The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1885-04-21


1t was not Tom, but short, thickset
man who held the smoke begrimed
lantern in front of him as he came to a
pause. May recognized him at once.
'.Shorty, you have come from the big
rollwayP" she quickly questioned.
Eyes, Mrs. Tom"
"My husband? Why did he moi
come? Surely he can't do anything on
the rollway after night"
MOO" faltered the man. You
see, miss, er-he won't come home be-
cause he can't"
Shorty, what do you mean7"
81 mean, marin, that there's been an
accident, and your mans hurt"
Hurt! Oh, Tom! i must 90 tc him
at once" exclaimed May, pushing open
the gate and passing into the road. A
OBTAINING hand was pressed against
her arm, and husky voice said:
mo use, marin, Tom Holcoub's
killed"
An inarticulate cry answered the
terrible announcement of the skidder,
and the next moment he held white
robed form in his arms, silent in a dead
faint.
A big break had occurred on the
rollway and Tom HolcOmb had been
caught in an exposed position. A mass
of logs went over him. and when the
rush had ceased. mangled mass of
flesh and bone, Sickening to behold
was lifted from the hillside and borne
TO leaf-strewn mound on the sum-
NIT of the bluff Was the scaler dead.
L II I.,t
dent that life was fiuttering but family
in the mangled form
"Uh, my God!''
Thus groaned the blood-smeared lips
in husky accents. Jim SweeZy knelt
quickly beside the poor fellow, and
bent his shaggy head low.
"Ef you've got a word TO say, better
speak, Tom. Mebbe your woman"
Don't l loved her; that's why did
it. I'm going to die, jim"
II expect you be. No doctor kin
help you now, Tom"
A deep and awful groan interrupted
Sweezy.
"In great pain, TomP Heaven help
YOU, old boy" Then Sweezy gazed
away to avoid the anguished sight.
.'I-I'm not in such bodily pain"
articulated the purple lips. but, Jim,
ant fit to die"
None of Us is. / reckon" uttered
Jim Sweezy, still looking into the
gathering shadows along the edge of
the forest.
I'm worse than any of you. Bend
down low, lower, JIM" gasped the
diving man, in husky accents. The
stout woodman obeved and bent his
ear close to the purple lips of the fast
sinking man.
A dozen men. stout, red-shirted fel-
lows, stood round the two forms on
the ground. awed into silence ut what
| they beheld. Not one of those men
heard the words uttered in husky ac-
cents by the debonair young scaler,
words that sent a chill to the heart of
Jim Sweezy, an astounded look to his
| face. This was the communication that
reached his ear, uttered in a voice be-
| low whisper:
IL killed Sam Blakely, Jim! l
did it with a club. and put his body
under the tree to ward off suspicion. 1t
was for her, for May, that | become a
muTueT6r.
A gasp came at the last, followed by
a rattle in the throat. An instant later,
when Jim Sweezy rose TO his feet and
turned from the spot with white face,
Tom Holcomb was dead. No one in
that crew ever learned the truth, and
the scaler received an honored burial,
with many sincere mourners following
his corpse to the grave.
1t was not until ten years later, when
May had been six years married to
John Norman, that the author learned
from Jim Sweezy's lips the story of the
tragedy among the pines.
You must keep the secret, Redwing,
fer May never 'spected the TRUTH" said
Jim, and do not reveal it when tell
the story. guarding the real characters
under fictitious names.-Morris Red.
UtnQ tn CHICAGO Inter Ocean.