Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ - - ? - mm^mw^ ? mt ? u , , - ? -?---?--------- . .. H*?**0?V? WATCHMAN, Eitafeii?w April, 1850. "Be Just and Fear not-Let all the Ends thon Aims't at, be thy Connor's, thy God's and Truth's " THK TUVK SOUTHRON, BtUblUhwl 1(M j^B^T _,_,_,_----.-----.-- V , '.-. r r 7-V-rt-/ ;* B Consolidated Aug. I, ISSI.] SUMTER, S. C., WEDNESDAY. MAY 29, 1889._New Series^Yol. VIII. -?to. 43., L-l-- ? i . 1,_..._, .*~~.i~?I~~. ~.--A r~-- --I-i v.^, ~.*A . ?|f^lll?|ffi?ffi at? jlou%m Pnbttsned every Wednesday, ? - ?t?rfH?R, s. c. TBRMa : Two Dollars per a&onca-ia advance. ADT1STI8XMSNT8. 0?e Sqttaxe,1Srattn^rQbn_.$1 00 Ivery aabsec; o en t insertion. 59 Contracts for three months, or longer will bo made at reduced rates. _ AU communications which subserve private *" terests will be charged for as advertisements. Obttnsrtes cad tributes of respect will be charged for. ^ n POWDER y Absolutely Pure. Tina fpbwder never varies. A marni of parity, strength and wholesomeness. More ?coiH>miei?ttaas tie ordinary kinds, and can? not bo ?j| i?^SD?petition with the mn&lude low test, short weight, alnm of phosphate ?powder*. onZy ? emu. ROYAL BAK SwOtWlTDBR ea., IOS Wa??-at., N. Y. CsflPMAN'S TONIC FOR THE BLOOD. Unrest Toaie and Yitalizer, *ijpill increase your appe ti ti te, ^purify your KO?? : rt?ood, and cure ;DYSPEPSIA. .. ?, &>ld. by all druggists. Marci 17-=3m Ely's C ream Bal m Cfeanses th? Kasai Passages. Al? lays Inflammation. Heals the Sores. Eesfores the Souses of Taste, Smell ?ad Hearing. A partirlo to applied intoeocb nostril ?ad liasneaUe. Price 50c at Drajwists or by OTTh-T,Y BBDTHERS? Warren St^ewYodc. Intelf?gent Beaders will notice that Tint's Pilis ?ro mo* "icarranUA to nins" all classe* of disease*, bat only such a? result fr? ?a ? disordered liver, viz : Vertigo, Headache, Dyspepsia, Fevers* Costiveness, Bilious Colic, Flatulence, etc. &OH> EVERYWHERE. Y says lie has thu W. L. Do a gi as ,.tnsme and pri?e stamped on , pat aim down as a fraud. W= L. DOUGLAS $3 SHO E GENTLEMEN. Best la tho world. Examine MsM .S.OOGEN?INE HAND-SEWED SHOE. HAND-SEWBD WELT SHOE. PC O CE AND FAKMEKS- SHOE. " EXTRA VAL HE CALFSH OE. *.*ti WORKINGMAN'S SHOE. So ?Ld .1.75 BOTS* SCHOOL SHOES. i t .4 A3 nade In Congress, Button and Lac?. W. L. DOUGLAS S3 SHOE LADIES. r Best Material. Bost Style. Best Fitting. f^^^3?S,J!?S5cKTON. MAS? toe W. El Douglas S3.00 Shoos for gentlemen and ladle*. FOR SALK BY J. Byttenberg & Sons, Agents, ?sn. 16 ' SUMTER, S. C. IMA VAf*M| at ?to Newspaper Adver I SSS iSSfftMng a*w of M-*T 0, W. AVf * A SOU. w authorized a*eo* THE BANK OF CALIFORNIA BY PRENTICE MULFORD. (COTTBIGHTED BT THE AUTHOB- ALL BIGHTS RE? SERVED. J fCOXTIXUED.l CHAPTER XIII SURPRISE. Tho play was "Othello." It was a farce relativo to properties and mounting. Two wings of the signboard style of art had to serve all the scenic demands of the piece. The "dreadful bell" was the tocsin of the .Placer hotel, borrowed for the occasion, and its tones being recognized by some of the boarders drew from them the cry, "Time for Bang's hash," The jealous Moor was commented on as the "nigger," and during the entire performance was made a target from the demonstrative portion of the audience for a running fire of combined criticism and admonition, not friendly in its character, and evidently based on tho sec? tional prejudices of those who, coming from the south, looked with no favor on a "nigger" for daring to aspire to the hand of a white maiden. Their ethnological research had never discriminated .between Moor and Ethiopian. Iago was the favorite of the house, more and more as the drama ad? vanced, and as he, playing on the Moor's emotions, made him more and more miser? able, one enthusiastic commentator bawled out as encouragement: "That's right.' sock it to him!" I occupied with Broener ona of the two dingy recesses on either side of the stage, dig? nified by the name of "boxes," and held at $30 each for the night. His keen apprecia? tion of the part continually played by the audience, his hearty relish of the total failure to impress them with aught of the serious? ness of the play, and his instant detection of every ludicrous point brought about by the misfit of the drama relative to the time, tem? per and character of nine-tenths of the look? ers on, made his society to m-i equivalent to a fine comedy played simultaneously with the piece set before us. In reality many of these rough fellows were critics, in their way, of no mean order, though themselves entirely unaware of it. I tfriTilr that their years of isolation from the conventional life of the older settled locali? ties from which they originally came, and the lack of sham and pretence in the life they now led, had quickened their minds to dis? criminate between what was natural and what was artificial-what was acted with real emotion and what was merely stilted declamation, as much of the piece before us was on the part of the principal character. So, when Iago's wife, who, is will be remem? bered, is but little prominent in the first ac? tion of this drama, stigmatized her scheming husband and wished for whip to scourge such scoundrels through the world, the house "rose to her." I had ceased to pay much attention to the play, being more interested in the mo ley and tumultuous audience. But the voice of this actress seemed strangely familiar. I regarded her closely, and my thought said: That girl is wonderfully like Blanche Sefton. That girl is like Blanche Sefton. Impossible! I looked, after that, but at that one figure. The pose and bearing were those of Blanche. In standing, Blanche's at? titude always gave one the impression that she alone owned the ground she then stood over. In speaking, or when spoken to, she seemed to tum her whole mind in the direc? tion of the subject of the moment, and never seemed in mind to stray or waver from that subject. So did this actress.' But the make-up puz? zled me. Hair, eyebrows, complexion were different The voice was pitched in a higher key than ever I had heard from Blanche. (race let the doubt beset you as to the Identity of any person long unseen, or seen suddenly under unexpected circumstances, and generally that doubt remains until dis? pelled by certain recognition and indentifica tion. - So did mine then as to the identity of the person before me. "That gal means bizness," I heard one man whisper to another. "Put her in a tight place, and she'd shoot.1* I noticed that Broener "was regarding her as attentively an I. He heard tho remark mentioned above and smiled, saying: "Rough diamonds. One as a character reader in the house, and one-a brilliant on the stage." I looked for her name in the cast on the roughlv printed programme. It read: "Miss HF. Brown." The stage was not more than twenty feet in width. Once she stood so near the box I could have reached forth and touched her. Height, contour, bearing'-all resembled those of Blanche Sefton. But as to the face, that was so "made up" as to leave me in doubt. Once her eye- ranged across the box where I sat They were Blanche Sefton's eyes, but there was no recognition in their expression. Physically they looked at me otherwise they seemed no more to see me than would those of a wax figure. The play was over. The curtain fell. The audience struggled in a congested state for exit from the one narrow frout entrance. Broener turned in the opposite direction to? ward a door leading to the s~.age, saying: "I have an old friend in tho company and am going behind the scenes. Good night" He had gone. I would go to the stage door in the rear, and in some way solve my doubts. But I was impeded by the crowd. A wretched fracas, between two armed inebriates, had developed directly in front of the "opera house," and tho lingering mass, nothing loth to see blood shed, cluttered up the passageway and sidewalk. Freeing myself from them at last I sought the stage door. A high board fence ran from the middle of the rear of the theatre, which in reality was but the wing of another house. I got on the wrong side of the fence, ran back and was obliged to pass out again in front of th'j theatre. At Ia*t I stood by the door I sought. Two ladies and their escort passed out. She certainly was not of them. TBe third and ?a<r, closely veiled, finally came, and accompanying her was Broener! \ Of course, my friend, you woufthave stayed In camp that rig?t, ?.nd found out "some? how" whether the girl was Blanche Sefton or not I didnt Had I not seen the lady with Broener I might have so don*. But his pres? ence put such a complexion on thc matter, that of the two situations ? preferred to Ix? in doubt a? to Blanche's identity to Gnding her thus with Broener, whom of course I pictured as tho "dangerous rival,''as certainly he was in almost any case. Besides th*?re were imperativo interests at, Scrub mountain to be looked after imme? diately. Browner expected me to get the quartz out of th** caches down to the cabin a<* soon as possible. {Ie had given mo di? rections how to find them, and despite his repulsion of everything from me of grati? tude, I felt under tco much obligation to him to neglect anything hearing on his interests. But the stars on the now long sixteen-mile ride homeward had lost their sublimity for me. My brain was in a ferment of conje? ture. Was it Blanche Sefton? and if so,why ?was Broener with her? He bsd gone behind the scenes to see an "oid friend." BJanche was a mysterious girl She had passed much of her time away from home and in New York, having frequent access thereunto by her father's sloop. She had a way of coming and going and locating herself about where she pleased with that matter-of-course, au? thoritative air which half stifled gossip and enabled her to do what other girls dared not . and could not People said, "Oh, it's Blanche's ; way." Certainly it was, and whom might I she have met and known, unfiaown to all j Eastport, in these "ways"? Half-past three o'clock and the morning j had dawned as I drew rein on the hill and ! looked down on Bull Bar, half a mile below me. The river, shrunk by the summer drought, ran a mere thread with faint mur? mur over rock and riffle. Log -cabin and tent lay there silent in the cool shadow o? early dawn. One mountain top, full thirty miles away, had caught the sun's heralding ray for j the day. But down there, rocker and long i tom, pick and pan, crowbar and shovel were j flung where last the weary workers left them, and the five hundred stalwart men, soon to renew their battle with hill, bank and stream, were still in the unconsciousness of slumber I -alive, breathing, it is true, but dead to the 1 world their bodies were in-dead to all , hope or fear or any of the varied emotions j which would so soon be in full play when the smoke commenced circling from those rude chimneys. Two or three moving figures were seen on the river tank-watchers of the night guarding against any sudden rise of the stream liable through the breaking of dams above and letting down t?e vast body of "backwater,' a fluid avalanche which would sweep before it like chaff man's frail con? structions. I roused Mr. Bankin and returned him his horse, which he put in the stable with the remark that "yesterday was probably his benevolent day, which would account for my return alive. But the next man dies," he added. Broener returned late in the day. What a different man was he to me from yester? day. Despite the uncertainty regarding Blanche, I sympathized now with the Moors ruling passion. Jealous? Yes, and jealous j of Broener. All of him that had previously attracted me were now as so many weapons turned against me-brilliant weapons, too, and used by a skilled hand. He noticed the change in me-I cannot say in my manner. I had rather state it that he felt a change-something between us-com? ing through those fine interior senses which feel, and sense thoughts, as the outer ones do material things. "You seem out of sorts," he said. I laid it to a headache-that convenient beast of burden, which bears so many lies! "Young man," said he that evening, "were you ever in love?' "I suppose so," ? replied. "They say its part of the programme along with whooping cough and the measles." "Well," he rejoined, "I believe I am, so far as I am capable of being. At all events, Pve found a woman who I think can hold me," "May I ask who she isr "Oh, yes. It is the girl you saw last night playing the wife to Iago." Silently we puffed our cigars simultane? ously for a few seconds. A cigar is a great relief to a "throbbing heart" I was never conscious of much action of such character on the part of that organ, and use the phrase as covering a good deal of ground applicable to these peculiar situations. I said: "Will you think I'm inquisitive if I inquire if you have known her long?" "Not at alL I made her acquaintance a few years ago in a New York boarding-house kept by her aunt whom she was visiting. I met her, strangely enough, on my recent trip to San Francisco. She had just come out by the Isthmus with the company you saw. I recognized her on the stage in San Fran? cisco." "Is Brown her real namer "No." I dared not ask the name. Broener re? st med after a pause: "That girl puzzles me. I cau't make her ott Probably if I could I should not be so mach attracted to her. I find that mine is a nature always demanding to fathom-see through-women, and ceasing to worship them when seen through." I felt then a gleam of comfort If it was Blanche Sefton, I more than hoped that Broe? ner had no shallow depth to fathom. Yet I still feared him. He was to me deep, diaboli? cally deep, and powerful, too. "Perhaps you've met your match at last," I ventured to say. "Well, I hope I have. I need-a match. Excuse me," he added; "I detest punsand punsters. This was an accident She's a strong character-self-poised, self-reliant, im? passioned on the outside with boiling depths l*low, which no one has ever yet brought to the surface-at least. I judge so. She's miles beyond the people she's traveling with. They see and know of her only as much as she chooses to show-a tenth, perhaps only a twentieth-only what they're able to see and appreciate, or what she allows them to soe. Good judgment, that No use in showing any more cards than you want to use-in any game,'' "Do you call her's a game, toor I asked. "As I look on life and people-yes. Yet possibly with her, thus far, an unconscious one as to motive. What some call nobility of character, is so well expressed with hor that I am content to admire it without too deeply analyzing it" "You fear, then, you might find tho base metal underneath the gilding^ "My boy, I don't care to put myself on that train of thought If I pursue an illu? sion. I want it ever to remain one." I forbore from asking if he knew her real name. Broener's indefinable manner said to me, plain as words. "Hands off!" "I shall go to Marysville next week," he said after a pause. "The company play there on the 20th." " Well," I thought to myself, as I crept into my blanket?, "Marysville, love and mystery on one side. Pratt, hatred and more mys? tery for Bull Bar on the other. I seem to be a fulcrum for events to teeter on." CHAPTER XIV. DEFENSE. During the next few days wo were busy getting quartz down from the "Bank." Broener called daily to see Pratt, who con? tinu xl in the same condition of imbecility and phyi;'^ally seemed neither better nor worse. Brot ner seemed also to have made a favor? able impression on Hillyear. I noticed them lingering about the door holding thoso lengthy eve-of-parting conversations always betokening that two people have found some topic of common interest and a consequent bond of sympathy t>etween them. (mly. in this case. I knew or rather felt that the bond was manufactured by Broener for the occa? sion and eoneluded it was for tho purpose of winning the dog-like allegiance of Hillyear from Pratt and transferring it to himself. rhereb\- making more secure whatever of Pratt's secrets or inferences concerning' the "Bank"' Hillyear might possess. Meantime a steady estrangement was grow? ing l>etween myself and Broener. It came of my thought suspense, uncertainty and I jealousy regarding Blanche Sefton-or rath- 1 er the presume! Blanche Sefton. It was \ gradual in growth, like the coolness of the carly autumn certain to terminal? in the iciness of winter, a winter which must ever come between two people when one or b?*h fear loss at the hands of the other. Of this, tho eau-e lay with me. I was a brooder of I the worst type. I would live over and over j in mind all that imagination, stirred up to I redoubled action hy jealousy, created for n?o j regarding tb? matter. I l>egan lo di?dikf> I Brooji?r for his superiority ir? many things : over myself- a superiority I wa* obliged to ; acknowledge. Dwelling on this made me realizo more and more ht? inherent gift of command-command first of himself, n^rt ! of his fellows-command not ostentatiously ? asserted with pomp and bluster, but com- I maud based on tact, the art of saving the ! right word and doing th? right thing at the right time and place. Broener seemed to j know where lay the dotsr to every person's good will; more he kn&w how to open it. , This reflection seemed to germinate a more 1 disagreeable idea, that despite all Broener had done for me, I was but his creature. He was ruling and influencing me as he did , others. I (and this hist thought j.mote me ? hard) stood to him as Hilly-ear had to Pratt when Pratt was himself. So the cloud, the cloud I alone made ou of my thought, came between us and grev darker and darker, and more and more chilly Yet our external intercourse was much th? same as ever-at least we attempted to mak< it so, though the very attempts served but U reveal the change more clearly. I resolved at last to have the secret out o; him. If he would not speak Blanche Sefton i name I would. So, one day, as we were com ing down from the "Bank* laden each witl forty pounds of rich quartz, I said in as in different a tone as I could assume: "Thai girl who played looks to me like one I knev. home named Blanche Sefton." "Tom- friend has reason to be proud of th< resemblance," repbed Broener, in a careles; way. Then he added, in a lower tone: "W( mus'n't talk loud here. Bill Softers crowe are working but a hundred feet below us and Sefter is an artistic and accomplished busybody, with one ear always open foi other people's business.n No sooner were the words out of my mou tl than I saw that I had now laid myself fullj open to Broener. That he had my secret, il secret there was, without any exchange ir .return. He now knew the cause of m\ changed manner. In nautical language, 1 had given him all the marks and bearings ol the channel and the course he should steer. Then I hated and admired him at the same time for the readiness with which, I saw, he had parried my question. That readiness, after a few moments' reflection, only madf me more miserable. Because, I thought, ht must know her name, and if it were not Blanche, what occasion would there be for his concealing it? So, then, its>was Blanche, But Blanche may have given him a false name. There was hope. But what if she has? Is she not Blanche still? I was getting in that state where my mind refused to work in proper fashion. If I kept on in this way, I should soon argue that a man had but to change his name to chango his identity, and that when Charlotte Brown called her? self Juba Smith she became Julia Smith. This alarmed me a little. Then the ridicu? lousness of my condition came over me, and I laughed aloud. "What are you laughing at?" said Broener. "At a fool I saw yesterday, when I looked in the glass, who took a strolling actress for a girl he knew in the states," I said, in a mood made up of petulance and vexation. Broener turned half round and gave me a look, apparently half surprise, half anger. I had "broken out in r new spot" for him, and in the remark he had possibly recog? nized ail attempt of mine in his own fashion to threw him off his guard. It was not The words were born of the mood I was in, and had flown out of my Ups as of their own volition. Suddenly I recollected that the term "strolling actress" I had used was not one indicative of the highest respect for the lady in question, and that under the circum? stances it could not have fallen agreeably on ?roener's ears. I apologized for having used such expression. He received my apology in silence. I saw by this he meant to punish me, and of course tnv feelings against him were not at all lessened. Meantime the other cloud on Bull Bar was darkening for me. Pratt became worse. The physician talked of brain fever and looked grave. He added beside that some secret was on Pratt's mind. He inferred there "must have been a quarrel and much ill will betwixt Pratt and some one previous to the-ahem-accident" Pratt raved con? tinually about the "young un," who thought he "owned the whole mountain." He was ever being "dogged about the chapparal by him," and so on. Mr. Wiiliam Sefter drank in with his gossipy, greedy cars Pratt's utterances and the doctors opinions. Ho visited Pratt's cabin on his way td work in the morning, dropped in at noon and again at night. He made himself an assistant nurse to Pratt, brought him choice dishes and broths of hw own making, and he could make them welL He was reallv useful. Besides, he carried from Pratt's house messes of gossip, which he distributed as a labor of love all over Bull Bar. Mr. Setter's forte as a suspicion breeder lay in inferences. He had no direct charge against any ono. But he said it was a "queer piece of business." Pratt, poor man, had been trying to get along and earn an honest living. He as good as supported Hill year, who hadn't much gumption anyway. "Young Holder," he added, 41found Pratt with . thoso hurts on bis head. Pratt couldn't bear the sight of Holder. Always set him to run nin* on about shootin' and rowin*. Holder was up the mountain that day. He saw him -at least it look*! like his shirt in the bushes. Well, it was queer business" Such is a sample ot the applications made by Mr. Sefter for individuals singly and in? dividuals in grou:>s for eight or ten days. He was in this work earnest and persevering, in season and out of season. He "set people to thinking." He educated them, in fact, to think suspiciously of me in connection with Pratt. Ordinarily on Bull Bar a "shootin' scrape" between t.vo men, even if one was killed, might not get any farther than the local justice's court; might not get even there. The community tacitly acknowledged : tho pistol as thc maia arbiter in all manner ' of disputes. Smith "jumped" Jones' claim ! Jones shot Smith dead. Nobody had time to inquire closely into tho matter. The affair j was a two days' sensation. In a week it was quite forgotten. But in this ca? here was Mr. Seftor's "poor sick man" and his partner devoting his whole time to him, and I, John Holder, in some mysteriom way mixed up with them Mr. Sefter played several chords on the various human hearts of a thousand strings j he handled. First sympathy, next mystery I and beyond that something dark-he would I not say what-only something resembling myself or my red shirt on Scrub mountain could in the many views presented by bim to his audiences bc vaguely made out in the general indistinctness. So this busy man went on poisoning the Bull Bar mind against me. Broener left for Marysville on the day Pratt was Renounced worse. His interest in the l*Bunk" seemed now secondary to another elsewhere. After his departure I went down to Ran? kin's. It was n JOH. I arrived at the store just after the fifteen or twenty boarders bad finished their diimor, and were now congre ! gated for a smoko and a talk, preparatory to j the long afternoons work in their claims along the river bank. I Just before entering I heard Seftor's tongue j rattling on at a livelier pace than ever. Tb.3 i gravity of Pratt's case seemed to act as a I stimulant upon him, exciting his imagination j and touching up his suspicious inferences re I garding thU "queer business" in moro pro? nounced colorings than ever. "And why don't he come out and tell the whole story?" said he. As I entered that hush ensued so peculiar to the unexpected advent of the party talked \ about. j I knew they were talking of me in connec ! tion with Pratt-or rather I felt it. I had j felt it for some days-felt it in a certain cool j ness, in averteil looks, and hints and inuen ! does, whose full import and meaning now 1 burst upon me. The silence was filially broken by ?ano j "Lory? Mac's" asking me if I "knew bow i Pratt was." "I hear he is worse." wai my reply, and I j felt my face redden and burn .as I spoke. Ac? tually I did fe^l then like Pratt's murderer, I and on trial before a jury prejudiced against me, without a favorable witness or extenuat? ing circumstance in my behalf. So strong seemed thc effect of the predominant thought from the group in that store to make me feel as they believed. There was another silence. A great deal of pi.nowed an4 possibly unnecessary pipe filling aud cleaning of sfcn?>. w/jh broom straws went on: possibly as a mental t?l^ to the more s -usitive. and consequently em? barrassed, of the party. "Was yon cobing (Iowa Scrub mountain when you found PrattP asked on/ithw. ' No." I replied. "I went up to him." "I wonder how ha came by two bullets in his head," asked Long Mac "I don't know that ho has any bullets in bis head," I replied. "l"bw don't.*' was the rejoinder from Lon-; ??ae. The emphasis on tho pronoun was peculiar. I ?lid noi mistake its meaning, but made no reply. Meantime Mr. Sefter was silent Per.hap, for the first time, a sense of the responsi? bility cf his loquacity liad come over him. He did not like talking in face of the accused. The matter was now in sterner hands. "Well," said Long Mac, "I think for one this thing needs looking into. It's 'bout time this robbin' and murderin' was stopped. Somebody needs stringin' up." The mortality hst for Bull Bar, and, say, a stretch of river for two miles up and down, averaged a man killed bj known or unknown parties about once in ten days. But the Bar was now in the throes of one of those spasms of law and order, peculiar to all communi? ties. Woe to the wight, J|uilty or not guilty, caught during such spas M He would hang. It was worse than any direct trial, this being accused by hint, inference and inuendo. There was, I felt, but one thing to do. I re? solved to make the issue and meet it. "Look here!1' I said. "What are you fel? lows driving at, anyway? You talk as if some one had tried to murder Pratt Now, as I'm considerably mixed up in this matter, I'd like to know if any one is suspected of crooked business, and if so who it is?" No one replied. I was now started and kept on. "It strikes me," I said, "from the way that this talk has gone on that I'm the man you're aiming at Now, if anybody's got any charge against me he can back up with proof, this is as good a time to make it as any other. I object to being tried behind my back and without any chance to defend myself. Has anybody here seen me waylay Pratt, shoot him or rob him? If there is let him talk I am ready to hear what he has to say." My audience was very quiet. "Have you, Mr. Selier? I believe you've had a good deal to do and say in this matter. You seem to know as much, if not more, of this affair than anybody else? You were with me v hen we brought Pratt down the mountain Why shouldn't I think it a very 'queer piece of business' to talk of your being upon Scrub mountain the day Pratt was hurt, poor man, trying to get an honest liv? ing and all that I tell you, Bill Sefter, that sort of talk has put the halter round more than one man's neck in this country when it didn't belong there. This buzzing suspicions in people's ears, until the man that buzzes and those he buzzes to cant tell the difference between mere hearsay and absolute proof is, I think, about the same as murder." Sefter was silent I felt myself warming up as I concentrated myself upon him alone, and, what was to me a relief, I felt also the fetters of a constitutional backwardness for any sort of expression for the time falling from me-whether that expression should be one of deeds or words, of mind or muscle. "Sefter," I continued, "you are making this t. ouble for me, toad I know it You are a "Sefier, you are makijig thia trouble for Til*." born, gossip. YOT. are a coward to boot You make all your fights with your tongue, behind people's back?. You are a thing, a sneak, a skulking coyote, and if this crowd in this store could see.you as you really are they'd kick you out as they would a dog. Do you understand what I mean? I mean all I say. and moro if I could say it Now, if you want a fight here's one on your hands. Tm ready." _ CHAPTER XV. A WOMAXl At this moment Mr. John Sargent put his head in the doorway and said excitedly: "My goodness gracious sakes alive, boys, there's a woman on horseback coming down the bill!" The audience were out of doors in a twink? ling. No American woman had ever yet set foot on Bull Bar. The Bar hill road, for half a mile steeply inclined, was as a red streak set in a dark green ground of chapparal, winding and turning. app?aring here and disappearing there behind the densor clumps The woman's progress was necessarily slow. Twenty minutes at least would elapse ere she would reach the store. The boarders gathered in a group on a knoll. Other gangs of men hearing tho news congregated on various portions^of the Bar. All eyes wore directed upwards. Capt Thompson brought from his sea chest a long tarry spyglass and steadying it against a corner of the store focussed it on the approaching phenomenon. This constituted the captain a temporary authority. His reports from time to time were eagerly received by the crowd. Out of sheer force of nautical habit the captain put one arm about the post support? ing the veranda to steady himself, as he would put his arm around a stay on ship? board. The attitude was not lost on the "boys," some of whom put on their "sea legs," staggered about as if trying to main? tain their footing on deck in a gale of wind, and ono leaning over au imaginary vessel side pantomimed a fearful derangement of the stomach through the disturbance of the elements. "Trim looking craft." sad tho captain. "Should say by her model and rig she was of American build." "Come, Cap," said one of the boys, "dont be greedy, now you've got a good thing. Let's have a squint." The captain relinquished the glass with some show of reluctance. Jimmy Cook, having adjusted his eye to the instrument, seemed, judging by his absorb tion, to intend remaining as he was for the afternoon. "Time's np!" criixl one. "I move that twenty seconds only be al? lowed per man, per poop," said another. "Second the motion." cried a third. 'Then there wont ba enough to go around before she's down here!" "Motion's moved and seconded," said a self constituted chairman. "All in favor, say 'aye:' contrary minded 'no.1 The ayes have lt. The chair rules the next peep for itself." "No you don't" remarked the "Cap," com? ing forward ana capturing his glass. "This glass is private property, and not pro bono publico, exceptas I give, the '?hip news.'" The assembly groaned, and one alluded to Cap as an "Old Turk'' "She's a lady," said tho captain. "Style quiet and g*nfety4. Broad brim straw hat veil. No loud trimmings. Nothing Bowery. Cabin passenger. Boys, tuck in your shirts!" For convenience and comfort the miner of that i>eriod generally wore his ml or gray shirt as a blouse, omitting th*? formality of stowing its extremity ander the trousers waistband. Tho captains order was obeyed. Mr. Rankin ma lc. his appearance, having been employed in buttoning himself into starched linon. A "boarder" reminded him that he had forgotten his kids, and another, hastily iptiUifig a gigantic collar from a sheet of white paper, arrayed him elf therein, re? marking as hi di?i that "his tailor was al? ways delinquent with his dress suit when it was nio>t wanted," add tig reflectively: "However, if a man's head *?as only well dressed no sensible woman wouVl look any further.'' ' "Swipes" produced ih? tin hom used to call inc bofi.rd'srs to their meals, und asked the captain if bc should "hail her." "Oh, you're all a lot of smarty* now, ain't, your" said Ba oku> "How do you know who that lady'ifar bVJ Sb? may be s^mc rf you fools' rao^jf"assister cr wife, cams to hunt you io your uoies. AT, au events, wnoever she is, I s pose we'll all act as near like gentle? men aa we know how. Those who can't better trot off to work." Mr. Rankin's sentiments made a speedy change in the humor of this before reckless crowd. As the lady drew nearer tho faces of all present assumed a more serious expres? sion. They were recalled to themselves and drawn to their old eastern homes by the sight of that one female figure long ere she reached the store. All present knew that she was an "eastern woman" and the city bred boys declared her a city woman. She sat her horse easily. Her face was partly concealed by her broad brimmed straw hat To the store, of course, she must come. Everything coming to Bull Bar must first come to the store. The road down the hill ended, at the store door. The store was, in effect, the entrance and exit gate of Bull Bar. Mr. Rankin kept the gate. Anyone visiting Bull Bar on business, or any one there coming to make inquiry would be naturally directed to Rankin. In such con? nection he figuratively kept the keys of the Bar. He knew where every miner lived within a radius of three miles He knew how they "were doing." He banked their dust for them in his safe, and in many cases their confidence and social sa rets in his breast. The lady was riding toward a tearing, gap mg, curious crowd, of which I suddenly re? called to myself I was one. As she came nearer I turned away and went in the store, not desiring to play the lout. Many others of the "boys" seemed influenced by a similar feeling, and stole off to work, still, however, keeping so much as possible one eye over their shoulders. Nor did they walk very fast It was a hard conflict between curiosity- and respect A few lounged about the store door, scating themselves on the bench. She had stopped in front of the door. I saw only the extremity of a riding habit and the tip of a small foot in the stirrup. I heard then a clear, well-toned voice asking Mr. Rankin if "anyone knew a Mr. Jedediah Pratt in the neighborhood." I heard Blanche Sef ton's voice, and, walking oat, saw Blanche! Rankin was giving her directions to Pratt Y He turned toward me. "This man will show you where ho lives,* were his concluding words, aa I made my appearance, "That is, he's generally able to tell, when he's woke up." Her eyes met mine. There waa no friendly recognition in them. I said: "Why, Blanche!"-she maintained the same look "Miss Sefton-what! you barer What else I said I know not-a jucatifo <& unmeaning words, tumbling over eat& ct&er, for her look made me sick at heart Sho turned to Rankin, who. with the others, bad been startled msH interested in this unlooked for reoognio?. Still more startled were they as they saw Bftaacke, bend? ing low in the saddle, say something to me in a tone too low for them to hear, but at which I recoiled. Those words were: "No! not you, John Holder! Not my uncle's murderer! I do not wish your assistance !" "Perhaps I can find my way to my uncle's house alone if some of you gentlemen will direct mo," she said aloud to the wondering group. All pr?sent kntw ?he toas an eastern tcoman "IH show you, ma'am, rm going right that way myself," said Softer. Mr. Softer bore off the prize. Even in all my misery and stupefaction as die rode off, I, or a part of myself, was af? forded a gleam of amusement as the gentle? man who had extemporized the bright shirt paper collar projecting beyond his e-trs, sud? denly discovered that in his curiosity at Blanches approach, he hod forgotten to take it off. and during her colloquy had stood near by, wearing it as if a volunteer badge of idiocy. Recollecting himself, he made a dash at his neck as if stung by a wasp, and flung it in distrust to the ground. Too late! He bad posed before a lady as a ninny, and no man really likes to do that "Oh, you funny little man!" ww Rankin's parting shot at him as be slux.k off to his claim. "You can go up as head fool now!" CHAPTER XYL WABXT5G. I dc not think that "crushing blows," as they term th*?m, aro felt in their fullest force when first delivered. A wound in a vital part may cause at first but little pain. Feop'e are often represented as overwhelmed imme? diately by sudden news of any great misfor? tune. So far as I know by personal experience in such matters, the "overwhelming," "crushing, " agonizing process may hardly commence with the reception of its news. Its the prolonged mind-working process afterward that causes the misery. Its-the perpetual going over and over, not the sai?e ground on v. h ich your calamity is based, bat the calamity itself, viewed in all manner of situations, with ever varying light's and shades;a mental operation in character kale!- ! dioscopic. The pieces are thc samo, but they are ever arranging themselves in different forms. This may go on for days, weeks, months. 1 believe that many a man or wo mao has-Raid to themselves, when their great trouble first fell on them "Well, I can boar it" who found a week afterward, that it was too grievous to be borno with patience or resignation. The only means of relief would lie in dismissing the matter entirely from j one's mini. Unfortunately such matters, | with the great majority, will not bo dismissed. They are guests unwelcome, armed and offeusive, who quarter themselves and come to stay. When are wo to have tho era of mental ?thdetism, when; minds wfll arrive at such strength and dexterity as to be able to toss off a trouble from the brain a? tbsp would a rubber ball from tho hand and forgot all about it at pleasure? I did not go home iraraodiatelr after Blanche's departure from the store?. I spent the afternoon wander.ng aimlestly over gulch, flat and mountain-anywhere, so that I was out of sis ht and sound of human beings. I took no thought of physical exer? tion. I fled at any sound of labor-the stroke of pick*, the grating of shovel?, tho ramping of pebble ? in the rocker?, and plunged from su^h indications of human presence into the dense growth ot chapparal. I had not then met my deepest misery. I had indignation to sustain nr>. I wa< indig? nant at Blanche, that she also should have tried and condemned roo without a hearing. There is a certain bnovaucy and stimulus in indignation. It is several degrees above dis? couragement and despair. But tho mind doesn't seem capable of en? tertaining fully more thau on? emotion at one*. So. when mr indignation had worn off ite finest edge other emotions commenced their play. They seemed all desirous of "having a wha^k" at me. I pass over w wier at Blanche's su Ufc'n Ap? pearance: at curiosity to ascertain bow she hean I of mc and tho accusation agatust me, and at the sudden recollection tnat thc aunt whom she b,ori so frequently visited in New York was-hy name iTart. and th it probably Jedediah was her husband. 1 came at last to my love for the former Blanche Sefton, of Eastport; at my grief for its Io<s. anil nt my despair as :his last prop was thus so suddel^f taken from me. Everything solid seemed to hava tumbled from nnd?r OP. I was alo?e and friendiew amid suspicion, growing y.ojuuiuc, ?io? ?ru wwi, nu!?}mcu nv, back of all those stood the being on eau most loved, transformed at onco from angel of mercy into an unpitying and i taken judge. These were my thoughts for days nights. They were my company-a nut ons and busy crowd. They were kepc a by th* frequent sight of Blondie al Prate's cabin. Mine was but three bund yards distant. She had a house put up her own accommodation. For assistants had every man oa the Bar-save myself. The crowd was absolutely hungry to something for Miss Sefton. The area which her cloth-covered houso wa* ered alongside of Pratt's, was leveled as if magic If Miss Sefton wished a bowl .pitched out of the way they were ready ; liable to remove a hundred. Volunto went up the mountain, cut young sapli and built her a fence. Pratt's well 1 cleaned and deepened. Fifty men with picks and shovels cleared trail leading from her residence to the stor intercepting bushes an I impeding bowld one evening after knocking off work fr the claims, a physical inference that in ti estimation. Miss Sefton would probably w often to "go shopping," or possibly d down of an evening and have a chat w the boys. If Miss Sefton had desired I enormous bulk of Scrub mountain to be moved, I think the matter would have b I seriousiv considered. In all this Mr. T I Ham Sefter w^s the lady's self-constitu I right hand man, and even while working ! his claim would be seized with spasm of a [ iety and solicitude in her behilf. and rush to Pratt's in a chronic state of f uss-abc and-do-littleness. Why did I not seek an interview w Blanche and endeavor to justify myself I did make tho attempt, or rather paved way for one. I owed her th res hundred i lars. J. sent her the money with intel due, through Rankin, explaining to him circumstances under which the debt was c trac toe'. This, of course, lei Rankin int portion of my secret. Fortunately, he wa man who could keep secret*. He real! that there was money in this kind of bank also, and that cash and confidence often together. His manner toward me in "bis business i serious and .considerate. He seemed to spect ';he burden he knew I was carry! and he was one of the few with a mind heren?y judicial that demanded clear pr before any conviction. I felt for a while relieved after having trusted this commission to Rankin. He ? ? to me nothing of the Pratt matter. But thoughts can be felt, I know that he sym thized to some extent with my lonesome a miserable situation. Blanche sent back, through Rankin, onb formal receiot for tho money. To my quest for an interview she made the folk lng reply: "I would prefer not to see you under t presen, circumstances. "BLAXCHK SEFTON.* So matters went on for eight or ten da; Broener continued absent. Did I find a ; consolation in the thought that he might miserable innot finding Blanche at Mar ville? But what Blanche? His or-mine was aboyi?? say. The man had been so re cent on we subject, and Blanche herself bet hermetically sealed against me, I was still doubt whether the woman next door was t one I bad seen in the play or not I could not visit the store. That was place for me. My work at the "Bank'* w quite don?. I kept at work on the riv claim, making six or eight dollars per ds to which I was perfectly indifferent. WOE my position while at work gave mefreque glimpses of Blanche as she flitted in her nc morning dress between her own house a Pratt's. She was a rare spectacle to t miners whose claims commanded a view the situation. I saw them at times peepii at her from sundry vantage points, as s tripped about, displaying at times a slipper foot and neat ankle, which caused many heavy sigh. Why not write ber? I did write ber-pa; on page, telling the whole story, detailing t the misery of my situation, upbraiding h for her injustice and cruelty, and beseecbii her for a personal interview. But there w co local postoffice delivery on Bull Be Rankin was the only one to whom I cou intrust these letters. That would reveal s to him too much the suppliant So I won keep the letters. I re-read them. I foum then, one too harsh. I threw it in the fir The next was too humble, too supplicatin; I ftirew that in the nra Within twenty-fot hours after writing, and the mood I con posed in bad cooled off, I could not find or of the right tone and temper. There seem? no hitting the "golden mean.** So they a went in the fire. OB the whole. I am dispose to thin!: that a* good a destination as any fe copious and exuberant love letters-and, lis mine, before delivery. If yet; don't ibink .? read your own, say throe year.? old, and .Joo the self that wrote them at that tinto htra?gl m the face, and tell me your deliberal opinion of him. From Rankin I ascertained that Pratt la most of the time in a condition bordering o unconsciousness. He had, he said, "lit up" tittie on Blanche's arrival. She, he added was a "bully nurse.** "What does the doctor say of hun.1" asked. "Oh, something scientific.** he answered . 'Something he's learned out of his books tha nobody can make head nor tail of. Look profound to match, especially when he take ht* whisky. It's biz-biz. you know. ' It was a gleam of sunshine that Rankii had resumed this vein of talk with me.'' One morning I found pinned to my door i note without signature, bearing these words "Better leave Bull Bar. ?Trouble brewing for you." J felt that this was a friendly warning from Rankin. I felt, also, it portended som? secret "vigilante" business regarding my? self. What to do'I knew not This was a newel blackness to the c'oud. I was 'greatly dis? turbed. I was. I own, terribly afraid of th? frouble hanging over me. I realized fullj the temper of the time. I knew how mei were dragged from their lieds and eithei Hung outright or bung up until they con? fessed. So had they done to Jo Hatch th? year before, because Jo, a poor, whisky soaked 'wretch, wa? suspected of the robbe?y of a store "safe in which sundry miner* kept their dust by favor of the storekeeper. Jo would not confess; despite this horrible tor? ture, and a few month* afterward the real plunderers were revrtled. I could not get away. My obligations to Broener forbade it There was in i he house at least twenty thou<and dollars' worth ot quarte. Not knowing what might happen'1 buried this under the floor. ?xt day it occurred to mo that "uuder the floor" had become too common a burying sjot for trviure. and was, of all place*, tho first to he ??gut for by any so disposed. 1 knew not what ms?ht happen, or bow long Broener might tx* absent So I dug it up and buried it at night in a nook ?itluwit the cabin. Then I Iff: a no*c fur Broeacr. intimating that in case of my absence I woubi ?ricoun* to him personally for wha ev*r he might find niiwin^. What- I did not chooso to say, for I did cot trust the sacredness of a sealed note I? all in Bull Bar. CHAPTER XVII. RESCUE. T was roughly shaken by the shoulder and ordered *>get up.- They had stolen into th? house in the dead of night. A slit through the cloth side wa* all the actual "breaking in" necessary. There were six of then* masked. 1 bey said notbiug. In two minutes I was outside the house ta fhe hnnds of my captors. They took me to a deeply shaded hollow ia the hills about half a milo distant going ea>t from Scrub mountain. Had the country been longer jettied it wouW have bren christened by pome allowably profane appellation with just enough da?h of infernal flavor te>gire it a spice. Put there had beeo no time it Bull Bar for su^b delicate shadings in expression. They went direct!}" to the point and ealled it "Hell's Hollow." ' Roughly described it was a hole, perhaps half an acre in area, the wall on three of its irregular sides being of over? hanging rock. Their summits, thirty or forty f*?et. in height, -?vere thickly screened ' by bushes. ?j.ve in the direction by which a 7 torts ordered to get vp. it was entered, there was so sign ot the den depression until sae cam? to the of the cliffs overlooking it I said nothing while on the way thftfear. Arv appeal for justice or humanity. I thought then, would be wafted on men who wera than taking the law in their own hand*, morete gratify their own brutality than aught cfc*. > Call a dog mad, raise a hue and cry nftsc him. and you furnish rare sport for a < glad of any excuse for stoning to? dog, mad or not mad. That portion of Bull Bar represented by my six midnight judges and Jurors^wer* hungry for a "little fun." A man ba? bW called, if not mad, dangerous. They wera about the good work of rehering their i mani ty of the terror, and having some : recreation bqside. How? Byan outrage and disgrace, they proposed putting on me, worse than death itself. Their first act on arriving at the Ho?ow was to kindle a fire. The effect of tho glare on rock, brush and masked men was decidedly dramatic. I think the "committee" wen aura to such impressions also, in their own crude way, as gathered from gore-bespattered novels or blood-stained plays, for their ?tro? c? edings were marked by a certain delibera? tion and grotesque formality. They intended making a night of it also. Of tina the surest evidence was the gallon demijohn carried bf one of the "committee,71 A kettle was placed over the fire. Shortly a resinous odor pervaded the air. Their te? tent then flashed on me. Tar and feathers! . . ? It seems as if tho spirit of an event and its results for a year m advance can be felt by one in a single moment, So, aa if by a fiaste of lightning, did I see myself tims disgraces!, set adrift, wandering in that wretched, hu? miliating plight over the land, soi ?teins; to enter village or town oat of pure shams, pos? sibly compelled at last from physical ex? haustion to throw myself OB the mercy of some one and in the end tob? pointed at ever afterward as one so disgraced, and liable, go where I might, to he repealed ty some meddlesome tattler. As I saw this, ona. instinct and emotion pervaded on these villains. I said: "Now, men, if you do tome I see you mean to do you'd better kn? ma J first, for as sure as you disgrace me in. Ant; ? way, and leave me alive, just so sure wal t ' spend the rest of my life in getting1 inti ta? S3 you Maybe I don't know you; but ra trw,..;, and find out, and if I do TD have yow heart's blood, every ono of you Itarfrt'-''7 careful, for it's not such a light matter td start a man out for life* with blood on h? brain, cs youll start me if you do ti?s* (Ung to mei" There was but one reply from the firMinfr master of ceremonies. That was, "Gag!* A wad of cloth was thrust in my mouth. I guessed at the leader, front ms height, ilsspfts an assumed bend of the shoulders,1 I tOftf- ? ? bim for "Long Mac" The party then ranged themselves -in Ima, fronting me, and one, in a thick, nromhMna; ( voice, proceeded to inform ma that "Th* Committee of Mighty High Binders, had " thought it best for the good of Bun Bar so : start John Bolder out of it, and abo that > for the young mans good, sud as a token cfc . remembrance, the committee, in behalf cfc "? the Bar, would present the aforesaid Jdbjf . Holder with an entire new sc?t, which tiny trusted he would long wear." "So mote it ber cried ail, The next order was: 'Refreshments f And tile demijohn t traveled along the line. The next word was "Business P I dered to take off my clothes. -*:? ''What are you going to do with that maur The voice was that of a woman, It : "What are you going to vxant* .. r> esme from the top of the cliff opposite tba, 5ru There," c!4d: in;wb'ite* and thrown by' the blaze in full relief against m derk bark- ' ground of foliage, stood a female ng?r?^., ^ My own first thought was, A gboet! A pi malar thought prevailed with the party. Nat a word was spoken for some secnadav They stood:there silent and staring^- . "What are you goihg to dd wtth tint1 maur again demanded the apparition. ?'Who-who are your asked -one. ? He bau* forgotten his s< sumed voice. It waa BM1 Softer. "No matter who'I am; now. Mr: Sifter^ domaud y^ur rel??ase of that man," was we* reply. "ifs the gal at Pratt's!'' said a voies,, which I recognized a* Long Mac s. The ghost waylaid: Tb* committee fett ' som?what casier.' Still this was a serious ia ' tferruption to ''business.'' "Miss, we ain't agoing fo' dd' th?' ynatit^ man any hurt." said on? of th?' committhe? the readiest at recovering his wits. *'l?WeV only here for a sociable little time and--**' "That's-a lie:" came from Blanche's Upi' with'a vigor which savored-of- her piratical uncle. "Mis?, now you'd better go' b/MB**' mid4 Long Mac,-in' the tone he would1 have' aa-' .'urned toward'a ?hi!?l. 4iThis is no place ror you. I wonder you" dare reek yourself ny these woods, where ther?V bears and' iorny fa>as--n "Bears," answered Blanche, CclrtenytV nously, ''Al hears- are not grizzliest ? know vou mean that man some miath?e? Now, release bim." "Shan't do it," roared a gruff voice. "Oa home yourself. Ef yort was wy wi? ?ir darter I'd start ye blamed1 ijsarTr where ya belong. Go about yer b i zn eas r "That's just what I am doing," raplM Blanche. She had a weapon from tho fetas of_ har dress in a twinkling, hw shining barrel ~ mg by the firelight before the eyes nt tcaished parry below. "The first man of you that nwres Ms nsnjf for his weapon and 111 fire i ato t?e crowd,** said she. "I thick I can handle tins nistet well eaoogb fer that. They called me a geadK shot at the gallery m New York, and I Indi, smaller targets and neucfc anrthnr off tba? those I have now.'' "By-she'?got the- e>oneon?, au*snell, do ? she says," muttered ena nf ti? estn mittee, who now seemed to) feel uctxanfort abler "it's in her eye." A? the-party stood wit* the ?n. tau ping; behind them, their figures were thrown fn bold relief against its tight, and the ' rJ*nst> mcrsms^t was-visible h> Blanche. *" Z co^nxusb o* focan ?4$g. |