Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1888-06-29

IcLectlOn OF us every feature anu even OF Dls
expression upon the screen before them. The
attitude IN which Ee was seated was his favor
lie one when lie was plunged in thought, hi
hands resting on his knees and his gaze fixed
on vacancy. He WIS thinking Of his triumph.
an1 OF all that ho had gone through TO win it
and Of all that it would bring him. He held
the trump cards now, and the game was in
his own hand. Tie had triu.nphed, and yet
over bin hung the shadow OF that curse that
dogs the presence OF our accomplished desires.
Too often, even with tho innocent, does the
seed Of our destruction Turk in the rich bios
som OF our hopes, and much moro is this 80
with the guilty. Somehow this thought was
present in his mind tonight, and in a rough,
hall educated way he grasped its truth. Once
moro the saying Of the old Boer general rose
in his mind: ~ believe that there is God
l believe that God sets limit to q mans
doings. II he is going too fer, God kills
him"
What q dreadful thing it would 10 II the
old fool were right after oil. Surprising that
there were a God, and God wero to kill him
tonight, and hurry Of his soul, IL he had on,
to some din, place of uEending fear! All his
superstitions awoke at tho thought, and he
shivered so violently that the shadow OF the
shiver caused tie outlines OF the gigantic
form upon the canvas to trcmble up and
down.
Then, rising with al angry curse, he hastily
threw off his outer clothing, ard having
turned down but rot cxtinguished the rough
parafilne lamp, flung himself upon the little
camp bedstead, which crcaked and groaned
beneath his weight like q thing in pain
Then came silence, only broken by tho drip,
drip Of the rein from the gum leaves over
head and the rafting Of the boughs whenever
breath Of air stirred them. 1t was an eeris
and depressing night, night that might well
have tried the nerves OF any strong man Who
wet through and worn out, had been obliged
to crouch upon the open and endure it. How
! much ElcTo awful was it then to the unfortu-
| nate woman who, half broken hearted, fever
stricken and well nigh crazed with suffering
OF mind and body, waited in it to see murder
donel Slowly the minutes passed, and at
every raindrop or rustic of a Dough her
guilty conscience summoned up host Of
fear3 But by tho mere power of her will she
kept them down. She would go through with
it Yes, she would 60 through with it. Surely
be must 10 asleep by now
They crept up to tho tent and placed their
ears within two inches of his head. Yes, he
was asleep; the sound Of his breathing rose
and fell with tho regularity Of an Infants
jess turned round and touched her COM
panion upon the shoulder. He did not move,
but she felt that his arm wGs shaking.
1Now."s' whispered
| Still nc nunX Dack. It was evident to her
that the long waiting had taken the courage
out Of him.
"Be @ nnn." sho whispered again, so los
that tho sound scarcely reached his cars al
though her lips werc alnos. touching them,
"go. and mind you strike home!"
linen AZ last sne neara I'm sorrIy draw the
great knife from the sheath, and in another
second ho had glided from her side Pres
emily she snw the line of light that cut out
upon the darkness through tho opening Of the
tent broaden . little, and by that she knew
that he was creeping in upon his dreadful
GRAND Then she turned her head and put
her fingers tn her ears. But even so sho could
sos q long line Of shadow travelling across tho
skirt Of tho tent So she shut her eyes also
and waited, sick at heart, for she did not
dare move
Prcsently-it might have been five minutes
Or only half minute afterward, for sho had
lost count OF time, she felt somebody touch
her on tho arm. It was Jantje
rs 1t donei" shc whispered again.
He shook his head and drew her away from
tho tent. In going her foot caught in one Of
the guide ropes and shook it slightly.
u could not do it, mimie," he said ale is
| asleep and looks just like Q child. When
lifted the knife he smiled in his sleep, and all
the strength went out Of my arm, 20 that I
could not strike. And then before could
get stroug ngain the ghost of the old English
| woman came and hit mo in tho hack and /
saA AWAY
4 II . LOOK could have blasted man Jantie
would assuredly have been blasted then The
mans cowardice made her mad, but while she
sldll choked with wrath duiker buck, which
had come down from ito stony homo to feed
i upon the rosa bushes, suddenly sprang with Z
crash almost from her feet, passing away like
} gray CLEAN into tho utter darkness.
Jeo started and then recovered hsrself
guessing what 1t was, but The miserable Hot,
tentos WAS overcome with terror and fell upor
the ground grooming out that it was the ghos,
Of the old Engljshwoman. He had dropped
tie knife a. he fell. and Jes, seeing the i'm
minsnt pert in which they were placed, kneli
down. picked It up, and Kissed into his ca,
that II he were not quiet she would kill him.
This paci1ed him . little, but no earthly
power could psrsuade him to enter the tent
again.
What was to b donel What could she do
For two minutes or moro sho buried her fac,
in her wet hands and thought wildly anl
. despairingly.
Then . dark and dreadful discrimination
entered her mind. The man Muller SHOULD
not escape. Bessie should not be sacrificed K
, him. Rather than that, she would dot deet
ri herself
I Without a word she rose, animated BY tn,
{ tragic agony Of her purpose and the force o.
| her despair, and giided toward the tent, tn,
} great knife in her hand. Now, oh! all to.
. soon, sho was inside Of it and stood for Z
. second to allow her eyes to grow accustomed
to the light. Presently she began to see, first
! the outline OF tho bed, e.isn the outline OF tn,
mauly form stretrsed u-,on Il. then both bet
, ana man dlstlncSiy. Jant5c mad SAID That b,
. was sleeping like child He might hav,
I been, now he was not. On the contrary. hi
1 face was convulsed liko that Of one in an cx
tremity Of fear, and great beads OF swea,
stood upon his brow. 1t was as though h
knew his danger, and was yet utterly power
les to avoid it. He lay upon his back One
heavy arm, bis left hung over the side of the
bed, the knuckles Of the hand resting on the
ground; the other was thrown back and Lis
head was piliowed upon it. The clothing had
!, fallen.back from his throat and massive chest
which wero quite bare.
jess stood and gazed. For Bessieb sake
. for Bessieis sal1er' she murmured. and then
inipelled by force that seemed to move OF
itself. she crcpt slowly, slowly, to the right
hand side Of the bed.
. At this Dloment the man woke, and his
opening eyes fell full upon her face. What,
ever his dream had been, what he now saw
was far more terrible, for bending over him
was the ghost OF the woman he had murdered
In the Wal. There she was, risen from her
river grave, torn, dishevelled, water yet drip
ping from her hands and hair Those sunk
and marble cheeks, those dreadful flaming
eyes could belong to no human being, but
only to spirit. It was the spirit of Jea,
Croft. the woman he had murdered coma
back to tell him that there was a living ven
gcance and a HE'LL Their eyes met, and M
creature will ever know the agony Of terro,
that he tasted of before tho end came. She
saw his face sink in and turn cshen gray
while the cold sweat ran from every pore
He was awake, but fear paralyzed him. be
could not speak or move.
He was awake, and slic could hesitate m
more.
= 5 $