Monroe City Democrat. (Monroe City, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1904-10-13

II was not until some time afterward
that he learned the truth. Gryce was
hauling to the mine giant powder that
had long been In storage-so long that
1t had become crystalized. And every
miner knows how "freaky'' crystalized
giant powder is. 1t will sullenly sub
NIT to the toughest handling or will
incontinently explode for the slightest
of reasons, or for no reason at all.
The sun was low when Darrell got
UP and staggered on. He must have
food and had hopes that he could Sc
cure it in some covert way at the War
Eagle mine.
Still pushing from covert to covert
through the rough country that paral-
leled the trail, he kept persistently
westward. The sun went down and
darkness began to fall but, although
his head swan for WEAKNESS and his
limbs almost refused to support him,
the fugitive continued to struggle on.
Just as he felt that he must sink to
the ground and lie there for the rest
OF the night, the whinnying of a horse
reached his ears. The sound did not
come from the trail, but from some
point on his left.
Turning in that direction he made
his way painfully through small
coulee whose steep banks flung a
heavy shadow about him. The pas
sage was short and he came out
abruptly into a cleared space lying full
in the moonlight.
Before him stood a horse secured by
q stake-pin and q length of rope. Be-
hind the horse was an old, ruinous log
hut-evidenty a relic barking back to
earliest pioneer days.
Darrell advanced closer to the horse,
which whinnied again and tramped i'm
patiently. A shock of surprise passed
through him when he came near
enough to see that it was the calico
cayuse" ridden by the man in cordu-
roys.
What was there about the easterner
that kept him constantly in barrels
mind? Was it the subtle working of
destiny?
On approaching Gryoe in the War
Eagle trail Darrell had taken note of
the dull suspicion in the foreman's
mind, and the man in corduroys was
first to occur to the fugitive as a foil.
Now, standing beside the peculiarly
marked horse, a weird sensation
thrilled through barrels nerves.
After brief pause he passed to the
hut The door was closed and he halted
and listened.
No sound came from within. The
silence was intense and even the deep
breathing of sleeper might have been
heard.
Pushing open the door Darrell
| stepped quickly across the threshold.
Through an unglazed opening the
moonlight fell and trailed across the
rotting floor but everywhere else how
cred mysterious and ominous shadows.
Darrell CROPPED his way forward and
rs-n against table. After a pause he
took a match from his pocket and
struck it against the tabletop.
In the dim light he saw the old
traveling-bag open before him. Clean
linen met his startled gaze, razor and
| shaving materials, a sole leather case
containing toilet articles and a small
round mirror.
A bit of candle, planted in it's owl
dIippings, stood in the center of the
| table, while two other candles, un-
used, lay near it. Darrell applied the
| dlckering match to the candle-wicl
and then, from sheer WEAKNESS, fell
on an old stool at the table side.
For a space he rested, his eyes TAX,
ing il the objects spread out before
them and growing keen for the slight.
est detail. One-half of the opened
traveling-bag lay over some papers
Pushing the bag aside he saw small
Leap of letters and a red morocco
book, well worn and marked in tar
nished gilt: "Junius McCloud.'
| His gaze roved elsewhere and in al
instant he was brought up standing
limbs rigid and eyes staring. Near the
papers, and lying so that it had beer
hidden by the opened travelling bag
was a revolver whose ebony stock wa!
carved with a deaths head.
MurgatToyds! Sudden strength
swept through barrels body and HI
| plucked the candle from the tabletop
and whirled around, holding the ligh
above his head.
At the other end of the room was /
bunk built against the wall. Beside thu
bunk, across another stool, were thu
corduroys. neatly folded.
n 90