The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-04-24

the next boat lookin' for EN- When he'd
had a little time to think, he seen that
there was things for him to do at home
SO he went back an settled down to
work. 1t must ha took him somethin
like three years to square everythin up
at home an get little wad together to
travel on. but he tackled to like man
an done 1t.
He Never Missed a Boat.
''An' all that time, they say, he never
missed boat that stopped at Cape Gil
rardeau. No matter what was dom he'd
drop everything an go to the leYee an
ask somebody on the boat for news O.
bennett an his wife
THAT was for the first two year He
used to come to me, for were on the
old Creole Belle, them times, an we aI'ays
stopper there.
well, got to know his story I'm
other people, for he never told it, an I
took some interest in it, SEEM he 'peared
to be a decent sort o. CHAP, on'y kind o.
wild-eyed. He didn't never say nothin'
queer, but he'd talk kind O. low, an hold
his breath. like as if he was afraid O.
lettin' somethin' go.
"Bein' interested, I made it my business
to find out about bennett, an used to
tell him where he was. But just about
the time bennett throWed the woman
Jim stopped askin' about her.
Il reckon 1t was just about then some
Dody must ha' told him she was dead.
80 ne didn't ask no more about her, an
didn't have to lie to him.
Then there come a time when he were
ready to start out. He come aboard the
creole Belle one night an asked me about
bennett, as usual, an told him bennett
was still in Memphis the last L knowed,
an. Jim says he thinks he'll go to Mem
phiS his own self.
EI0s,f
nett want there. He'd gone down the
river on one O. his reg'la trips. the dav
afore, Jim arrove. Feared like there
were some sort of a hoodoo about it, O.
course there want no tellin' where Den
lfett'd be, or how long he'd be gone
an Jim had the sense to see 'twan't no
good for him to go chasin' round at
random. More specially as he didn't
have no money to spend. So he Just set
tied down in Memphis to wait for Den
nett to come back
There was one certain gamblIn' house
that bennett was more to home in than
he were anywhere else, an Jim hung
round there till he got some kind of Job.
l don't know just what twas. but he
were hanger-on, an got enough money
out of it to keep hisself an send some to
his mother. an he just waited
Nearly Six Years Passed.
wen, he waited there for over two
years, till 1t were almost six since Dem
nett had won his money, foul or fair. an
run away with his wife, an he hadn't
never set eyes on him all that time. He
KEEP waitin' though, an he'd come down
to see me, every time the Creole Belle
stopped at Memphis.
But bennett didn't go back to Mem
ph1s. So Jim he made up his mind that
he'd have to go after bennett an he
moved down to Vicksburg
There he found that bennett had a
woman he called his wife, an that he
was tofable certain to show up there
every two or three months anyhow, and
most. gently oftener. 1t looked like he
were goln' to meet up with his man at
last, an he waited round there as pa
tient as ever, till he found he had to go
to work again, an he got Job In hotel
where he learned that bennett was toTa-
bic sure to be seen when he did come
An he stayed there over a year.
" Feared like bennett had q way o.
leavin' woman when he got tired Of her,
an this one never seed him again. Likely
Jim wouldn't neither If he'd been a
woman. but he seen after a while that
Vicksburg want no place for his pur-
pose, an he got another move on him.
well. he took boat to Baton Rouge
an there he herd firm somebody that
bennett was in New Orleans, so he got
on the next boat, which happened to be
the Creole Belle.
AN then a queer thing happened. It
were near midnight when he come aboard