The Savannah morning news., 1901-10-14

Tatton had come from a state far
Their north. He had been in the low
country for years; but these had not
served to entirely eradicate the ira
ditions and Unborn teachings of his
home state. Wild. uneducated, untu-
tored, he was a savage still.
He had brother. Younger, less
wild and weaker, this brother appealed
strangely to his love and to his pro-
lection. When Tatton came to the low
country his brother had remained be-
hind. For months he did not hear
from him. At length he received
word from friend. For moment
he was stunned and could not under
stand the reality. Tom, so the friend
wrote. had become involved in a quar-
rel with a man in the section-one
with whom Tatton was we'll acquaint-
ed-and in the course of the personal
encounter that ensued he was shot
and killed
After much labor Tatton had man
aged to read the letter 1t was slow
work. for he could not read so well as
In the old days when he had casually
attended the little school out by the
branch. Distrusting his own knowl-
edge, he took the letter with him to
the village some distance away. There
he persuaded a friendly storekeeper to
read it for him 1t was indeed as he
had read for himself: Tom was dead.
Tatton dumbly thanked the man,
took the sheet of paper, and silently
left the place. Out into the woods he
made his way. towards the Old Fort
Swamp. once there. he seated himself
on a log, one that had served the pur-
pose before, and bit by bit went over
the information he had received. 1t
was woefully brief and insufficient in
its details. Tom. had become involved
in quarrel with one Ben Jenkins over
a hog One word led 10 another, each
pulled his gun. and in the fusillade
that followed Tom fell with a bullet
through his head. Jenkins gave him
SET up TO the authorities, was tried
and acquitted He had killed Tom in
self-defense- That was all there was to
IL. Tatton went over the meager de-
tails time and again. until they were
indelibly engraved on his mind and
heart.
That morning. just prior to receiving
the letter. another blow had been ad-
ministered TO the man. The woman
who kept the house where he took his
meals was a Mrs. Hawkins. Long had
Tatton observed her, for she was good
to look at. There was a grace in her
every movement that he could not I'M
derstand, but which he admired. Her
face was pretty, and he felt that he
could look at it forever and not grow
tired. He did not know what love was;
but he would lie out beyond the fence,
In a clump of low pine saplings, and
watch her for hours as she passed to
and fro in the pursuance of her duties.
Sometimes there was a child. with her,
a girl of perhaps seven years, and Tat
ton admitted to himself that she was
like unto his conception of an angel.
During these months that he had
been in the low-country his shrewd-
ness and industry had not gone unre-
warded. He had saved some money.
One day. some weeks before, the
thought had come to his mind to ask
Mrs. Hawkins to marry him. Night
after night he lay sleepless. thinking
it over, and weighing his chances of
failure or success. Finally he decided
to put it to the test He called on
Mrs. Hawkins and made known his
desire in his blunt and straightfor-
ward way. No less blunt and straight