The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1881-06-30


iversation with Ag, though they could
open the door.
'tCome in, Bantam, "'said Billy, "and
bring the boys, Ag understands it now"
"Whoo-oop, hooray!" shouted Ban
tam. .55E -seue--
The whole party crowded noisily into
the bar room. 4.
"'Twas misunderstanding, and I
apolygizes, said Ag heartily ''What's
more, l sets 'em up. Ye can drink all ye
want In the Spread Eagle twixt now and
midnight. but We can't pay cent"
A yell and wild rush to the bar was
the unanimous response. In the midst
Of the hilarious uproar Billy Wilk slip
ped out, unobserved by any one except
Ag, who was performing wonderful feats
with glasses and bottles behind the bar.
He went directly to Nell Dingley.
The carousal at the Spread Eagle sur
passed all its predecessors. Probably.
the free bar was the cause of it. Not
that the assembled gentlemen of No Go
selfishly drank faster because there was
nothing to pay; but the absence of f.
nance confined the operations to liquor
and facilitated them. In q single half
hour the company was dead drunk, and
the rest were nearly SO, with two excep-
tions. Ag had drank an amount which
to her was in effect nothing at all. The
other sober person in the room was tall,
lean, long-haired and sallow. He did
not show miners clothes or manners.
He might have been a gambler. or
preacher, according to how the unin-
formed observer construed his closely
shayen face, self-assured manner, and
smooth garb.' Why he was there he
could not himself have explained. He
had not drunk with the registers, nor en-
tered in the least into the fellowship of
their spree The lack of any other way
of spending the evening was probably
the only explanation of his presence.
The others knew him as Arnold Watts,
an associate in some capacity of Col.
Dingley in the mill enterprise, and their
opinions differed as to the rrImor that
gave him the distinction of killing two
men and wounding third at scrim-
mage down at Guillion's Bar. Those
who believed this story spoke of him with
becoming respect; those who did not
were occasionally insolent to his face. Ag
watched him furtively, while seeming to
be wholly engaged in iemptying bottles
into tumblers. He sat in tipped-back
chair, with his half-closed eyes idly fol-
lowing the antics of the men who were
yet ON their feet, and a glass of whisky
untouched on the table beside him.
When Billy Wilk returned, Ag saw
that, Nell Dingley had rejected him. She
did not need to ask him whether the girl
said eyes" or mo" She paused in her
work involuntarily, because she was
dumbfounded. That any woman could
resist Billys wooing was beyond her
comprehension. She covertly beckoned
him to the bar, and poured from the hid
den bottle; out of sight, a brimmer from
the private stock. He caught up the
glass and drank the whisky in gulps.
Leaning across the bar, and closing her
hands over one of his fists, she said:
''She must be foolin' ye Billy. Gals
will amoose themselves. Durn her white
hide" E-r
s'She didn't fool me, Ag." And Billy
was low, rapid and earnest in his speech.
"She owned she loved me. There
wasn't shadow of coquetry in all she
did. I've had her in my arms, Ag-
right atop my heart, here"
''Thar-don't mind that. What made
her jilt ye? Skip the rest, an get to
that"
because she must marry the man
who sits at the table-Arnold Watts.
Don't glare at him-he mustn't know
what she's told me- He's the real owner
of the mill, because he owns Colonel
DINGHY, and he demands the Colonefs
daughter for wife. He carries in the
belt under his shirt note which the
Colonel was somehow driven to forge.
So it's prison for the father, or the altar
with the girl. It's heavens truth, Ag,
for she said So Oh, I could kill the
scoundrel."
He turned from the bar toward Watts
so ferociously, and spoke so loud, that
even Bantam, who had been motionless
on his back for ten minutes, sat up and
stared. Ag was outside the bar in an
instant, grasping Billy in her brawny
arms, and forcing him to the door lead
ing to the boarders' rooms.
"The pizen's got to his top she said,
forcing laugh. ''Thar's the trouble
with brainy chaps-they haint got no
capacity. He's only fit for bed, an
that's whar he's gone"
The onslaught was SO unexpected that
Billy was hustled into the passage before
he had time to object, and if he had re-
the woman who held him.
eye mustn't shout yer secret, Billy.
| What was ye thinkin' on? Waggle to
yer room, lock yerself in, and fergit
whar ye put the key" -...
Billy obeyed mechanically, and Ag,
after watching him to his door with 8
semblance on her rugged face of the
tender expression which is the outward
mark of woman's love, returned to the
bar-room.
The episode had not impressed the
fuddled observers deeply, and they
asked her. no questions. Even Watts
curiosity was not aroused. She eyed
him closely for awhile until she was sat
isfied on that point Then creases came
between her eyebrows, and an omlnou
compression to her lips. But whateve
she meditated, there was lack of he
accustomed impulsiveness. Folding he
barred arms, she apparently surveyed
the company. The revelry of the sur
vivors was too far along to be disturbed
by her black scowllng. Only Arnol'
Watts saw it, and he was soon awar
that her eyes were cleaning at him. He
aspect alarmed him, if it did not disturb
his placid exterior, and he rose from hi
chair to retire. The whisky was still il
the glass by his side. Ag strobe acros
the room.
"Be We too proud to drink with tn
boys?" she cried. "Wall, reckon nc
body would touch the glass after yes
the juice mought ez well be throw
away"
She caught up the tumbler and dashe
its contents into his face. He, took tn
act for what it seemed-the wanton II
sultofa sudden bar-room foe who wante
a fight. . Nor did the others discern an
difference between her manner now an
when they had seen her freckless Al
sailant on previous occasions. He pause
an instant, as though hesitating to el
counter woman, and would have n
treated If she had not gripped his arl