Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-07-27

| these. that to the south. and inside the bav is
motloniess and bears the name Of the dead
| Boy" but the Quick Boy" to the north
| shifts continually. 1t is quicksand, in short,
and Will las the word goes swallow a man In
| three minutes
My mind, resumed my companion, "was
soon made up. There is no murder, thought
| l, where there is no corpse. So l propped
Lydia in the armchair, where she seemed as
If mapping, and went quietly up stairs. l
! packed small hand bag carefully with such
clothes as she would need for journey, de-
scended with it, opened the front door, went
out to be sure the servants had blown out
their lights, returned, and hosting my wife
on my shoulder, with tie bag in my left
hand, softly closed the door and stepped out
into the night. In the shed beside the garden
! gate the gardener had left his wheelbarrow
l fetched it out, set Lydia on top Of it, and
wheeled her off towards Woeful Ness There
was just the rim Of waning moon to light
me, but knew every inch of the way.
For the greater part of it l had turf IN
derfoot; but where this ended and the rock
began, had to leave the barrow behind. 1t
was Gcklish work climbing down; for footing
had to be found, and Lydia was nonstrous
lolling this way and thatl Besides, the bag
hampered me- But reached the foot at last,
and after short rest clambered out along
the ridge as fast as l could. was sick and
tired Of the business.
We'll, the rest was easy. Arrived at the
furthest spit of rock, tossed the bag from
me lar into the northern sand. Then l turned
to Lydia, whom had set down for the mo-
! 7 .-l.% L.
as though she were still chattering; SO kissed
her once, because had loved her, and dropped
her body over into the Quick Boy Sand. In
three minutes or so l bad seen the last Of her.
81 trundled home the barrow, mixed my
self glass Of whisky, sat beside it for half
an hour, and then aroused the servants.
was cunning, sir; and no one could trace my
footprints on the turf and rock OF Woeful
Ness. The missing hand bag, and the disar-
ray I had been careful to make in the bed
room, provided them at once with a clew-
but it did not lead them to the Quick Boy.
For two days they searched; at the end of
that time it grew clear to them that grief was
| turning my brain Your father, sir, was in
slant with his sympathy-at least ten times i
day had much ado to keep from laughing
in his face. Finally two doctors visited me-
and was taken to madhouse
II have remained within its walls twenty
nine years; but mol have never been thor
oughly at home there. Two days ago l dis
covered that the place was boring me- So
determined to escape; and this to a man Of
my resources presented few difficulties. l
! borrowed this pony from stable not many
yards from the madhouse wall; he belongs,
think, to a chimney sweep, and l trust that,
after serving my purpose, he may find a way
back to his master"
suppose at this point he must have de-
tected the question in my eyes, for he cried
sharply:
You wish to know my purposee 1t is sim
pie" He passed thin hand over his fore
head. II have been shut up, as | say, for
twenty-nine years, and / now discover that
the madhouse bores me. Ii they retake me-
and the hue and cry must be out long before
this-I shall be dragged back. What, then,
is my proposals. / ride to Blealirk and out
along the summit of Woeful Ness There
dismount, turn my pony loose, and, descend
ing along the ridge, step into the sand that
swallowed Lydia. Simple, is it not? Ex-
cessi, evasi, evanui. | shall be there before
s,Inset-which reminds me" he added, pull
ing out his watch that my time is nearly
UP. | regret to leave you in this plight, but
you see how | am placed. l felt, when | saw
you, q sudden desire to unbosom myself of a
secret which, until the past half hour, have
shared with no man. l see by your eyes
again that if set at liberty you would inter
fere with my purpose 1t is unfortunate that
scarcely a soul ever rides this way-I know
the road of old But tomorrow is Sunday;
| will scribble line and fix it on the church
door at Bleakirk, 50 that the parish may at
least know your p+sdicament before twenty
four hours are out. ! must now be going
Tho bandanna about your mouth entreat
you to accept IS q nemento. With renewed
apologies. sir, | wish you good day; and
count it extremely fortunate that you did
not bleed"
He nodded in the friendliest manner, turn
ed on his heel, and walked quietly towards
the bridge As he untethered his pony, mount
ed and ambled quietly off in the direction of
the coast, lay stupidity watching him. His
black coat for some time lay, diminishing
blot, Oh the brown of the nloors, stood for
brief moment on the sky line, and vanished.
must have lain above an hour in this alb
surd and painful position, wrestling with my
bonds, and specializing on my chances of
passing the night by the beck side My ankles
were tied with my own handkerchief, my
wrists with the thong of my own whip, and
this especially cut me- 1t was knotted inn
movabiy; but by rolling over and rubbing
my face into the turf, contrived at length
to slip the gag down below my chin. This
done, sat up and shouted Justify.
For a long time there was no reply but the
whinnyinS of my mare, who seemed to guess
something was wrong, and pulled at her
tether until thought she would break away.
| think l called a score of times before heard
an answering "Whoo-oop!n far back on the
road, and a scarlet coat then another, and
finally dozen or more, appeared on the crest
of the hill 1t was the hunt returning.
They saw me at once, and gaNoped up
speeches. from sheer amazement. | believe
my hands were looSened before word was
spoken The situation was painfully ridicu-
lous; bat my story was partly out before they
had time to laugh, and the rest of it was
gasped to the accompaniment Of pounding
hoofs and cracking whips
Never did the NetheTkirk hunt ride after
fox as it rode after the Rev. William league
that afternoon. We streamed over the moor
a thin red wave, like rank Of charging cav
airy, the whip even forgetting his tired
hound that struggled ainalessly in our wake.
On the hill above Bleakirk we saw that the
tide was out and our company divided with
out drawing rein, some four horsemen de-
scendfng TO the beach, to ride along the sands
out under Woeful Ness, and across the Dead
Boy, hoping TO gain TIE ridge before the mad
man and cut him off. The rest, whom l led