Pittston Gazette

              8TABMSI1K1D IHSO. I OL.. \ MII. no. 38. i Oldest Newspaper in the Wyoming Valley. IMTTSTON, LUZERNE CO., 1DA„ FRIDAY, JUNE I, IH'.M. A Weekly Local and Family Journal. THE OLD MIUU MYSTERY, then I won't have a friend left in tlit whole blessed world." waited where slio knew Savannah heard me and tell me I am false. Look nearer home, my girl. Go and ask that fine jailbird lover of yours for an account of all his silly maunderinR-s and doddering foolery with me. Get him to ti ll you the truth, instead of the lies ho has been spinning out to cover his worse deeds, and then it'll be time to come and talk to me about falseness." proof of it. Tom says that tie was with Savannah that night; and she denies it. That must I Hi proved, or otherwise we may never be able to prove what we believe—that he is innocent. You do believe it, Gibeon, don't is heard to-morrow, there is barely enough evidence to secure a commit tame is on its legsr w eii, mats uone uy trying to cut a woven wire steak on it. Tables can't stand that sort of thing more than one season." "Torn, Tom, don't even hint such a thing'. Who should be your friend if not I, your promised wife? Tell me all." The latter was in an irritable and angry inood. would pass. BILL ON THE BOEDER. tal; but if the committal is made tomorrow the trial will Ite in time for the assizes next week, and the whole matter may be ended within a week or two. it you delay, tne nearing tomorrow will be adjourned for anothei week, the trial must Ihj thrown over tc the next assizes, and a delay of many weeks must take place; during which time the evidence maybe strengthened in some way against him." "You look mighty doleful there. Mary," began Savannah. "One would think you'd been out begging and had had a precious bad day." NYE RIDES THROUGH THE I. T. AND SEES THE CHEROKEE STRIP. We are now riding through the Indian Territory. It is a very rich country between Winfield, Kan., and Fort Bmith. I've also heard a good deal about the but never saw one do bo till the past week. I told the police about it, and he resumed his clothes once more. By Arthur W. Marchmont, B. A. "I was with Savannah all that evening"ou?" "'Tisn't so much that I believe it, my lass," he said, slowly and with great emphasis. "I know it. 1 know he's innocent; and, what's more, I mean to prove it. You know what happened in the barn that night. I was all against the infernal plot that was laid against him. Well, [ believe there's another now, quite as devilish and much more cunning. And if you'll trust me, we'll just turn the penny t'other side up, and make it heads to our side. Now tell mo tho rest about The words came out slowly and reluctantly, as if dragged against his will. "Well, they would be right as to the latter thought," answered the girl. "It has been a bad day for me. I am in grievous trouble. Savannah." There Is a Joko to Tills Which Will Ap- pear Later On -lie Buys a Lot In Chicago She spoke with fierce and rising vehemence, her own words fanning the flame of her passion. anil I.C-ariiN All About It Afterward—The Author of "Mihek Hoadlby'b S*CH*r," "Madausi Powkb," "Bv Whom "With Savannah!" cried Mary, in astonishment. "All about a man. too. who iust plays fast and loose with you, eh? Give him up, lass, give him up." Popular Outlaw. Hand." "Isa," Ac., &c. "I'd liest tell you the lot, my lass, and then you'll see why I've been ashamed to mention it. After you and I parted, and I had promised to stop and,4acc out the matter of tho money, J meant to keep my word. I did, in deed—" Mary kissed him to let him feel that she believed and forgave him—"I waited a bit, and then started to go to the mill, as I told you I would, to have a talk over the matter with Mr. Coode. I was going there when ! met Savannah. I don't know how it is, but she has always had a sort of influence.over me. I don't know what il is. When I'm away from her, I can'l understand myself; but when I'm with her, she can make me do pretty much what she pleases." "She Khali never do that again. Tom," whispered tho girl, pressing his arm. "It's no lie," answered Mary, quite as hotly, hor cheeks flaming and her eyes glowing with tho last insinuations of the other. "You know that Tom has told nothing but the truth. You were with him on Friday evening till nearly eleven o'clock. You know it; and now, for some wicked purpose of your own, you are trying to deny It. Hut those who saw you together will tell the truth." It was a cruel argument, and for the moment the girl was completely baffled.[Copyright, 1804, by Edgar W. Nye.l The other night I rode till most morning beside a United States deputy ™ yVial and with a Winchester rifle on my lap. He chatted pleasantly about the outlaws here and how they had to be hunted. ICeprriis'ht, 189e!, lDy the Author.] The blast without is screaming and yelling, and tho air is filled with gravel that cuts the face keenly and destroys the smooth surface of the glass fronts on the mercantile emporiums. On the Border. Mary's cheek crimsoned with anger at the sneer, but she kept her temper under control and made no answer. "Will you let me decide, then, which it shall be?" she asked. "I had better tell you all that I know," she answered, evading1 the question and wishing to gain time to think how she had best frame what she wanted to say. "He went away because of what you and Mr. Coode had said to him in the afternoon, threatening him with prosecution in the money matter; and he was not willing to come back until he knew that that It has been for you, and for you alone, my lass. You know how I love yon; you know I am a man who never changes, and that that love I will never alter. It is my life. When I saw him neglecting you, I said never a word; though I hated him for the misery I knew He was causing to you, and I would have hounded him from the place. Hut I held my hand for your sake, lass. I had schooled myself till I could wish and plan and scheme for your happiness, even with another man. I meant well by Tom; and then that ugly business of the sick fund money cropped up. I smoothed it over —for your sake, lass, not his. Then the mill accounts were wrong, and I tried to make things right with Mr. Coode. It was never my fault that things went as they did. The moment there was a chance I meant Tom to come back; and still it was all for your sake, Mary. I would have done fifty times, aye, five hundred times as much, if it meant your happiness. For I loved you, my lass, ah, as a lass has rarely been loved in this world." "Oh, but we can flare up scarlet, to be sure, when anybody gives us a bit of good advice which we don't want to take," saiil Savannah again, with a forced, boisterous laugh. "Ah, he's a bad 'uii, Mary; a regular bad 'un," and she laughed again. "Yes, certainly. I have no wish but your welfare. Think, however, before you do decide." Every year on an average 18 deputy marshals die at the hands of these outlaws of the Dalton stripe. It is the wretched old shell of a busted boom. The gay butterfly of fortune has soared away, and here lies the rattling chrysalis—a desolate, half built, seedy, shabby thing, overdone, yet only half baked, full of metropolitan imitations, concave women in iinliation sealskins and flashing rhinestones. Shoddy on every hand! Gold rings and soiled hands; big diamonds in tobacco spattered shirt fronts; dyed mustaches and white cambric evening ties on the street; lace skirts Savannah." She told him what Tom had said, and he asked a question or two. With that he left her, and Mary was full of perplexity at what he had said. "I have thought," she said. "Tom is innocent; and he himself would choose to have the delay in tho hope that the proofs of his innocence may be found. I will choose to^wait." My friend said that though few of thtD deputies lived to grow up they are very poorly paid, and though they afford police protection to the railroad and express companies I noticed that he had to payhis fare. "No one did see us," answered Savannah, passionately, falling in her reckless temper Into the unintentional trap wnich lay in Mary's words. "There was not a soul about—" Mary walked on by the other's side without retorting, though her heart burned within her till she almost felt as if she could have struck Savannah. CHAPTER XXIV. OITIEON PKAWI.K RUSPECTJtlX "As you will. I fear you are wrong; and if anything untoward should happen you must not blame me. The decision is a momentous one, Mary, and may mean life or death for Tom," he said, speaking very emphatically. was over." The more closely Mary thought over Gibeon l'rawle's meaning in saying that he knew Tom was innocent, tho more puzzled was she. "What!" I exclaimed. "Yon don't have to pay fare here when yon are trying to protect the company's property and the lives of passengers?" "Hut you told him what I had said, didn't you, and that at the earliest mojment possible I went to his cottage to iassure him that all that affair was over and done for?" "It's poor work jesting when one is in sore straits," she said, quietly. "There!" cried Mary, "what did I say? There! you admit It. You were together. That shows it." Savannah's reply to this was another laugh. "I don't admit it; I don't admit anything," said Savannah, blushing furiously in her confusion at having been caught in a contradiction. "I say it's a lie. I say—" Then her manner changed instantaneously, and in place of the furious passion which had excited and moved her. she grew calm and quiet, save her eyes, which shone ominously as she looked at Mary. If he spoke the truth it was clear that there were but two ways in which he could know. Either he was with Tom, or had seen him sufficiently often during that night to know that he could not have gono to the mill, or he knew who had committed the crime. "Oh, yea," he said, looking down the barrel of his gnn. "Every outlaw knows me and is at liberty to shoot me down in cold Wood, yet I get barelyenotogh to live on from it, and though the railroad company sometimes passes ns to the scene of an express robbery, after we have scoured the country and slept out of doors a week in pursuit of the robbers, when we return we pay 6 cents per mile to get home if alive and about the same rate If dead. "Where's the good of fretting and worrying, J shjnld like to know? All the tears in the world can't stop the making of a pood hemp rope. Hah. I've no patience with your sickly sentimental weep, weep, weep. Take the world as it goes, say I, and leave it when the time comes; but don't go about fretting and fooling and crying." "I have decided," she said. "As you will," he said, again. "Yes, I told him what you had said; 'but he felt angry and bitter that such Da threat should ever have been used." She was glad when he left her. "She stopped me going and made me go with her instead. We stayed near her cottage for a time, and presently we walked away—I don't know what time—and went along the Presburn road half-way to the town, I should think; and then—well, 1 can't tell you all that passed. I don't rightly know myself, I fancy. But the old idea anCl longing to run away came over me She said she knew about the robbery ol the money and that I was disgraced ii I stayed in the place; and—well, my lass, it'll hurt you to hear me say it, maybe; but you wanted me to tell Untrut—she made me promise to go away with her for good, and 1 was that besldo myself that I was hot ami eager for her to do It." It was no wonder sha despaired. Those who might have given assistance in helping to unravel the mystery either could not or would not help. IieUben Gorringc was too firmly convinced of Tom's guilt to be able to see a single ray of hope anywhere. Savannah had turned away and had refused even to tell the truth, while the only man who had made any sort of profession of belief in Tom's innocence, Gibeon Prawle, was worthless and unreliable and had not even taken the trouble to let her know what he had done. "I see. lie wanted something more than a mere promise of that kind to bring him back. I suppose. Hut ;now that affairs have taken this disastrous turn it is most important to learn what he told you as to his •movements on Friday night. What did ,he tell you of those?" This began to take hold of her thoughts, and she asked herself whether his knowledge could possibly mean that he himself had had some connection with it. Sho was very loth to entertain that suspicion of him, as his manner to her, and especially his ready and strong assertion of Tom's innocence, had softened her dislike and lessened her distrust of him. l!ut the problem remained: Why should he take such an interest in the matter? There had never been love lost between him and Tom Uoylance. Was it that he wished to turn away from himself all thought of suspicion by showing a great zeal in getting Tom acquitted? When they reached the door of Sa vannah's cottage she turned and faced her companion. "CCo away!" she cried, raising her hand and pointing to the door. "Go nwuy while you are safe. [ won't answer for myself if you stop here another minute. Go!" The Indian Territory at present ia filled with desperadoes from all over the world, and Cass county, Mo., too, for that matter."I—I did not press him; I scarcely Asked him," said Mary, hesitating and .stumbling over the words; "but he ,to!d me enough to convince me that he was never near the mill that night." lie stopped as though his emotion had overcome him. "Don't come in if you can't look ;i bit more cheerful. I've no mind tonight to be worried with a lot of erying.""This will be for my happiness," said the girl, awed by the strength of passion which had inspired the man's words. "I will go. I am content. I have your admission, and that is what I wanted." said Mary, as a parting shot. The wheat crop is very fine, rnnning on an average 80 bushels of fine wheat per acre. These lands are rented to white settlers, who give about $3 pet acre in crops or one-third the yield foi the use of the land, but these people have, I am sorry to say, a dime novel idea of the brave outlaws and will not only shelter them without cost, but keep a guard over them while they sleep under their roof. "I want to spealC to you," said Marv. seriously; and followed the girl into the cottage. "If you had one wlioir you loved lying dangerously ill, yon would not feel bright and joyous," said Mary. Reuben Uorringe listened to the confused statement in silence, and then bent his eyes on the girl's face and knitted his brows, as he answered: Had he done anything? Was he In earnest? Or was ho merely a shifty, worthless seamp, whose word and help were at-the purchase of the last bidder? Could it be that he had had anything to do with the deed? "Nay,nay; If Tom hasdone what I fear he has, it might mean, not happiness for you but constant danger. There is but one thing that would let me do what you ask." was the reply, spoken in a harsh, r pi-Hinte, hard voice. "And r«v mnnWr I have made no admission. I was not with that—murderer on l'Yiday nijjht, and tiiat I swear. Now, po." "Co. "You are doing what you, no doubt, think right, Mary, in trying to screen Tom; and if you don't want to speak, •I don't want to try and persuade you ■to do so against your wilL But don't ■try to hoodwink me. Either you don't or you won't understand how serious matters are. Tom has got not only to convince you, but to prove to a court that his tale is the truth. My own view is this: We had better instruct Mine good sharp lawyer who is skilled in these cases, and leave him to say what is the best line to be taken. 'But of course Tom will have to deal with him candidly, and I thought if you had told me what he says I might have been able to think out a suggestion or two. For I make no secret to you, my child, that I look on the case as desperately grave serious." "What, then?" asked the girl, win was trembling in dread of what had yet to come. "Why not'.'" said the other. "What is it to me if others (lie? What eare IV What would they care if I were dying? Not the rush of a shuttle. Why should I eare for them? Do you think the thought of dyinp frightens me? I'shl none but fools are frightened to die— or to see others die either. I'm not. I like to see death." She turned her eyes on the girl as she spoke, and they shone with a hard cruel light. Then she gave a sneering laugh as she added: "But there, what's the use talking like that? Vou haven't come here to speak about death, I suppose?" "What is that?" cried the girl, ft quick, eager light flashing from her eyes and Illumining her face, as .she rose and stood by his side. Mary went out from the interview gloomy enough and full of anger. What she had heard confirmed her opinion of Tom's innocence, but at the same time showed her how great would be the difficulty of proving it. Trite ot false, such evidence as Savannah weuld give would make it almost impossible for Tom to account for his time on the Friday night, and she quite understood the immense importance of this. Two days passed without a sign of him. So far as she could tell he was not even in the village; and thus the trust and the hopes which, despite her first judgment, she had placed upon him and his help, waned as the day came round for the adjourned hearing of the charge against Tom. Then a hundred reasons flashed upon her why ho might have been involved in it. lie had been on the worst terras with both Coode and Gorringe; the latter had ruined him, and the former, as she knew, had refused to reinstate h»Ti. Ho was hard pressed for money even to exist upon; he knew the mill thoroughly; he was not unlike Tom in general appearance, build and carriage, and in the dark might have been mistaken for him. Given that he had broken into the mill to rob the place, and had been caught and surprised by Mr. Coode, what more likely that he should have turned upon him? "J must have been mad, lass, I think. Anyway, I did Just what she told mc, and asked never a question. She told me to go back and get Buch things as 1 cared to have with P»e, and then to walk over to meet her at I'resburn and to go on to Manchester by the early morning train." This makes it almost impossible fen the government to overtake theae men, unless, as at Coffeyville, the robbers are shot down before they can get across the line. "If you consent to have his guilt or innocence left unsettled by keeping these facts concealed, you must be ready to accept the consequences of leaving the issue in doubt." THE TOWN COWBOY. over red, rusty, trodden down congress shoes; red necked cowboys, with French heels, leather panties and profanity, clay bank hair, golden teeth, keen shoulder blades, rum, freckles, soggy old plague infected cigars, white eyes, slab sided, irresolute; the coyote, the town cowboy— not the one who works, but the dime novel deadbeat, who ornaments the tottering porch of the Live and Let Live saloon. On the eve of the day Reuben Gorringe came to her at the cottage, and Mary's heart sank within her, knowing that he had come for an answer to his (jiiostian. ' A man named Anderson, lived on the frontier many years, said that one night there came to his cabin at 1 o'clock "Yes," said Mary, again in the same low, trembling voice. "What do you mean by consequences?" asked Mary. "You must act as if he could not prove his innocence." The man's voice was hoarse and hollow with nervousness as he said this. "We parted at a spot close about three-quarters of the way to Presburn —it must have been somewhere about ten o'olock. I was home this side of midnight—and I've never seen her since!" Oat of the interview with Savannah C&ine only one thought. She must in some way endeavor to find some evidence to corroborate the truth of Tom's account of his time and to prove tho falseness of Savannah's denial. There was but one way to do that- She must find some one who had seen tho two together on the Friday evening. "To-morrow is the hearing, Mary," he said, after he had been in the cottage a few minutes, "and I have been asked to give ray evidence." Savannah's manner startled Mary and discomfited her. "Well? What does that mean?" Today we came on the Santa Fe road from Arkansas City to Winfield. There was an Arkansas family consisting of a mother and 11 children. They sat near me and had the odor of a basket of pups. I forgot to say that the father was with them, but he did not seem to cut any figure aside from making the 11 children legitimate. "That in the first place you two must keep apart." Then came a long silence. The girl broke it. "No, no," she answered, somewhat hastily. "I came to speak about Tom and alvout the cruel things they say of As she thought of this, she grew excited at the idea and was angry with herself for not having thought of it before. She recalled how he had flinched when she had asked him pointedly the reason of his great interest in the matter. Added to that was his certainty, expressed over and over again, that Tom was Innocent; and as she thought of all this she was ready to rush at once to the conclusion that (ribeon was in some way involved in the mysteiy. She grew more excited as the belief increased, and after some time she dashed her hand on the table and exclaimed to herself: "What?" cried Mary, in a very different voice. "Well?" she said, interrogatively. "What am I to say?" he asked again. "What do you wish to say?" "Nay, lass, that rests with you, not with me." "Why?"- asked the trirl. "Why serious or desperate? What is known to anyone? What is suspected except by "You don't mean that unkindly, I 'Jmpe; though you are strange to rno ito night," he said. "How can I be anything else than suspicious? Think [for a moment. There was the quarrel with Mr. Coode, the breaking into the mill, the finding of the neckerchief, the taking of the papers, the discovery of that steel bar wrapped in one of the missing papers, the flight, and now the unwillingness to give any intelligible account of his movements." "I've never seen her since," he repeated. "I hurried home, said a few words to my father to prepare him for what he would hear of my running away from the charge of theft, and ♦vith Savannah—for I knew it must all come out—and got away out of the house as quick ps possible, f thought you might be coming, and f dursen't face you—mad though I was—and 1 rushed back as quick as my legs ivquU} take me to Presburn. But 1 could nothing of Savannah. ( lingered about the streets all through the night until the dawn, and with the earliest train was away to Manchester. But I saw nothing of her, and have seen nothing since. That's the truth, lass, on my him." "Vou mean that the price of your silence is to be our separation?" She spoke in a hard, clew, eutting monotone. "Well, and what of him?" asked Savannah. smiling grimly as she added: "It's over quiek yet to put him and death in the same sentence." Some days passed, during which Mary made many fruitless inquiries with this object. On tho Sunday evening, when sho was walking slowly through the village street, thinking over the problem, she met Gibeon "I do not see how it rests with me," said Mary. "I mean that if he cannot prove his innocence, I dare not trust you to hia keeping," answered Reuben Oorringe. "I)on't, Savannah, shrinking from the other had struck her. " cried Mary, words as if the "It oannot l»o necessary for mo to go all over the same ground as last time I was here. I told 3'ou then how it was. I have not bothered you since; for I knew how you might be puzzled and worried, and 1 didn't want to hurry you. Hut the time has come how when we must decide." Thero were two Indians on board who looked down on these people with silent but merited contempt. They were better dressed, better mannered and better filled witli brains. The fatker held a child over 80 miles because he was too lazy to put it down. The mother had tx-en salivated and wore a pink sun bonnet. Nine of the children had been weaned, and the old man could also eat solid food, sit up and take notice. "Is there anything more?" I'rawle "I love you, Mary," he burst out "I love you with all my heart and strength and sonL I will give up my life to make you happy. If you are parted from him, I can offer you a shelter in my heart You shall never know a shadow of care or misery. I will give up my life to you, my love. Trust me, my darling, and I swear that you shall never repent it" "Ah, I thought that wouldn't suit you," she said, the smile on her handsome face growing less liarCL "But what is it?" and she fixed a keen, inquiring look on Mary's face. lie came again and spoke to her. "You're looking ill, Mary," he said, and his voice had a ring of sympathy. "It's not more than I feel," she said. She heard so few sympathetic voices now that his greeting was almost wel- "I want you to tell mo exactly when and where you left Tom on Friday night." said Mary, thinking it best to go straight to the point. "But I cannot decide yet," said Mary. "I cannot make up my mind. I cannot see that one who is innocent can run any risk of lieing punished for what I10 did not do. The law is just." "I'm right- That's the reason for his interest in the mystery. The villain!" comu "You're worrying," he continued. "I'm sorry. Are things looking any blacker?" "I didn't say there was any unwillingness," said Mary, frightened by the staggering accumulation of facts. Just then a hurried knock sounded on the door of the cottage, the door was pushed open, a man's steps sounded along the passage, and OibeoD Vrawle himself entered the room. "Who says I was with him at all? And how come you, of all others, to ask me for information?" I was somewhat pained to receive a letter last week from ray agent at Chicago in referenco to the loss of some property in a suburb of Chicago. A yoar ago I got a number of lots there on the representation of a man who seemed to be a lovely character. I met him in Cincinnati one night, where he asked me for complimentary tickets to our unrivaled show. I asked him with charming naivete how many lots he would give me for the tickets, for he had told me of his Indiana addition to Chicago. Ho finally sold me a block, taking the net receipts for the evening as payment. "No, you did not say so, lass, I know. But can I suppose yon would not have been ready enough with the explanation if ho had given you one? What I have said has frightened you; and you are pale at the mere mention of these facts. 15ut I have not wished to terrify you; only to try and let you see bow other people will look at them when they are known." He shook with the force and rush of his passion, and as he bent over the girl the sweep of her hair as it touched his face made him tremble with excitement.honor." "Why should they look black at all?" said Alary, guardedly. "Aye, my lass, that's it. The law is just," said Gorringe in a deep, strong voice. 'flie telling had been painful enough for them both; and at the close Mary remained buried for a minute in deep thought. Then she lifted her arms suddenly and threw them round the man, embracing him with such passion and fervor as he had rarely known. "Tom has told me all that passed,™ said Mary. "Why, indeed?" he echoed. "I know no reason. I know nothing but what people say—aliout that, at any rate." WITH THE DEPUTY. "Then it will not find him guilty of what he did not do," she added. "Oh! dear, I do not know what to say. If he can prove his innocence, you do not want this promise. Why not wait and see?" she pleaded. [to bk continued ] a worn and weary, pale and hungry party of men. They said they had not eaten or slept for 48 hours, and they looked it too. "Oh. Tom has told you all that passed," replied the other, mockingly. "And If Tom has told you, what do you want to come to me for, eh? Don't you think your bonny lover has' told you the truth? Is that it? I don't suppose he has, for that matter. All men lie," she added, laughing insultingly.Great Full at a Lawn Party, "Would you marry a girl who cannot love you, and who might grow to hate you for the manner in which you hail won her conscnt?" "What do they say?" asked the girl. vine of the most amusing and novel nninnifr lawn parties ever given occurred on the grounds of Ranker Brown's beautiful residence on William street. The tables were profusely decorated with roses and spread for altout 40 guests. The elite of the village was there. "Chief thing as I've heard is that Tom was seen getting Jnto the mill that night; but I don't believe it. Stands to reason that if anybody hat! been near enough to see him getting in in such a way they'd have raised some kind of row at the time. Iieshle, what would Tom want to get creeping in that way when he'd every right to go in by the mill gates." Glbeon had evidently not heard of Tom's dismissal, thought Mary. "That's never been Tom's way, neither. I don't like him, and that's straight; but I'll never deny that when he means a thing he owns up to it straight and sCjua/e, and devil take the consequences." "Come in," said Mr. Anderson. "But there is a price on every head here that would make you rich if yon were to tell of our whereabouts." He knew from the words that she had seen his purpose. But he cared notldng4or that now. She clung to him thus nntll she recovered her self-coinroand- "How can we wait and see? Either he did or did not do this. The evidence which I have all points to the fact that he did. Jf that evidence is kept back, what proof have I -of his innocence, supposing the law finds him innocent? Nono; none. That is the point. Could I trust you to a man whom I feared might be a—might have done what he is laid to have done? Could I love yon if I did such a thing?" Tlie girl hung Iter head and bit her lip in'agitation for a minute, yet thinking deeply and intently. Then she liftec her face and looked at her companion. "Time's nearly up," said the police sergeant at this moment, and without turning his head to look round. The real fun liegan when Dr. Ilorton orought out one of those newly Invented boomerang guns. Thf* hostess proposed that the men should stand up in a tow, while the Indies should by turns shoot for in escort to supper, her choice being pre- Kiimcd to lDe the one nearest whom the arrow should fall "Never mind," said Anderson. "Yon are starving, and I shall not take advantage of your condition. Come in and eat a bite and go to sleep. You will not be disturbed." "I love you," he said. "Such love as mine must find its counterpart. Hut I care nothing for that. I love you. That Is enough for me. Give me yourself. Let me have you with me always. To be able to see your face, to listen to your voice, to try and win your love. That is enough. My Ood, I would be content to marry you though you hated me like sin or "Will you tell me what I ask?" said Mary, after a pause in which she had fought down lier temper- This served to quicken the girl's thoughts. One reason I bought was that the improvements he had made seemed to me worth the prictf, for each block had new sidewalks, etc. Last week a letter informed me that ray sidewalks had been destroyed by a prairie fire. "When tlicy are known. Will they ever be known?" she asked, in a voice that was unsteady and low. "Why need they known?" "There are somo questions I must ask," she said. "We must try to keep calm. How came you to place a small steel bar behind the books in your parlor? I found it on the Sunday after you had gone away." "Yes, if you want to spy on him Hut you won't draw me into any lies. I wasn't with him at all," said Savannah. steadily, as she looked Mary straight in the eyes. They ate like wolves and then went to bed in the barn. They slept 86 hours, ate again and slept 12 more hours, which showed that they were somewhat fatigued. Then they thanked Anderson, for they had no money, and went away. "What do you mean?" asked tlio man by way of reply. Now, every laxly knows the boomerang ig iluown away from the victim it is really intended to hit. Perhaps that is the reason t.hD! women took to it so naturally. "Most of these things are known only to you," she said. "Why, then, is it necessary to speak of them?" "Hut something might yet happen to let him prove his innocence, despite what you think such strong evidence against him." I was dumfounded, for I had thought the lots to be near the Auditorium. In fact, the gentle being who sold them to me said that they were within sight of that building. "What?" exclaimed Mary, excitedly "IV) you dare to deny it?" bl i ame." "A small steel bar," he said. "There's not such a thing in the house that I know of. Where do you mean?" "Deny It—deny what?" returned Savannah, hotly and angrily. "I have told you the truth. I am no liar likelike—a man. I say I never saw Tom Roylance on Friday night; and J will swear to that on my oath." At all events, when Judge Lilly volunteered to give them an objeet lesson on th« proper way of holding a gun and It went off before he got it up to his shoulder, a perfect volley of witty taunts rattled about his ears. But the boomerang flew off into space, right aide up like a bird, and when, to his dig nifted amazement. It presently returned and thumped his own shins, with the presence of mind of William the Conqueror he turned the accident to his own glory, kissed his hand to the applauding audience and retired A-ith great honor, handing the gun over to Mrs. Eddy. Three years afterward Anderson cams home one evening to find that in his absence the house had been entered, and things were scattered all over the room. Reuben Gorringe rose from his chair and walked once or twice with hasty steps up and down the little room Then he stopped by the side of the girl. Mary was silent. Not because she doubted herself, or doubted what her answer would be. But instinctively she began to feel that there was something she did not understand—something that was not on the surface. "Oh! some say he was seen to leave the mill; that he was noticed rushing through the village to his cottage; that he was doing all sorts of ridiculous things on the way—you know how people's tongues run at such a time, but there's naught but wind in it all; for I've questioned everybody about tin; place whose name has been mentioned as having seen anything, and can't find a soul that saw him anywhere or any time the whole blessed evening, except the man who believes he caught him at the mill. According to that it looks as if he'd jumped out of the clouds at that minute and jumped back again as soon as he'd finished." "What else do they say. Gibeon?" "Might," echoed the man. "Mightl You have had a week to look for this. Have j'ou found a single shred orscrap of evidence that will make that proof?" She told him all, except that she had found blood stains on it; he repeated his denial of any knowledge of the thing, and was full of surprise at what she said. Oh, how I hate to be betrayed that way by a total stranger! In the middle of the floor stood a panful of wheat, which he told the boy to carry back to the granary or give to the hens. He poured out the grain and at the bottom of the pan found $1,000 in (20 goldpieces, with the compliments of his old guest. "You would have me continue to keep all this as a secret?" lin asked, and lient over her as he spoke. I was intending to build there a modest little cot and thus have a quiet place where I could live when I visit Chicago instead of paying Mr. Bemis $8 per day for a suit of rooms at the Richelieu, but I am told now that if I lived there my nearest voting place would be Valparaiso, Ind., 60 I have given it up. She spoke so'solemnly and'earnestly that Mary turned Cold with despair as she thought of all that the words meant to her lover. "I have his denial. That is enough for ine," she answered, confidently. "I cannot answer now. Oive me time to think, and leave me now," she said. "Did you ever get hold of the papers relating to that money affair?" she asked him. "One of them was around the bar." "No doubt. But will it be enough for a jury? Was there a man ever accused who did not deny the accusation? Don't think mo hard, or cruel, or unjust. I am not. I must do what is best for you, even though I know you may feel I am unkind in doing it. But we cannot look at the matter from the same point." "Yon have said you are our friend- Tom's friend and mine.'' She looked nn in hi» fiire »nrf siHiUe :»i 11 nlejwling, supplicating tone. "Can you not do this out of your friendship? 1 know he has never done what is said against him. I know it; I feel it in my heart. I would not ask this if I did not know that Tom's heart in this is as innocent as my own. He could not do such a thing. There can be no harm therefore in not increasing the difficulty of proving his innocence. You are not bound to speak out what you think. Ah, Mr. Uorringe, do help us. For God's sake, help us." Reuben Gorringe took her hand and pressed it to his lips, and when she did not seek to withdraw it his heart beat quick with exultation. CHAPTKK XXIII GIBEON PRAWLF SURPRISES MART. Still I would not advise a man to move to Kansas and take up a farm with thd jfea of getting $1,000 per year In this way because some years he might be disappointed. "I never saw them except in Mr. Coode's hands on Friday afternoon. Certainly I never took them." C11APTKK XXIX. TOM'S STATEMENT. A very little reflection warned Mary that she had made a mistake, perhaps a serious one, in showing so much concern at Savannah's statement, and she made a great effort at self-recover}-. It is said that a cat cannot take in nn graceful attitude. No more can a ivoman with a gun. Neither judicial minds not even old soldiers can ever hope to reach that inimitable air of noble and martial bearing that pervades a woman with a gun in her hands. Oh, how bitterly I referred to that man when I began to see his true nature! I almost hated him. Of course I did not care to buy farm property in Indiana. He knew that perfectly well, and so now he has lost my friendship. "It is strange, very strange,'" replied Mary. "Another thing I told you— that a witness swears you were close to the mill on Friday night. You were seen breaking in somewhere about ten o'clock, and that a handkerchief of yours was found close by the very spot. Can you suggest anything to show where this mistake can be cleared up?" All that night Mary wrestled with the problem which Reuben Gorringe had set her. Strong as her faith in Tom's Innocence was, what Oorringo had said had been sufficient to make her understand the extreme danger in which he stood, and the dire need for his having a shrewd and clever man to defend him. She saw, too, what a vast difference it would make if the evidence which Reuben Gorringe alone possessed were kept secret. An odd thing about the Indian Territory is that the Cherokeee owned nagra slaves before the war, and when these were emancipated they had the same rights as the Indians and could take up land and also receive from the government various allowances which have made many of them rich. "You think and believe Tom is innocent, and that his liberation would be right and just. I think him guilty, and were it not for you I should not halt for an instant in the path of duty." "What do you mean?" asked the girl. "That surprised you, eh?" said Savannah. "Has he lieen making up some yarn or other about me?" Mary felt somewhat relieved at this news, despite her previous distrust of him. When Mrs. Eddy pulled the trigger, tt« boomerang darted away only to return with a whack upon her own beautiful chignon, thereby showing how much higher a woman's aim instinctively is than a man's who merely thumps his own shins. The ground, too, is wet—real wet. Another man told me so. He knew it was wet, too, but he did not tell me about it, although I told him that I wanted to know all about it before I bought. Recently I learned that the census was taken there during a rooster fight, when 600 men came out from Valparaiso to evade the authorities. Q"lf I am surprised," answered Mary, quietly, "it is because those who say they saw you two together should all make such a mistake." "Did anyone see Savannah about that night?" she asked. He paused, and when the girl did not speak, continued: "What?" cried the man In a tone that startled the girl. "What makes you ask that?" So it's a queer, queer complexion that society has here. I was introduced to a tall, good looking girl in white the other day, a student and up on everything from Walt Whitman to the "Heavenly Twins," yet che was a descendant of aa old chief. She rose at this, and, standing by him, took his hand and carried it to her lips, and looked imploringly iuto bis eyes. "Certainly, I can. Savannah herself will prove that 1 was not near themill. I did not leave her on the Fresbnrn road until past ten; and then I'd six miles to walk bock to WqJkdcn Bridge. That is clear enough." "I must talk of m3~self to-night, for I can feel th.it you ought to see this action of mine as I see it myself. If Tom had been a good, true, honest man to you I could have borne it to see you his wife. But when I learned, as I did learn, that ho was carrying on a double game with you and that girl Savannah, I began to be afraid for you. Then cainc the rest; the stories of the money and now this. If I loved him as you do, Mary, I might look at it all as you see it. But I don't I see it witn ttie eyes ot a man, my lass, con hi I give you, whom I love, into the carc of a man I believe to be a murderer?" Then she took another /hot, and quickly the inferiuil boomerang from its perch in the sky surveyed that crowd and made a bee line for tts midst. In vain they dodged and scattered. The lady haggtd her man. It was a continuous round of fun till thf last one had shot. "Who are they?" asked Savannah, hotly. "Who are the liars that are not afraid to slander a girl and try to take her character away? Some of those cowardly strikers, I suppose!" "Only curiosity—curiosity afl to what she was doing that night." "Do you know all that you are asking me to do?" he asked, ratbvr boarsely. Yet, what a price was that asked for silence, t-ouiu sne pay lir u mere were 110 alternative—if no other ineins remained for saving Tom's good name and honor—she would do it. "No, I don't think anyone saw her. Oh, I think I see your meaning," he exclaimed, as if an idea had occurred suddenly to him. "You think Savannah and Tom were together. Isthatit?" I would give the man's name right here in the paper were it not for the pain it might give his family. "I am a:Diiiug D'CDC' to lirlpnae who is Innocent froin the dangers of injustice anil wrong." she said. "And the neckerchief?" "No matter who they are, at pres ent," replied Mary; "you will have-an opportunity of facing them yet, and denying what they say." Undoubtedly this new sport has a brilliant. future, as it is adapted to variouf lawn games.—Whitehall Cor. New York On tho map he showed me was a large factory in course of construction, a vinegar works employing 800 men, but when he had sold all the lots he took down the vinegar works and removed them to another suburb which he is now engaged in soiling. There are few blanket Indians here la sight, and they show no desire to plung« their hands into the gore of the whlU man except when accused of being white strippers from Arkansas. Hut there was no time in which that issue could be put to the test. It was the most hopeless feature of the whole plan that she had to say at once what course she would take. It was not to be a last and desperate course; but Hhe had to judge for Herself what would be the probable results of a trial in which the evidence would be produced, and to decide before it could be tried. "I pave it to her," he said, "I pave it to her some days before—one night when we were walking together"—he made the confession shamefacedly and reluctantly—"and she had not returned It." "Yes, I thought so, perhaps, Mary, rather feebly. ," said "What if he l»e guilty?" he asked. "Then think what I am doing. I am helping to set at liberty a man who could do such a deed an this—and to put yon into his power." His voice sank to a whisper as he said this, and his eye* avoided her troubled gaze for a moment. "That is asking me to do what frightens me," he said. "111- know that he were innocent—if I knew it, I say; if all were explained to me —It would be different. Hut the fear that yon, whom of all women on this earth I would give my life to keep from danger, might possibly have to encounter such a risk, stays me. If he is not Innocent. and my silence sets him at liberty, I am tho Instrument of putting you into the power of a man who could do a deed of this awful character." "You are right. It is no matter. They are a pack of liars. I tell you 1 didn't see Tom Roylance the whole of Friday evening." Time*. "I suppose it's no use asking you to trust me, is it, Mary?" he askeil quickly reading her feeling in the manner of her answer. "You don't think, I suppose, do you, that I should go straight to do a good turn to a man to whom only a week ortwoback I wanted to do a thundering bad one?" A Good Exawpls. Charles Frohman, the well known malinger, has his witty moments and is credited with saying: "My friend" (he is addressing a rolling stone of a fellow), "observe the postage stamp. Its usefulness depends on its ability to stick to one thing until it gets there."—Argonaut. "You gave It to Savannah?" cried Mary, somewhat excitedly. "Hut If you gave It to Savannah now came It In the mill that night?" she asked "It is reckoned as proof of your having been there at a wrong time on a wrong errand. What about Savannah?" "Then you will have to explain a very awkward circumstance," replied Marv; "and just say how a handkerchief which Tom gave you was found in the mill on Friday night." Such things are simply contemptible, and in me he has lost a valuable and influential friend. I could have aided him and advanced his interests if he had been true to me; but, no, he preferred to cast away my friendship and even sold five Other blocks on the ground that I was going to move into the neighborhood and make times easy there. "Ah, don't," cried the girl, shrinking.St*nU to four Colon. Out of all the confusion of thought one determination came. She would see Tom, get the whole of the facts from him and then try to judge of the chances. Here's what a Canadian Christian Endeavor drummer has to say in The Endeavor Herald on a very important subject: "Oh! was a handkerchief found In the mill? A handkerchief which Tom gave me? It wouldn't be a very wonderful thing, surely, if I were to drop a handkerchief in the place where I spend all the work hours of my life. I see no awkward circumstance there. Hut why awkward, because I did not see Tom on that night? I don't understand you." "Why do you take such an Interest in this matter?" asked the girl, looking sharply and perhaps suspiciously into his face. "Yes, I must. The truth must out. You must understand why I act like this. Prove his innocence; nay, show me how to prove it; put me on the most shadowy track of it, and I'll work to prove it; and when proved I'll be the first to take him by the hand, put him back in his place in the mill, and lay your hand in his with as honest a wish for your happiness as ever filled a man's heart. Hut I must first know him to be innocent; while at present," he lowered his voice, "I almost know him to be guilty." Tom looked at his companion, and his face was jKtle. Mrs. Brown (at the opera)—There's Mrs. Montinorenci over there. I wonder how she can enjoy the ojiera. Why, she's deaf as a post! Knjoyment. "Do you know, my young friend, it is a sight for sore eyes sometimes for one of us to see a shining C. E. badge behind the counter, especially if the behavior of the young man or young woman behind it seems to match the badge? Wo feel like dropping our grip at once and shaking hands with yon, because wo come across an awful lot of anti- Christian endeavor on the road. Early the next morning she went to the police station, and succeeded in making arrangements to see him lDefore the case came on be torn tho magistrates."I have been asking myself that question ever since you told me yesterday at Manchester about the scarf having been found," he said. "Hecause you saved my life in that plucky way. It's the truth, I swear it is, though I see you don't believe it." lie said tJiis n little dufififidlv. ".XotJ don't feel inclined to trust me, I suppose, do you?" People say that no one has ever been there since the survey except a man who goes there Sometimes during tho winter to steal the sidewalks. Curse him, I say, and curst; the disagreeable man who sold me tho property! Fy upon such low. reprehensible methods! "I'm sorry to interrupt you two," said the police sergeant, turning and coming to them; "but time's more than up." Mrs. Gray—But see how elegantly she la dressed!—Boston Transcript. To her dismay, however, she was nol permitted to see him alone. She spoke to the police sergeant who was to lDo present, asking him to leave them together."Because if you deny you were with him, you will have to account for your time on that night." lie asked the question in a half wistfill, half /shamefaced manner. "What is there to trust?" said the girl, indifferently. How Tlioy Fought. "I am not afraid," said Mary, with a smile which was eloquent of her confidence in her lover's innocence. "So you need not be." "Good-by, Tom, then," cried the girl, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him passionately and hastily. "Keep heart, dear, and we'll soon have things all cleared. Ood bless yon, sweetheart," and with a smile of loving confidence she hurried away. Tho story of the death struggle of tho little column of Englishmen that Lobenguia's Natabulo warriors5 swallowed up can't Ik- told too frequently. The following are the words of one of the savage officers who led in the attack: "I, Maehasha, indima of tho Insuku regiment toll you these things. \\V wen- int-a against your 84. They rode into tho track and linked their horses in a ring and commenced a heavy liiv upon us, and our men fell fast and thick. We opened fire U|ion them and killed all their horses. Then they took to cover lie hind their horses' lxidics and k i 1 led Us just like grass. We tried to rush them. Twice we tried, but failed. After a time they did not tire so much, and we thought their ammunition was getting short Then, just as we were preparing to rush again, they all st.iod up. They took off their hats and sang. Wo were so amazed to see men singing In the face of death wo knew not what to do. At last wo rushed. You white men don't fight like men, but like devils. They shot us until the last cartridge, and »nost of them shot themselves with that. Hut those who had none left just covered up their eyes and died without a sound. Child' of a white man, your jHMiple know how to fight and how to die. We killed all tho 34. IJut they killed us like fcTass."—Loudon Exchange. Yesterday a man wanted to tako me out in a buggy to look at some lots in Arkansas City, Kan. The wind was blowing wildly and shrieking through the rigging of our hotel. The coarse sand and gravel were blown against the window like a shower of buckshot. Our managei stood looking out upon the clouds of dust and sand that filled the sky as far as the eye could re.u-h. "Hah! Mary," said Savannah, with a contemptuous wave of her hand. "You arc silly—and blind as well as silly. Tom has given me no handkerchief for mo to lose in the mill, lie has been fooling you; and having heard what I suppose is part of the case against him, he tries to shield himself behind me. His gift of handkerchief is just as real as iiis story about lDeiiig with mo—and that Is no inoro than nonsense. (Jive up, and have done with him, lass- have done with him." "I don't know, of course," h® answered. "Hut there seems to be something alDout Navaunah, for one thing, judging by what you said just now. Would you like me to make an inquiry or two about her? She was away over that week end, I know. Do you want to find out where she went? I dare say I could manage that I wish you'd let me lend you a hand. I am quite as certain as you can be that Tom has had no hand in it" Mary was moved in spite of herself, both by his words and his manner, and the proof of his love touched her. "But where in the world are all yon Christian Endeavor people? There are a good many thousand of you along the line, but it is pretty plain you don't all wear the badge. Are you ashamed of your colors? Members of other societies, are not bashful about wearing their emblems.""You do not look at these-facts as I do. No, Mary, it cannot be. Until I know that you would not be endangered I cannot keep silence. Listen; my belief is this: lie went to the mill wishing to convince Mr. Coode of his innocence of tho other charge. They discussed it, quarreled, and probably In sudden fierce and violent wrath he struck the blow which proved fataL I will not, even to savo Tom Roylance, subject you to the risks which similarly sudden violence might mean." "We are lovers," she said, simply; and she looked so piteous that the man —who himself was unmarried and In love—was touched. "Tom has not left any evidence against himself. He is innocent," exclaimed Mary energetically. "I must carry out my instructions; but—" and here he looked cunningly at her -"I ain't got eyes In the back of my head, and whispering ain't forbidden." The chief thought In her mind was that at last all fear of Savannah's influence was at an end, and being a woman that assurance gave her infinite pleasure. "Yes, right enough from the point of view from which you look at this. I admire you for holding your opinion staunchly like a true lass; but I can't share it. How then must it be?" Thus Mary gained her way despite the law, and when tho lovers met they had an eager, whispered conference. She told him what Reuben Gorrlnge had said about a lawyer. Then she questioned him. "Wouldn't yon like to come along,' said the man, turning to the manager, "and pick yon out a nice lot for speculation?"Powerful Lifs of Oatrlehea. Then she puzzled over what could possibly l»e the meaning of that neckerchief being found where It was. If It meant anything serious to Savannah, she would be sure to deny that Tom had ever given It to her. The same reasonI ng«a ppl led to her evidence about their having been together in the evening and until so late; and Mary pondered long and anxiously over tho best way of approaching the girl with the view of getting from her the truth. The strength of the ostrich is something prodigious. We have all read, with mora or less of skepticism, of their carrying boys upon their backs. I have myself seen, and close at hand, a hen ostrich running freely with a full grown Kaffir of not less than 10 stone weight astride on her back. They are dangerous, too, at times, for, though powerless in neck and beak, an ostrich possesses formidable weapons of offense In his great legs and 2-toed feet. A raking forward kick delivered by aa ostrich has been known to rip a man clean open—as any one will readily believe who has seen the heavy nails and the enormous "Can't you give me more time? It seems almost as if in making a decision I were condemning Tom," sliq "Silence, Savannah!" cried Mary, excitedly and indignantly. "I wonder you are not ashamed to try and malign a man who can't defend himself. You aro not content to say what you know to be untrue, but you must dare to add to your falseness by cowardly insinuation. For shame!" This declaration did more than anything else could havo done to win the girl over. It was the only confident expression of faith in her lover's Innocence that sho had heard from any- "No," said Raymond, with a dreamy look in his dark eyes. "It would Ihj a good timo now, I'll admit, to buy some real estate here as a flier, but I don't care to drive out there. If I happen to seo a lot go by hero that I like, I'll buy it, but I'd rather not drivo out where they coino from." said "Would you rather that an innocent man suffered?" "You must tell me what passed on that Friday night, Tom." "I tcld you I would rather not, Mary," he answered. "The hearing is to-morrow," was his answer. "No, only I would rather that the ■whole case were fully inquired Into and the truth discovered.** "Hut you need not go to it. You could wait until the next hearing," she pleaded. "Will you not do this? You say you are a child in my hands. Well, please me in this," she said, with a wistful pleading smile as she put out her hands and touched him. "Givo mo more time." oua "Hut my dear, I must know. It must all bo made known. You will have to account for all your time on that Friday might" "Can I trust you, Gibeon?" sho askod"You can, Mary. I'll do my best to help you. I promise you that fair and square." "You are hard, very hard to move," ,she cried. "If I am hard. It Is for you," he Raid, bending over her. "You know why I have taken this interest in Tom. It is not for him, or for his sake. lie is no jaore to me than the click of a shuttle. Savannah laughed loudly at this, and affected to be vastly amused; but she grew angry with sudden change. "We will get a tough steak here," he said ono day last week as wo sat down in a cheery dining room. Tom hung his head, as if ashamed to speak. She resolved to see Savannah without a moment's delay, and for this purpose went to the latter's cottage. She was at the mill, and Mary went and Mary thought for a moment, and then half-impulsively gave her hand "What do you mean? You daro to como hero to me, presuming on j'our palo face and sickly weakness, and "Why?" I inquired, with large, soulful, longing eyes. muscles of their thighs. It Is commonly taid by those who know, that a kick from tn ostrich is as bad as a kick from a hors* -M acwillan's Magaiina. "You'll hate me, lass, when you know, and m»v torn from me: and "I believe you mean straight by me," sho said. "I will trust you. Uere's "If I do this, where is tlje use? There Is dancer in delay. If the case "Because you notice how wabbly the