Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1898-04-07

the house. but I'm the chief here, an |
don't allow no monkey business on my |
premises. Well, sir, after you left, |
Mary, the housemaid, come out, an she |
an me had leetle howdy-dfo. She's
Danish, is Mary, an not one O. yer scary
ones. Why"
"Get along with your story, Jap. I'm
in a hurry"
''Mary was tellin' me about the doin's
with the gentleman as was hurt, an
givin' me the hull song an dance"
where were you, Jap?"
The honest fellow blushed. By the
Pickering light of the stable lantern
could see his freckled face blazing.
I'VE was in the hay now" ne said, re-
luctantly.
'Where you generally sit, eh?"
eyes," he admitted, with a sheepish
grin. '.Mary likes the smell o. the hay
$50 on, jap"
"D'ye think" he demanded, eagerly,
''tnat ther Greek was on to the racket
O. me an Mary sittin' in the hay NOW ?
Gosh! l guess he was stuck on Mary
hisself. Why, that accounts for the
milk in the cocoanut. OF course. Well,
sir, when she got through tellin' me
how the pore Teller couldn't speak nor
move, and"
''She went into all those details?"
''Why, yes; an she had it straight
from Miss Nancy, too. Wimmen folks
must talk, or they'd materially go crazy.
Well, sir, she'd got at last ter the end
O. the yarn, an I'd told her good-by, an
was wavin' her adoo as she stood in the
doorway, when all of student big
shock o hay comes a-tumblin' down an
ketches me right 'twiXt wind an water.
1t come nigh KILN me, an Mary, too.
Why, the girl most split herself a-laffin'.
An, Mr.. Livingston" his pleasant voice
hardened, "that Their Greek, damn his
soul, done it,
I expressed my establishment.
''He done it outer meanness. I never
suspicioned the cuss, KNOWN that the
hay was kinder poorly piled an that
I'd bin keerless about the handlin' Of
it. But jest before you drew up hap
pened ter start out fer the house, an
then changed my mind an walked
around the barn. Well, sir, as I come
around that Their corner saw the Greek,
standin' like a statoo on a PEDESTAL.
Where did he come from? Why, from
the NOW, o course. He piped me off
ter the house, an then crawled out.
He must ha' known that Danish Mary
an I was frien's, an he calkilated ter
make an everlastin' scarecrow outer me
before her-the son of gun! dropped
onter his racket right away, the second
I seen him. He come there a-purpose.
I'd "a thumped him good. if it cost me
this place, but the dogs begun barkin',
the Greek he speaks to 'em as if mo-
lasses candy wouldn't melt in his mouth,
an the next thing I knew he was talk
in with Mr.. Gerard. But, cuss him, I'll
git even"
But, Jap. how do you know he was
really in the mow?'
'Why, sir, when come up with the
lantern I see the hayseed and sticker-
grass on his coat"
I babe MIR. Byers goodnight, and
walked thoughtfully to the house. My
deductions in regard to this affair diff
fered materially from those of honest
Jap. I could not believe that De-
metrius had willfully set rolling the
shock of hay. If he had concealed him
self in the barn for some specific pur-
pose, would he court detection for the
sake of playing a prank or to crafty
a personal spite? Hardly. The hay,
badly piled and undermined, had obeyed
the laws of gravitation. Possibly in the
| ardor of eayesdropping the Greek had
displaced the shock unwittingly. He
had studied the habits of Jap and his
'best GIRL and, wishing to learn the
exact condition OF affairs in the house,
had turned his knowledge of sociology
| to good account. Very Shiny, as Jap OBJ
| served. An Anglo-Saxon blessed with
| the Greeks upbriHging would have
secuted such methods, but the secretiva
nature of Demetrius, stimulated by ter.
ror of Burlington. accounted satisfac-
toriiy for everything. The fellow was
an out-and-out poltroon.
| Mark Gerard dined alone with Nancy
and me. He was in no mood to talk,
| and gulped down his dinner in gloomy
silence. Since we parted in the stable
| yard his manner had entirely changed.
From his gestures rather than from his
words inferred that he was intensely
nervous q laid this to the charge of De
metrius), and uRduly irritable. Nancy,
too, seemed depressed and distracted.
She replied in monosyllables to my few
| questions.
Nancy, go to your mother" said Ger
ard. as the coffee was brought in. ST
wish to talk with Mr.. Livingston"
We pushed our chairs from the table
and lighted cigars.
Demetrius," said Gerard, sis not a
coward"
1 merely bowed. having resolved, for
the future, to curb my tongue
He proposes" Gerard spoke slowly,
watching me narrowly between half
closed eye-''he proposes to take en-
tire charge of-of this mailman. You"
/ He rolled up carefully the loosened