Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1901-02-21

ton, Ready and. after three seconds,
the order, Fret"
Without a tremor Lennon faced the
weapon leveled at him. Manuel had
pulled himself together, and spoke
steadily, and simultaneously with the
word "Firei" came the crack of the
weapon. Lennon stood untouched, and
II was now his turn. Never again, 1
pray, may I go through the mental tor
ture that I went through then, as I
listened for what easily might be my
fathers death-signal, and as / waited
the seconds seemed minutes.
I could not take my eyes from Len
non. / heard the word Fire." I saw
his finger press the trigger. I saw his
hand fly up with a jerk. and with the
sound of the explosion he fell to the
ground. The revolver had burst in his
hand and shattered 1t. and the blood
that foowed over his face showed that
he was wounded in the head.
We ran TO him.
Lift me up" he said. 1T have not
had my shot yet. Lend me a revolver
and prop me against the tree. Tie up
my head with something"
And in a very few minutes we had
lone as he asked, and there, with the
blood reddening the handkerchiefs with
which we had bound up his wounds,
and holding the weapon i'm his left
hand, ne stood waiting for the signal.
But he vas never again TO attempt
my fathers life, for even his iron nerve
was not proof against the shock he had
received. and ne slipped, fainting. upon
the grass, and the word Fire" fell
upon deaf ears.
We made shift to carry him down
some distance. and then Manuel called
for help, and the shattered weapon
fitted I'm with the story of an accident.
Towards evening Manuel came to see
me.
HE can't last the night out" he said.
II know something of surgery, and 1
can't understand why his wounds
should kill him. He want to see you,
and l believe he has something to tell
you
l lost no time in accompanying Man
uel to the house where Lenr.n lay. He
was propped up on a couch of mats,
and death was written large on every
feature.
Mr.. Tremayne.'' said he, ct would to
heaven that fate had made us friends
instead OF foes. I am very near my
end, and 1t would have comforted me
to have seen a priest before I died, for
L wish to clear my conscience of, per-
haps. the worst thing I have DONE"
i shall not try to repeat his words,
for he halted at times to get breath, or
to take the stimulant that gave him
strength to go on. This is the SUBJ
stance Of what he said:
Sweeney was the life and soul of the
Ragged Thirteen. and the name, In
deed. had been OF his coming. IT was
Sweeney who had attacked Mr.. Trav-
ers at Kendall. and this would never
have been confessed but that Manuel
had told the dying man that Sweeney
had persisted In the wreck of the Night
ingale, though he was careful not to
mention the manner OF his death. And
when I heard that Lennon and Swee-
ney were more than foster-brothers-
that, indeed, they were sprung from
the same father-I understood the mar
vellous likeness OF their hands, though
the excitement had prevented me from
seeing 1t when I peat the mans fingers
from the raft.
~ q = viz VII pOll-
tics to revenge. though the latter pas
sion was so strong within him that he
had hunted the world over until he
found my father. He had followed me
to Kendal-for he was the active agent
In the murder OF DR.. James-and ne
would have made the second attempt
upon Mr.. Travers' life much sooner
than he did, but that he had heard of a
clue that promised to bring him the
knowledge OF my fathers whereabouts.
Sweeney was to have been left in
England, but he insisted on coming
with me, and II vas owing to his ad-
vice that the Ragged Thirteen met at
Southampton instead of in Manches-
ter. n n trusted TO the influence he
had over his h~alf-brother to settle the
matters as he had intended when we
should all meet I'm Fiji. The meeting
at Courtney's was held to satisfy those
OF the party who were politically in
clined. and the ass~assinations ar.
ranged and discussed would probably
never have gone beyond those stages.
With regard to his treatment of Court
ney, Lennon explained that the money
he got from him had been spent in
searching for my father, but as II
would have eventually been his, inc as
he .ad left what remained to Nora, his
mind was comparatively easy about It.
And then came the most startling in
formation of all. The girl who had been
accidentally shot when the quarrel first
rose was cousin TO the man who lay
dying out there in Fiji. Lennon had
fallen in love with her. but she had re-
fused him, and had accepted-Jim Ma
guire! She was staying in England
when Mcguire came over and took her
to Cambridge to see her cousin Fergus.
They could not find him at his rooms,
and so they strolled out into the coun-
try and sat down behind some gorse
bushes. At the sound OF voices she
and Mcguire rose, and as they did SO,
n was wounded. And now came the
crime for which Lennon seemed deeply
repentant.
II got her away from the inn," he
said, and / told her that Mcguire was
dead. and ! wrote and told him that
h was dead. and at last she married
me. But she saw some mention OF Ma
guire In the papers. and discovered tho
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