Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1901-11-16
Copyrighted, 1900. by the J. B. Lippincott Co.
CHAPTER ,XVII.-CoNTINUED.

CHAPTER XVIII.-CoNTINUED.
Nearly an hour was consumed in
trying to convince him he must or at
least might be mistaken, but to no
purpose. He mentioned a card photo
graph of Foster in ranch costume that
would convince the gentlemen, he
thought, that there was no such very
written to Miss Porter asking her to
find and send the picture in question.
1T came, a cabinet photo of tall, slen-
der, well-built young fellow with dark
eyes and brows and thick, curving
lashes, and oval, attractive face.
despite it's boyishness, and nine men
out of ten who saw and compared it
with the face of the dead declared II
looked as though it had been taken
for the latter perhaps year or so
agone. Ray had hurt his own case,
and, when excused to return to his
sisters side, went forth into the gath
ering twilight stricken with the con-
seriousness that he was believed to
have lied in hopes Of averting scandal
from that sisters name.
And on the morrow with that post
norton, so insisted on by Brick, no
longer delayed, the dead again lay
mutely awaiting tt 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
so 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 COM
r1ander at such place and so far from
the Ayuntamiento, 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 a week later in & thousand papers
in a dozen different forms-ferried
over to Hong-Kong by the Shotgun OF
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
lnents were closely followed, the wits
of the correspondents were sorely
taxed. But the examination was to be
resumed at nine. A 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 "pear
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 scuff1e 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 a 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.
nurse and doctor were with the
sturdy little Irishman, and he need
ed but brief instruction as to what
was wanted. Taken to the trestle
and hidden to look upon the face CT
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.
eff it wasn't that this looks much
thinner" said he, "Fd 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 l 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 a winter skin; there wasn't a
mark on him anywhere then that he
could remember. Bidden to tell what
ne knew of Foster, the young art;l
lefyman was given seat, and some
what feebly proceeded. Foster was
pound to enlist, he said, was of legal
age and looked it; gave his full name.
ms home and business; said he
owned ranch down in New Mexico
near Fort Averill; didn't know