Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1894-09-07

obliged to conclude that his magma
ton had played him trick. He
couldn't help wondering, though, what
had frightened the horse.
There was nothing to be done Or said,
for if Mrs. Rodden had gone home a
month before certainly she could not
have been roaming around in the snow,
and as there was no other woman within
miles of the camp he must have been
mistaken. Rodden, though not at all
hospitable in manner, got supper and
allowed the express rider to stop for the
night.
After supper Raymond opened his
saddlebags. saying:
"Well, as Maggie is not here to take
her package, and as it was intended for
you, anyway, I suppose I'd better give
it to you, and you can write her that
her Christmas present got here little
ahead of time. -
He tossed the package across to the
man, who stared at it as it petriGed.
He stretched out his hand slowly and
opened it with shaking fingers The
package contained pair of thick, warm
gloves, nothing more.
"When did Maggie send for these?"
he asked.
''The last time was here. You came
near not getting them at all, for she
had no chance to tell me to buy them
while was here and had to run after
me to give the order
"Was that all she ran after you for?"
''That was all. "
Rodden settled back into his chair,
with groan, and hid his face in his
hands.
Raymond sat silent for awhile, then,
finding that the man did not intend to
speak, lie concluded that the best thing
he could do was to go to bed He was
soon sleeping and knew nothing more
until the morning light, shining through
the uncurtained window, awoke him.
He dressed hurriedly and went ont
into the room where he had left his host.
It was silent and deserted. A glance
into the side room showed that the bed
was unoccupied, and Raymond went
out to look after his horse as we'll as to
see if he could see any signs of his host
The horse had been stabbed in deserted
cabin, and Raymond pushed open the
door and then sprang back into the
open air. Swinging by a halter from the
rafters was Rodden's dead body.
Raymond cut the body down and laid
it carefully in the bunk. He could do
nothing for it, as the snow covered the
frozen earth, SO that one man could not
hope to dig grave. Hastily saddling
his horse, he drove away, after search
ing the cabin in the faint hope that he
might find some note of explanation,
but in vain. Not line of writing, new
OF old, could be found.
Raymond stopped at the first settle
ment and gave notice Of the suicide at
the deserted camp, but the snow was
again falling, and no party could reach
the place for weeks, if before spring.
When he reached the city, he wrote a
letter to his parents asking them to
break the sad news to the widowed
Mrs. Rodden. Weeks passed before he
received any answer, and then he was
astounded to learn that Maggie had
never returned home-in fact, had
never even written since she left for
California.
By this time spring had come, and he
was about to make his first trip to the
mountain. He reached the town where
he had given notice of the suicide in
time to learn what had been discovered
at the lonely cabin.
A thorough search had been made,
but nothing had been found to explain
the suicide. Hidden away in one Of the
distant cabins they found Mrs. Rod
denis clothing, her ornaments, even her
worlzbasket, and, in fact, so far as they
could judge, every article that had be-
longed to her.
Raymond told the men Of the events
of that last night and his Interpretation
| Of them, but he said nothing of his
meeting with the wronged woman in
the storm.
They argued that Rodden, jealous be-
cause his wife had gone down the trail
after Raymond, in his anger had killed
her. Filled with remorse when he
learned how causeless the deed had been,
he decided to die i'll the same way, as
| if the world knew of his crime
That was Creed Haymond's one ghost
story. Years passed before he could
speak at all of that meeting in storm
and darkness, but till the day of his
death he believed that the spirit of muir
dered Mrs Rodden had appeared to him
on the trail Louis Post Dispatch
| Steam Gauges.