Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1903-02-04


strike and the fourth of his soiourn
solution of his problem than he was
on the day of theory framing when
he had made sure that Charlotte
Farnham's robber-lover would In due
time make his appearance. he had
fallen into the way of killing time
in rowboat on the lake. 1t was
weary work, this waiting for a man
who might never turn up. and there
was limit to the satisfaction to be
gotten out of prying into the affairs
of small city whose history one
took to the rowboat and the lake.
pulling .slow-races against time,
wrestling with his problem mean
while. and calling himself hard
names; saying that it was only the
Inertia of the place. and not the
hope of success, which was keeping
him.
In the afternoon of the Crusoe
hazard he had pulled out to the islet
in the middle of the lake, had drawn
the light boat up on the sand and
the pipe of reflection in the shade
of the trees. 1t was here, with his
back to the bole of great oak, that
sleep found him, shifting the pipe
from his teeth and blotting out the
hour in which the sun was sinking
behind the western hills and the
wind was rising. From this sleep
unawares he was awakened by the
whipping of the branches overhead
and the crash of tiny breakers on
the beach; and when he came alive
to the realities he sprang up quick
ly and ran down to the little cove
where he had left the boat; ran and
looked and congratulated himself
ironically; for the boat was gone.
'By Jove! I ought to have a leath-
er medal for this, and I'll get it if
they ever find out at headquarters"
he jeered. Hello, there! Boat
ahoy!"
A small cat-boat with two women
and a man in it was scudding down
the lake, and the involuntary Cru
soc yelled himself hoarse. But the
wind was against him, and the cat
boat held it's course toward Wa
haska, heeling smartly to the flaws.
Griffin climbed the bluff and meas
ured his chance of escape in a glance
that boxed the compass. Off to the
southwark a steam-launch was MAX
ing for the hotel pier, but there was
no other craft in sight save the cat
boat. Whereupon he refilled his pipe
and prepared to take the conse-
quences of his carelessness philo-
sophically, as he did most things.
II guess I'm safe to make a night
of it, but it won't be the first night
I've slept out of doors. All the
same, l hope this wind won't blow
up a rain. 1 wonder if l couldn't
rig up a shelter of some kind under
the lea of this kingdom of mine"
Coming down to the bluff edge to
see. his attention was once more
drawn to the yawing cat-boat. The
wind was coming in sharper flaws.
and the seamanship of the man at
the tiller of the small craft was a
thing to be admired. He was evil
IDENTIFY making for one of the private
landings below the hotel, and as the
of the shore the alternating gusts
and lulls called for quick eye and
steady nerves. Griffin was a bit of
sailor himself, and he gave the I'M
known skipper of the cat-boat his
due need of praise.
by Jove! he's no fresh-water
sailor. Most of these countrymen
up here would have had that sail
double-reefed long ago. 1 wonder
who he is?"
The answer to the query was sug-
gested when the cat-boat came up
into the wind at the small pier on
the water front of the Farnham
grounds, and the suggestion was as
the spark of fire to train of pow
der. There was a swift succession
of minor explosions as the spark ran
along the train Of conclusions in the
detectives mind, and then the crash
of great one. Griffin sat down on
the edge of the bluff and held his
head in his hands.
Heavens and earth! What wood
en-headed tobacco signs we all are
when it comes to a showdown" he
calculated. Here I've been agoniz-
ing over this thing for a month
when the answer to all the answer
less questions has been parading in
plain sight every day. l said when
I should have found Miss Farnham's
lover / should have my man, but
had to be marooned out here in the
middle of the lake before could