The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-12-19
CHAPTER Ky.

Pappoose.
Poor Jess has been awake an hour"
said she. We've been trying to see
the troop through the glass. They
must have started before daybreak,
for there's nothing on the road to
Frayne."
1T disappears over the divide three
miles out he answered vaguely and
conscious that her clear eyes were
studying his face II didn't sleep well
either We shall be having news from
Hal today, and the mail rider comes
down from Frayne."
She had thrown about her a long,
loose wrapper, and her lustrous hair
tumbIed like a brown black torrent
down over her shoulders and back.
Steadfastly the brown eyes followed his
every move.
1T is hours to breakfast time, Daddy
dear; let me make you some coffee be-
fore you go out"
What? Who said I was going out?"
he asked, forcing a smile; then, more
graveIy; IN be back in thirty minutes,
dear, but wait a moment L cannot.
want to catch a man before he can
possibly ride away
went briskly down the stairs. In the
lower hail he suddenly struck parlOr
match that hared up and illumined the
winding staircase to the third story.
Some thought as sudden prompted her
to glance aloft just in time to catch
a glimpse of q woman's face with
drawing swiftly over the balcony rail.
In her hatred Of everything that suvor-
III
aloud demand to know what Mrs.
Fletcher wanted, but strange things
were in the wind, as she was learning,
and something whispered silence. Slow
~ she returned to Jessie's side, and
together once more they searched with
the glasses the distant trail that dis
tinctly visible now in the slant of the
morning sun, twisted up the north
ward slopes on the winding way to
Frayne Not a whiff of dust could
they see.
Meantime John Folsom strobe swiftly
down the well known path to the quar-
termaster's depot, a tumult of suspi-
cion and conjecture whirling in his
brain. AS he walked he recalled the
many hints and stories that had come
to his ears of Burleigh's antecedents
elsewhere ard his associations here.
With all his reputation for enterprise
and wealth, there were shady tales
of gambling transactions and sailed
mines and Watered stocks that attach
ed perhaps more directly to the men
with whom he foregathered than to
him. "A man is known by the company
he keeps" said Folsom, and Burleigh's
crOnies, until Folsom came to settle in
Gate City, had been almost exclusively
among + he "shafps," gamblers and
their kindred, the projectors and pros
pectors ever preying on the unwary on
the outer wave of progress. Within
the past six months he had seen much
of him, for Burleigh was full of bust
ness enterprises, had large investments
everywhere was lavish in invitation
and suggestion, was profuse in offers
of aid of any kind if aid were wanted.
He had gone so far as to say that he
knew from experience how with his
wealth tied up in real estate and mines
a man often found himself in need of
a few thousands in spot cash, and, as
Folsom was buying and building, if at
any time he found himself q little
short and needed ten or twenty thou
sand, say why, Burleigh's account was
at his service, etc. It all sounded large
and liberal, and Folsom, whose lot for
years had been cast with a somewhat
threadbare array of army people, con-
tent with little, impecunious but hon
est, he wondered what manner of mar
tial man this was. Burleigh did not
loudly boast of his wealth and inf1u-
ence, but impressed in some ponderous
way his hearers with a sense of both.
Yet, ever since that run to Warrior
Gap, a change had come over Bur-
leigh. He talked more of mines and
money and showed less, and now, only
yesterday, when the old mans heart
had mellOwed to him because he had
first held him wholly to blame for
Deans arrest and later found him
pleading for the young Fellows, release,
a strange thing had happe. E. Bur
leigh confded to him that ne had a
simply fabulous opportuntty-a chance
to buy out a mine that experts secret
ly told him was what years later he
would have called a bonanza" but
that in the late sixties was locally
known as a shanghai" Twenty-Five
thousand dollars would do the trick,
but his money was tied up. Would
Folsom go in with him, put up $125OO,
and Burleigh would do the rest? Fol-
som had been bitten by too many
mines that yielded only rattlesnakes,
and he couldn't be lured. Then, said
BurIeigh. wouldn't Folsom go on his
note. so that he could borrow at the
bank? Folsom seldom went on any
body's note 1t was as bad as mining.
He begged off, and left Burleigh dis
appointed, but not Disconnected. Il can
raise it without trouble said he, but
ii may take forty-eight hours to set
the cash here, and I thought you would
be glad to be let in on the ground
fioor'
i've been let in to too many floors,
major" said he. You'll have to eX-
cuse me. And so Burleigh, with his
Louisiana captain, had driven off to
the fort, where NeWhall asked for
Griggs and was importUnate, nor did
Griggss whisky, freely rendered to all
Corners of the commissioned class, tend
to assuage his desire Back had they
gone to town, and then came the
cataclysm of noon.
In broad daylight, at his official desk,
in the presence and hearing of officers,
civilians and enlisted men, as the sol
der lawyers would have it, a staff Of
fetal of high rank had been cowhiden
by cavalry subaltern, and that subal-
tern, of all others, the only brother of
Folsom's fair guest, Jessie Deaf-the
boy who had saved the lives of Fol
SONS son and his sons imperiled
household, and had thereby endeared
himself to him as had no other young
soldier in the service. And now, what
fate was staring him in the face? Re-
leased from arrest but day or so be-
fore upon the appeal of the officer