The Valentine Democrat. [volume] (Valentine, Cherry Co., Neb.) 1896-1898, 1896-09-24
XVIII.

CHAPTER XVIII.
The Solution to the Preston Mystery.
At this moment the dying man
opened his eyes, and he gave a start
and moan when he saw the face of
Henry Preston above him.
"Preston, Preston; why have you
come to torture my last moments with
your accursed presence You were
ever say life's curse, my rival In every
thing" gasped the dying scout; shut,
after.all it matters not; the life you
caused the ruin of is almost at an end.
In a few short moments 1 will have
left this cursed world sof disappoint-
ment, and I thank God that it is So"
"You wrong me, Moore, when you
accuse me Of causing you disappoint-
ment. 1 had nothing to do with the
workings of Fate" replied Preston
kindly.
"Bah, Henry Preston; think you I
would have become the wreck l now
am, had you not robbed me of the love
of Margaret Nobles No, man.; L loved
her more than life itself and she would
have been mine, would have made my
life a very Heaven, instead of a tor
ture such as it has been to me, but for
your turning her against me-"
cit was your dissipated habits that
lost you her love, Harry;I had moth.
ing to do with her turning against you
But you are dying, man; let us be
friends. Tell me, fer the sake of God,
had you aught to dc with the murder
of my little daughter Isabel?:'
81 did, Henry Preston. But L did
not kill her. 1t was a scoundrel in my
employ who fired the shot which
caused her death; but the bullet was
intended for the mai with her, for he
was mistaken for YOU"
"For Gods sake, tell me the story,
Moore; if you sought to thus wreck my
life, you succeeded but too well: her
loss broke my heart. For more than
a year have / searched for her murder
er. Tell me, is he yet living?"
"Prop my head a little higher, Pres
ton, and I will tell you the whole
story" answered the scout, his wan
face showing a shade OF remorse.
Preston did what he could to ease
the wounded a who finally related
the details from which the following
story of the mystery is written.
The scout, Harry Moore, alias Harry
Lane, had been a schoolmate of Pres
tons in the early days when they to-
gether attended the little village school
in Ohio and strove to win the smiles of
pretty Margaret Noble. For a time
the maid seemed to favor a young
man by the name of Hendricks, but
finally bestowed all her smiles on
Moore. A few years later Moore be-
came a hard drinker and the maiden
refused to longer recognize him and
finally married Preston, who was one
of the brightest young men in the
town. Moore swore vengeance, and
by underhand r~ascality made the life
of Preston, for the ten years that he
lived in Ohio, SO %uDbearable that Pres
ton moved to Nebraska. Moore did
not modest him for several years, but
at last, hearing that a wealthy rela-
tive of his, whom Preston had at one
time rescued from drowning in the
Ohio, had made his will in Preston's
favor, leaving him, the only living
heir, entirely out of it, his rage knew
no bounds. Hiring two rascals and
binding them by an oath to assist him
to kill Preston he started for Nebraska.
Each of the two toughs carried, sus-
pended from his neck by a chain of
silver a hollow silver '3' which con-
tanned a copy of their murderous oath.
Moore wore the golden So"
CHANGING to oyerhear a part of the
r~uffians' plans, the man Hendricks,
alias Charles Gates, followed them day
and night. On the night of the Pres
ton tragedy Moore and his companions
had camped on the Niobrara not far
from the Preston ranch. Being short
of meat, they had rowed out On the
river in an old canoe which they had
stumbled on in the grass. and while
fishing had observed the forms of
Powell and Isabel on the river bank.
Hurriedly rowing to shore the three
men conceal themselves in the bushes,
and mistakinO PoUoII for Praaton ono