Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1899-09-07

murder of poor little Tommy There
was "a burning taste Of raw brandy in
his mouth and throat. and his head was
aching terribly. He looked mp and saw
d man with black cloth mask over the
upper part Of his face sitting astride a
wooden chair in front Of him, with his
arms across the back, looking at him
through the eyeholes Of his mask Even
IL the first moments of returning con
sciousuess he seemed to recognize some
thing familiar in him, and the seeming
soon became certainty.
Evening inspector. Coming round a
bit: That right Been waiting quite
a time to have a bit of chat with yOu.
Feel mp to it nowy Have another nipr'
There was no mistaking the drawing
tone cr the clip Of the word ends. The
inspector rallying thoughts went back
To that night at Freetown. nearly Is
months ago now, when, for the sake OF
personal pique and "a threatened repu
tstion. he had sanctioned in fact. as
sisted in the doing of-a deed Of treach-
cry and violence, the one unlawful and
unmanly act of his life. with which the
worst Of the offenses laid To the charge
of the gang would compare only too ia
vorably.
Now he felt instinctively that he was
in the presence and at the mercy Of the
chief Of this band Of outlaws. against
which he had declared war to the death
IA man who owed him a grudge that
life would hardly pay. Still. he had de
Eberately staked his life on this very
venture. and he was not the man 10 take
his stakes of the table when the game
was going against him. He looked in
silence at the masked man for a few
moments to let his thoughts get into
something like order Then he said
quietly:
"Well, Mr. Salter. | confess / never
expected to see you in the flesh again.
but since You have manifestly resur
rected. | don't quite see the point Of
that mask Of yours-at least not in pri-
vate life.
"Reurlected By thunder, sonny,
you We hit II in once Say. did you ever
gee anything more like a last year :
corpse than meT''
He tore the mask from his face az he
uttered the last word. The inspector
staggered TO his feet and dsopped back
into the chair with gasp of amaze
ment and a Groan Of horror mingled in
the same breath. What had been Seth
Salter's not uncomely face was now q
one eyed, noseless mass Of pits and
seams and scars too hideous to imagine.
"Yaas, looks sorter pretty. don't itY
Don't seem 10 think much Of it Waal,
p'raps not. tain t likely but if you and
your chaps didn't exactly do it. them as
you was kind enough to leave me 10 ont
yonder in the kloof did. Yes, sir. that $
vultures' work Ia bullet Of yours
through my right arm, one through the
chest from one of your slouches and n
crack over the head with a carbine stock
that d a knocked the Cruel outer some
peoples skulls so, you see, ! hadn t
much chance again the critturs. But
thought I'd fight to finish. and
should IA gone if n Cape lad hadn {
come through the kloof before | was all
gone and toted what was left Of me to
his hut and fetched an old Kaffir med
icine man TO patch me up.
mo, you needn't trouble b make
any remarks. You're weak yot. and
I'm on deck just now It'u make
things shorter and pleasanter if you
just make yourself comfortable and hear
me out | shan't worry you with what
happened 20 me just after. | got bet
ter and I'd one eye and "A mouth left.
as you see, and the eye had to look
around for something TO put in the
mouth.
"Waal. after considerable ups and
downs, | met your Lootenant Mays way
down in Natal | told him who / was
or had been-for you can bet he Hidn {
recognize me-and we put our heads
together and worked out this border
gang scheme. | found the requisite
hard cases for the actual work and he
got round your chaps or kept 'em off
the scent, as the case might be. The
game worked like an angelic picnic.
We robbed thieves, and the thieves
daren split Then, as the organization
got better, we extended things. and by
about three months ago we'd half your
chaps and nearly all the slops on this
side in onr pay
"Waal, we've made tons of money,
and we're just thinking about retiring
into respectable society; but, Mr. Lii
pinsii. there's just two things ! want
TO do before do that.
"And those are-revenge on me, and
what else. may | askY'
'tGuess you're nervy, little man, and
you may ask. Yaas. one of ems to
square mp things with you and the
other Is TO clean ont the mail when il
takes that big consignment that you
tried to fool us over tonight on board.
which take it. II be the day after to
morrow. or / should say, today. for
it's morning now. We've got you, and
all the guard but two are chipping In
with us; so that 3 as good AS done. "
"And may ask again what you ip-
tend To do in the way of squaring things
up with me2 Something with vulturos
in it. ! suppose. | cant growl under
the circumstances, though for the sake
of my own conscience. ia like 20 tell
you that we honestly thought you were
dead before we left you. | can't think
n thousand pities you didn't give the
stone~up quietly
IL guess il is-for you Why didn't
you let me keep 'eR,after Ia played
tho game and run yfn fair and honor
ablc1 But that's nowhere. If | didn't
think you white man and grit all
through, ! wouldn' give you "A chance
IA hova y,ur lfvfpt, Ippaa Al, d, auaak
picked clean by tomorrow night. rs j
mighty near had mine But believe
you did think me dead, and 40 III give
you square show But I'm going 10
give you half an hour hadcs first. just
10 even things up for what ! had when
| was fighting them vultures.
"And thatf"
"I'm going 10 make You play mo
Chicago, best z games out Of t3. III /
win, | shall plug you fatally and 20
and clean tho mail out Hyou win. I'll
give you back your shooter and back
my one eye again your two at shooting
on the drop III set the alarum Of that
clocl, 60 go Off two minutes after we've
taken our places. Then. when 10 goes.
wen go-onc or both Of us. That's
about as fair as | cun afford TO be-.
What do you think 2"
81 don I see much hades in that. 10
tell you the truth -
mo, because you seem To have for
gotten that Miss Radna going down
with the mail that day You know / We
admired her lot How You think
she'd like TO have some of the stones