El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-06-03

for another long smoke.
Toward morning he discovered the
meat to be quite tender
Getting his cracked plate, he filled it
with white slices from the cats plump
hams, and, garnished with spearmint
and cold griddle cakes, Gilliad made a
hearty breakfast as the sun peeped over
the tangled brush on Big Sewel noun
tain.
The dogs also had a good meal from
the stringy fragments which Gilliad
threw down in the sand for them.
Still another service was the dead cat
destined to perform. When the soup
was cold, Gilliad brought forth a gourd
and carefully skinned the lard from
the top of it.
"It air Their vary best lie uvver hev
seed fur rheumatic" he told his dogs.
"Wildket lie air tibet. think I kin sell
| this fur cash at Their falls, fur it air
amazin curible lie. 1t air ther vary
thing fur Keptin Hines foot, an I'll
tex it up ter him terday while it's
| frush."
He met with lively reception at the
falls Old Gilliad was known to be the
best informed man along the river
about the dangerous undercurrent, and
the deep caverns, and the sunken rocks
When his boat came up that morning,
it was met by many others. and the en-
tire little settlement had turned out in
the distressing search for a drowned
woman. One of the lady guests at the
hotel had been out boating and had
been thrown out under the roaring falls.
'"Thar's Gilli'd Moon," said man
upon seeing him. "Ef he KANT find
her, nobuddy kin.
So to Gilliad Moon the heartbroken
husband fed.
"Air yer willin ter gin anything?"
asked the old man, while his keen eyes
glistened at the prospect of a big re-
ward.
Fifty dollars -
ell git her eff ther dern mud kets
dom eat her up" said Gilliad as he
turned his boat around and rowed down
stream again.
He returned to his cabin and hunted
up his many different grasp hooks. He
put new ropes where the knotty old
ones were rotten, and with his long
trusty pole-the same with which he
prodded the engineers swollen face
he set out in his boat to hunt for the
lost woman. Along the bank the SUI
mac bushes blazed with autumn beauty
and nodded over the turbulent stream.
Night came. Lights glimmered from
the skiffs of the searchers, but they
were all above Gilliad. An occasional
shout from one of them caused an oath
from Gilliad when he thought some one
had found the body. But the night
search was vain.
The next day it rained, but Gilliad
-
about.
After awhile Thaddeus Green came
down on raft of logs which he was
taking to market and stopped for chat
with Gilliad.
"How's Laney?" he bashfully in
quired as he started.
Il hain't seen her sence We taken her
father night ter Their shindig," Gilliad
replied, feeling very mean over his
quarrel with her.
why, she sed she were a-comin by
herself in the boat said Thaddeus.
Some O. Their boys got booty, an me an
Isaac Mooley he'd ter fetch 'em home,
an Laney sed she wasn't goin ter stay
thar in Their fuss, an she'd come home
in ther dugout. 1 hope nothin's hap
pened ter her?"
"Oh, reckln nothin's a-happened,
said Gilliad. He felt guilty and mean
for telling her to Light OUT from his
home. Il reckin she hes stopped over
ct Their falls. She's a greet hankerin
arter them city folks ct ther hotel
"When she do KEN home,' said |
Thaddeus, iii be down ter see her. I |
hain't nuvver axed ye, but Uncle Gill |
led-but air a-goin ter marry Laney."
Gilliad Moon only gave a grunt of |
consent. and the raft careened and then |
went floating down the stream with the |
lank young fellow standing UPON it. 1t |
was two days later that Gilliad came |
upon the object of his search 1t was |
yet dark, and the cold winds, reeking |
with frosts, had soaked his clothes and |
driven him off the river. He was about |
to land, when, there, almost at his
door, partly hidden in the sand, weeds
and Jagged rocks of the shoals, he dis
covered the body of a woman. 1t had
evidently risen in the night, inflated
with gas, from some deep cavern under
the muddy water. Reaching down, he
grasped it by the foot and tried to lift
it up.
Fifty dollar air not so much es a
haight fur ther work 1 hev did, said
be to himself, IAN I amt no min ter
tex less then a hundred fur it, now I
got it. - o..
He did not examine the body, for it
was growing light, and he did not wish
to be discovered. Hardened and avari-
cious as he was, he dared not look at
the dead face. There was always some
thing In the face of the dead that re-
preached Gllliad Noon to his callous
heart. He never voluntarily looked upon
the dead.
Not far from his cabin u small creek
had cut its way through the mountain
under rocks and now flowed with quite