Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1900-11-22

nv the name of Tremayne, but this'
although YOUR Christian name, Is not
cow surname. I shall not write that
down but If happier days come-ir
Cod grants that / should put my arms
about you again-then we shah NC
known by the name OF l
have watched you from a tiny chilo' !
have handled you on my Knee anu l.
two felt all a fathers pride as / saw
vour thews and sinews shapeinS them
salves To q mans estate. You nave
never told me a falsehood yet. Try
and act in the same way to everyone.
'cyyhen YOU have read this, ponder
over it for a while, until you thor-
oughIv understand its contents, n
then destroy it. You will find every
thing arranged with the proprietor,
and your first act of self-control VIII
be to sit down and eat your
as though my absence were some
thing YOU expected. Lose no time In
taking train to the north.
And now, my DEAF son, goodbye.
PRAY for me, as I shall ever do for
YOU, and may God grant that when we
meet again.. be ii in this world or the
next, we may De dUiS ~ soy, DH~ ~
the other: Il have done nothing for
which you need feel shame You were
sleeping so calmly that, when I kissed
YOU. you never moved. Fear God, hon.
or the Queen, do your duty, and re-
member that I am now, as I ever hall
be, Your loving
Father"
Little need had he to tell me to pom
der over his letter. I read 1t n re-
read 1t, and 1 am not ashamed to say
that my tears fell upon 1t, n at last
I rolled it up, and, setting fire to II,
threw it under the CRATE, and when 1t
had burned out I broke up the ashes.
I found the purse under the pillow,
and I had finished my toilet and fast
ened up my bag, when I saw on the
floor, under the head Of the bed. a
small parcel. 1t had, apparently, rolled
off the table. and it might have been
placed there for me; or. again, my
father might have intended to take 1t
with him. and. in the tumult of his
fe~elings-and, Judged by my own, this
must have been great-have forgotten
It. 1t was neatly and securely fast
ened, but I deemed It best, and per-
haps curiosity helped me to h decis-
ion. to open it, and when the outer pa
per had been %unrolled, / was sure of a
part OF the contents. for the scent Of
h~eliotrope, though very faint, was still
perceptible.
When I had opened II completely I
found. as I had suspected, the little
lace handkerchief that had lain 8 o
paor fhn Ina1 mon nn6 IN addition m
it, there We're five small cards and
some newspaper cuttings. Besides the
three cards / had seen, and which I
have described, / now saw that there
were two others-to-wit, the six and
seven of spades, each of them show
ing their pips plainly standing cut
from a red background.
/ glanced at the printed matter, and
so interested in it did I become that 1
read 1t through, and this is the sub
stance OF what / read. 1t appeared
from the longer OF the two cuttings
that on a certain morning, which was
alluded to as that Of the day before
yesterday, q boy was tending some
cattle on the marsh land near the
town of Oldburgh on the east coast.
1t was about eleven o'clock in the
forenoon when he noticed a gentle
man riding along the turf on the far
side Of a dyke that bounded the marsh.
He was walking his horse and had
come abreast of the boy, and some
two or three furlongs from the rushes
In which he was lying, when a man,
apparently a tramp, rose up from
amongst the gorse. As the tramp and
the horseman were coming together
the former suddenly threw up his
arms and fell on his face. The gentle
man dismounted and, holding the
bride, bent over the PROSTATE man.
In an instant the fellow sprang to his
feet, there was a flash as of steel, the
gentleman reeled backward and fell
on the turf, and the tramp mounted
the horse and rode off at a gallop.
The boy was naturally terrified at
what had happened.
His masters house was quite half a
mile away, and thither he ran at top
speed, as 1t would have been useless
for him to attempt to reach the in
jured man, since the dyke was deep
and broad, and the boy could not
swim.
Mr.. Byrne, the master, was a quick
witted man. He remembered that he
had seen the inspector of police 60
ing towards Thorne. a fishing village
some distance along h coast, so he
set the boy on a pony, and babe him
ride with all speed to this village-to
reach which he must OF necessity
pas the place where the gentleman
lay-and bring back the official, while
he himself hurried off to Oldburg in his
tax-cart to bring the doctor.
Byrne was some considerable time
infinding the medical man, and when
at last he and that gentleman arrived
at the spot indicated they saw plainly
enough the bloodstains on the grass
and h marks where the horse had
started off at a gallop, but there was
no official. no boy, nor any wounded
man to be seen.
In due course the inspector sum
moned Thorne by another messenger
arrived and making a somewhat more
extended search han the others had
done he found under the first line of
furZebrushes three small cards-two
aces n the six of spades; and l may
say here that the description of these
cards Tailed exactly with that Of three
Of those / found In the parcel.
Ruf I'm cptfa ~ the ha1n 80 A.