The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-05-21

ment the stranger arose and took the
letter before the astonished official
could fully decipher the name.
1t is for me-" he said, quietly, and he
walked out of the door.
That evening at dusk man with a
heavy brown beard called at old Mort
front gate.
You are Mort Reed, are you not ?"
he asked, as that worthy came out in
response to his halloo.
'Yassir. Thet's whut my ma called
me, ez the Teller sez."
Isn't there a stranger stopping in
this neighborhood, 1 think at old man
Yelldell's?"
Seems ter me they is. Why?'
We'll, he's one 1.-THE most dangerous
revenue officers in the service | come
from Jordan, twenty-five miles up the
road, and we have just heard that he
was down here
Wal, l mistrusted ez much all along.
TIE boys wanted ter be a leetle brash.
but l toP 'em ter go slow, fur we had
right smart o trouble over Link Cole
KILN that depity''
But this man means business, and
if he stays around here there won't be
much mountain dew to wet our whistles
WITH
What ye goin' ter do about it?''
we must get rid of him.
posin he won't leave. He's a
perky Teller an don't bluff worth a
cent
We'll"
The man with the brown beard eyed
Mort keenly. Mort looked cautiously
around.
Take him off by freight, I reckon"
he said, in a low voice. The man with
the brown beard nodded
You know he has the southwest
room, and there are no curtains
Mort bowed in assent.
Now, don't fail to kill. for its all
up with US if you don't make a sure
thing of it,
''Oh, / amt SO old but what 1 kin
knock the eye outen a squirrel in the
biggest tree 'roun' hyer with OF Molly"
"All right. Try to make it at $3.50,
sharp, for l won't rest easy until it's
done"
That night the Stranger wrote let
ter in his room. That it cost him a.
tremendous effort could be seen from
the tightly compressed lips and the
slow, heavy tracing of the pen over the
paper. The anguish in his face was
transferred to every hard wrung word.
1t was brief, though it told a story of
suffering:
Marion
Your letter destroyed my last hope OF
forgiveness. My insurance policies, in
closed herewith, are payable to you, and
will give you the competence which /
failed to obtain. 1t is to your interest
not to inquire too closely into the cir
cumStanceS of my death. as il might
vitiate the policies. Suffice it to saw. /
do not die by my own hand. My broken.
misspent life ends here in the wilder
ness. H
He put certain documents with the
IL
envelope. After addressing it he gave
it to Yelldell with instructions to mail
that night. and paid him literally for
his trouble.
Then he packed his few effects into
the small valise he had brought to Per-
simmon Gap a few weeks before. and
walked about the room with a quick.
nervous tread. The pine knots blazed
upon the hearth with a swapping.
CHEEKY warmth, but the rudy glow i'm
parted ghostly pallor to the strang-
er's white, stern-set countenance He
looked at his watch, and piled more
fuel on the fireplace. The flames leaped
higher as they licked the tinder-dry
bark, and the shadows danced gro
tesquely on the walls.
He glanced at his watch again. The
lines grew still tighter about his mouth
The strident cries of the disturbed
geese outside gave warning of some
nocturnal prowler. Involuntarily he
thought of the time when the hoarse-
voiced fowl had saved an empire. He
hesitated a moment. Then he ground
his teeth together and took his pipe and
lit it with a coal as he sat down by the
window. The roaring fire cast noon
day radiance about the room, and the