The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1878-07-31

a pair of keen gray eyes fixed on him,
glanced down and longed for a hole in
the bridge floor, that he might drop into
it. Hole there was none. The eyes
were still on him, and he stammered:
"My name is The-Theophilus."
"Well, Theopnilus, then, I want you
to come along with me, up on Spruce
Hill" Day grew black for an instant to
Thoff. Then he heard: 81 want a boy
to help me get up some sheep. Got to
have 'em down here for the noon freight
train. Pay you twenty-five cents: Up
with you" And the boy took his seat
beside the man, though he would have
preferred to sit anywhere else.
"Cold ?" growled the squire; for Thof
was shaking all over.
eyes, sir,-that is-not much" He
wasn't q coward naturally, but he was
more afraid of the squire that day than
he would have been of a band of Sioux
with all their war-paint on.
The squire was a silent man, some
people said a surly man, so there was no
talking for a while. Up the hill they
drove, and out on a high level where
the wind was blowing.
"There goes my hat |" cried Thof.
He was out over the wheel and back into
the wagon again in a twinkling.
essay fort you're not a bad jumper, !"
the squire said. "Better have q band
to that hat, hadn't you ?"
"I did have one, sir, but The
stopped, remembering.
"Lost it, most likely. Stop, I believe
I've got a hat band some'ers."
The squire put his hand in his pocket,
and produced from it a strip of folded
blue cambria.
"There, T found that up on Spruce
HILL" The gray eyes seemed to Thof
to 20 through him and come out on the
other side. His fingers trembled as he
tied on his own hat-band. "Some fell
low lost it up there, I s'pose. Ever 60
up on the hill much"
'"Sometimes -blackberries."
"Bad place to lose things up there.
Don't find 'em again so easy" And the
man added, "Somebody else does. may
be-"
"He knows I've got that money!"
thought Thof; watched me or some
thing"
"Tell him all about it." said Con-
science. "Dursn't; he'd kill me if I
should"
"No, he'd forgive you if you gave him
back the money. Come; now's your
time"
"Good mind I will" And Thof drew
a big breath to start with.
"Here we are !" cried the squire.
"Out with you, n see how quick you'll
get those southdowns together. Lively,
nowW
No chance for confession then, but
with that drive went the last Of ThoA's
peace of mind.
He knows something, I haint a doubt
of it," he said to himself, ~wretchedly.
CT dare say he does" answered Sus.
picion ; and Conscience chimed In,
"Perhaps you're right"
The boy didn't dare now take the
purse and run away. The sheriff would
be on his track in twenty-four hours, he
thought. ct know the squire's just
holding off so't he can catch me and
pounce down on me. I'd carry t up to
his house n fling it into his window
some night, only he know twas me t
did it, n he'd have me took up all the
same. Mercy! who's that?"
He had got back to the bridge, and
Just ready to climb up to his den, when
he heard a footstep IN the loose boards
above him. He raised his eyes, had O
glimpse of q policeman's blue coat and
yellow buttons, and then he ran,-ran
as he never ran before, nor stopped till
he reached the freight-depot and a plat
form under which he could crawl. In
the policeman searching his retreat he
had recognized q Springfield detective.
The wallet was not in the bridge, but
among the stones Of the pier.
. Twenty-four hours later, Thoff crouch
ing and cramped under the platform
from which he had not dared to stir,
heard voices near him.
"Wonder if Pixley found what he
was after yesterday"
"Pixley 2"-the squire's voice.
"Didn't know he'd been over"
eyes. Stolen goods; surmised they'd
been smuggled over here t Diarmid:
Don't believe he found EN-: though"
A pause, a watt of tobacco. smoke, and
then the words, "Do you know, squire,
I believe your wallets hid away round
here somewhere"
$50 do T." answered Squire Granger;
but the thing is to lay hands on it.s
And then the voices passed beyond hear
ing, and a ragged, faint, wretched boy
crawled out, and skulked off through
the soft dark of the summer night.
Hope no one of you will ever know
how miserable Thof was during those
July days. He looked back on the time
when he had a quiet conscience, and
was only cold and starved, and abused
as a time of perfect bliss. Things got
worse and worse. he seemed to meet
Squire Granger on every corner, and
fancied a sheriff behind every tree. At
last there came this end:
Sunset of very hot day, a thunder
shower fast coming on, ,mutterings in
the black clouds, and Tbof seated in
the bridge staring out through a crack
at the lightning. Suddenly he saw up
the valley great branches Of trees broken
off and flying through the air; then the
roof of a house close by was lifted, and
then, quicker than I a tell it, the
timbers began to rock and sink under
him, there was o great flash of light, he
saw a figure reel on the opposite end OF
Ae bridge, and knew it was his drunken
father, and then-he knew no more.
The storm passed, the moon came
out, and a crowd of people stood on the
river bank.
"Well, the old bridge is gone, they
said. "Good there was no n on it.
What's that you say? Jim-Skelton-
seen going on the bridge as it went
DOWN."
Yes. Just as Thoff, who had been
stunned and afterwards had lain only
half-conscious for an hour, crept from
the ruin, he saw some men bringing a
body up the river in a boat. His
father was dead. The whirlwind had
carried the three eastward spans of the