Rock Island Argus., 1896-09-24

was veEJ distant ana dignlEed Zap
| tain Leale Is not here, corporal Have
you been to his quarters:'
Sure, / went there furst, sorr. and
they told nee lie was here if anywhere. :.
Thin, bedad, he's nowher
Hes gone down to the stables al
ready perhaps, said Farrar. land you'll
fEd him there. Yonder goes the call
| now
II know. Mast-I know. sorr, but
the throuhlc's right here, sorr. Higgins
has been took i'll On guard. He was
right out here on No. 3. sorr, back of
the quarters, and that spalpeen Graice
is supernumerary, and they've sint for
him, and the first sergeant's afraid,
sorr.'
| What off,
| "Graice had been drinkin this morn
in. He's sober enough now, sorr. but
he's nervous, wiidlike, excited, tramp
i'll up and down the barrack flure like
q Gagged hyena, sOrr. ~
| Then tramping up and down the
sentry post will be just the thing for
him. It'll cool him off. Put him on. -
Very well, sorr. Just as the loot n
ant says. I'll tell the sergeant at once &"
Five minutes later the parlor was de-
serted. and all was silence below. Now
| at least Helen Daunton could close her
eyes and plan and think. He was to be
placed on guard. He would be On post
right out here on the bluff. Then what
was to prevent her slipping out in the
dusk of the evening, when all the others
| had IN fl,n hn1
speaking with him, pleading with him,
imploring him to go away. anywhere
anywhere where he would not again i'll
drunken mood endanger that poor moth
er's life by the sudden shock Of his pres
ence? She would agree TO anything; she
would follow him, slave for him, starve
with him, be his wife or his handmade
anything to get him away-far away
from the sunshine, the smiles. the hopes
and joys and blessings that had been
hers at old Fort Frayne.
One other plan. She had but little
money, and i'll their flight much might
be needed. She must obtain it, for that
drink sodden wretch would surely have
none. Go she must and would. Go he
must and should, for any day, before
the whole galrisOn-oh, shame unutter-
able-he might take the notion boldly to
throw off all disguise and claim her as
his wife. Possibly with money she
might bribe him TO take kindly to her
proposition and agree. Then, before he
could spend what she had given him,
she could escape. return to the east. and
somewhere, anywhere hide her head
from him, from friends from the world
and all Home she had none. That went
when her father died, lonely and heart
broken, two years before.
And in all that garrison to whom
could she appeal. upon whom could
she call: One man there was who, we'll
she knew. would open his hand as he
had his heart, and its uttermost treas
ure could be hers for the mere asking,
and that man of all others was the one
who, she prayed, might never know the
miserable truth that this was Royle
Farrar-that she was Royle Farrar's s
wife
Another there was, generous. helpful
and kind, who, did he but learn the
identity of the man Sinking here un-
der that disguise given by years of drink
) and debauchery, would aid her to his
uttermost farthing. aid her as he had
before. out of pity and compassion, aid
her row with eager hand through
thought of the shame that would come
! to the girl he loved, the shock that
, might be i'll store for her beloved moth
! er. There was the man-Jack Ormsby
! But how to see him, and when, and
5 where! Not moment must be lost. be-
hot To-
: known to her, his wife, any moment
might bring on the further catastrophe.
She had never known him to stop until
sodden and stupeficd.
Drink, drink, drink. In some form
a he would find the poison and gulp it
: down, waxing craZed and nervous if il
We're withheld from him, turning mad
and reckless if it were given. Drink he
; surely would all through this blessed
I Christmas eve, and at any hour, any
moment Oh the morrow she might ex-
; pect him to appear before them all, in
the midst of their joyous Christmas
P gathering. i'll drunken exultation, de.
. manding his seat at his wifes side, at
: his mothers board. What that would
| mean to that gentle mother whose very
: life seemed now hanging by thread,
God alone could say.
: And here she lay. hesitant, iHipotent,
l cowardly, when the lives and happiness
i of those dearest to her were at stake,
5 shrinking even now from an appeal tC
Ormsby, who alone IN all the garrison
; probably was competent to advise and
= help. and Ormsby had already suffered.
and suffered much OH her account. L.
: the loyal observance of his promise he
. had brought himself under the ban OF
p suspicion. and with half an eye Helen
S could see that Ellis looked upon theil
relation with utter distrust. Great
heaven! Was she to be a curse to every
1 one who had been kind to her? The
thought was intolerable.
2 Helen Daurton amazed her friend By
: spIinging from her bed and throwing
: up the windew sash. Air, air!' she
| rnOaped :T feel as fhOuph were suffo