Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1901-02-27

III rushed array to,rdrd the lonSU road"
pulling a hairpin from my hair, | work
ed n little hole in the shade and through
this | looked into a room brightly H.
lumlned by the noon which shone In
through an adjoining window. And
what did | see theref" Her eye turned
on Frederick. His right hand had
stolen toward his left, but 1t paused
under her look and remained motion
less. "0nly al old man sitting at a Ia
BILE and Why did she pause, and
why did she cover up that pause with
n wholly inconsequential sentence?
Perhaps Frederick could have told,
Frederick, whose hand had nov fallen
at his side. But Frederick volunteered
nothing, and no one, not eve Sweet
water, guessed all that lay beyond that
and which was left lowering In the air
to be finished-when? Alas, had she
not set the day and the hour!
What she did say was in seeming ex.
PLANTATION of her previous sentence. 1T
was not the same old man | had seen
uu lut uoOISitp, anu WING I WIS ipoh-
ing at him ! became aware Of some n
leaving the house and passing me on
the road up hill. OF course this ended
my interest in what went on within,
and, turning rs quickly as | could. |
hurried into the road and followed the
shadow | could just perceive dlsap-
pearlng in the woods above me. | was
bound, gentlemen, as you see, to fol-
low out my adventure to the end. But
my task now became very difficult, for
the moon was high and shone down
upon the read so distinctly that could
not follow the person before me as
closely as | wished without running
the risk of being discovered. | there
fore trusted more to my ear than to
my eye. and as long as | could hear
his steps In front of me | was satisfied.
But presently. as We turned up this
very hill, | ceased to hear those steps
and so became confident that he had
taken to the woods. | vas so sure Of
them myself. and, knowing the paths
well. as | have every opportunity Of
doing, living as we do, directly oppo-
site this forest, ! easily found my way
to the little clearing that | have reason
TO thiak you gentlemen have since be-
come acquainted with. But, though,
from the sounds | heard ! was assured
that the person | was following was
not far In advance of me, | did not
dare to enter this brilliantly illumined
space, especially as there was every In
dication Of this person having COM
pleted whatever task he had set for
himself. Indeed | was sure that |
heard his steps coming back. So, for
the second time, | crouched down In
the darkest place | could find and let
this mysterious person pass me. When
lie had quite disappeared, | made my
own retreat, for it was late, and was
afraid Of being missed at the ball. But
later, or, rather, the next day, | re-
turned and began a search for the
money which, | was confident. had
been left In these woods by the person
| had been following. | found it. and
when the man here present, who,
though a mere fiddler, has presumed
to take a leading part in this inter
view. came upon me with the bills In
my hand. | was but burying deeper the
III gotten gains ! had come upon"
"Ah. and so making them your own"
ouoth Sweetwa,cr, stung by the sar-
casm In that word fiddler.
But with a suayity against which
every attack fell powerless she met
his significant look with n fully as
significant and quickly said:
III | had wanted the money for my
self. | would not have risked leaving II
where the murderer could find IL by
a bunch Of sodden leaves. No. ! had
another motive for my action. n motive
with which few. II any. of you VIII be
willing to credit me. ] wished to save
the murderer. whom ! had some rea'
son. as you see, for thinking ! knew,
from the consequences Of his own ac'
49, =,
tTo BE Continued i