Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-18
ekMtRAl cXAMks xwe.

handing money. and more money, and poor
Stetson, infatuated, begged borrowed. and
Pigsott finally put in his way to steal for
her The father condoned and forgave.'
which was not what Piggott expected. He
had come home from somewhat fruitful
ventures, and had much more means than
Stetson. who had none He felt the spell
of that young woman's beauty, and himself
became infatuated. 1t was not long before
there was another big theft, "a bigger one
than before, and 1t was proved again
against Stetson. Friends and neighbors by
this time were whispering that he was
more snned against than shining, and so it
presently proved. Piggott, for time, was
missing. Stetson took his little boy, the
few dollars his aging father would give
HIM, and shook the dust of the home town
from his feet. The elders lived but a short
time. Piggott came back and took up the
business. The lady in the case deserted
by her husband. was given divorce, and
presently reigned as Mrs. Piggott The
community didn't like them, and they
moved away. Piggott would have said
west but that was where Stetson had gone,
SO they went still farther east, where it
was not many years before Piggott regret
ted him of his bargain, If not of his sins.
The war came on, and he was not sorry to
leave her in peace Piggott was good
worker. He worked into a captaincy and
then into recruiting detail, and while so
occupied got the ear of the governor and
higher rank in new regiment Luck help
ed him to a lieutenant colonelcy in the
ing which, from first to last, he was never
in action, yet the defenses of Washing
ton sounded big in print. and when, after
a hair-raisng fright in the summer of '63,
the capital once more breathed free when
the gray columns fell back beaten from
Gettysburg, with lavish generosity the gov
eminent rewarded the defenders who hadn't
had to defend, and the end of the war
found him captain of regulars, with a
medal of honor for presumab BILE heroisn,
safely employed mastering and disbursng
and laying up treasures upon earth. FL
nally, as we have seen, he was sent to Ari-
IONA major, and by this time Mrs. Pig
sott, who had long before tired of him,
began to think it might be a good thing to
shine in army society, and so took to pur
suit of him. There were suits at law where
once the suits had been in love, and the
absent major got the worst of the decision.
\ veritable harridan the lady proved, ard
then, in the extremites that followed poor
Piggott bethought him of his now infiuen-
tial and wealthy brother in Groveton Sure
ly If any man should be grateful to him it
was he, Stetson, whom Piggott had relieved
of a scold, a shreW and a rank eXtrava-
gance. Piggott never dreamed how much
the poor fellow had loved her. or how he
loved, cherished and lied for that son. Lied
to him. as 1t proved, for Stetson had taught
the boy to believe that the woman who had
robbed and wronged him, the father had
been an angel of love ON earth, had long
been an angel of light in heaven. Even
such as Stetson have their vein of senti-
ment.
And this then was the whip the major
found he might crack when Stetson the
father cursed and refused to aid him.,
Piggott swore he would reveal the mothers
shame to Stetson, the Brute that the
younger brother had been In many way,
that was the one thing he could not stand
The boy wasn't worth the tenth part of
the love and the lies that had been lavished
on him. 1t may well be doubted if he would
have been COMPOUNDED or crushed by the
cd to hre1I " l.;
but Stetson, the father, saw fit to believe
in the boy, and so tenporized with the
brother
Piggott had come hoping to ges money,
for he needed it. He won a point or two,
also, by promising Stetson evidence to dis
grace Fame whom Stetson hated for -eX-
polling his son. He was not however, pre-
pared to go the lengths the Stetsons
planned They Iured Fame into the west
grove at night, and had trusted pair of
fellow blackguards on hand TO do him
up. The plan was simply to beat, kick,
MAIN and mutilate the arrogant officer
when, at the last moment, that plan re-
vealed itself The brutes might have done,
worse than they did but for two things.
Piggott yelled for help; was grappled by
Stetson, and in course of the struggle the
latters pistol went off and it's bullet ripped
Piggott's feshy thigh. disabling him. The
other thing was the prompt and sudden
rush to the scene of an active young fell
low, welding hickory stick with which,
in one blow, he hattened out Stetson,
Junior; then furiously turned on the other
"toughs and put them to fight, and
finally, charging upon Stetson and his half
blinded son, they stumbled with the
crippled man to the family lighted shore,
all as suddenly as he had appeared dropped
his bludgeon and drove into the bushes. In
that brief instant Piggott. the officer. and
Hayden, the deserter, had recognized each
other. 1t might be hard to say which was
the more dismayed.
49,. 4
Dummy" at the oars. Young Stetson took
the carriage at Cedar Point, drove home
and sent for aid Old Stetson logged Pig
gott to the island; learned from him the
identity of the rescuer: laid a trap for
young Hayden, who was swiftly sand
bagged a night or two later and borne a
prisoner to the Roost where now the astute
politician conceived he had two valuable
tools in his hands both of whom could be
made to do his bidding. But, in his tri-
umph, he took to drink, lost his wits,
bullied and threatened both. Piggott al
most escaped him and was only overhauled
after he had got safely to shore. In the
furious quarrel that followed Piggott was
shot and almost killed. Then Stetson real
lied his awful dilemma. His son, or
two of their accomplices and this young
man, Hayden, had all heard his threats to
kill Piggott If he failed him, and now
though he never meant, with all his hatred
to go so far, he had fired what proved to
be the fatal shot. He did not know
that Piggott either fearing some such
fate hating the man he had SO
wronged, had put in writing the mothers
story and given 1t to the son, ITO
be opened in case anything happens to me-"
Had Stetson known it he might have felt
even less conjunction.
But suspicion had not as yet attached to
him. Piggott might not die, and Hayden
could not betray him so long as he was
safely penned at the island. 1t might even
be possible, by insnuation. to implicate
Fame, and Stetson did his best so to do,
with the result we have noted. Then came
the collapse. The doctor told him Piggott
was sinking. Stetson's nerve failed him
and he sent his son away. preparing him
self to follow as soon as he could silence
young Hayden, who had been making mad
attempts to escape, and who must have
succeeded In signaling to the shore, for an
other strange young man had rowed to the
Roost and inquired pertinaciously for him.
Then came a mad interview with his pris-
oner, whom he sought both to bribe and
bully, and who damned and defied him.
The storm had begun to rage, and, in spite