Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1901-11-28
By TOM GALLON
CHAPTER III. tContinued.1

W get away anu yet SeeIflSu, III SOtlle
strange fashion. dazed and ~perplexed.
Moreover, there was a reason, in his
own mind, at least. why he did not
want to be subjected to further ques-
tioning; watching his opportunity,
while the constable was talking with
one of the porters. he strolled towards
the door, passed through quickly, and
ran down the steps into the street.
There, hailing a cab, he was driven
back again towards st. Johns Wood.
1t was now nearly 2 o'clock I'm the
m~orning-and neither wind nor rain
had abated in the least. He got back to
the house n stood looking up at the
windows. undecided what to do. All
the lights had been extinguished in the
house, and there vas no sign of life
anywhere about IL. He stood still in
thu street wondering what was best to
be done. There was no sign Of his mes
senger-that messenger who had been
swallowed up by the dark house, and
who had sent, as 1T were, two men fly
ing frantically from It but a few mo-
ments afterwards. What did it all
mean? Had the messenger come away
again. and not finding the other man in
the street, had he o n elsewhere?
After walking about aimlessly quite a
tong time he went bark to the hospital
and rang the bell there. AS he stood
parleying with the porter the surgeon
he had seen before crossed the hall of
fireplace, stopped. and came forward.
He was a young man, keen-eyed, and
quick OF speech.
"Halloa-you've turned up again,
have you?" he said. Our friend, the
policeman. was looking for you-he
thought he might want you as a wit
ness. I'm afraid the man who tried
conclusions with the machine is in a
bad way"
I'm sorry to hear that" replied the
other. II was obliged to hurry away on
a mathematics of business. L came
back in the hope of learning how he
was" He had come back In the hope
of learning something else, too-but he
did not say so.
You car come and look at him, If
you like sai the surgeon, carelessly.
Then, as they went along, he asked:
do you know the man at all?'
mot personally
"oh! / merely asked becausei strang,
ers don't usually trouble themselves
about a mar picked up in the streets
that's ALL"
tt know the name-or I thought I
did" said the other, slowly. II had
heard the name before. and l had some
slight interest in ii. Has he recovered
consciousness at al?"
The surgeon shook his head. mot
really. Once or twice he has spoken,
but only to say that one name-'Gilbert
Rickerby.' Which reminds me, by the
way. as you say you have an interest
In the name-I found this, clenched
tight in his fingers, a few moments ago
$50 tightly that ] tore 1t in getting 1t
away from him.. It's a mans visiting
card. with just that one name Upon It."
The visitor took the crumpled pieces
OF pasteboard In his fingers and looked
at them. Scarcely two hours before the
man who had left to enter that dark
house in ST, Johns Wood had carried
& that ard in his hand. He felt that the
eyes of The young surgeon were upon
him; he passed back the torn pieces
with what carelessness he could mus
ter.
His own, / suppose" he said. "Do
u you know anything of him? Have you
found anything on him?"
"Nothing-anG he's likely to die with
out saying anything-except that name.
And he shrieks that out every now and
then, in a fashion to shake the nerves.
Il Here he Is"
They had come into one of the long,
N clean, dimly-lit wards-a place Of ST.
lence, save now and then, some sleeper
II twisted uneasily and moaned a little
or when a nurse rustled down between
the beds and spoke in q low voice TO a
s patient. Here and there a ~listless pair
of eyes was turned upon the man who
walked softly beside the surgeon; in
Zone corner a screen had been drawn
around a bed. TO show that Death had
3coma softly in the nighttime and
ihealed someone for good and all. The
surgeon leaned down beside the bed Of
1.-THE man who had been so recently
I brought In, and gently but firmly held
down the restless arms and looked into
the staring, unconscious face.
"steady-steady! You'll wear your
self out, my friend, at this rate, in an
hour or two. Something here more
than broken limbs and concussion," he
added, CHANGING up at the other man.
IF death here, it'l come not
.iQufetly, but with fears and tortures."
Us theT5-something troubling him
HfPpAi1 - y PNA hoPo oh~h tiC VIII
Ger. He spoke In a low voice, and kept
4 his troubled eyes upon the face Of the
s. Imam on the bed.
Heaven only knows!" responded the
Asurgeon, struggling his shoulders. 1--WE
have, no tim to hin of trouble or
mysteries here; our business is to look
after mems bones"
Il should l~iKe-to-stay with him a
little whiie-if / may" pleaded the 9TH
er. hesitatingly, "As / have said, / have
gome-sorne interest in the name-and I
snay earn something about him."
There's 10 harm in that" said the
~ioctor. readily enough. 1T isn't much
more han any one will see OF him, I'm
afraid. TIL tell the nurse you have my
Permission"
~ Left there with the injured man, the
Visitor sat down beside the bed, quite
silently, and looked down at him;
NEhorght OF the torn card that had been
found In the mans clenehed hand, and
Helt his brain reel. Then, in the silence
2pf the ward there broke from the man