Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1900-12-17
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BY
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70 o 20 VISA. SS59o 9SI
Copyright. 1899. by F. Tennysou Neely.l

nance for smiles. But, with face set
and forbidding, Blake went sternly by,
taking no notice of the proprietor, and
made directly for the little group now
muttering at the dining room door. The
loungers, some of whom had deserted
the supper table for sight Of the cap
tives and the cavaIcade, sided right
and left as though to avoid his eyes, for
into each face, most of them hangdOg
visages, he gazed sharply, as though IN
search of some one, yet never faltered
in his stride. Back from her barred
window shrank the young girl as the
tall soldier came within a dozen PAGES.
To one side or another, smoke lnhallng
and striving to look uncOncerned, edged
the swarthy constituents of the group
and with never Il word to one of them,
straight through their midst and the
doorway beyond, went Blake, catching
the three peppers, 1.-THE wife of my
BROTHER and the brace of paIpable cut
throats at their iOOphOles. So unexpect-
ed was the move that it had not even
occurred to one Of the creatures at the
door to mutter word of warning. So
engrossed were the three in their scru-
tiny that BIake's entrance was unbeard.
True he had discarded boots and
spurs, and his feet were incased IL soft
Apache moccasins. The floor; too. was
eartheu, but he made no effort at
stealth, and in the gloom and shadow
of the low rooted room it was for a mo-
ment difficult tc distinguish the human
figures against the opposite wall. 1t
was his ear that first gave warning, for
low, yet distinct, he heard the words:
eff he'd taken any horse but that
roam, or knew less about riding, we'd
"a caught him 20 miles out, and he'd
never "a caught Nevins. Dash dash the
whole dashed blue belIied outfit and be
dash dash dashed to their quadruple
dashed souls! % and the concentrated
spite and hatred Of the speaker Missed
In every syllable.
'Tain't a question Of what we could
not do. What can we do? He's got the
money, and plenty of it, cached some
where about the old camp, and $500 of
it's mine. That's what I want. | don't
care d-n what they do with him so
long as they don't send him to prison.
where we can It nail him. That's what
that bloody court will do, though, and I
know it..
Chow d'you know, - fercely demand
ed the other, IS MESS you've been in the
army, which you swear you haven't?
Where'd you desert from? Come, own
up now,'' and, turning for an instant
from his peephole. the speaker became
suddenly aware of the silent form of
Lieutenant Blake.
"None of your dashed businessI' be-
gan the other, when a harsh ''Shut up"
brought him around in amaze, and he,
too, confronted the dark figure standing
like signpost between them and the
violet light beyond the open doorway.
Instinctively the hands of both men
sought their pistol butts, but Blake
made never a move. The woman, look
ing around for the cause of the sudden
silence, caught sight of the statuesque
intruder and, with a low cry, threw
her shawl over her head and, bending
almost double, with outstretched. crop
ing hands, scurrieG to where the mis-
sion made blanket hung at the doorway
of the bedroom and darted through the
aperture like Il rabbit to its form, the
folds of the heavy wool falling behind
her.
And still the tall lieutenant neither
spoke nor moved. His revolver hung at
his right hip. his hunting knife slept
in its sheath, but mis- hands sat jauntily
on his thighs. The stern, set look of
his clear cut face had given place to
something like grin of amusement.
First at one, then at the other, of the
two bewildered WORTHLESS he gazed,
fo1x To
foot as they lowered there, both irreso-
lutte and Disconnected, one of them visi-
bly, trembling.
There was a doorway leading into the
room in which was set the table for
stage passengers of the better class, Off
GERS and the few ladies who had ven
tured to follow their lords into faraway
or the genie fine, which in
cluded amaZons whose money could pay
their way pretty much anywhere and
was made pretty much anyhow. But
that room was empty, and the one be- !
yond it, the bar, had only one or two
occupants, too far away to see what was /
going on.
There were doorway and swinging
screen of dirty canvas just beyond the !
loophole lately occupied by 1.-THE wife /
of my brother, doorway that gave /
ON the corral, and to each of these each /
silent tough" had given quick, furtive |
glance, but not step was taken. How /
long the strain of the situation might /
have lasted there is no saying. It was /
broken by the sudden lifting of that /
dirty canvas screen, as sudden and per-
ceptible start on the part of each of .
the confronted men and the quick en-
trance of the engineer. For another
second or two no word was spoken.
Loring's eyes were evidently unable at
the instant to penetrate the gloom.