The Opelousas courier., 1902-04-12

and as I, a young physician, had bu1
lately settled in the adjoining town
7 had never seen him. I had heard
however, that he had visited paans
+ countries, civilized and savage, anG
r had concluded that he was tired Of
roushihg it and glad for a chance te
settle down beneath the roof of his
fathers.
: His old acquaintance did not see
much of him after he came home. He
nodded to his former friends, or
passed them by without so much as
a bow. Not long after his coming
home we learned that he was counting
] Annie KiRaball, the prettiest girl Of
the neighborhood, already engaged, as
we believed, to Steve Morgan, a young
man of steady habits, but without a
1.-THE of the wealth possessed by Brant
Durtvage.
Old Kimball, Annie's father, was
d~issipated, and, just then, financially
embarrassed, and the truth is that he
sold his child to Brant Durivage, fore
ing her to break her engagement with
young Morgan, who denounced the
bargain in bitter language whenever
he could find anybody to listen to him.
At times he swore that he would get
even" with the nan who had come be-
tween him and Annie.
For several weeks matters drifted
along quietly. If Durivage heard of
Morgan's hot words and threats, he
said nothing. He seemed perfectly
contented with the conquest he had
won, the Wedding day had been set,
and Annie had become resigned to the
fate from which there seemed no es-
cape.
Steve Morgan had given up his
trade, but not his daily habit of ours
ing Brant Durivage. He had lost
flesh, and his eyes had a wolfsh,
yengeful look. In common with 9th
ers, l fully expected a tragedy of some
kind, and | went SO far as to share my
opinion win the constable, who nod
| ded approvingly.
The tragedy came, bit not in the
manner expected. At ten o'clock on
the night before the day set apart for
the wedding a man whom l knew to
be Brant Durivage's factotum, threw
open my office door, and rushing in,
startled me with the intelligence that
his master had just been shot.
Thinking Immediately off Steve
Morgan, / promised to repair to the
house at once, and In a short time
crossed the threshold for the first
time, | was conducted to an upper
room, where | found the dark-faced
man lying unconscious on a bed, hav-
ing been carried to his chamber by a
servant who, standing by me, said
at Darivage had ben shot through
the open window Of the library, which
was on the ground floor.
Il pulled this out of the wound
continued the man, taking an arrow
from the table, but I'm afraid there's
a bit of it left. He's shot under the
left shoulder and and from behind; a
bad wound, I'm thinking" And the
servant shook his head.
l fell at once to. examining my pa |
tient, and discovered that while the |
barb had not gone deep enough to
touch a vital organ, the wound was |
dangerous, especially II Tile shaft had
been poisoned. I found also that the
servant was right about a piece of the
arraw head remaining n the hurt. for
| removed it with my forceps and laid
it alongside the weapon on the table.
Meantime the people attached to
the estate were looking for the person
who had attempted Durivage's life.
The town constao,e had been sum
moned and the town itself was al
ready In an uproar. | remained with
Duriyage until I could leave him TO
the care OF a nurse, and with ar
and the detached head, / went
pack to my Office. | was clear to me
that the shaft had come from some
distant land. had seen MANY savage
weapons Id collections, but never one
like 1t. The shaft proper was a light
reed, very straight and hard. One
end had been cut off tr~ansversely and
the other notched in order to receive
the bow string. Next came a piece of
bone nearly three inches In length.
One end of it had been passed into
The split, or open end of the shaft,
while the other end Of the bone was
a short piece of reed, over
which, in turn, a strong wrapping of
Intestine had been placed. All this
formed a socket for the true head of
lie arrow, the Done merely giving the
shaft proper weight. | saw this much
BY the light of my office lamp; but /
saw more.
The head was the piece I had eS-
from the wound. It was Of
worry, and I now saw that 1t had
been attached to the bone weight in
such a manner as to loosen itself wht
anyone attempted to pull it from the
fictim's body. Under the microscope
saw that the head of the singular
shaft had been coated with a SUBJ
stance resembling glue, but which |
was some deadly poison. 1t
vas bitter an ~nauseating when applied
% the tongue, and / had no doubt that
is virus vas then spreading itself
through out Brant Durivage's system.
] went back to the estate again be-
ore daylight, and found my patient
aving in delirium. | administered
'piate after opiate, and a long time
,assed before the medicine produced
he slightest effect The servants
aid he had not spoken nationally
iince the shot. not even during his
Iuiet moments. and this gave ma