The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1893-12-29

they both jumped on him and kicked
his face in when he was down and I'M
armed and helpless. Was he lyin?"
''Oh, they bate him cruel. But did
he tell you of the lady-who it was they
took from him?"
"Why, sure, the wife of that old
Frenchman, Lascelles, that lives below,
her the lieutenant's been sparkin'
this three months"
1.-THE very wan, mind vel" replied the
lady of the house, with significant en-
phasis and glance from her bleary
eyes; 1.-The very wan" she finished, with
slow nodding accompaniment of the
frowzy head. "And that's the kind of
gintlemen that undertakes to hold up
their heads over soldiers like Doyle.
Here, boys, drink now, but be off
ag'inst his coming. He'll be here any
minute. Take this to comfort We, but
kape still about this till We see me
ag'in-or Doyle. Now rum" And
with scant ceremony the dreary party
was hustled out through paved court
yard to gateway opening on side
street. Houses were few and scattering
so far below the heart of the city. The
narrow strip of land between the great
river and the swamp was cut up into
walled Enclosures, as a rule-aban-
doned warehouses and cotton presses,
moss-grown one-storied frame struc-
lures, standing in the midst of desolate
fields and decrepit fences. Only among
the peaceful shades of the Ursuline
convent and the warlike flanking tow
ers at the barracks was there aught
that spoke of anything but demoraliza-
ton and decay. Back from the levee a
block or two the double lines of strap
iron stretched over a wooden cause
way between parallel wet bitches gave
evidence of some kind of a railway, on
which, at rare intervals, logged a
sleepy mule with a sleeper driver and
a musty old rattletrap of a cara car
butting up against the animals lazy
hooks and rousing him occasionally to
ringing and retaliatory kicks. Around
the barracks the buildings were closer,
mainly in the way Of saloons; then
came mile-long northward stretch of
track, with wet fields on either side,
fringed along the river by solid struc-
lures and walled Enclosures that told of
days more prosperous than those which
so closely followed the war. 1t was
to one of these graceless drinking
shops and into the hands of rascally
"dago" known as Anatole that Mrs.
Doyle commended her trio of allies,
and being rid of them she turned back
to her prisoner, their erstwhile COM
panion. Absinthe wrought its work
on his meek and plant spirit, and the
shaking hand was nerved to do the
woman's work. At her dictation, with
such corrections as his better educa-
ton suggested, two letters were
draughted, and with these in her hand
she went aloft. In fifteen minutes she
returned, placed one of these letters in
an envelope already addressed to NJ.
Armand Lascclles, No. - Rue Royale,
the other she handed to Dawson. 1t
was addressed in neat and delicate
feminine hand TO Col. Braxton, Jackson
Barracks.
Now, Dawson, We can't see her this
day, and she don't want We till you can
come over here sober. Off wild We now
to barracks. They're all out at inspec-
ton yet, and will be Tor an hour. Lay
this with the colonel mail on his desk,
and thin go you to your own. Come to
me this Afternoon for more dhrink if
We can tell me what he said and did
when he read il. No! no more liquor
now. That'll brace We till dinner-time,
and more would make We dhrunk."
Miserably he plodded away down the
levee, while she, his ruler, throwing
on huge, dirty white sun-bonnet. fol-
lowed presently in his tracks, and
Swallowed him until she saw him safely
reach the portals of the barracks after
one or two fruitless scouts into way
side bars in hope of finding some one
to treat or trust him to drink. Then,
retracing her steps few blocks, she
rang sharply at the lattice gate open
ing into a cool and shaded Enclosure,