The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1900-05-19
CHAPTER vi,

CHAPTER vi.
One morning in the month of July,
when Ronald returned from his to-
bacco field, he found a score or more
'ncuntaineers in the front yard. They
were discussing an awful crime that
day, Mrs. Telplay, a widow who lived
alone in a cottage at the foot of the
mountain was found brutality muir
derrd l, had been generally known
that she kept quite a sum of money
in an old hair trunk under her bed,
having always refused to take the adj
vice OF her friends to put her savings
in more secure place. The trunk
was found to have been split open by
the bloody AK which had killed the
owner, and the money was gone.
sydney Hart, tall, raw-boned
young man, with sharp black eyes and
Il big mustache dyed to match, sat
;strdc his fine horse and told what he
knew of the affair. AS he talked he
famed his aquiline face with his
sombrero.
"As soon as Jeff. that's her niger
house boy, came in to make the fires"
he was saying as Ronald approached,
'hc seed what had happened, an run
out to give the alarm
Didn't nobody suspicion Jeff?"
qucried old Fanshaw, who sat on the
steps IN his stockings.
Don't he so blamed fast" snarled
the narrator, with frown. He could
not abide interruption. Tie was sort
of leader of moonshiners. though it
had never been proven against him,
and he was accustomed to more re-
spcct than he deserved.
"Well, go on" grunted Fanshaw,
you are about as good at tellin' a
thing as a one-legged man is at a
kiclin' bee. You no sooner make a
start than you kick the end O. yore
spine up in the ground an thar you
are"
The crowd laughed impulsively, but
the fierce glare of sgd Harris eyes
soon put an end to the merriment.
"You must a-had razor soup fur
breakfast" he grunted, letting his eyes
lest on Fanshaw, and then he began to
smile. "Thar wasn't no use sus-
picionin' jeff" he proceeded; "fur as
soon as the news got out Thad Viii.
liams straddled his mare an notified
the sheriff. Ratcliff is quick on trig.
ger, an he tuck Thads mare an made
fur the spot armed to the teeth
"Well, did he kctch the one that
did it?" broke in Dave Fanshaw, i'm.
patiently, and anyone could have seen
from his face that he was not one OF
llart's followers.
sgd bent his eyes on Dawes face and
sneered. "You are like yore daddy
he observed, "you want yore hog fore
it's barbecued. Yes, you bet he
ketched i'm; that's what he was out
after. About half mile from the
widows house he run across a. young
stranger ahidin' in a barn nigh the
tale mines. He was too good thing
to be missed, so Ratclilf arrested i'm
then an thar an made i'm turn is
pockets wrong side Sut. He had
fifty dollars in hard cash, an, more
over, his hands was red in strealls. an
he had blood on his handkerchief an
shirt-slccves. lie was young fellow
an cried like baby; he said he hadn't
killed nobody, nur stole nobody's
money, but Ratcliff tuck i'm in tow
He was sech a little fellow that Rat
cliff lowed folks I'd get the laugh or
i'm if he roped or handcuffed i'm. sc
he started on with i'm Jest so. They
made it all right till they got bacl
heer piece to the bcginnin' o Col
Hasbrooke's swamp. Thar, at Swift:
cabin. Ratcliff stopped to git ligh
fur his cigar. Nobody ever heerd tel
O. him taliin' a prisoner to Jail with
out he had cigar stuck in his jaw
He don spend u dollar a yeer fur ci
CARS, but he has to smoke one when h,
| jugs a man. 1t makes him look i'm
portant. He had jest called fur .
chunk O. fire, an Nliz Swift was fetchin
it out to i'm, when 10 an behold, til,
little stranger showed he was up t,
snuff. He lodged off behind a hay
stack before Eatcliff could draw hi
gun an was off into the swami
like skeered rabbit. A boss aim
with a tinker's dam in swampy lant
an cane brakes. an Ratclif amt d
timber as he wuz twenty yecr back
And" the speaker broke off with
laugh, 1.-THE little skunk's in tn
swamp yit. Me an these fellows is t,
watch this road, an Ratc]iff's gon
round t'other side to stir UT the pee
pie. They'll drive i'm this way besor
long, an then the fun will begin"
"What do you mean by the fun?
broke in Ronald sharply.
The gaunt giant on the hors
shrugged his shoulders and bent
critical. half-aggressive glance on til
questicner.
ooh. I reckon the boys won't wan
to wait fur them blamed thievish law
yers in town to get whack at i'm ar
finally git i'm turned loose. We hahn
got much book larnin', but we know
when mans guilty. an we kno,
what lawyers is
ITO BE Continued