The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1867-01-26

have done business, and have found
them worthy of esteem and trust. VIII
thee do favor to one old enough to be
thy father, and who is not used to ask
boonsi Nay, il is no weighty matter ;
but Ruth will-willV And here o
sharp hacking cough interrupted the
old mans speech, and he leaned back in
his armchair and put his handkerchief
to his mouth.
To the daughter, then, I had to
look for an explanation, and she,
in brief and hurried words, gave
me to understand the purport OF
the visit. 1t seemed that sister of MT.
Pelrs, and an aunt of Ruth's, who had
married zone who thought after the
fashion of this world" resided at q
small town on the western border OF
Missouri, q place called Osawatamie,
living close to the limits of Kansas.
Now an uncle of Gideon's, one Job Pei,
had died some months ago at very ad-
vanced age, and by his last will had ap-
pointed his nephew executor, dividing
the property he had to leave into two
equal portions-ohe moiety being De-
queathed to Gideon, and the other to
his only sister, Susannab (ths wife OF
one Cassius Jones, "colonel," so-called),
who dwelt at the town with the almost
unpronounceable Indian name.
Mr.. Pell, in pursuance OF his duty as
executor, had turned the property OF the
testator into money; and shis money IL
had been his intention personally to pay
over to his sister and co-legatee, taking
also the opportunity of seeing that SIS
ter for what would, probably, be the
last time on earth. With this view he
and his child had started for Missouri;
but on coming to the limits OF railway
communication, they had found it all
but hopeless to proceed. The roads had
been torn up by both warning parties
for the purpose of impeding each other
in the transport of stores and guns. To
reach Osawatomis in o wheeled carriage
was now physically impossible, ana the
guerrillas and struggling soldiery lnfest-
ed the route, making the journey eI-
tremely insecure, especially for feeble
old man and defenseless girl. In this
strait Mr.. Pell had made more than one
attempt, during his stay at Jefferson, 10
find n trustworthy messenger to whom
he could cOmmit the care of the money
with the certainty of its reaching his
sister in safety. But morality in that
wild part of the country had never been
very scrupulously cultivated, and at
present all the scum seemed uppermost
in the seething cauldron of civil war.
The State was full of desperadoes;
and old Gideon had been warned that
he might as we'll trust goose to fox
as cash to the unwashed hands
oil the whisky-swelling barbarians
who crowded the hotels Of JEFF,
ferson. Moreover, the Quaker garb and
diction respected in the more cultivated
East, provoked the rough population OF
the West to insult and mockery, and
even the authorities had no leisure to
extend their protection to one whose
pacific principals were thoroughly out
of fashion.
Under these circumstances, and hav-
ing CHANGED to hear that was in the
employ of firm with whom he had
formerly had dealings, Mr.: Pell had
fixed his hopes on me. He knew that
was to accompany the caravan, and
that the caravan would follow the
"south trailn by Osawatomie, instead
of that leading to Leavenworth.
at will not trouble thee much, friend,
hope" said the old man, striking in at
this point, "to inquire out the dwelling
of Susannah, wife of Cassius Jones, and
to give her these ~
To be Continued.