Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1904-05-19
CHAPTER TX.


BARRELS LEAP IN THE DARK.
With a pair of scissors taken from
the sole-leather toilet-case Darrell cut
off his full beard. Then he went down
to the creek and brought back some
water in a collapsible cup of the sort
affected by travellers who have an
aversion for public drinking utensils.
In a small shaving mug, lettered ~
McC." in gilt monogram he stirred up
a lather with perfumed soap and silver
mounted brush. The razor had an
ivory handle and the hollow-ground
blade of rare and tempered steel threw
off the candle light brilliantly as he
drew it back and forth over the strop-
the gold mounted strop of a sybarite.
Presently Darre's white face was as
smooth and clean as a childs and he
studied it in the mirror and COM
pared it line by line with the deli
cate features of the man in the bunk
There was a striking resemblance.
Who says that fate does not favor
the bold? Or that a mans fortunes are
ever at so low an ebb she does not
blow straw of hope across his path?
Darrell was more than satisfied. A
swim in the creek and a brisk rub with
a rough towel sent the blood tingling
through his bruised and weary limbs.
Already he was a different man. But
the transformation was not yet COM
plete.
Neatly laundered linen and fresh
silken undergarments were among the
stores of the old travelling bag. He
dressed himself slowly and deliberate
ly, by and by standing forth in the
dead mans shoes and corduroys, ap-
pareled completely from head to heel
In the pockets of the garments he
found many things. A silver cigar
clipper, cigar case, seal purse con-
tanning $500 in bills, card case, key
ring, a penknife and a magnificent
gold watch, fob and seal.
His mud-splashed. brier-torn gar
ments he left on the chair in lieu of
the corduroys, disturbing nothing that
had been his own. Reckoned dollar
for dollar he was leaving twice the
amount in valuables that he was TAX
ing.
I'm stepping from one life into an
other" he said to himself, there must
be fair exchange. But this is better
than fair. | leave with him more
personal property than | appropriate
and better reputation than he has to
give. | am an innocent man believed
to be guilty, while he is guilty, but
Cnnnnca6 IN hn ionnnant INV
cence must shield me while | work out
my own salvation"
Standing beside the bunk, Darrell
save the calm face and stony, staring
eyes long farewell look. McCloud
was young man to have stepped
aside" so early in the game of life.
He had come west to live down mis-
deeds of the east. There was nothing
strange in that, for many a man had
done likewise.
But he had relatives, near ones and
dear friends, sweetheart-wealth, no
doubt. Darrell sighed and closed the
lids over the staring eyes. He longed
to cover the young face, with its evil
dence of suffering, but he dared do no
more.
Circumstances had placed Darrell in
his present unpleasant plight. From
now on he must pay due regard TO cir
cumstances and at all times consider
them we'll
Moodily he paced the confines of the
hut, the figurative terms of the doc
tors letter running through his brain.
Gradually his face grew rapt and &C.
static.
He could add something to the
tragic circumstances under which the
body would be found. In a moment
he had dropped down at the table.
Tearing a yellow scrap from the pa
per bag that had contSined the lunch
con, he fumbled through the unaccus-
toned pockets until he had found
pencil.
Then he wrote:
Flight of star, or shiveTing beam
Falling athwart the storm-c clouds
wrack,
Follow and find is it truth or dream,
Lamp of the gods or a glow-worm's
track.
He was not a poet-he could not lay
that flattering JUNCTION to his soul. A
poet is not a man who feels but
man who can write what all men feel.
This quatrain was as near as Darrell