The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1885-10-01

Il nd 1ffa Ill1 i DIN to y.
II Acnil ~ ~ lsiIsIIl 1nSek
4 ship Which She would alsh Will
IL thSprettyreYol1 ivory handled md
! chased with which Dirk had
sIgiven hen, 4
ono night s. Istroled Into tho Albert
saloon for Q game Of billiards, 81 found
knot of di@ers gathered around q
new arrival q hand some little French.
man, who had come to the Fields to
look after some claims ID which o. Pari-
sian firm had invested, Hewas laugh
ing conceitedly, and stroking his care
fully waxed imperial with 8 self-satis-
fed air, when Dirk came ia, and was
immediately hailed by q man who was
no friend Of his-the manager of some
ground which was always tumbling in
to Dirk's claims. and smashing his
gear. S5}s1 .5 .s.sS :. :.
I did not hear exactly what he said,
but my attention was uddenly arrest
ed by seeing Dirk make a bound at the
Frenchman, and seize him by the
throat, while his eyes fairly blazed with
passion. The Frenchman tried to elude
his grasp, but in q moment Dirk had
dashed him to the floor and was stand
ing over him, raging with fury.
"You miserable liar and scoundrel,"
he said, "if ever hear ofyou mention
ing my wife's name again, I'll kill you'll"
Then he strobe out OF the saloon. (.
A silence fell on the company stand
ing around the fallen Frenchman, and
as he staggered to his feet and skunk
away into q side room, where the rat
tie of dice went on all day long and far
into the night, no one found so much
as q word to throw after him.
met Dick on several occasions af-
ter this curious episode, but, as if by
mutual consent, we avoided the SUBJ
ject. One night, however, when the
moon was sailing majestically over
head and lighting up the dusty road
between the Pan and Kimberley with
q food of lambert light, was riding
slowly into camp when heard the
pattering of a horse behind me, and
turning in the saddle confronted Dirk.
He was agitated and angry, and with
out word of greeting plunged into the
subject uppermost in his mind.
.Do you know, old fellow" he said.
'.I've just been told by a digger at
AAeaAlo . OAAc1O CA1ttI IttSCttAy ACOAc
Frenchman has been repeating his lies
about being intimate with my wife in
Paris before she came out here Not
only that, but he says he has O minia-
ture of her which she gave him, set i'm
gold. The unmitigated liar! If I find
time 1 shall canter over to his cabin
the other side of the mine tonight, and
if he can't produce that souvenir it
will be ha1d for him. If he does, it
won't be in his possession long"
"Don't do anything rash, Dirk" I
said. Remember, there is another to
think OF beside yourself"
t'That's what it is that bothers me,
old fellow" he replied; and then, rein
ing in his horses, and jogging along by
nv side, he told me his trouble. It
appears that his wife denied any
intimacy with the Frenchman, but
stated that her father tried to force
his attentions on her in the old days
when he was half-starved ballet mas
ter, and she a. struggling aspirant at a
Paris theatre. The miniature was a
new feature in the story, and Dirk firm
ly believed it to; be q myth, but was
bent on finding out whether it was so
or not.
After awhile he grew calmer, and
paid more attention to my entreaties
to him to proceed with caution.
On parting he shook me by thehand,
and his last words, shouted to me as
he galloped off at the turning for the
Oasis, were
II shan't trouble the little French
man tonight, but let him keep out of
my way"
The next morning the body of Jules
Lacroix was found lying on the floor
Of his cabin with an ugly hole in the
left temple. In. one hand he grasped
tightly part of a eol1 chain, and the
swivel OF g. miniature. There was the
fresh spOor of g. horse not far from the
door, and the bullet found in the brain
fitted Dirk revolver to nicely.
It was not long before Dirk was in
custody, and the case looked black
against him. His threat to shoot the
Frenchman was we'll remembered; his
excited demeanor in Hallis's bar at
the Pan, when the news of the French
mans reiterated assertion of g. former
intimacy with his wife was brought to
him, was commented upon, and the
circumstantial evidence was strong.
As for Dirk himself, he utterly denied
going near the Frenchman's cabin on
the night of the murder, and he &C.
counted for the fact that he did not
reach home for nearly an hour after
leaving me by saying that, feeling hot
and excited, he went for scamper
over the veldt, and the beauty of the
moonlit night caused him to stay out
longer than he intended.
He pressed me to tell all I knew about
the matter, and I reluctantly did so,
making the most of his expressed de-
termination on leaving me not to visit
the Frenchman that evening.
The trial dragged on until late in the
night, and at IL o'clock the jury came
into the court with a verdict of
"Guilty."
I shall never forget the look of mute
agony on his wife's face as Dirk stood
up to be sentenced to death, or the
calm, proud way in which he heard his
doom.
..Mark my words, boys, sylvester's
wife will get him reprieved."
1uo speaker was lOunSlng aC Cne
counter OF the Yellow Bar, in the Trans
vaal road, and his words evoked q
murmur of sympathy.
Ever since the conviction efforts had
been made in all directions to prevent
the dread sentence of thelaw being car
ried out, and Sylvester's wife had be-
come the heroine of the camp. There
were few who did not believe that he
shot the Frenchman; but why should
he die for an offense which was light
compared with some which lay quite
easily on the consciences of not g. few
of the inhabitants of Kimberly?
As the hum of approval subsidized,
some one directed our attention to q
lady walking rapidly in the direction of
the jail. We recognized her at once,
and respectfully saluted as she drew
near. She stopped for a moment and