Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1900-12-13


the back garden when you found DR..
James. How do you know they weren't
watching you? How do you know you
were not followed here?"
But if that is so" / can give you a
theory that fits in with that. but 1T
might not be pleasant hearing for YOU
go on" / said.
"You see. you told me that the man
you tried to arrest made a great point
of letting Mr.. Travers know that he
had come for his revenge. Now. IL
they found him through your coming
here, and have left orders hat no one
was TO NEEDLE with you friend except
himself. He might rave been away
after your father, and II he'd got on
his trail he wouldn't leave IL until he
had run him down. That's one way
OF looking at it, though L think It's very
likely that they haven't found MI. Ire
manye yet, and that is why they
haven't meddled with you. You see,
they are giving you line, in the hopes
that you and your father will come to-
gether again"
why should they harm me?" I said.
"I've never dom hurt to any man, so
far as / know"
Maybe not; but we read, sir, that
the sins of the father are visited upon
h children. ] can't help thinking
that, however this trouble started, IL
began. so to speak, as a private con
ceIn but now they've turned it into a
political company with power to add
to their number, and with the extra
help they get In this way they have a
better chance of finding out the where
abouts of the men they want to settle
up old scores with"
All his, as the detective had sug-
gcsted, was not pleasant hearing for
me. for, IL he were correct in his r.
misses, n / were ever attacked, 1t
would be proof that my father had
persisted, and that, being no longer of
any use as a dccoy-duck, mis- sins We're
10 be visited upon me.
Can you give me any idea" / asked,
"as to what the expression Ragged
Thirteen means?"
You don't play cribbage?" he said.
mo. 1 don't"
Because If you did you would know
that the five cards you had shown me
score thirteen points. and the hand is
called the Ragged Thirteen, because, I
suppose, they total up in such a scratch
way. You see, there's fifteen two,
fifteen four, fifteen six, fifteen eight,
two's ten, n the run OF three thirteen.
You don't, of course, understand me,
but perhaps you will agree with me
that this trouble seems to have origi-
mated In a quarrel over cards"
BY the doctors advice we sent Mr.
Travers to a health resort in the south
of Scotland, and there he was tended
night and day by mis- nephew and a
trusty man, but little hopes We're en-
tertained hat he would ever recover
the power of speech.
I did not give up my University
career. and during the two a that
elapsed before I took my degree !
heard from Anguish at Intervals, but
all his efforts to throw light upon the
mystery of the Ragged Thirteen were
apparently as unvailing as mine had
been,
/ had left with him the parcel con-
tanning the cards, for they were dam
gerCus articles to be in M possession,
and when my college career ended
I went to Scotland to see MI. Travers,
and j was pleased to find that, al
though he was only the shadow of the
man he had once been, he yet knew
me, through his voice had never re-
turned to him and his right hand was
rowerless. Hugh Travers was with
him, and Ii and 1t was certain that as
long as the poor gentleman lived he
would have at least one faithful heart
to share his sorrows-one kind friend
to anticipate his wants.
had not spent a quarter of my allow
ance, so that If ever an occasion arose
when one might be needed, money
'"ould be forthcoming.
The time had now arrived when I
might with advantage follow the ad-
vice contained in my fathers letter
n go abroad, so from Scotland I
went straight to Paris. and there for
some months in its salons, and under
the guidance of some Of the ablest
professors, 7 CAV full play to my
artistic bent.
Then I wandered from one capital to
another until at last / found myself
in Rome, and there I purposed to tarry
for some time, that I might avail my
self Of examples OF the best style and
study under the best teachers; and in
this c%ongenial work. learning sanity
legends and drinking in all the beauties
of the exquisite finish and colour OF
the old masters, the memory of the
scenes through which 1 had passed,
terrible as they had been, began to
grow fainter. and the wave of youth
full impetuosity had left me stranded.
and, sweeping back, had carried with
1t the zeal of my younger days.
/ made Rome my head-quarters for
more than two years, visiting other
cities of Interest during the slckly sea-
son. n so enamoured did I become
of italian art that I was like to have
spent the rest of my life in the sunny
South. But Fate had ordained it 9TH
erwise.
l had heard a great deal of the doings
OF Tiburzi n Biagini and other cell
ebrated bandits, and as / have limited.
when speaking Of my father. I was
once with him, in the hands of a gang:
shut / certainly had no desire to have
n further dealings with those heavy
handed blackmailers.
One evening I had been for a long
ride. and was returning, walking nv
horse SLOWLY through tha ot.oo@. -.