Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1891-03-14
Mr.. lIeeSOn' 5 VIII,
by q. RIDER HAGGARn.

f - d Feeble air of triumnb t.t nIeeson'
al lSger heard Of will that l. H4nynow'
wor5 b t%9 millions being got into o n;Sg
ond d. POSED POISED his fish bone, and nex+ 600
sbrioi Hugnsta gave start and -oAT Ii sec,
"No,-a 90 1ne operation had benin
incl. ..-l mind, miss, said Bill corso1
3ftor 3 3T II soon get used to it"
o,5-. 'iat Augusta set her teeth o,5
bar r IN silence, though it really bUrt
f,i &c y much, for Bill was more care
rnono,1oo arllStlc effect and the nar-
of - Vi me work than of the feelinrs
corpore Will he would bay-a 'I go IN La
oeeh conyersant with the cIasS;os naI 90. ne
ouI much consideration for The oo "l.n-
;ludl; 40 ne pricked and dug aJyav III titi'
ms sh bone, which he dipped IN
III Tue cutie ink and with The eLa,.-1
fectly sick oh 10 feel per
Tor three hours the work continued
anu at the end of that time the bod ~
The VIII was finished-for BiII WIS 80 ro ~
worker being written in medium 80
letters right across her ivory shonldnrs
Dut the signatures remained to he affivad
/, Dill asked her if she would like to lot
them stand over till the morrow bnt tbis
alIhough she felt faint with the main eba
declined to do. She was marked now
nia mar with the ineffaceable mark If
Dill so she might as well be marked to
some purpose. If she put off the signing
VI tHe document till the morrow it might
9e 100 late MIR. Meeson might be dead.
OoIilhle might have changed his mind.
o OF d hundred other things. So she told
them to go on and finish it (; quickly as
possible, for there was only about two
hours more daylight.
Fortunately, Mr. Meeson was mora o..
less acquainted with the formalities that
are necessary in the execution of a will
namely, that the testator and the two
witnesses should ali sign in the presence
OF each other. He also knew that it was
sufficient if, in case of illness. some
third person held the pen between =
the testatOrs fingers and assisted
him to write his name, or even if
some one signed for the testator in his
presence and by his direction; and. areu.
ing from this knowledge, he came to the
conclusion-afterward justified in the
great case of Meeson VS.. Addison and
Another-that it would be sufficient if he
inflicted the first prick of his signature
and then kept his hand upon Bits while
the rest was done This accordingly he
did, clumsily running the sharp bone so
deep into the unfortunate Augusta that
she fairly shreked aloud, and then
keeping his hand upon the sailors
arm while he worked in the rest of
the signature, j Meeson." When
it was done the turn of Johnnie came.
Johnnie had at length aroused himself to
some interest in what was going on, and
had stood by watching all the time, since
Mr.. Meeson having laid his finger upon
Augustus back had solemnly declared the
writing thereon to be his last will and
testament. AS he (Johnnie) could not
tattoo, the same process was gone through
with reference to his signature as in the
case of Mr.. MeesOn. Then Bill Jones
signed his own name, as the second wit
ness to the will; and just as the light
went out of the sky the document was
finally eXecuted-the date of the execu-
ton being alone omitted Augusta got up
off the fat stone where she had been seated
during this torture for something like five
hours, and, staggering into the hut, threw
herself down upon the sail and went off
into dead faint. 1t was indeed, only by
very strong exercise of the viii that she
had kept herself from fainting long be-
fore
The next thing she was conscious of
was a dreadful smarting in her back, and
on opening her eyes found that it was
quite dark in the hut. So weary was she,
however, that after stretching out her
hand to assure herself that Dick was safe
by her side she shut her eyes again and
went fast asleep. When she woke the
daylight was creeping into the damp and
squalid hut. revealing the heavy form of
MIR. Meeson tossing to and fro in a
troubled slumber on the further side. She
got up, feeling dreadfully sore about the
back; and, awalking the child, took him
out to the stream of water and washed
him and herself as well as she could. 1t
was very cold outside so cold that the
child cried, and the rain clouds were COM
inc up fast, so she hurried back to the
hut and, together with Dick, made her
breakfast off some biscuit and some roast
penguins eggs, which were not at all bad
eating. She was, indeed, quite faint with
hunger, having swallowed no food for
many hours, and felt proportionately bet
ter after it.
Then she turned to examine the condi-
ton of Mr. Meeson. The will had been
executed none too soon, for it was evident
to her that he was in very bad way in
deed. His face was sunken and hectic
with fever, his teeth were chattering, and
his talk. though he was now awake, was
quite incoherent She tried to get him to
take some food, but he would swallow
nothing but water. Having done all that
she could for him, she went out to see the
sailors. and met them coming down from
the flag staff. They had evidently been
at the rum cask again. though not to any
great extent, for Bill looked sheepish and
SbaIzv. while the i'll favored Johnnie was
more sulky than ever. She gazed at them
reproachfuIly. and then asked them to
collect some more penguins eggs which
Johnnie refused point blank to do, saying
that he wasn't going to collect eggs for
land lubbers to eat; she might collect
epcs for herself Bill, however, started
on the errand, and in about an hours
time returned, just as the rain set in IN
good earnest, bearing six or seven dozen
fresh eggs tied up in his coat.
. Augusta, with the child by her, sat in
tbe miserable hut attending to Mr.. Nee
son; while outside the pitiless rain poured
down in a steady, unceaslng sheet OF
water that came through the Wretched
roof in streams. She did her best to keep
the diving man dry, but it proved to be al
most an impossibility; for even when she
succeeded in preventing the wet from
foII;E,r ON him from above, it got under
neatb him from the reeking floor, while
+be heavy damp of the air gathered on hls
Garments till they were quite sodden.
As the hours went on his consciousness
came back to him, and with it his terror
for the end and his remorse for his past
life. for alasl the millions he had am&Ssed
could not avail him now
u am going to dier' he groaned 81 am
poing to die, and I've been a bad man,
Eve been the head of publishing com
pany all my life him that