The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1896-01-18
CHAPTER, I-(Continued.)

CHAPTER, I-(COntfnued.)
Meanwhile, the men who We're Walt-
ing for Dixon's return became a little
FESTIVE as the minutes dragged along
and he did not appear. Even the
ready means Of beguiling time, COM
mon to. men of their stamp-the tell
ing of highly seasoned and apropos
stories, interspersed with frequent Ii
bations-began to pail. Some of them
stole away to their neglected dinners,
returning shortly with new sense
of wonder as they still found him
absent.
And the dark figure lay there In
their midst, itself for the time for
gotten in the stories and conjectures
it's presence had evoked, the faint
smile frozen on it's unshaven lips, the
half open eyes fixed seemingly upon
the door with terrible intentness.
At last one of the men who was
near a window overlooking the street
said:
Hes comin';' and moment or two
later, II swear he's paler'n the dead
man hisself"
"Mcbbe it's his long lost brother"
declared another. "They's men as
can't look at corpse without turnin'
white around the gills, and Dixon's
one on 'em. I've seen him afore. An
he amt no coward, NEITHER
mo, he amt no coward" chorused
the others, and a moment or two later
Dixon pushed open the door and came
in. Every mans eye was drawn to
his face, but he saw no one. He
looked straight before him into space
l,o obi 0ccir Jo0f
worthy in one of his many capacities,
81 know this-man. Make arrange
ments to have the-the body brought
to my house at once, and to have the
funeral from there tomorrow morn
ing
He paused a moment. kind of click
in his throat, and then added. LET
every man and woman who knows
me be present.
He turned and went out, and they
saw him with his head sunk on his
breast walking homeward.
At the appointed hour the small
front room Of Dixon's cottage was
filled with men and women, drawn
thither in part through Difference to
his expressed desire, in part through
curiosity excited by the rumors which
llau lullou Tie oil SluCe luc utly UC1OAC Z.
The body Of the stranger, now
Shroudcd and cofined, rested upon a
bier in the center of the room. At
its head sat the minister of the one
church of which the town could boast.
The people were very silent, even
more so than the occasion seemed to
warrant, but they studied each others
faces furtively, as if each sought in
the other some clew to the mystery
which was to himself impenetrable.
They were plain, hard-wor king peo-
pie. and. for the most part, decent,
law-abiding citizens. The man in
whose house they were assembled had
been with them for years. What he
had been before he came among them
they had never asked. It may be
that some of them had some thing in
their own past they would have fain
forgotten. He had Won their respect
and confidence, and in time their af-
lection, for, as has been said, he was
generous, brave and helpful. He had
been their chosen leader. They had
honored him with such small honors
as the had to bestow, and as his
reputation as a political writer and
speaker spread, otLer and higher
honoys were more than limited at.
To-day they were disturbed and rest
less as if under the shadow Of some
impending change or calamity. At
length door opened noiselessly and