Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1886-11-21

and laDOreu STUDY, anu =
| plest question the time that elapsed oeiore ne
| replied was exasperating to an eager III
quirer1. -
tain to-day" said one of the crowd: ""ha's
he gunnin' after up there, anyhow
oHolder, didn't 1 see you among
the bushes up there todayF said one Din
| Setter. THAT red shirt you've got on iooks
like the one / saw" ,
Fool that / was! / had pot thought OF
wearing a garb which would show so conspic-
| uously against the dark bottle green OF the
%chapparal :,
.eYes, 1 took a stroll that way" said l
| felt forced into such reply. He continued:
What did yer find to shoot up therei
Rattlesnakes or jackass rabbitsi heard q
shot" g,
That was Pratt's pistol Sights n
sounds seemed drawing their meshes about
me. Hillyear was looking at me In his stond
| fashion as il some faint glinimer OF an IDEA
were creeping into his brain
II shot nothing" was my reply.
The talk then drifted toward mysterious
| murders and robberies-then common In
| that country-and cases were mentioned
| which had finally been traced to men-nelSh-
bors of the ~slain-whose lives had previously
| shown no such inclination
Rsnkin's humor inclined him ever to give
| an individual the very characteristic which
he most lacked. Slow men he spoke OF as
marvels of dispatch, taciturn men as DIS
| turbing all about by the clatter OF their
| tongues /, with my shy, quiet, reticent
| manner. evidently ranked with him as a
| most peaceable character. 1t seemed to me
| then as il some fend prompted him to the re
mark:
shouldn't wonder if Holder had way
| laid and murdered Pratt Put another man
in his private graveyard"
YES" added another second fiddle humor-
| ist That's what he knocks off work 50
| early for in the morning"
And the last mans blood is on his pants
| now" added q third.
had worn a pair Of white duck working
trousers and a spot of the blood from Pratts
| body had smeared them near the feet-l had
not noticed it before.
This remark called to me the attention OF
| all in the dingy store. Their eyes seemed to
burn through me. I felt as If in the dock
| tried, convicted, sentenced.
left soon afterwsrd. Hillyear's route
home was mine. We were obliged 10 walk
near each other on the narrow, rocky trail,
wide enough for a single traveller. With all
the dark suspicion which | feared existed in
| his mind concerning me | felt sorry for him.
felt when about him that his was one oil
| those natures, born to follow-that Pratt
had picked him up rs he would a stray dog
| booking for a master, and that with the i'll
stinct Of the animal he had become attached
to Pratt and was grieving for him.
tried in vain that night to sleep. SO soon
as my body was at rest, and my brain he
anne more active than ever, its picturings
vibrating from Pratt's body to the store, and
from the scenes of that day to the possible
ones of o-morrow.
Something must be done with that body.
Where it was it must not remain.
You know how in our minds come floating
memories-recent or remote, important or
trivial, and Of no apparent relation TO the
main subject of thought. So in my mental
vision that night came the black buzzard |
had seen in the sky the day before the scene
of the tragedy, and his bit Of black shadow
floating on the ground by Inc.
That buzZard! That buZZard and his com,
panions would tomorrow show To the search
ers surely where the body lay! No animal in
that country may die IN highway or byway,
on plain, gulch or mountain, and though it
be ever so thickly screened by bushes,
though not one of these s~Cavengers be visible,
vet within q few hours trooping they come,
led by some wondrous faculty Of scent OF
vision to the carcass, their feast.
That body, | must remove, and this very
| night. / jumped up, dressed myself in the
darkness, and in a few minutes was stumbling
up the mountain side. An "old moon gave
Inc its fading yellowish light. Much of the
trail, both up and down, lay in almost total
darkness. Where the pines grew thickly some
times | lost my way entirely. | groped and
stumbled over bush and rock. In two hours
! was again on the spot.
. 1t was ms intent to drag the body down
the mountain side and throw it in the river.
Whether it was ound far or near, it would,
| thought, lessen and break the web Of cir.
cumstantial evidence | saw weaving about
me. 1t would put Pratt oil the ground i
must frequent.
The fragment Of moon remaining was Just
| above the dark outline of the hills on the
other side of the river. In ten minutes |
should bc left in total darkness.
commenced removing the brush from
PrattS body. ] took 1t first from the legs
and trunk. The farO | didm't want TO
see il possible. ! worked the slower az
/ approached the hciuI. The moon sunk
entirely behind the dark ridge opposite.
| removed the brush from the heal. | had
reached the LAST branch covering it. | at
tempted to remove that. Something seemed
to hold it with feeble resistance. ! stopped
lower, shivering. The branch was clutched
In Pratt's right hand. Yet the body lay in
corpse-like rigidity. 1t did not seem, as
then saw it, the act of a live man. 1t seemed
a dead body holding on with a dead life
Almost desperate with horror, | tugged at
the branch. Then | heard Pratt's voice say
ing family: "Hls not your mountain