The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1880-08-06

his guilt, would, in various ways, be
harassed and tormented by his foe, with
all his comrades on his side, and even
his life would he in danger. That night
he fixed upon what seemed a most effec-
tual mode of escaping from these annoy
ances. He determined not only to
leave that immediate neighborhood, but
TO adopt disguise which should free
him from all fear of being discovered
and receiving further trouble nom his
accusers.
Accordingly, when it was yet several
hours before dawn, he transported what
little luggage he had to place situated
about a mile up the stream, and, leaving
his property, he crossed by ford and
hastened to the nearest settlement. Ar
rived there, he went to barber S shop,
had his face shaved clean-he had, for
convenience, allowed his beard to grow
with great luxuriance-and his hair dyed.
Then, purchasing new suit OF clothes
throughout, he took them under his arm
and made his way back again. Direct
ing his steps to a part OF the stream hid
den by n dense growth of bushes, he set
about donning his new outfit. After re-
moving his old clothes and sinking them
by means of stone, he threw to the OPP
posite bank the bundle containing the
new ones and what personal property he
wore about him, and plunged i'll himself,
both by way of morning bath. and III
order to gain the other side, the stream
being here quite deep, though narrow
In climbing the steep bank, his foot
slipped and he received a severe cash III
the heel from sharp rhinestone. Before
he could bind up his injured member
the ground was stained with pretty
generous sprinkling of blood.
At length, rs he issued forth, disguised
to his perfect satisfaction, whom should
he meet but Hooker! He could not
help feeling some misgivings but, put
ting on bold face, he passed this dread
ed character without any sign of recog-
milton being shown. His baggage was
found where it had been left He put up
his tent and sat down to rest before pro-
ceeding farther.
Now" said he, d" will begin again
as new. conner III this district, under Il
new name, and under better auspices, L
hope / am well rid of my prosecutor,
and if / take little care there will be
no OUtllStI Vi NY ItCOSIlllou
He had scarcely finished this hopeful
soliloquy, when men were heard APP
preaching without, and he caught the
sound of voice too well known to him.
Presently Hooker looked i'll and, with n
malicious grin, invited him to step out
side. Crawley complied with seeming
indifference, and found Diggles and sew
eral others awaiting him.
eve know what you've been up TO-,
whoever you are, growled their leader
and spokesman, looking at Crawley' S
hands, from which, in his haste, he had
neglected to wash some marks of blood
eve know the whole story. One man
robs another, as every one knows, and
disappears with the plumber, early
some fine morning. Then this man
that's been robbed goes off up stream i'll
the direction the first man was supposed
to have taken, and he meets man num-
Der three coming up out of the bushes,
where we find blood-stains and hat
caught in the rushes. We put this and
that together and conclude that there's
been a murder for money, and the body
sunk in the river; then we come after
this third fellow and find his hands
| bloody, and we find watch-chain we've
seen before, just hanging down i'll
sight" Here he clutched at the chain
which our bewildered friend had not
thought 1t necessary to conceal, OF for
some reason had omitted to do so, and
would have pulled out the watch, but
he shook him off, exclaiming with an as
sumption of boldness:
"Your words are entirely unintelli-
gible to me L know nothing of this rob-
berry you speak of. p"
" Now that's no CO." said Hooker t;
you'd better give up my property
without any fuss, if you don't want to
ne strung up on that tree over there, for
murderer and robber both.
This was terrible to the wretched
Crawley. Was he TO be hunted down
by that demon? What could he do?
he looked around at the dark faces
which surrounded him, to see if he could
gain any hope from them. They all
eyed him fiercely with what he thought
was bloodthirsty look-no, not all /;
what was it that made Diggles seem SO
! i'll at ease, as though he were PLAYING a
forced part, and but half playing it at
that. But Crawley had noted before
this peculiar manner of Diggles', and
could get no encouragement from it now.
He could only disclaim all knowledge of
the missing gold, and look on with
gloomy forebodings while diligent
search was prosecuted under the direc-
ton of Hooker. At the end of that
fruitless operation, rope was produced
and he was led, almost fainting with ter
ror, to the tree which had been desig-
mated as suitable for his execution, and
his fate was sealed by Hooker in these
words, who recited them in the manner
OF Judges sentence, manifesting cruel
delight the while:
=" You are hereby adjudged guilty of
murder in the first degree, as well as of
an act of atrocious robbery, and SEN
fenced to be hanged by the neck at the
expiration of one-half hour.
The unfortunate victim knew that
Hooker, without troubling himself to
use his reason on the probabilities of
the case, was so enraged by the loss of
his gold that he would, in his mad pas
sion, wreak his terrible vengeance upon
him to the full, using the charge of muir
Il e..