Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1902-12-04
CHAPTER VII.
The buried Paper.

Another week nau pdSSeu, anu maj
ters were much in the same condition
at Purcell's house. The low typhoid
fever still continued to hold the strang-
er prisoner.
Richard Burt was in and out as he
had been, treating Kate precisely as
though he had made a declara-
ton, and succeeding in making her
feel more at ease with him than ever
before.
Ralph Caryl was very circumspect,
and had called but twice, though he
had managed to meet Kate, apparent
ly by accident, several times in the
course of the seven days.
When he had been told the sick
mans name, If he had felt any sur
prise, Caryl did not show 1t in the
least. and Kate almost began to think
that the words the stranger had ut
tered concerning Carr were b result
of feverish fancies.
Vance Rothesay," Caryl had repeat
edits a very good name. 1t seems
to me / have known people OF all
sorts of cognomen's, but / believe !
4 nCNCI hhOW q NA& 49,"
looking up at Purcell.
And SO keenly was Kate watching
him that she fancied the look he gave
her father was one Of more curiosity
than the question warranted; but she
was not sure even of that, and she
wondered, silently, about the matter,
scarcely hearing the discussion con-
! corning the Scotch name of Rothesay.
Il Frh.-~ .,0-N H,,t Aruyn rapttIa1 olannfn0
rooms in the little house, and now that
Kate's was occupied, her father insist
ed upon giving up his own to his
daughter, and himself occupying the
lounge in the front room below stairs.
He liked the arrangement, for 1t en-
abled him to leave and enter the house
with less noise than IL he had to as
cend the stairs, and he felt the desire
for prospecting for treasure strong up
on him again.
He had not yet looked at the papers
he had found T.. that chest; he had re-
Trained from Ding so from day to day,
with a sort of boarding feeling, as n
thinks Of something precious that Is
hid away.
He had not the slightest reason for
feeling thus. 1t would have been more
just had he thought only with a shud-
der OF that paper which be had taken
from its dreadful resting place.
But. slowly and surely, Charles Pur-
cells mind was growing weak, and he
had still a strange notion that near the
SPOT where the skeleton Of the child
had been found the buried treasure
was hidden from sight, and he had a
vague idea that some hint OF use might
be found in the paper.
It was after IL o'clock. and Kate had
| gone to bed, leaving her father sitting
up reading.
He had seemed uneasy and restless,
frequently asking why she did not re-
tire, until she had left him, refraining
from expressing any anxiety, for she
knew such expressions annoyed him.
AS soon as she bad mounted the
stairs, Purcell went to a cupboard and
withdrew from 1t an oaken box, care
fully locked.
Il was in this he kept his drawings
| and plans concerning the piraticai
| treasure of which he dreamed day and
night. He would not allow even Dick
Burt to take them.
He spread them before him beneath
the light Of the lamp, and his anxious
face frightened as he examined them.
They are title deeds to fortune" he
| muttered. tits a fact that gold Is hid.
den here, and i have only to find it., I
| can have missed il but by a few feet.
Only let me have patiencei / begin
to wish Burt was not connected with
me in this business. When | find the
money I can pay him what I owe him,
and have done with him. He seems to
have given up the notion about Kate,
and / am glad OF IL ] do not know
how l could refuse him IL he persisted;
but 'twould be hard to compel Kate in
q matter like that. Just let me pay all
the obligation I'm under to Burt, and
then I'm a free man again"
While he was murmuring thus to
himself he was laying out the papers
before him on the table, arranging and
rearranging them.
Among them was the antiquated vel.
low book, which had pointed out, as he
believed, the spot, nea Gun Rock,
where he and Burt had found the chest
and it5 strange contents.
At length he took up the paper,
blackened by the moisture OF many
years-the paper which had rested be-
meath the bones of that mysteriously.
buried child.
In spite Of his p~reoccupied mind,
Purcell could not repress a shudder as
he unfolded the manuscript. The
touch Of II reminded him too strongly
of the feeling OF horror and disappoint.
ment which had come over him when,
expecting to SEQ piles of gold. he had
found but the withered body Of an In.
FAINT.
He was surprised TO find so few writ.
ten lines, for the paper seemed q sheet
of foolscap folded three times; he had
thought to see a page, at least Of some.
thing, either of print or writing. In.
stead, there were only a few lines, and
1t was not easily that he deciphered
them. so cramped were the words, and
SO time-stained and blackened the pa,
per on which they were. But Ire read
them at last:
u am not used to defeat, and I defy
fate TO count me its slave. This child
was In my way. and here Il Ia. I shall
never be found out, and I laugh at what
:sen call Justice. If I am ever such q
l ff.Nl MS ~ IN Ife1~~~A 49, - -.