Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-10-12
Mr.. NELSON'S WILL.
CY n. RIDER

turned down the flannel garment under
meath it in such a fashion as to leave as
much OF her neck and shoulders bare as Is
10 be seen when a lady has on a moderate
IL low dress. Then she came out again,
dressed, or rather undresscd, for the sacri-
fee. Meanwhile, BIZ had drawn out the
ink bag Of the cutie, had prepared n little
round fragment Of wood which he sharp
ened like a pencil by rubbing II against a
stone, and had put a keen edge on 10 a
long white hshbone that he had selected.
Vow, Mr.. Bill, | am ready" said Au-
Eusta. seating herself resolutely upon o
fat stone and setting her teeth.
MY word, Miss, but you have a beauti-
full pair Of shoulders" said the sailor, o i
templating the snowy expanse Of skin
with the eye Of al artist. II never had
such q bit of material to work on afore.
Hang me IL 1t amt almost a pity to mark
'em, Not but what high-classed t~attooing
"a an ornament 70 anybody, from a Prin-
cess down; and in that you are fortunit,
Miss, for / larnt tattooing from them a.
can tattoo, / did"
Augusta bit her lip and the tears came
into her gray eyes. She was only a wo-
man, and had a woman's little weakness,
and, though she had never appeared in o
low dress in her life, she knew that her
bust was one of her greatest beauties and
was proud Of it. 1t was hard TO think that
she would be marked all her life With
this ridiculous will-that Is, IL she escaped
and, what was more, for the benefit of a
young man who had no claim upon her al
all.
That was what she said to herself, but
as she said IL something in her told her
that Ii was not true. Something told her
that this young Mr.. Eustaco Meesou had
q claim upon her-the highest claim that
a mar can nave upon q woman, for the
truth mus out-she loved him. Ii seemed
10 have come home 20 her cutie clearly
here in this dreadful. desoiate place, her
in the very shadow OF an awful death, that
she did love him, truly and deeply. And
that being so, she would not have been
what she was-a ge~ntle-natured, devoted
woman-haG she not at her heart rejoiced
at this opportunity Of self-sacri1ce, even
though that self-sacrilce was of the hard
est sort, seeing hat it involved what al!
women hate-the endurance OF a ridicu-
lous position. For love can do all things,
It can even make it's ~votaries brave ridi-
cule.
go on" she said, sharply, land let Us
get it over as soon as possible"
"Very well, Miss. What is 1t to be, old
Gentleman Cut it short, you know"
az leare all my property 10 EuSt0ee III.
Mecson;' that's as short as / can get it,
and, il properly witnessed, ! think that ii
will cover everything" said Mr.. Meeson,
with a feeble air Of triumph. Anyhow,
I never heard OF a will that Is TO carry
about two millions being got into nine
words before"
Bill poised his fish bone, and, next sec
ond, Augusta gave a start and a little
Shrek. for the operation had begun.
Never mind, Miss" said Bill, consol
ingly; you'll Don get used 10 it."
After that Augusta set her teeth and en-
dared in silence, though it really hurt her
very much, for BIZ was more careful OF
the artistic effect and the permanence Of
the work than Of the feelings of the sub
ject. Fat e-Epcrim6Rt3,Ea in c0rpOrc rjlf,
he would have said hal be been conversant
with the Classics, without much consider
alton for the corpus rilum. So he prickeC
and dug away with his ishbone, which n
dipped continually in the cutie ink, an,
- y ttAN C@AasA u EAkAA Va ~ S&@%
began TO feel perfectly sick.
For three hours the work continued, and
at the end OF that time the body of the viii
was inished-for Bill was n rapid worker
being written in medium-sized letters
right across her ivory shoulders. But the
signatures yet remained TO be affixed.
Bill asked her IL she would like TO ler
them stand over till the morrow.-bu'
this, although she felt faint with the pain
she declined 10 do. She was marked now
marked with the incffaceable mark O
Bill, so she might rs well be marked t.
some purpose. II she put of the signin!
of the document till the morrow, it nigh
be too late, Mr.. MeeSon might be dead
Johnnie might have changed his mind, o
a hundred things. So she told them TO g
on and finish it as quickly as possible, 70
there was only about two hours more day
light.
Fortunately Mr.. Meeson was more o
less acquainted with the formaities tina
are necessary in the execution Of n Will
namely: that the testator and the two Wit
nesses should all sign In the presence o
each other. He also knew that il was sui
ficient if, in cases of illness, some thir,
person held the pen between the testator'
fingers and assisted him To write his name
or even if some one signed for the testato
in his presence and by his direction; and
arguing from this knowledge, he came 4
the conclusion-afterward justified in tn,
great case of Meeson as. Addison and an
other-that it would be sufficient if he in
fiicted the first prick OK his signature, IN
then kept his hand upon Bills while tn
rest was done. This accordingly he did
ciumsily running the point Of the sharl
bone so deep into the unfortunate August
thrt she fairly shrieked aloud, and the
keeping his hand upon the sailors arm
while he worked in the rest OF the sigma
ture, ~. Meeson.n When It was lone
the turn of johnnie came. Johnnie has
at length aroused himself to some interes
In what was going on, and had stood b,
watching all the time, since Mr.. Meessn
having laid his finger upon Augusta
back, had solemnly declared the writin
thereon to be his last will aud testament
As he iJohnnie} could not tattoo, the san
process was gene through with referenc
to his signature, as in the case of Mr.. Mes
son. Then Bill Jones signed his owl
name. as the second witness TO the viii
and just as the light went out of the SIX
the document was finally executed-th
date Of the execution being alone omitted
Augusta got mp on the nat stone wher
she had been seated during this torture 70
something like five hours, and, staggerina
into the hut, threw herself down upon III