -within it and flow onvard to the sea. The swamp is entirely >f green timber. There is no decaying vood, the two principal woods that frow there being the juniper and the ypress, which never rot They fall on he ground liko other trees, but instead )f decomposing they turn into peat, and n that form remain unchangeable and ndissoluble. There is nothing in the swamp to create miasma; no rising of the tides and lecomposition of rank vegetables; no narshes exposed to the burning rays of the sun. All is fresh and sweet, and the iir is laden with balmy odors. The water is tinged with the juniper to a faint vine hue and is thought to possess vallable sanitary qualities. It is often uned sy vessels going on a foreign cruise on iccount of its healthful properties and ilso because it keeps fresh and clear for rears. Those who live near it are not flow to declare that it is the healthiest dace on the continent, and are perhaps iot without reason for the faith which is in them. How to Kill Cockroacnes. A housekeeper who was recommended to try cucumber peeling as a remedy for cockroaches strewed the floor with pieces of the peel cut not very thin and watched the sequeL The pests covered the peel in a short time so that it could not be seen, so voraciously were they engaged in sucking the poisonous moisture. The second night this was tried the number of cockroaches was reduced to a quarter, and none was left alive ou the third night. piscfllatuoMs grading. A LAND OF INCREDIBLE BARBARITY. WbeD the prisoner in Morocco hears the doors of the jail close behind him, be knows if he be poor and without frieuds, howerer trivial be the offense for which he has been imprisoned, that he may possibly not leave those walls alive. It is a matter of indifference to the authorities how many are imprisoned, for these wretched captives are no cause of expense to the state. The prisoners have to purchase their own bread and water and to pay their jailers. Many a man imprisoned for some light debt, which he has long ago discharged, is still detained benonao Ko 5a iinaKlo tn moat tVixx rloKf lio VMUOV UV IO UUUVIV W UJVVV vuv uvwv uw has contracted toward bis jailers, and which his forced capitivity daily increases. In some prisons they are only permitted. to receive a supply of fresh water every second day. What an amount of suffering this means in an African climate and in the fetid atmosphere of dungeons such as those to be found in Morocco, it is difficult for a European to realize. In a Moorish prison the captives sleep half-naked on the mud floor; they are all huddled together in one apartment, without distinction as regards crime or innocence, for many are simply thrown into prison on account of their reputed wealth or prosperity by avaricious officials, who, by prolonged imprisonment and sometimes by torture, hope to squeeze money out of them or discover where they have bidden treasure. Of an evening it is not unusual for the prisoners to be all bound together by a chain passing through an iron collar which each captive wears, thus making it necessary for all to rise, or sit, or lie down together. Open and uncleaned cesspools within the prison add sometimes to the indescribable horror and misery of the place. There is no inspection, no medical attendance, no alleviation in sickness. If a man is ill, and unable to drag himself Lo the hole in the wall through which the bread and water iepassed, be must trust to the mercy of bis fellows to supply him with food. Only wbeo leath overtakes tbe poor miserable wretch do tbe guards bestir themselves > tbeir own interest, aDd remove tbe tortured body which at length has found relief from its overwhelming sufferings. When a prisoner is an ibsolute pauper and unable to purchase food, tbe authorities give him daily a small piece of coarse bread, provided by religious endowment, sufficient to prolong the agonies of starvation.?Earl of Meatb in the Nineteenth Century. Marriages In China.?Love and romance play little part in the marriages of China. Tbe custom of the Chinese to marry off tbeir sons and laughters at an early age does not seem advisable to the Europeans. It s also the rule in China that unions cnly take place between families of equal social and financial standing. Disregard of - this rule would cause subsequent trouble invariably. The custom of early marriages is founded, moreover, on principles incomprehensible to tbe western mind. Tbe boy ind girl joined in wedlock do not orm a new family, but rather tbe youngest branch of the family tree, jpon which they are henceforth dependent. The duty of parents toward their ions does Dot end with their marriage; ;hey are obliged to care for them after ;hat time also. There is a great disadvantage in this system. The sons, leing under the eyes of the parent as ong as they are alive, really never aecome independent. AH members of a family live, when possible, under jne roof, and even after the death of :he patents the sons continue, as a rule, ;o live together in the family home. When the father dies the oldest broth;r assumes his place as the head of ;he family, and when the mother dies, Lhe wife of the oldest brother takes acr place. It is nothing rare for boys 12 to 14 years old to marry. Can Blind People Weep.?The state of emotion?tenderness, grief, sxcessive joy?which cause weeping in those who are not blind, show themselves in the blind and, and their affliction, great though it is, does not ?ut them off from the common joys and sorrows of mankind. Their happiness and their grief manifest themselves in the same way?in laughter, and in weeping. Tears are an overflowing from the lachrymal gland, the secretion of which is generally drain ed off by the lachrymal duct, after it has performed its function of lubricating the eyeballs. But, under strong mental excitement, this secretion is greatly increased, and as the duct is no longer able to carry it all, off, the mrplus flows over as tears. Now, blindness results from many causes, the great majority of which do not affect these external lubricating organs, but are connected with the internal mechanism of the eye, and the secretion of tears goes on as in the 3eeing subject. Some cases there are in which blindness is the result of virulent ophthalmia, and the inflammation and suppuration of this disease, more or less, completely destroy tne eye and its surroundings, including the tear-producing apparatus, stopping tears entirely. These are comparatively rare, however. How to Rest the Eyes.?A medical journal says that in the continued use of the eyes, in such work as sewing, typesetting, bookkeeping, reading and studying, the saving point is in breaking off at short intervals and looking around the room. This may be practiced every 10 or 15 minutes. By doing this the muscular tension is relieved, the eyes *re rested, and the blood supply becomes better.