Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1894-08-11

night Her face seemed - void Of ex.
preston as the black oaks in ths yard
Tho cold, hard stare was directed To-
ward the road, and there IL rested inn
movably. The hours passed slowly.
The moon orept on and ON until it was
almost directly over the house. The
loud snoring Of the old folks, the occa-
sionsl cough Of one Of the children, the
chirp Of a cricket and the croak Of
frog were the only sounds which dis
turbed the almost perfect quiet
'Twan't no harm nohow," she said
to herself. ''Ther law amt no right
to put yer in Jail fur maxim money er
whisky" And the moon travelled ON.
''He did it, that ther Dobson." And
again she rclapsed into silence.
Soon she arose and shook herself, 40
if to throw off the chill Of the night
air. She lighted the dip Of tallow and
placed it Oh chair; then she reached
up over the door and took q long rife
down from its resting place on pair of
tree forks She extracted the charge
with long rod, wiped the gun clean
and reloaded it. Then she placed il
faded calico dress and went to bed
; Her loud breathing soon told that she
was asleep
In the morning she performed her
household duties as if nothing had hap
pened. No word was spoken Of Eph,
except by the Oldest boy, who asked
once when pop nd be back" No one
answered him. The sun came out again
i'll all its fiercencss. The children be-
gan their play and the old people their
talk. When all We're busy, Mandy took
the old rife down from the rack over
the door. She shouldered the weapon
with the strength and sleight of a strong
man and started off down the road.
She seemed i'll a hurry, for she took long
strides like q man. Her body swayed
in tune to her STEP either from the
weight Of the gun or habit. She passed
| several persons with the usual saluta-
| ton, "Morninr' She looked neither
10 the left nor to the right. Finally she
reached a lane where the hazel bushes
skirted the road She walked more
carefully then. She peercd into field
through an opening, but did not seem
satisfied, for she continued her walking.
She stopped again shortly ando looked
through the bushes. In tho field, about
| 20 PAGES distant, was q man patiently
hocinR his corn. She pokcd the rifle
through the bushes just as the solitary
laborer Strengthened up, took off his hat
and. wiped the perspiration from his
| fnce with his shirt sleeve. She glanced
along the barrel of the gun. There was
a sharp report. and the man fell over in
hole in his temple.
Then Mandy replaced the gun on her
shoulder. She walked off down the road
| without a word When she arrived at
her home, she put the rifle in its resting
place and went about her duties.
In the afternoon the rumble of q road
wagon was heard below the house. II
came nearer. All went TO the door to see
who it was. The wagon stopped before
the lOusse al knew the driver. 1t was
Bill BucAer, the constable. As he climb.
ed over the fence all in the house started
out TO meet him.
i Mandy, want yer ter go with me
fur ther shootin of Dobson.
The woman's face was rs immovablt
as it had been when she sat at the win
dow the night before. Eph's father anG
mother and the children looked at he,
fixedly.
"All right. Bill. III go with yer, y
and with this she climbed into the
wagon.
Zach" she said to the oldest child
eyer go over to yer Aunt Minerva's Al
tell her to cum round an look after yel
ALL" The wagon ratified down the road
and the children and old people looked
after twill Withers Douglas il
Louisville Courier Journal