Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1873-01-04

my's houlders; she didn't kn w me. He didn't
know nothing about you, nor Angels, nor the
qnieksilte or lode, nor even his own name. He
said his name was SkaGgs, but knowed it was
johnson. Thar Was times, Tommy. you might
have knocked me OF that box with a fe sther;
thar vas tin when il the twenty seven pas
sengers o. q at stage he'd found themselves
sw N ming in tie American river I've hundTed
feet below Il e road, never coald have ex pain
ed II satisfactorily to tho company-neseT.'
"The sheriH SAID Bill c utinued hastily, as
if e preciute any interruption from the yourg
man, The she riff said he had been brought iato
Mu'phys camp, three wears before, dripping
brain, and had been cared for generally by the
Toys round. When told the sheriff I knowed
i'm. got him 70 IL ave HIM In my care; and
took him to Frisco Tommy, to Frisco. and !
paid his bo ard myself. There WAS pothin' he
d DIT have ez he wanted. DON'T look that way.
my dear toy, for Coos sake, dont!"
40. tili >" said Islinetop, rising and stayger-
ing to the window, why did you keep this from
why" said Bill. turning on him savagely-
why? Be- cause L warn't fool. Thar was you :,
winnin' your way in college; thar was YOU,
III in in the world, and Of some account to II;
yer was an old hummer, ez good ez dead to it
q man ez oughter been dead afore a man ez
never deniedit! But you allus liked him better
nor me" said Bill. bitterly.
"Foreive me, Bill said the young man, seiz-
ing 10th bis hands. ~ know you did it for the
Thar Amt much more to tell, nor much use
to tell it, as can see,' said Bill, mood!ly. "He
never could be cured the doctor said, for he had
what they called moDomania-was always talk
ing about his wife and darter that somebody
had stole away years ago, and plannin' revenge
on that somebody. And six months ago he was
missed. tracked him to Carson, to Salt Lake
City. to Omaha, to Chicago, to New York-and
here's
"Here." echoed Islingtcn.
"Here! And that's what brings me here to-
do Uhnf har hn's all hath
huntin' you or looking up that other man, you
must get away from here. You mustn't see him.
You and me, Tommy, will 60 away on a cruise.
and then wen come back. Come" And he
rose to his feet.
"Bill," said Islington, rising also, and taking
stinacy that in the old days had endeared him
to Bill, wherever he Is, here or elsewhere,
sane or crazy, shall seek and find him. Every
dollar that have shall be his, every dollar that
young yet, thank God, and can work; and if
there Is way out Of this miserable business,
al knew ;" said Bill, with surIiness that III
concealed his evident admiration of the calm
figure before him-"I knew the psrtikler style
of d-n fool that you was, and expected no bet
ter. Goodbye, then-GOd Almighty! what's
He was on his way to the open French win
dow, but had started back, his face quite white
and bloodltss, and his eyes staring. Islngton
III.
skirt vanished around the corner of the veran.
dab. When he returned, Bin had dropped into
q chair.
alt must have been Miss Masterman, L think;
"Ncthing;" said Bill, family; have you got
lit was Blanche, whose resemblance to her
mother, his "she.devil" of a wife, has over
come the sensitive nerves of Bill She has
overheard the conversation, and, captivated by
the self-denying and melodramatic generosity
xNTn chA &c ~ D..A
communicating the news to her adopted pa, she
comes very near seeing him cut to pieces by the
Infatuated johnson with long knife. Nothing
but the indispensable Bill saves the poor mil
and this ends the story!]
JOHNSON CARRIED TO THE SKIES.
1t was the figure of an old man, with rolling
eyes, his trembling hand grasping long, keen
knife-a ogure more pitiable than pitiless,
more pathetic than terrible But the next
moment the knife was stricken from his hand,
and he struggled in the firm grasp Of another
figure that apparently sprang from the wall be-
side him.
"D-n you, Masterman!" cried the old man,
boarsely; ''give me fair play, and I'll kill you
(which my name is Yuba Bill" said Bill,
quietly; land it's time this d-n fooling was
The old man glared in Bills face savagely.
al know you. You're one of Masterman's
friends-d-n you-let me go till cut his heart
outlet me goi NV, Where Ell is MsryS-GhsIe
there! Mary!" He would have screamed, but
Bill placed his powerful hand upon his mouth
and he turned in the direction of the old mans
glance. Distinct in the moonlight the figures
Of lexington and Blanche, arm In arm, stood
ont In the garden path.
''Give me my wife!" muttered the old man,
hoarsely, between Bills fingers. where is
sbe?"
A sudden fury passed over Yuba Bills face
"Where is your wife?'' he echoed, pressing the
old man back against the garden wall, and
holding him there as in a vice. "Where Is your
wife," he repeated, thrusting his grim, sar-
donic jaw and glaring eyes into the old mans
frightened face. "Where is Jack Adams wife?
Where Is my wife? Where is the She devil that
drove one man mad, that sent another to hell By
his own hand, that eternally broke and ruined
me? Where! Where! Do you ask where? In
Jail in SacramentO-in Jail, do you hear?-in
Jail for murder, Johnson-murder."
The old man gasped, stifened, and then, re-
taxing, suddenly slipped, q mere inanima ate
mass, at Yuba Bills feet. With a sudden re
vulsiOn Of feeling, Yubs Bill dropped at hi
side, and lifting him up tenderly In his arms
whispered, "LoOk up, old man johnson! look
up, for Gods sake! it's me-Yuba Bill. and
yonder is your daughter, and-Tommy i-don'
yOu know-Tommy, little Tommy Islington?"
JOhnsons eyes slowly opened He whispered
"TOmmy! yes, Tommy! Sit by me, Tommy.
But don't sit so near the bank. Don't you see
how the river Is rising and reckoning to me-
Kissing and boilin' over the rocks? It's gttin
let me 60 yet. Well live to cut his heart out
TOmmy-weIl nve-we'll -" His head
sank, and the rushing river, invisible to ali
eyes save his, leaped toward him out OF dark.
ness, and bore him away, no lenger to the dark.
ness, but through it, to the distant, peaceful