The Savannah morning news., 1903-07-26
CONTINUED from Last Sundays News)
XXXV.
ONT OF THF PAST.

dark, there would seem TO be every
reason for haste.
He usually conducted his affairs so
carefully, so shrewdly so calculating
ly. How had he happened to give way
so to an impulse? He regretted lash
ing the girl with his whip. because
he felt that it was unnecessary. Do
ing unnecessary evil had always been
against Lafonds principles. He con-
sidered it bad luck. and somehow that
spectre of bad luck seemed to be COM
ing very close. He had lost confidence.
Therefore he made mistakes.
Just outside of town he encountered
Blair's stage crawling along on a
mended axle Naturally both vehicles
pulled up. After explanations of the
accident, Blair remarked casually:
Struck Billy down the road a piece"
Yes" said Mike, "he left this morn
ing"
Almighty lucky happen-so for him,
cause I had an old codger aboard that
was just on his way to visit Billy. Nice
old cuss too. Name Buckley, or Bulk
ley, or something like that Come from
cut Wyoming way"
Lafond clamped on his brake again.
YES" said he. II used to know
him. He went off with Billy, you
say?"
Yes, bag an baggage"
Coin to Rapid?'
Near as I could make out" said
Blair. They reversed the proposition
he IF q
of Billy, Billy he aims to visit him.
Things movin' at camp"
They'll tell you up there" replied
Lafond and drove on.
What fiendish stroke Of luck! This
one man in all the West who knew
of the affair at Spanish Gulch in the
seventies, who would remember the
doctors wife, who would recognize
the strong resemblance of her daugh-
ter to her, who might stir up that
dust of the past which Lafond had so
carefully laid-that he should come
just at this time To be sure there
was nothing, absolutely nothing to
implicate him-Lafond. But Buckley
was a tenacious sort of individual; he
would insist on investigating. That
would mean explanations by Lafond,
a detailed account. The details would
have to be invented. And then a chill
struck his heart, as he realized that
he could not recall all the story he
had told the Indian agent when he
had left the little girl in his charge!
He pulled his horses down to a walk
and set himself to thinking earnestly.
He went over in sequence, as nearly
as he could remember them, every word
and action, from his meeting with Du-
rand to his departure from the agency.
1t was no use. Even at the time,
he had invented the story lightly,
without much thought of it's impor-
lance except as a temporary expedi-
ient. Now the matter had quite es-
capped him. Jim Buckleys return West,
which had before seemed merely fortu-
nate, he saw now had been providen-
tial 1t was a narrow escape. He
must visit the agent as soon as pos
sible, for the purpose of refreshing his
memory.
He came to Durands cabin. The old
man stood near the doorway examin-
ing something which he held fiat in
the palm of his hand. At his feet.
Jacques, the little raccoon, was curled
up in a bright-eyed ball of fur en-
joying the early sun. Out behind the
cabin, Isabeau, the tasselled lynx,
stepped lightly to and fro along the
length of his chain; and the great
Plantation sat drolly on his shaggy
launches shifting the air Lafond
stopped. He felt he must talk to some
Oie VI give WHY TO LIllS incompetence
sible impulse to Shrek aloud.
They exchanged greetings At once
Lafond saw something suspicious in
the old mans attitude. He was pre-
ternaturally grave. He seemed to be
thinking of something behind his act
ual speech.
1--WE something to show you. la
fond" he remarked after a little IT'S
very queer" and with what Lafond
saw at once to be an accusing motion
he held before the latter's eyes the lit
tie ivory miniature of Prue WEIGH.
He had found it under a mesquite
bush. Ever since he had been strug-
CLING vainly to place the familiarity
of the features. He had not seen
enough of the girl at the camp to be
able to do so definitely. but he had
succeeded in bringing his mind almost
o the point of a recognition which
was continually just escaping him.
Lafond started violently, and stared
at the portrait
Durand. You look as though you'd
seen a ghost!"
On the instant Lafond recovered his
self-possession. He glanced with side
long evil look at the old man.
Nothing" said he briefly.
1t was evident that the naturalist
was trying to trap him.
Where have you seen her before?''
asked the latter. returning the portrait
''She is observation-disclosures have had
that painted fifteen or twenty years
ago-and yet I've seen her recently"
LafOnd stiff1y descended from the We
hicle, both hands thrust deep into the
pockets of his canvas coat, and peered
over the old mans shoulder
Here Lafond," the latter was say
ing, you know more about this than
do" He meant that the half
breed possessed a wider circle of Ac-
quaintances. At his words Lafond
drew an ivory-handled clasp-k knife
from the pocket of his canvas coat
opened it in two lightning motions
and stabbed the old man deeply in the
back. The latter stumbled forward
half turning as he fell. Lafond plung-
ed his blade wickedly into Durand's
throat, where it stuck, twisting out
of the murderer's hands. The victim
writhed twice, gasped and died.
Black Mike stood over the body for
moment, painting. He stopped to re-
cover the knife. On its ivory handle
he read the words William Knapp. -
on which he remembered, and left il
where it was. Then he climbed into
his wagon and insanely dashed his
horses into a frantic run.
The little furry coon approached its
master bristling. 1t dabbled its black
paws. almost human, in the blood that
stood on the threshold, and then
frothing at the muzzle, it scrambled
into the house and up a high bookshelf
where 1t crouched, its eyes like Goals OF
green fire.
On the hillside opposite a white