Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1904-07-11


to go back, fear of givin' trouble OF
keepin' 'em up. Anybody can under-
stand that He comes along and gets
to where we are precisely at the uhe
they do, them comm from town MIN
strikin' for it. They run right INTO
each other. That's what happened
| They recognized him and raised up
on him and let him ave it, What they
done 1t with / don't know. We TOOK
| everything in that line of or en-
| Probly used railroad iron, and what
they done with him afterward we don't
know, but we will by night. 1hey IL
sweat it out of 'em up at Rouen When
| they get EN-"
81 reckon maybe some of US might
help" remarked Mr.. Watts rehecuVely.
Jim Bardlock swore violent oath.
| That's the talkr' he shouted. FL
| amt the first man of this crowd to ser
my foot in Roowun and first to beat IN
| that Jail door I'm not town mafshal
of Plattville county of Carlow, state
| of Indiana. and the Lord have mercy
| on our SOulsr'
| Tom Martin locked at tie brown
stain and quickly turned away. linen
he went back slowly to the village.
On the way he passed Warren Smith.
| rs it 500" asked the lawyer.
! Martin answered with dry throat.
He looked out over the sunlit fields
and swallowed once or twice. Yes,
it's so. There's a good deal of it there.
Little more than boy he was Inc
old fellow passed his seamy hand over
his eyes without concPaiment "Ieter
amt very bright sometimes. 1t seems
to me-" he added brokenly; overlook
| Bodeffer and Fisbee and me. anu all
of US old husks. and-and'-he gulp-
ed suddenly, then finished-"and act
the fool and take boy that's the best
we had | wish the Almighty would
take Peter off the gate. He amt ut
fer it,
When the attorney reached the srot
where the crowd was thickest, way
was made for him. The old cOiOred
man, Nenophon. approached at the
same time, leaning Oh a hickory STICK
and bent very far over. one hand rest
ing on his hip as if to ease a rusty
joint. The Negroes age was an incentive
to fable. From his appearance he
might have known the prophets. and he
wore that hoary look of unearthly wis
dom which many decades of super
stitious experience sometimes give to
members of his race. His face. so tor
tured with wrinkles that it might have
been made of innumerabe black
threads woven together, was a living
mask of the mystery Of his blood.
HarllIess had once said that Uncle
NenOphon had visited heaven before
SweGenborg and hell before Dante To-
! day as he slowly limped over the ties
his eyes were bright and dry under
the solemn lids, and, though his heavy
nostrils were unusually distended in
the effort for regular breathing, the
deeply puckered lips beneath them
were set firmly. He stopped and look
ed at the faces before him. When he
spoke his voice was gentle, and, though
the tremulousness of age harped on the
vocal strings, it was rigidly controlled.
"Kin some kline gelmun," he asked.
"please t. be so good ez t. show de ole
main whuh de Wife Caips is done
shoot Marse Hawkliss?"
"Here was where it happened, Uncle
Zen," answered Wiley, leading him for
ward. Here is the STAIN
Xenophon bent over the spot on the
sand, making little odd noises in his
throat Then he painfully resumed
his former position. ''Dass his blood,
he said in the same gentle, quavering
tone. "Dass my bes' frien' whut lay
on de groun' whay yo' Stand, gelmun.
Dass whuh dey laid i'm, an dass whuh
he lie," the old negro continued. "Dey
shot i'm in de fiels. Dey amt shot i'm
heah. Yondeh dey druggen i'm, but
dis whuh he lie" He bent over again,
then knelt groaningly and placed his
hand on The stain, one would have
said, as man might place his hand
over a heart to see if it still beat. He
was motionless, with the air of heark-
:. ening.
'Marse, honey, is you gomez" He
raised his voice as if calling. SIS yo
gone, suh--marse?
> He looked up at the circle about him
: and then, still kneeIing, not taking his
4 hand from the sand, seeming to wait
y for sign to listen for a voice, he said
u "Whafo' yo' gelmun think de good
Lawd summon Marse Hawkliss? Kast
he de mos fittes'? You know, dat man
t he ketch me in de cole night, wintuE
TO lais,' stealth lis wood. You know
II whut he done t. de ole thief? TEX an
t buiP up big fab cen ole Zen shainty
/ Say: Hep yo'se'f, an welcome. Reck
on you hongry, too. aim you. Keno
phon? TEX an feed me, TEX an tel
y keer O me ev' since. All pump de baitl
l. full in de mawn', mex is bed, pull d.
> weeds outn de front walk; dass all
e He tex me in. When All ask i'm ain
Z he 'fraid keep ole thief he say, jesse
'Dass all my fault, Nenophon; ough
y look you up long go; ought know lon,
ID go you be cole desc bald nights. Reck
III on Ah'm de thievenest one 'us two
Ae | XpOO0bop I-oor1ip' all dis 1roo7