Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1901-11-13
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81
copyrighted. s9oo. " the J. B. Lippincott Col
CHAPTER &1VIII-CoNr1N1rrn

CHAPTER se1V14.-CoNT1NUED.
Nearly an hour was consumed il
trying to convince him he must or Al
least might he mistaken, but to M
purpose. He mentioned card photo
graph Of Foster in ranch costum t!.c
would convince the gentlemen, h,
thought, that there was no such yer,
strong resemblance, and a note wa:
written to Miss Porter asking her tt
find and send the picture in question
1T came, cabinet photo of a, tall, slen
der, well-built young fellow with darl
eyes and brows and thick, curvine
lashes, and oval, attractive face
despite it's boyishness, and nine mel
out of ten who saw and compared i
with the face of the dead declared II
looked as though it had been takel
for sthe latter perhaps year or sc
agone. Ray had hurt his own case
sisters side, went forth into the gath
ering twilight stricken with the con
seriousness that he was believed tt
have lied in hopes of averting scanda
from that sisters name.
And on>the morrow with that post.
mortem, so insisted on by Brick, nc
longer delayed, the dead again lay
lnutely awaiting the final action of the
civil-military authorities, and to the
surprise of the officers and guards,
before going to the daily routine that
kept him from early morn till late at
night in his beleaguered office, Dray-
ton came and bowed his gray head and
gazed with somber eyes into the sleep
ing features now before him.
A pinched and tired look was COM
ing over the waxen face that had been
90 calm and placid, as though in utter
WEAKNESS over this senseless delay.
Drayton had been told of young Rays
almost astounding declaration, and
officers of the law half expected him
TO make some adverse comment there
on, but he did not. Alert correspond
ents, amazed to see the corps CON-
mander at such a place and so far from
the Ayun amiento, surrounded him as
he would have retaken his seat in his
carriage, and clamored for something
as coming from him in the way of an
expression of opinion, which, with
grave courtesy, the general declined
to give, but could not prevent appear
ing week later in thousand papers
in dozen different forms-ferried
over to Hong-Kong by the Shotgun or
some other ship, and cabled thence to
waiting Christendom.
Drayton had his own reasons for
wishing TO see the remains, then Vim
ton, and later Ray, and as his move
ments were closely followed, the wits
of the correspondents were sorely
taxed. But the examination was to be
resumed at nine. rumor was run
ming wild that Miss Ray herself was
TO be summoned to appear, and Dray
ton had to be dropped in favor of
more promising sensation.
1t began with dreary surgical tech
nicalities. The heavy bullet had
traversed the ascending aorta "Dear
its bifurcation," said Brick, who
though only an autopsical adjunct,
was permitted to speak for his as
sociates. Death, said he, had resulted
from shock and was probably instan-
taneous. No other cause could be at
tributed. No other wound was dis
covered. No marks of scuffe except
"some unimportant scratches on the
shoulder. The bullet was found to
weigh exactly the same as those OF
the unexploded cartridges in poor
Maidie's priced revolver, and though
Brick would gladly have kept the
floor and told very much more, the
provost-marshal as gladly got rid of
him, for, despite the unwillingness
of the medical officers at the Quartet
de Meysic, Connolly had been
trundled down to Ermita in springy
ambulance and was patiently await
ing his turn.
The moment his coming was an
nounced, Connolly was ushered in and
Brick shut off short.
A nurse and doctor were with the
sturdy little Irishman, and he need
ed but brief instruction as to what
was wanted. Taken to the trest!e
and hidden to look upon the face of
the deceased and SAY, if he could,
who it was, Connolly looked long and
earnestly, and then turned feebly but
calmly to the attentive array.
IF it wasn't that this looks much
thinner" said he, ''I'd say it was a
man who listed with our detachment
at Denver last June, about the first
week. The name was Foster. He
disappeared somewhere between
Sacramento and Oakland, and I never
saw him again."
Questioned as to whether there was
any mark by which the recruit could
be known, Connolly said that he was
present when Foster was physically
examined, and he never saw a man
with winter skin; there wasn't
mark on him anywhere then that he
could remember. Bidder to tell what
he knew of Foster, the young art;l-
leryman was given a seat, and some
what feebly proceeded. Foster was
bound to enlist, he said, was of legal
age and looked it; gave his full name,
mis- home and business; said he
owned a ranch down in New Mexico
near Fort Averill; didn't know
enough to go in for q commission
and was determined to enlist and
serve as a private soldier in the cav
airy. He had good clothes and things
that he put in a trunk and expressed
back to Averill, keeping only yalise
full of underwear, etc, but that was
burned up on the car afterwards.
Two days later, before they started
for the west, a man who said his
name was Murray came to the rem
devious and asked for Foster, who
was then being drilled. A detach-
ment was to start the next day, and