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50 Per Cent of the Cotton Brought to the Sum ter Market is Bought By the Devi Earos. WH? Because we are in touch with those who make advance con tracts, and who are able to put us in position to pay more for cotton than any other buyers in our city. But our cotton business is only an addition to our 'GEN ERAL MERCANTILK Business. We have by our dilli gence made ourselves leaders in trade, not by waiting for trade to come to us, but by our reaching out and coing in touch with the farmers of the country, and selling them Goods as cheap as the lowest, rnd giving to them for their products as much --m-riian the highest. These-are facts that havekbeen demonstrated by our con tinued increase of business. We want our friends to come to Sumter and look through our immense stock of Dry Qods, Dres Goocis, Fai cy Goods anxd Nctions, Clo'th linxe: Cof Pl nt ti n and F arn-ily GrCceries in t-xe City. To meet the demands of our trade everything is bought by us from first hands, and our patrons get the profit which other dealers must pay middlemen. We can and will save you'. money, both in what you buy of us, and whatjwe buy of you. Come to see us. LEVI BROS. ..Next To Court House. CRUSHES OUT The most loathsome and repulsive of all Hving things is the serpent, and the vilest and. motdegrading of all human diseases is Contagious Blood Poison. The thogh the entire body. Contagious Blood Poison, beginning with a little ulcer, soon contaminates every drop of blood and spreads throughout the whole system. Painful swellings appear in the groins, a red rash and copper colored splotches break out on the body, the mouth and throat 'become ulcerated, and the hair and eye brows fall out; but these symptoms are mild~compared to the retchedness and suffering that come in the latter stages of the disease when it attacks the bones and more vital parts of the body. Itisthen that Contagious Blood Poison is seen in all its hideous ness. The deep eating abscesses and sickening ulcers and tumors show the whiolesyrstemn is corru~pted and poisoned, and unless relief comes soon thit. serpent disease.-ighitens its coils and crushes out the life. The only antidote for the awful virus is S. S. S. It is natua'e's r~enedy, comn posed entirely of vegetable ingredients. S. S. S. Sdestroys every vestige o~f the poison, purifies the blood and removes- all danger of transmitting the awful taint to others. Nothing else will do this. Strong mineral remedies, like mercury and potash, dry up the sores and drive in the disease, but do not cure permanently. Send for our home treatment book and write us if in need of medical advice or special information. This will cost you nothing. T SWIFT SPECIFC C0., ATLEANTA, CA. Look to Your Interest. -Here we are, still in the lead, and why suffer with your eyes when you can be suited with a pair of Spectacles with so little trouble? We carry the Celebrated HlAWES Spectacles and 6lasses, Which we are offering very cheap, from 25c to $2.50 and Gold Frames at $8 to $6. Call and be suited. W. M. BROCKINTON. Just Received A Lot Of BUGGIES, WAGONS, HARNESS Competing Prices. COFFEY & RIOBY. LAZA ... .1 MARY HARTWEL (awed Vpn the N.My.ilery. 9aohii. -on of Loait X C 1right. 1901. by the BO CHAPTER XIL "WHERE did you get this?" I heard myself asking, a strange voice sounding far down the throat "From an Indian," the mystic told me quietly. "He said it was bad med icine to him. He never had any luck in hunting after it fell to his share, so he was glad to give it to me." "Where did he get it?" "His tribe took it from some prison ers they killed." I was running blindly around in a circle -to find relief from the news he dealt me when the absurdity of such news overtook me. I stood and laughed. "Who were the prisoer" "I don't kn, answe."'4 Johnny Applceded "How do you know the Indians.kill ed them?" ."The one that gave me this book told me so." "There are plenty of padlocked books in: the world," I said- jauntily. "At least'there must be more than one. How long ago did it happen?" "Not very long ago, I think, for the book was clean." "Give it to me," I said as if I cursed him. . "It's a sacred ibook," he answered, hesitating. "Maybe it's saced. Let me see," "There may bejholy mysteries In It, to be read onlyof him who has the key." "I have a key!" I took It out-offthe snuffbox. John ny Appleseed fired his rapt eyes on the little object in-my fingers. "Mebby you'are the one appointed to open and readtwhat Is sealedl" "No, I'm not! How. could my key fit a padlocked book that belonged to pris oners killed by-the.Indians?" He held it out totme, and I took hold of the padlock. It- was a small steel padlock, and the hole looked danger ously the size of:.my key. "I can't do it," I said. "Let me try," said Johnny Apple seed. "No! You might break my .key in a strange padlock. Hold it still, Johnny. Please don't shake It." "I'm not shaking It," Johnny -Apple seed answered tenderly. "There's only one way of proving that my key doesn't fit," I said, and thrust it in. The ward turned easily, and the padlock came away In my hand. I dropped it and opened the book. Within the lid a name was writ ten which I had copied a thousand tmes-"Eagle Madeleine Marie de Fer rier." Still I did not believe it..Nature pro tets 'us in our uttermostilosses by a density through which covilction Is slow to penetrate. In some mysterious A Shatcanoc sprang out of a 'ratinc. way the padlocked book had fallen Into. strange hands and had been carried to America. "If Eagle were in America I should now It, for De Chaumont would know It and Skenedonk would fnd it out" I stooped for the padlock, hooked it. in place and locked the book again. "Is the message to you alone?' In quired Johnny Appleseed. "Did you ever care for a woman?' I asked him. Re.-Iess misery came into his eyes, and I noticed for the first time that he was not an old man; he could not have been above thifty-five. He made no answer; shifting from one bare foot to the other, his body settling and los Ing its Indian lightness. "A woman gave me-the key to this book. Her name is written inside the lid. I was to read it if It ever fell into my hands, after a number of years. Somebody has stolen it and carried It among the Indians. But it's mine. Ev ery shilling in my wallet, the clothes off my back, you're welcome to" "I don't want your money or your clothes." "But let me give you something In exchange for it." "What do I need? I always have as much as I want. This is a serviceable coat, as good as any man need wish for, and the ravens feed me.- And, if I needed anything, could I take it for carrying a message? I carry good ti dings of great joy among the people althe time. This is yours. Put itln your pocket" I hid the padlocked book in the breast of my coat and seized his wrist and his hand. "Be of good courage, white double man," said Johnny Appleseed. "The Lord lift up the light of his counte nance upon you! The Lord make his face to shine upon you and give you peace!" He returned to his side of the fire and stretched himself under the stars, and I went to Croghan's quarters and lay down with my clothes on in the bunk assigned to me. The book which I would have rent open at twenty I now carried unsealed. The suspense of it was so sweet and drew my bioughts from the other sus pense which could not be endured. It was not likely that any person about Mont-Louis had stolen the book and wandered so far. Small as the volume was,\ the boards indented my breast and made me increasingly conscious of Its presence. I waked in the night and held it Next morning Johnny Appleseed was l CATHERWOOD -rrounding the Fate of the VI. and Marie Antoinette) EN-MERILL COMPANY bent only on carrying thlipple or civi: lization into the wilderness. Nobody spoke about his absence, for shells be gan to fall around us. The British and Indians were In sight, and General Proctor sent a flag of trace demanding surrender. Major Croghan's ensign approached the messenger with a flag in reply. The women gathered their children as chickens under shelter. All In the fort were cheerful, and the men joked with the gush of humor which danger starts in Americans. I saw then the ready laugh that faced in its season what was called Indian summer, be cause the Indian then took advantage of the last pleasant weather to make raids. -Such pioneers could speak light ffeven of powwowing time, the first pleasant February days, when savages held councils before descending on the settlements. Major Croghan and I watched the parley from one of the blockhouses that bastioned the place. Before it ended a Shawanoe sprang out of a ra vine and snatched the ensign's sword. He gave it back reluctantly, and the British fla; bearer hurried the Amer Ican within the gates. General Proctor regretted that so fine a young man as Major Croghan should fall into the hands of savages who were not to be restrained. "When this fort is taken," said Cro ghan on hearing the message, "there will be nobody left in It to kill." British gunboats drawn up on the Sandusky river and a howitzer on the shore opened fire and cannonaded'all day with the poor execution of long range artillery. The northwestern an gle of the fort was their target. Cro ghan foresaw that the enemy's inten tion was to make a breach and enter there. When night came again his one 0 pounder was moved with much la bor from that angle into the southwest blockhouse as noiselessly as possible. He masked the embrasure and had the piece loaded with a double charge of slugs and grapeshot and half a charge of powder. Perhaps the British thought him unprovided with any heavy artillery. They were busy themselves bringing three of the ineffectual 6 pounders and the howitzer under darkness with in 250 yards of the fort, giving a back ground of woods to their battery. About dawn we saw what they had been doing. They concentrated on the northwest angle, and still Croghan re plied only with muskets, waiting for them to storm. So it went on all day, the gun proof blockhouse enduring its bombardment and smoke thikening until At filled the stockade as water fills a well and settled like fog between us and the en emy. An attack was made on the southern angle where the cannon was masked. "This Is nothing but a. feint," Cro ghan said to the younger officers. While that corner replied with mus ketry he kept a sharp lookout for the safety of the northwest blockhouse. One soldier was brought down the ladder and carried through the murky pall to' the surgeon, who could do noth ing for him. Another turned from a loophole with blood upon him, laugh ing at his mishap, for the grotesque ness and inconvenience of a wound are sometimes more swiftly felt than its pain. He came back presently with his houlder bandaged and resumed his piace at the loophole. The exhilaration of that powder at mosphere and its heat made soldiers throw off their coats, as if the ex panding human body was not to be confined in wrappings. In such twilight of war the twilight of nature overtook us. Another feint w~as made to draw attention from a heavy force of assailants creeping within twenty paces, under cover of smoke, to surprise the northwest block house. Musketry was directed against them. They hesitated. The commander led a charge and himself sprang first Into the ditch. We saw the fine fellows leap ing to carry the blockhouse, every man determined to be first in making a breach. They filled the ditch. This was the instant for which Cro ghan had waited. He opened the port hole and unmasked his exactly trained cannon. It enfiladed the assailants, sweeping them at a distance of thirty feet; slugs and grapeshot hissed, spreading fan rays of death! By the ash of the reloaded 6 pounder we saw the trench filled with dead and wounded. The besiegers turned. Croghan's sweating gunners-swabbed and loaded and fired, roaring like lions. The Indians, of whom there were nearly a thousand, were not in the charge, and when retreat began they went in panic. We could hear calls and yells, the clatter of arms and a thump ing of the earth; the strain of men tug ging cannon ropes; the swift with drawal of a routed force Two thousand more Indians, ap proaching under Tecumseh, were turn ed back by refugees. Croghan remarked as we listened to the uproar, "Fort Stephenson can hard ly be called untenable against heavy artillery." Then arose cries in the ditch which penetrated to women's ears. Neither side was able to help the wounded there. But before the rout was com plete Croghan had water let down in buckets to relieve their thirst and or dered a trench cut under the pickets of the stockade. Through this the poor wretches who were able to crawl camne In and surrendered themselves and had their wounds dressed. By 3 o'clock In the morning not a British uniform glimmered red through the dawn. The noise of retreat ended. Pistols and muskets strewed the ground. Even a sail boat was aban doned on the river holding military stores and the clothing of officers. "They thought General Harrison was coming," laughed Croghan as he sat down to an early breakfast, having re lieved all the living in the trench and detailed men to bury the dead. "We have lost one man and have another under the surgeon's hands. Now Um ready to appear before a court martial for disobeying orders." "You mean you're ready for your im mortal page In history." "Paragraph," said Croghaxi, "and the dislike of p:oor lIttle boys and girlsj who will stick their fists in their eyes~ when they have to learn It at school." animated face. The president after ward made him a lieutenant colonel, and women and his superior officers praised him, but he was never more gallant than when he said: "My uncle, George Rogers Clark, would have undertaken to bold this fort, and, by heavens. we were bound to try it:" The other young officers sat at mess with him, hilarious over the outcome, picturing General Proctor's state o mind when he learned the age of his conqueror. None of them cared a rap that Dan Iel Webster was opposing the war In the house of representatives at Wash ington and declaring that on land It was a failure. A subaltern came to the mess room door, touching his cap and asking to speak with Major Croghan. "The men working outside at the trenches saw a boy come up from the ravine, sir, and fall every few steps, so they've brought him In." "Does he carry a dispatch?" "No, sir. He .isn't more than nine or ten years old. I think he was a prisoner." "Is he a white boy?" "Yes, sir, but he's dressed like an Indian." "I think it unlikely the British would allow the Shawanoes to burden their march with any prisoners." "Somebody had him, and I'm afraid he's been shot either during the action or in the retreat He was hid in the ravine." "Bring him here," said Croghan. A boy with blue eyes set wide apart, hair clinging brightly and moistly to his pallid forehead, and mouth corners turning up in a courageous smile, en tered and stood erect before the officer. He was a well made little fellow. His tiny buckskin hunting shirt was. drap ed with a sash In the Indian fashion, showing the curve of his naked hip. Down this a narrow line of blood was moving. Children of refugees, full of pity, looked through the open door be hind him. C a "Go to him, ShIpp," sd Croghan as the boy staggered. But he waved the ensign back. "Who are you, my man?" asked the major. "I believe," he answered, "I am the Marquis de Ferrier." CHAPTER XXIII. E pitched forward, and I was quicker than Ensign Shipp. I set him on my knees, and the surgeon poured a little water ed brandy down his throat "Paul!" I said to him. "Stand back!" ordered the surgeon as women followed their children, crowding the room. "Do you know him, Lazarre?" asked roghan. "It's Mme. de Ferrier's child." "Not the baby I used to see at De Chaumont's? What's he doing at Fort Stephenson?' The women made up my bunk for Paul, and I laid him in it. Each wanted to take him to her care. The surgeon sent them to the'cook house to brew messes for him and stripped the child, finding a bullet wound in his side. Probing brought nothing out, and I did not ask a single question. The surgeon turned everybody out but me and looked in by times from his hospital of British wounded. I wiped the boy's forehead and gave him his medicine, fanning him all day long. He lay in stupor, and the surgeon said he was going comfortably and would suffer little. I had him all that night for 2ny own, putting every other thought out of mind and absorbing his presence. His forehead and his face lost their burn ing heat with the coolness of dawn, which blew our shaded candle, flowing from miles of fragrant oaks. He awoke and looked all around the cabin. I tried to put his opiate into his mouth, but something restrained me. I held his band to my cheek. "I like you," he spoke out "Don't you think my mother is pretty?" I said I thought his mother was the most beautiful woman in the world. He curled up his mouth corners and gave me a blue eyed smile. "My father is not pretty, but he is a gentleman of France." "Where are they, Paul?" He turned a look upon me without' answering. 'Paul," I. said brutally, "tell me where your father and mother are." He was so far gone that my voice recalled him. He simply knew me as a voice and a presce that he liked. "With poor old Ernestine," he an *swred. "And where is poor old Ernestine?" He began to shiake as if struck with a chill. I drew the blanket closer. "Paul, you must tell me!" He shook his head. flis mouth worked, and his little breast went into "Don'tyouti y oteispty" covlin.Iesree n he I coulhavebeatenmysel , tth surgonyo aterwrdio mymhe the pchild ausins, whe heked n thewrt Abother!" hnme' lssikt Iheld himestil bb aitight, i. sany Befould thaveoetng myself, buti the ulgeoss afewr old Imethoed chl wNsoneg hen hd cee hinto Straggfing boutsdfwndwhn men'snualey jined their lorcest Capive with nighas sa ilsaway. ButIead heviepdocsbo which:rslsfrmcn inual tls the shle Ist.eWithe wouded hasth soldr habout aulto oneo them ads stoen im.utraondeing athe patce.Cpe whch ls ae right have breen taen hundres oerf ut Iand t&hadlocke nb-mk wemhch pillow where raul's head had lain to rest one instant. But I must have slept. My hand woke first, and, feeling -itself empty, grasped at the book. It was gone, and so was the sun. I got a light and searched, thrusting, my arm between the bunk and the log wall. It was not on the floor or in my breast pocket or in my saddlebags. The robbery was unendurable. And I knew the Indian who had done It. I went out and found the baldheaded and well beloved wretch. He was sit ting with his knees to his chin by the evening log fire. "Skenedonk," I said, "I want my book." "Children and books make a woman of you," he responded. "You had enough books at Longmeadow." "I want it at once," I repeated. "It's sorcery," he answered. "It's a letter from Mme. de Ferrier and may tell where she Is." His fawn eyes were startled, but he continued to hug his knees. "Skenedonk, I can't quarrel with you. You were my friend before I could re member. When you know I am so bound to you, how can you deal me a deadly hurt?" "White woman sorcery Is the worst sorcery. You thought I never saw It But I did see it. You went after her to. Paris. You did not think of being the king. So you had to come back with nothing. That's what woman sorcery does. Now you have power with the tribes. The president sees you are a big man! And she sends a book to you to bewitch you! I knew she sent the book as soon a. I saw it." "Do you think she sent Paul?" He made no answer. "Mine. de Ferrier does not know I have the book." "You haven't it." said Skenedonk. "But you have." "If she wrote and sent a letter she expected it would be received." "When I said a letter, I meant what is called a journal, the writing down of what happens daily. ,ohnny Apple seed got the book from an Indian. That is how it was sent to me." "If you will read It you will want to drop everything else and go to find' her." This was the truth, for I was not un der military law. "Where is the book?" "Down my back." said SkenedonX. I felt the loose buckskin. "It isn't there." "In my front," said Skenedonk. I ran my hand over his chest, finding nothing but bone and brawn. "There it Is," he said, pointing to a curled wisp of board at the edge of the fire. "I burned it." "Then you've sni bed me." I turned and lbit him sitting like an image by the fire. CHAPTER XXIV. EFORE I left Fort Stephenson I wrote a letter to Count do Chaumont telling him about Paul's death and asking for news of the De Ferriers. The answer I begged him to send to Sandusky, which the British now despaired of taking. But, although Skenedonk made a long journey for it twice during the half year, I got no answer. The dangerous work of the next few months 'became like a long debauch. Awake, we were dodging betwixt hoe tile tribes or dealing with those inclined to peace. Asleep, I was too exhausted to dream. It was a struggle of the white force of civilization with the red sense of justice. I wrestled with AJ. gonquin dialects as I had wrestled with Greek. Ottawas and Chippeways, long friendly to the French, came-more readily than other tribes to agreement with Americans. Wherever I went I pushed the quest that was uppermost in my mind, but without finding any trace of Mmne. do Ferrier. The next April, after Leipsic, Napo leon Bonaparte was banished to the Island of Elba, and Louis XVIII. passed from his latest refuge at Hart-' well House, in England, to London, where the prince regent honored him and the whole capital cheered him, and thence to Paris, where be was pro laimed king of France. We heard of It In due course, as ships brought news. I was serving with the American forces. The world is fluid to a boy. He can do and dare anything. But it hardens around a man and becomes a wal through which he must cut. I felt the wall close around me. In September 1 was wounded at the battle of Plattsburg on Lake Cham plain. Three men, besides the general and the doctor and my Oneida, showed differing Interest in me while I lay with a gap under my left arm in a hos pital tent First came Count de Chaumont, his face plowed with lines; no longer the trim gentlemnan, youthfully easy and n the full maturity that he had.been when I. first saw him at close range. He sat down on a camp seat by my.. cot, and I asked him before he could speak: "Where is Mmne. de Ferrier?" "She's dead," he answered. "I don't believe It" "You're young. I'm going back to France for awhile. France will not be what it was under the empire. Im tired of most things, however, and~imy. holdings here make me Independent of changes there." "What reason have you to think~that she is dead?" "Do you know the Indiana territory well?" "The northern part only:' "It happened In what was called the Pigeon Roost settlement at the fork~of: the White river. The Kickapoos- anid Winnebagoes did It. . There were about two dozen people In the settle ment." "I asked how you know these things." "I have some of the best Indian run ners that ever trod mcoca!Js . and when I set them to scouting they gen erally find what I want; so I know a great many things." "But Paul" "its an old custom to adopt children Into the tribes., You know your fa -ier, Chief Williams, Is desended from a white girl who was a prisoner. There were about two dozen people in the settlement, men, women and cil dri'n. The majority of the children were dashed against trees. It has been consolation to me to think she did not survive in the hands of savages." The hidden causes which work out results never worked out a result ore improbable. I lay silent, and De Chaumont said: "Do you remember the night you dis appeared from the Tulleries?" ~I remember It." "You remember, we determined not to let the Marquis de Ferrier see Na poleon. When you went down the cor rdor with Eagle I thought you were luring him. But she told us afterward you were threatened with arrest, and she helped you out of the Tulleries by a private stairway." "i it make any stir in the pal I1 About spending money econcmically. No bet ter place to have them demonstrated that at THE MINOR STORE, Where the purchasing power of YOUR DOLLAR is always vastly increased, and in many instances doubled. We mention a few of the many items that i you can find here, there's some-many more. Dress Goods and Trimmings, Lac'es and Embroideries, Hosiery and .Underwear, Shoes for Men, Women and Children. Hats for Men and Women, Corsets and Gloves, Notions and Toilet Articles,' Stationery and Purses. Linens and Drapers, Rugs and Mattings, Men's and Boys' Furnishing Goods Ready Made Shirts, Jackets'and Shirt Waists. All of these are priced in keeping with our way of doing business. Not marked as high as they would sell but for as little as we can sell them for and live. When you are in Sumter, we'll make it interest ing for you. Phone or write for samples. S. L. KRASNOFF'S, 7 The largest Furniture Store in Clarendon County, for your Willow Rockers, Cane Rockers, Cobler Rockers, saiddle Rockers, - Wood Rockers, Diniingj(!hairs, Sitting Chairs, Bed Lounge, Couches, Sie~td, Dressers, Chiffoniiers, Washi Stands, Wardrobes, Center. Tables. Dining Tables. Table Cover., Children's Rockers, Baby Carriages, Bedroom Suits, Cradles, Cribs, Mattresses, Springs, Pillows, Comforts, Blankets, Pictures, Picture Frames, Easels, Screens, Window Shades, Lace Curtains, Portiers, Crockery, Clocks, etc. S. L. KRASNOFF, The Furniture' Dieksou1 Hrdware CoIllpuly Would have you bear in mind that their stock of Guns and Ammunition is still complete. Coats, Vests, Leggins and Boots. Everything to meet your wants -for the holidays. You should see our line of Vandyke Ware, Porcelain Lined, Milk, Cake and Pudding Pans, Coffee Pots and saucepans. A beautiful assortment of Carving Knives and Forks, Pocket Knives, Razors and scissors. When you need that Stove come to see us. DICKSON HARDWARE COMPANY1