The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-05-31

into his soul by crime He no longer
felt the smart, but the cicatrix was
there. and he daily bowed to it's SYM
bolism, often without a thought of
what it really meant. His was like the
future of a boy who has entered the
army; his line of conduct was all pre-
arranged, and his independence of it
never occurred to him. There was no
glowering hate in this; only a certain
sense of inevitability. In other words,
it was his religion.
Certain things were to be done. First
of all he must become wealthy. Very
we'll; wealthy he became. He must be-
come popular. Agreed; he cultivated
his fellow men. He must know how
to read character and to hit upon
weaknesses. Exactly; he bent his clev-
erness to the task. There was a larger
end to which these three were but the
means; but that would come later Just
now life meant quiet, earnest compass
ing of the three things. Until they
were quite within his grasp, he could
afford to shut into the background
what their ultimate Specification should
be. Lafond lived TRANQUILITY a perfect
ly moral existence.
But without his volition the great
idea crystalized into some sort of
shape. 1t was always in the back
ground, to be sure; but, after ALL
background fills the picture. That
which men hold to be most dear! The
years had taught him what it was,
without his actually demanding it of
them. Men hold most dear property,
reputation, honor among their fellow
men, and the love of women. Women
hold most dear virtue and a good
name.
About fifteen years after he had quit
ted the Indians Lafond suddenly real
lied that he had gained the power and
knew how to use it. Quite dispas-
sionately he looked ahead to the next
STEP.
There were Jim Buckley, Billy
Knapp. Alfred and the Doctors fam
lily. The latter now included only the
girl, whom Lafond had himself caused
to be raised to young womanhood.
OF the others, Jim Buckley and Alfred
had long since left the country-Alfred
for Arizona, where he had gone into
COW punching; Buckley for Montana
and Idaho, in whose mountains he was
supposed to be prospecting. These
two, then, were out of the way for
the present. They would never be DIFF
f1cult to find, and in comparison with
Billy they had held quite a secondary
place at the time of the half breeds
molten state, before he had cooled into
the fixedsforms of his conduct of life.
The reason for this throws not a lit
tie light on Lafond's character, The
feminine streak in him hated Billy
Knapp personally, simply because that
individual was loud in talk. great in
size, and clustering in manner. He
could restrain his resentment against
the bashful Alfred or the imperturbd-
BILE jim; but not that against a man
/ who seemed always, to the high strung
half-breed, the potential bully. He
would have followed Billy Knapp to
China, if necessary.
But it so happened that that indi-
vidual, after a checkered career, had
/ settled down in the village or camp
of Copper Creek, nor forty miles from
Lafonds headquarters at Rapid. Billy's
Vicissitudes Were those of many of his
! class. Trained in the liberal g1ve-and-
take policy of the early frontier times,
he found himself, on their ebb, stranded
/ high and dry without appropriate
means of progression. Billy was used
| to relying on his plainscraft, his cour-
age, his skill with firearms, and his
| economy, accuracy of estimate, frugal
! ity and patience in the overcoming of
distractions would have been, to his
/ early life, practically useless. He came
to be a big-hearted, generous fellow,
without the slightest idea of the value
of money or the burden of debt. He
was apt to be seized by many whims,
which he was wont to crafty on the
spot.
know Billy Knapp" ruminated an
! old plainsman once. BILLY Knapp?
| Seems to me l do; he's the Teller that
would buy the cot house yonder if he
could get trusted for it, amt hep"
1t described him. And as in the old
days his prestige had depended on in
| 6iXri61Ia1 nf a 70 thor
lar order, it came about that Billy
was just a little fond of strutting. He
| liked to play the patron he liked to dis
! tribute faVorS, to treat to drinks, to
stand as the representative of great I'M
seen forces, whether of military power
| in the old days, or Of extensive capt.
| tai in these latter.
| For a great many years this vanity
had remained ungratified. Billy had
not the virtues to succeed in the rising
commercialism of the new West. After
the last great campaign against the
! Sioux he found his usual occupations
almost wiped from the slate. The
plains were as safe as Illinois. He
! picked up a livelihood still, mainly by
sion for Billy could talk black white,
| If only the particular shade and the
discussion were situated in the West.
He drove stage, broke horses, bossed
cattle outfits, and finally drifted into
| prospecting.
There his chance came. BY lucky
stroke of trading he became possessed
of some really good quartz claims and
a small sum of ready cash. Two weeks
later he was in Chicago. 1t was his
| first trip east of the Mississippi, but
ne knew just what he wanted. and he
| got 1t. Three days of Billys golden
oratory led TO the purchase by an East
ern syndicate of an option on his group
of claims, and the understanding that
toward the middle of the following
summer a committee OF owners should
/ visit the property in order to discuss
ways and means OF developing the
various quartz leads.
The delighted Billy returned 10 Con-
per Creek. There at last he found him
self the important figure he had al
ways dreamed Of being. He posed 20
himself and 20 everybody else. The
camp gradually filled. and the claims
round about were snapped up greedily.
Lafond had easily kept himself IN
formed Of All this. II was sufficiently
notorious. Nov when he came 10 4
realization that the next move Ia hie