Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1897-09-03
6APTAIN CLOSE
nv CAPTAIN CHARLES KING.
Copyright, 1894, by J. B. Lippircott Col
XII.

XII.
The Christmas holidays were coming
m at Walton Hall, where, sore stricken,
,ts mistress lay lowering between life
and death. Two weeks had passed since
the eventful night of the arrests, and,
though no change had come over the
landscape, and days of sunshine were
few and far between, some odd altera-
tons had taken place in and around
the old homestead. OF these the most
remarkable was the appearance three
times a day of young officer in Yankee
uniform at the family board-a young
officer who often prolonged his visit
until late in the evening. Mr.. Isaac
Newton Lambert, though occupying his
tent in camp, had become otherwise an
inmate of the Walton establishment,
for, unknown to the beloved invalid,
her daughters were actually "taking
boarders."
Another boarder, who had come and
moved a modest bachelor kit into one
of the upstairs rooms facing the east
Barton Potts, better known to all the
inmates as cousin Bart" Indeed, it
was due in great measure to his advice
and influence that Mr.. Lambert was adj
mitted. Impoverished as were the Wal
tons-in dire need, as it turned out,
now that the resolute woman who so
many years had managed the family
affairs was stricken down-nothing but
prompt action and the helping hands
Of kinsfolk and friends stood between
them and starvation. Squire Potts
"Old Man Potts." as he was generally
called-had urged on Mrs. Walton in
November the propriety of her abandon
ing the place entirely and taking shell
ter for herself and her daughters under
his roof. Even though. in desperate
need, she had declined-for one reason,
because that would bring Esther and
Walton Scroggs together again; for an
other, because she could not bear to
think o. the old home becoming the
abiding-place of all the houseless, shift
less negroes in the neighborhood. She
had offered the house, garden and cot
ton-6elds still remaining in her hands
to any purchaser at almost any price;
but who was there to invest in such
Improbable estate at such time?
In the midst of these cares and
troubles, which she could share with
her daughters, were others which she
could not. She burst not let them
know on how slender a thread her life
depended. That was one secret, held
syet by their old family physician and
herself alone, because the knowledge
OF it would bring such grief to 1.-THE
elrls.' There was another, which she
prayed they might never know, because
It's very existence brought such grief
and shame to her; Floyd, her youngest
son, her darling, who had fought so
bravely by his brothers side through
the hottest battles of the war, had lab
Jured the faith of his fathers" as she
bitterly expressed it-had become init
diers, instead of sticking closely to
reading law in the office of her old
Trend Judge Summers at Quitman.
And then, worse than all, she learned
through his own desperate letter that
ne had enlisted in the cavalry. That
within week thereafter, repenting OF
MS mad folly" he should have de-
serted the service and fled the country,
was IN the poor stricken woman's eyes
no crime whatever. That he should
nave enlisted, sworn to defend the flag
which was to her the emblem of in
soient triumph over the fallen fortunes
VI The land she loved, the only land she
ever knew, the once happy, sunny
south-that was infamy.
Not until weeks after her boy had
taken the step that made him a fugitive
from justice did she learn, or begin to
imagine the chain of circumstances
mat led to it all. While occupying
uesk in the Office of Summers & Todd.
1.Iorneys and counselors at law, Floyd
a'so occupied a seat at the table of a
widowed relative who, left pennilcss
o. the close of the war, had to struggle
I'D naru to keep body and soul together.
me Efforts of Judge Summers had beer
sulhclent to save the house in which she
u"elt, and taking boarders" became
"er vocation. But paying boarde"'
we're scarce. and even when her table
was crowded with homeless people her
pcAets were often empty. When
sweets squadron of the -th U. S. cav.
..ry marched into town and took sta
.on there, the application of some OF
ue officers for "rations and quarters
~ T,'uer her roof was coldly declined
,"ey went to hotel. and suffered, rs
, .ney deserved, the pangs of Indigestion.
-A'er it transpired that two of them
vent to church, and this put an I'M
.oked-tor factor into the problem OF
~" to treat these conquering but un-
topular heroes. Rev. Mr. Pickett. of St
ao's might condone his parishioners'
..eiusai TO supply them with bodily food,
cut 1t was impossible to refuse to min