Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1886-04-01
asked miner, who, just coming In, had nat
heard Raukiufa last rayoart

asked miner, who, just coming In, had nat
heard Rankins last remark.
YES replied Rankin Splendid lot
Havanas-only it wants bull team to draw
one Try one You'll find it'll last you a
month. just the quality to suit your case.
You smoke too much. These cigars are go,
up express to cure people of smoking One'll
last an ordinary man whole year. Ask Mike
my partner. He had 'em made to order"
Rankin's gable was a relief. Big Dick
came in, and forgetting past admonitions
hoisted his huge proportions on the limited
area of counter uncovered by goods, and
Immediately got off again with a quickness
that suggested some uncomfortable sen
sation
Glad it works." said Rankin. "Nothin'
but a needle stuck through the wood. Some
foIkses heads are too thick to take hint.
Then we try some other part. If at first
you don't succeed, try, try again. chimed
Rankin, and then added: . Needles and
pins, Needles and pins, When you get mar
ried your trouble begins
Presently Hillyear entered A cloud
seemed to come with him To me it was as
if the vindictive spirit of the dead man
kept him company.
He looked about anxiously, as if with the
hope that Pratt might be present. knew the
meaning of that look.
Hillyear was a slow moving man, appa-
rently follower of Pratt and led by him
Without his partner he seemed lost
HAS anybody seen Pratt to-dayl He
hasn't come back" after time he asked, in
his heavy, drawing way IA sentence with
him seemed always matter of previous deep
and labored study, and when asked the sim
plest question the time that elapsed before he
replied was cxasperating to an eager in
quirer).
why, saw him piking along Scrub noun
tain to-day said one of the crowd. "What's
he gunnin' after up there, anyhow"
Holder, didn't | see you crawlin' among
the bushes up there todayn said one Bill
Setter. THAT red shirt you've got on looks
like the one saw"
Fool that was! had not thought of
wearing garb which would show SO conspic-
uously against the dark hottle green of the
chapparaL
YES, took stroll that way" said.
felt forced into such reply. He continued:
What did yer find to shoot up there'
Rattlesnakes or jackass rabbitss l heard a
shot"
That was Pratt's pistol Sights and
sounds seemed drawing their meshes about
me- Hillyear was looking at me in his stolid
fashion as if some faint glimmer 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-neigh-
bors of the slain--whose lives had previously
shown no such inclination
Rankin's humor inclined him ever to give
an individual the very characteristic which
be 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 if some fiend 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 so
carr for in the morning"
And the last mans blood is on his pants
nowl' added third
had worn pair of white duck working
trousers and spot of the blood from Pratts
body had smeared them near the feet--I 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. | felt as if in the dock
tried convicted, sentenced.
| left soon afterward Hillyear's route
home was mine. We were obliged to walk
near each other on the narrow, rocky trail.
wide enough for 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 of
those natures born to follow-that Pratt
had picked him up as he would a stray dog
looking for master, and that with the in
stinct of the animal he had become attached
TO Pratt and was grieving for him
l tried in vain that night to sleep. So soon
as my body was at rest, and my brain be-
came more active than ever, its picturings
vibrating from Pratt's body to the store and
from the scenes of that day to the possibl,
ones of to-morrow
Something must be done with that body
Where it was it must not remain.
You know how in our minds come fioatinp
memories-recent or remote important OF
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 me.
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 on highway or byway
ON plain, gulch or mountain, and though it
be ever so thickly screened by bushes.
though not one of these scavengers be visible.
yet within few hours trooping they come,
led by some wondrous faculty of scent or
vision to the carcass, their feast
That body, l must remove and this very
night. | jumped up, dressed myself in the
darkness, and i'll few minutes was stumbling
up the mountain side An ''old moon" gave
me its fading yellowish light. Much of the
trail, both up and down, lay in almost total
darkness. Where the pines grew thiclly some
times | lost my way entirely. CROPPED and
stumbled over bush and rock. In two hours
L was again ON the spot
1t was my intent to drag the body down
the mountain side and throw it in the river.
Whether it was found far or near, it would.
| thought lessen and break the web of cir
cumstantial evidence | saw weaving about
me. 1t would put Pratt off the ground l
ihuSO AictiuGnt
The fragment of moon remaining was lust
above the dark outline of the hills on the
other side of the river. In ten minutes l
should he left in total darkness.
| commenced removing the brush from
Pratt's body. took it first from the legs
and trunk. The face / didn't want to
see if possible. l worked the slower as
l approached the head The moon sunk
entirely behind the dark ridge oDnosita
removed the brush from the head | had
reached the last branch covering 1t. l at
tempted TO remove that. Something sear-sf
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. II did not seem, as
then sawit, the act of live man. 1t seemed
dead body holding on with a dead life
Almost desperate with horror, tugged at
the branch. Then heard Pratts voice say