Sharp County record., 1878-06-07

ed. There was a slight huskiness in the
Captains voice, slight dimneSs in his
eyesight as he ended, and a blur upon
the fair page that was not there when
he began.
The Colonel had dropped his head be-
tween his two hands. Horton had
rever taken his eyes from the paper.
Fleet, who had walked to the window
and had been apparently absorbed in
staring at the staring sunlight without,
suddenly turned, advanced to the table,
and held out both his hands. In an
other moment they were locked in his
companions, and the four men, holding
hands, closed round the table and the
letter that lay in its center.
awe don't want no letter of condo
lence, Capt. Rats" said Joe Fleet, 8tur-
Oily, "for there amt any thin to con-
dole for. don't see just now how it
is, or how we can fix it, but l E'ooO that
that girls parents ART dead, ez long,
please God, as we are liying!"
The men pressed each others hands
in silence, until Capt. Rats, with burst
of revelation, di8engaged his, and sud
denly brought it against his right leg
with resounding emphasis:
"That's it-and it makes the whole
thing clar. We don't write no letters
of condolence-for why? We goes
straight on and writes az if we was the
old man. He's let on enough to me
about hisselfIand his affairs to make it as
easy as fallin' off a log. Well just chip
in where we left off. Well take his hand
as it is, play out his little game, win or
lose, and if four sharps like us can't
make it easy for that child and rake in
the pot every time, We'll leave the
board. Yis, gentlemen continued
Rats, take tp the letter, "I'll answer
this to-night myself. l, Capt. Rats, late
Meriloe, deceased"
Part u.-Ifow the Trust was Fulfilled.
When the combined guardians of La
grange first practised to deceive, they
did not forecast the tangled web whose
pleasant intricacies and sinuasities they
were presently to weave. And when
Capt. Rats calmly announced to his
gentle confederates his intention of writ
ing his first letter-in loco poTenttS to
the orphaned girl with his left hand, ex-
planning to her the thereby changed
chirography through the ingenious fc-
ton of an accident that had happened to
his right-it was accepted with accla-
nation. "You see," said the Captain,
sententiously, "every man sings ink
with his left hand at about the same
gait. The style amt pretty nor plain,
but she'll never find out it amt the old
mans"
The possibility of detection thus OBJ
viated-and, indeed, it afterward ap-
peared that the simple minded girl
dwelt more anxiouSly upon the discom-
forts of the accident to her father than
on his changed and almost illegible
handzvaG4 rs other gentle frauds and
deceits were introduced in the CORE
spondence. A certain emulation of the
Captains skill and Importance as a cor
respondent grew up among the other
guardians. They began to make sug-
gestions of their own, until at last
steamer day brought them generally to-
gether, in conclave, in the back room
of the saloon, where the fortnightly
epistle was dictated finally by all. Capt
Rats's pride, which at first resented this
interference, was finally placated by the
compromise that the composition or
wording" of the letter should be his
own, although the subject matter might
be a various contribution.
The result of this unhallowed co-labo-
ration was series of the most extraor-
binary letters ever inflicted on a single
correspondent. 1t was not long before
their fame passed beyond the horizon of
the fair recipient. "Do you know, papa
DEAR" wrote the simple girl from the
secluSion of Nine. Brimborion'S acade-
my: edo you know your letters are so
very, very interesting, | could not help
showing them to some Of the girls here?
Your account the Colonel'S of the fight
with the bear was so real that | almost
saw it. laughed till l cried over that
funny story of the Chinaman mending
your clothes a characteristic contribu-
ton from Horton but then [ did cry
E~ally, too, papa, over what you Fleet
said about your feelings that Sunday
you saw the sunset from the poor little
forlorn cemetery on the hill. Oh, papa
it was lust lovely-and so sad-so very
sad! Mary Ricketts, said it was just like
Shakespeare, and she knows, oh, so
much, and is considered very, very
smart! They all think l ought to be so
fond of my dear papa, as if | wanted
any thing to make me love him! She,
Mary, asked me if you were very old,
and l said you couldn't be very-are
youP Then that was very good about
the mines that you 1.-THE Colonel wrote.
Nine. Brimborion asked permission to
copy that part where you the Colonel
docpriho tho noonnar of radupinp 0rps .