Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1873-11-21

the town with whom she was to spendsthe
night. He turned away with set face
when the door had closed upon her, and
walked back quickly the way he had come,
peering into the shadows, but saw nothing.
He got his horse from the stable and rode
north along the shore as the gray morn
ing stole over the sky and the ever-sieep-
ing hills and the broad, calm, misty lake;
He gave the black mare heel and rem, ana
brought her white and painting into bee.
He did not put on the rough clothes AGAIN
but went as he was to meet Long at the
appointed place across the iake. lie Or
dered the boatman who rowed him to wait.
Long was waiting for him, lying on
grassy slope. He nodded when Field
came up.
Long" said the latter, 81 guess this
is about played out
Just about" answered Long, looking
at him steadily without moving. II guess
you'd best quit"
Very we'll, come up TO the Ii House
at noon and we'll settle up And he
turned and strobe away. He was smok-
ing on the porch of the III House when
Long came up about noon. He took down
his feet from the rail, threw away his
cigar and went in with him. He sat down
at table, and Long took a chair opposite
without word. Field made calculation
on q scrap OF paper. took out a roll OF
bills and counted out the amount There.
Long," he said good humoredly, this
week won't be up till Monday, but well
call it even time"
Something unpleasant came into the
guides eyes when Field said Long"
..I'll trouble you," he said, mot to men
ton that there name again, meaning me
He put ont his long arm and knuckled
hand and drew the bills across the board
He counted out part and pushed the rest
back. This is NINE he said: I'D ha
made about that on the lake, average
luck. don't want to be beholden to you.
nor you to me-"
..As you please answered Field. fold
ing up the bills. He wrote on a slip Of
paper, wrapped it round the roll and tied
all with a bit OF string: IN keep this
for you if you say so. When you want it.
Just let me know. There is my number"
He twired a card across the table, and
it fell face down before Long. He took it
up without turning it over, t5r it across
and dropped it ON the floor.
"Stranger,'' he said, ''yo4 and mes
quits. don't know you and you don't
know me. But if | was a friend of yours,
and advlsin' you what was best for you,
I'd say to you, go home.'" His skullcap
drawn forward. and his face set and threat
ening he leaned forward with his power
full arms on the table and spoke in his
usual low, unemphatic way, and with his
deliberate. huskily-musical voice. Field
laughed: his right arm was back upon
the arm of his chair. and his fingers under
his coat played with something that
clicked.
''Just sou Long went on. as if Field
had spoken, perhaps a shade darker in the
face, but with the same even manner and
voice. "Our bears don't carry no towards
devil-fngers that kill by printing at twenty
foot, but they hev got teeth and claws
Field started up and flushed like fire.
Ibid you say coscard?'' he said. "By
- that's more than I'll take from you.'
And his voice and his hand on the back Of
his chair shook little as he spoke.
Long lay back in his chair. folded bis
arms and nodded: ''You heard what !
said. Maybe it amt York English, but
it's such as we hev in these parts"
Field stood minute looking at him.
Then he drew out u silver-mounted re-
volver from his pocket and laid it on the
table.
"There,' he said, II make you a pres
ent of it, Be careful: it is loaded and
cooked"
Long looked up with something like al
miration in his face. He took the pistol
in his hand, went to the window and fired
the six barrels. one after the other. The
landlord came in to see what it was.
'Mr. WannOck," said Long, clock up
this pistol till Mr.. Meadow calls for it,
= II :.
to you, and you took it,
Long went out without word.
Field did not go home. He was back
and forth about the lakes. mostly about
the upper one, for week or two after
that. He turned up in all sorts of places,
fished in deep water and shoal, rowed and
shot and climbed the mountains. He fell
in with the Wanita and her people very
often. One EVENING" was Thursday
the twenticth-he was in the village of III.
and walked out with his cigar, alone. He
stroiled up the road to the high levels and
walked on. The moon was high and
bright. and the country about him sur
passingly peaceful and beautiful under
the white sheen. He came at last to the
old fort and wandered through the ruins,
ghostly and weird in the calm moonlight.
"A HUN vi sHesp WIS ~ my uhtEi INC
trembling old walls. Peace and war,
he muttered to himself and leaned ag inst
crumblng wall a little while, looking nj
the dreamy picture. He got up on the
old ramparts and picked his way out till
he stood on the outermost point of the
star, where the massive wall stands al
most as solid as when the Frenchmen
built it a century and a half ago This
outer angle of the fort rises sheer from
the edge of the perpendicular clii whose
foot is washed by the waters Of the lake.
A n. 4. ICONIlNuEn Tn-MnRRnW