Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1902-05-06
CHAPTER Nv.

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Ididn't know what to think. Excited
as l was by the talk with DIR. Mullion, I
felt too much exhausted to drag my
self along the wagon after him. l con-
tented myself with calling to him
feebly, and then, as he had apparently
gone too far to hear me, l lay back
quietly on the mattress and tried to
think things out.
But the more l thought the more
puzzled l became. Had the doctor real
ly no suspicion of his nephew's guilt2
Was it possible that his nephew, sleep
ing in the same stateroom as himself,
could have concealed from his expert
enced eyes the fact of his having re.
ceived bullet-wound. Nothing
seemed less likely.
Yet on the other hand my suggestion
that young Mullion was mad had most
certainly been received with grave in
terest by the old doctor; and he had
not only promised when he found me
on the preceding day to keep his
nephew away from me, but he had been
genuinely startled by my information
that Dick was near at hand.
Then my thoughts flew in another
direction. How had the old doctor
found me? knew him to be genuinely
interested in me and anxious to res ore
me to health, as he believed himself to
be able to do. But the usual interest
kindhearted medical man takes in
a fellow traveller scarcely seemed to
account for such a wonderful thing as
long and tedious journey into the
karroo taken expressly to find me,
when had left behind no animation
that I was anxious to put myself un-
der his care.
1t was very odd thing, indeed, IN
less, as l began to think, Dick Null
lion, actuated by the mad decisions
to which I believed him to be subject,
had tracked me thus far on my way,
in which case his uncle must have fol-
lowed him.
But why? Why2 Why7
That was the word that rang in my
dull ears as lay, helpless and alone,
listening to the subdued talk of the
Hottentot drivers as they settled un-
der the wagon for the night.
Tom came to me presently, and to
my inquiries as to his meeting with
Dick Mullion returned evasive and un-
satisfactory answers.
That he had been tempered with
was clear. For with my own eyes I
had seen the meeting between these
two; and, although they had been too
far off for me to swear to Dick, I
knew was not mistaken.
Come now" I said, persuas ively.
where's the harm in speaking to
man who addresses you casually on
the road? I'm not finding fault with
you. / only ask you to tell me wheth-
err the man saw you speaking to to-
day was not the same one that you
met before-a few days ago-I forget
exactly when it was; my heads not
clear, you know"
But Tom, although knew he was
lying, and although he was conscious
of this, still persisted that he had
met no Englishman that day except
his fellow servant, old DR.. Mullion
and me.
Then I lay back again with q sink
ing of the heart, and a terrible sense
of my utter loneliness and helpless
ness. This man, whom I had trusted,
who. had seemed to be compassionate
ly attached to me, had been bought
over by my mysterious, insidious
enemy.
What did it mean2 Who but a mad
man would have followed me up as
young Mullion had done, coming out
into the wilds in pursuit of a
wretched creature like myself, with
out even the shadow Of an excuse of
rivalry to make his idiotic expedition
comprehensive.
But if he was mad, as I believed,
how was it that he had been able to-
gain over my servant Tom? Dick
Mullion was not rich man, who
could bride heavily. Tom was we'll
paid and had received half promise
that would take him back to Eng
land with me. And this was a pros
pect which he valued highly.
Strange as it all was, was too
weak and confused to follow out ang
train of thought clearly and fully;
and I soon dismissed the man with
an inpatient wave of the hand and
lay back again in my loneliness, won
dering whether the doctor would find
his nephew, and, if so, what the re.
suit of their interview would be.
don't know whether 1 went to
sleep; 1 only know that presently L
felt the ice-cold hand again at my
throat, and that this time, in a
paroxysm of nervous energy, sprangs
up, threw off the clutching fingers,
and, making to the entrance of the
wagon with speed which surprised
even myself, fell out upon the
ground
For few moments L lay half
stunned by my fall. When L reeov-
cred found the dawn vas breaking,
that the natives had disappeared and
that Tom was again some distance
away cracking a long OK whip as, he
sauntered along.
/ staggered to my feet and looked
inside The wagon for the doctor. But
he was not there; and L remembered
at once chat he could not have passed
the might there, as it was scarcely
likely that an attack would have been
made upon me unless 1 had been by
myself.