The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-04-01
TWENTY-FIVE DOLLARS REWARD

l =.
/ the eighty acres from him, paid for six
month in advance and meant 10 work
/ II, because her twenty years OF woman
! hood in the backwoods had made Of her
a better farmer than most men. But even
/ ner dull hopes and WORKOUT fancy SUI
Tered temporary shock when. after drfv-
1 Ing five hours from the little river town
I OF Horning over fallen trees and through
shallow pools that blocked the unused
forest road, she came upon the squalio
hut. the abandoned fields and the utter
| desolation Of her new home" Her son
Zeke was a scrawny child Of T. dressed
I IN threa0bare jeans. weazen from hard
ship, silent and alert. Her daughter
Maria, puny even for 10 years, was pref
tier, but her fimsy calico and faded
shawl seemed already too slight a Gov
eTing against the cold breeze which
moaned through the leahess trees and
blew the fog Of the river into her peaked
face.
It was a cherries house-warming they
had that first frosty night. but by dint Of
I heroic lifting, dragging. chopping and
sweeping the one-hOrSe wagon was IN
! loaded of its burden of old household
goods, the pallets were stretched OF the
molcy floors the old horse was stabbed
and fed and the coffee pot was steaming
OF the rusty stove. Then began the Oft
repeated struggle to establish home for
herself and her little ones. It was too
late 10 put in a crop, and the best the
widow could do was TO stock her shanty
with piles of fire wood against the COM
ing winter. Zeke, keen with the woods
mans inbred instincts, left the tree fell
ing and the housekeeping TO Maria and
his mother. His fathers heavy rife, 4
rusty ak and a SCARED Barlow knife. be-
came his implements Of utility, and never
n CaH "a he ~ No hrir no
a few rabbits or squirrels. Before the
first snow few he had Whitfield some rude
figures four. and at last, creeping
down to one Of his traps by the river.
he found an imprisoned otter.
That settled Zeke ia his choice Of activi-
ties, for he worked far into the night,
long after his tired mother and sister
mad gone to sleep. hewing, hacking and
whiting at the rude fiat boat which he
hoped TO shape from the worm-eaten
planks of dismantied chicken-hOuse. In
the morning he dragged the results of his
labor TO the rivers brink and there for
days he tOiled like an inspired elf till
the clumsy vessel seemed fit for launch
ing. His mother we'll aware of the prac-
teal value of his bent, and little Maria,
already a precocious little housewife
helped him 10 shove the boat into the
deep and sullen current Of Black river
His little sister cheered as he pushed out
into the stream and proudly tested the
efficiency of his heroic handiwork. But
the mother, iIl-shod and poorly clad, went
back to wood-chopping and toiled till her
body turned hot with the fever and the
ak fell from her hand. Then she went
into the log house quaking with the
ague, and 70 bed helpless and almost de-
lirious with the malady Of the low
lands.
From that day Maria, big-eyed like a
gnome, baked and washed, made coffee.
scrubbed and shaved, that her mother
might thrive and that Zeke might ply his
lonely trade from the gray dawn till the
night fogs rose from the dark, mourn
ing river. But though the girl waxed
frazier and sadder and the boy brought
home many pelts Of squirrels, otter and
even few mink, the wasted mother felt
the first breezes OF spring waiting In al
her open window and was not able 20
face even the thought of blowing her mar
row fields for the spring corn planting
She noticed that Zeke. always taciturn,
said less and less. When she praised
him for his success and sought with ca
resses to him for amends for the busy. al
most heartless days when she was well
enough to work. he would shuttle out OF
her gaunt embraces and vouch-safe no
bovish stories Of his work along the river.
She guessed that he had some secret,
and for the first time sensed the sweet
sting Of mothers tender Jealousy.
If she had known that since the early
days of her illness her boy had kept up
a singular partnership with a bearded
stranger, who slept in the woods like a
hunted animal, she would have wondered
more. For coming down TO a trap from
which his quarry had invariably escaped,
Zeke one morning had found a stranger
calmly pocketing the captured rabbit.
;:Il give it TO you, kid. If you'll fetch
me some bread and coffee" said the
man, glowerins at the scared boy: '.but
don't tell nobody you saw me. II you do
III lift every dang hide or feather you
ketch''
The boy only stared, but the man smiled
at his amazement and said:
Tell you what I'll do, kid. IF you
fetch me some bread and coffee every day
III watch them traps o. yourn at night
And as the man gently held out the rab-
bit zel1e agreed. Thereafter he stole
many handsful Of ground coffee from
home, filed his pockets with bread and
was glad of the compact when he saw
his traps, reset and baited at night, Yield
a double harvest OF fresh meat.
II the secret burdened his little con-
science the young trapper bore gamely 10
his pact, for he knew that the time was
come TO put in the corn and that Il
would not be put in. Upon his frsil shout
ders depended even the hope Of providing
-four and bacon and medicine for his
mother. What must happen when the
rent came due, was an oTninous problem
which even the worn mother dreaded 10
confront II they only had a few neigh
bGrs. some plan might be c0ntrived for
planting a crop. but the nearest house
was in the outskirts OF Horning. and for
twenty miles upstream there were no
dwellers but Isolated trappers and lum-
bermen.
IT vas late in March when Zeke. mount
ed on the scrsEgy horse. with his Pile
ot pelts behind him. set out for town. He
Grove a famous bargain with the fur
rier. TRADED some hides Tor cuinine. pro-
visions. powder and ball. and a pair Of
shoes for little Maria. and was about 10
set out for home with nearly SI in MS
pocket when in the wagon ward wher-
be had left his horse. he saw q placsrd.
Twenty-fve Dollars Reward FOR
information leading 70 the arrest
81 Jason Manning, iumberman.
who murderously assaulted Mar
shall Topping last Decer Der. De-
scripuon. Tail. dark. fun beard
etc.
L was ZeSe's mysterious partner, The .
boy stealthily tore down the placard. I
stuffed il into his pocket ard trcttec
1omeward with a new light IN his shrewd /
gray eyes. The next morning before day
Ehr be was * his deadfaii il the Afec- /
-sin bend. His partner. bending over the !
tran. was 6iselfangiing r. faf racroon. T
Morning. Zeke Re groEled without 4
cokiag To NORMA. said the boy. tt- 4
-s7~ Ike q 1l-rIa r,senrlt-fr Is he frf--srf 4
mo his Jacket pocket for tho nlacsrd
Is Marshal Topping dead gasped fhe 4
lan. his face gsay and his eyes leeunE 4
with ugly venom az the lad.