Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1900-07-12
The World Against Him
BY WILL N. HARDEN.
Copyright. 1900. BY
AN. Kellogg Newspaper Company.
CHAPTER MI.

the town.
''Thar's one disagreeable feature he
remarked. eat first, my idea was to
hurry up an git it over, so you wouldn't
have to go to jail at all; but it has
just struck me that this is Saturday,
an it is sometimes awkward work to
have trial the last day O. the week.
You see the prosecution will want to
summon Thad Williams, an that will
take time. Then, as tomorrow is Sun
day, you may have obleeged to wait
over till Monday"
Ronald told him that it would make
little difference to him whether he
spent the time in Jail OF out.
"You feel that away now,' comment
ed the sheriff, ''but you will feel diff
ferent when you git in thar, at least
that's my experience with prisoners.
\ Jail house is like a woman's bonnet;
it has a better look from the outside
than the inside
Just before driving into the public
square Ratcliff struck a match and APP
Plied the flame to his cigar, then he
drew himself up more erectly and
drove on to the office Of Judge Richard
son, the magistrate. A man coming
cut told Ratcliff that the judge had
gone out to his farm to spend Sunday
''You see," said Ratcliff, as he puffed,
and seemed to view himself from the
standpoint of group of citizens who
had gathered on the sidewalk and
whose eyes were asking what had hap
pened. One of the crowd stepped out
to the buggy and asked if Ronald was
under arrest, but he received only a
non-committal grin and shrug as
Ratcliff turned his horse towards the
Jail, a modern red brick structure adj
Joining the courthouse in the center
of the town. When they arrived the
iailer, a short, thickset man, with u
bald spot on his head, was playing
checkers in the yard with the ordinary
of the county. The jailer answered to
his name reluctantly, without looking
up from the board.
YOU'D better git up from thar"
called out Ratcliff, jocularly. THE
taxpayers say they are tired O. payin'
you fellers wages to draw flies like
s!eepin' niggers in the courthouse
square"
The taller crowned a king and got
up from the grass with a lingering
backward glance at the hand of his
opponent whats wanted?'' he
asked as he drew near the buggy.
''Mr. Henderson, you remember Mr..
Fanshaw, of Honeycut Destrict," re-
minded Ratcliff. Hes the Teller that
helped me out last summer with that
lynchin' crowd over our way. Well,
he's settled sgd Harris hash to-day
an will have to register at yore She
bang till Monday, I reckon. want you
to make i'm comfortable, JEFF; he's a
friend o. mine"
"Tll do the best cam" promised the
jailer; ''but you know all the cells are
alike"
They followed him into the Jail and
up the stone steps to heavy iron door
at the head of the stairs. The room
was too large to be called cell. 1t
was light, having four windows, which
were heavily barred, and 4 bed that
was faultlessly clean. AS Ratcliff and
the taller were leaving, the sheriff asked
Ronald if he could do anything for
him.
Ronald told him he could think of
nothing; indeed, he could think of moth
ing at the moment but Sgd Harris eyes
Sgd Harris blood.
you'll have to have lawyer" sug-
9ested Ratcliff. ..
"Then send Mr.. Redding. to me- said
the prisoner.
When they had left him. Ronald
threw himself on the bed and stared
up at the ceiling. Harris corpse had
way of coming before him with new
force each time that it made its APP
pearance. 1t approached him now in
solitude oftener and with more tena-
cious reality than ever. The afternoon
Gied slowly. 1t began to grow colder
as the sun went down, and the light
against the western sky turned from
yellow to gray. Once he fancied he
saw the body on the floor by his bed,
in the shadow, just as it was lying whe IL
he had last beheld it. Almost with a
prayer for protection he turned his
face away and stifed a scream, and
vet the feeling of actual guilt bad not
come to him. He tried to draw Evelyn
into his thoughts, but there was cold
comfort in the memory that he had
bi;ghted her life as well as his own.
Could he have done so then, he would
have killed her affection for him that
she might have the peace of soul that
was denied him. He heard steps on the
. stairs and a key ratified in the lock
of a little iron door in the wal, and
through it came woman's voice:
Here's yore supper, Mr.. Fanshaw.'
1T was the jailer's wife, and he arose
and took the Plate Of food and cup
OF hot coffee from her hands.
''Mr. Ratcliff stopped at the door just
now" she said, in cold, methodical
tone, IAN he said tell you Mr.. Reddin'
was out in the country, but he'd left
word at his house fur i'm to come an
see you as soon as he got back"
When she had gone, Ronald put the
plate on the bed there was no table
in the room) and washed his hands and
a face in the tin basin, but somehow the
cold water added to the general chill
that was on him and he quickly dried
himself on a towel. The sight of the
food gave him a touch Of nausea; he
started to drink the coffee, but remem-
bered that coffee at night made him
restless, and he wanted to sleep. He
went to the window which commanded