Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1902-05-23
CHATTER yXliI


don't quite I,row what happened
after hat. hu; presently found my.
| self Ming on ne door and wondering
where WAS
Then the sound OF whispering, rus.
ting OF Raves and The cracking OF
| branches roused me 10 a partial re.
mrlnbraace vi the awful thing that
had happened. i raised myself with
! difficulty from the rough floor. and
found ,hat MY limbs were stiff and
benumped, ana thar was shiveriug so
mnch yhat was al first glad to sink
on my bed for a little. half Obvious
to everything bat the deadly sickness
which was ON me-
| Then heard another voice | recog-
nized as that of the Hottentot June,
and got up once more and staggere d
to the window.
But | could see nothing now, and l
felt sure that both Dick and the Hot
tentot had gone away. Craning my
neck, however, and thrusting back the
branches, after few minutes | saw
June returning. He scrambled
through the bushes. bent down under
the window. and began to drag some
| thing away through the underground.
| forcing passage. \ low cry of horror
escaped me; surely ii must be the body
of Dick Mullion that he was taking
away!
| would have called out to him, but
my tongue refused to obey my will;
! would have stayed there, straining
my eyes in the obscurity. but i began
to sway about. as | stood clinging to
| the broken boards
| Then with a convulsive tit of shud-
dering ! turned away, and, alone with
my awful thoughts, lay waiting for the
| daylight.
| What had done? Was it murder?
The day before think | should have
| said il could not be murder to shoot q
| man who had attacked me three times,
| from whose rnalignity death alone
could free me.
| But now. with the remembrance of
what l had just heard and seen fresh
in my mind, things began to show
themselves to me in different light,
and wondered what DIR. Mullion would
| say, and old Atkinson. and-Jennie,
when they learned what l had done.
Now, too. as / thought of all the
strange circumstances of the past few
weeks. the character of Dick Mullion
! showed itself TO me in pleasanter
| light; and recognized the fact which
had lately been ignoring, that he had
| shown me some kindness. treated me
| with some care, and shown humanity
altogether out of keeping with the
| character OF Il mean and cowardly
scoundrel- There was, then, only the
| theory of his periodical madness to go
back TO, and, this being u misfortune
| OF the most terrible kind, | began to
see that Jennie would look upon me as
nothing better than heartless muir
| outrages upon me.
| On the other hand, if, as could not
| but suppose, he was himself aware
OF the curse that was upon him, ought
| he not to have himself taken measures,
as man conscious of such periodical
attacks is capable of doing, to have
himself put under restraint when an
attack appeared TO be approaching?
Was not the very fact that he had re-
fused admittance to his uncle, the doc
| tor, proof that he was stubbornly
averse from taking proper precau-
tious?
And then, again. say what would,
there stood the black fact staring at
me- that ] had taken a mans life.
Morning broke at last, after night
during which had indeed slept little
from pure fatigue, but with a sleep
that rather irritated than refreshed
| me, SO much disturbed was l by bad
dreams.
l started up and looked out of nv
| window and saw, only too plainly. that
| what would fain have believed to be
another evil dream had been in truth
a hideous reality. There was the spot,
downtrodden, stained with blood, and
strewn with broken glass, where the
body OF my assailant of the darkness
| had lain. | could see the trail where
he had been dragged away under the
brushwood.
rushed into the next room, un-
fastened the door and staggered out
into the air. The sun was hot already.
went TO the Clubhouse where June
usually slept, but he was not there.
Then | started to walk to the house
where old Atkinson and his daughter
were staying.
Halfway there, however, I was for
tunate in meeting native who was
willing to take a message for me; SO
scrawled on leaf from my pocket
book few words, asking Atkinson to
come to Inc at once, and was glad to
be able to drag myself back to the
farmhouse, haunting associations and
all.
The truth indeed was that was so
played out with WEAKNESS of mind and
body that nothing seemed to matter
much any longer; and even felt,
threw myself on the sofa in the kitch-
en- without waiting to get as far as the
next room. that didn', much care
whether old Atkinson came or not, or
whether ! was left there to die alone
III the empty farmhouse.
II weuld put AN end TO all the bother.