Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1905-06-16
CHAPTER XvIII.-continued.,

Worous boosters, wore away. The mill
tia had been out all night. and two half
days. And the Overcoat road had been
kept warm" by the friction of the big
bare hoofs Of courier horses gah0ping
back and forth. The population of Sand
town, and. in fact, of all the dependent
districts of the Wabash country, momen-
rarily in expectation of some startling
event. are at length gratified by the ap-
pearance of an unusually large squad of
the volunteer couriers. And at once the
word goes round, from mouth to mouth,
that Coonrod Redden is only a little
way back escorting the representative
OF the Sandtown and Southwestern
hailroad-the opposing organization to
the Sandtown and Northwestern-to the
court house square, where the sales
would proceed at once.
Lizzy Wickly and ner mother having
gone back to their own little home, so
near the very end Of the Overcoat road
that from the bedroom window up stairs
everything was plainly visible, only three
hundred feet away at the court house, sat
there and looked and listened.
Presently she saw the same carriage
in which she had seen Mr.. Mason drive
through the streets two days ago. Then
She remembered that COonrod Redden
had said threateningly that he ought to
be hosst up" and that he would be if
he dared to poke his nose into SandtOwn
again.
But now he drives confidently in, and
With no less a person than COonrod Red
den seated beside him on the front seat
OF the carriage, and two gentlemen on
the other seat. : One of them may be
AIR. Huntley for aught she knows. But
really, she scarcely thinks about it.
There is almost an endless array of
this spontaneous levy of Wabash cav
alrymen riding along after the carriage.
These battalions are beaded by some of
the Dikcses and the Ellets. And she
knows from this fact that the furious
people from Big Rattlesnake Greek have
been placated in some mysterious way.
As the head of the column comes near
ly opposite, Mr.. Mason looks up, smiles,
and raises his hat. Then Coonrod Red
den sees them at the window and leans
out and waves his hat and shouts some
thing at them. But not a word can be
distinguished because at the very first
wave of the hat a vast shout starts Mt
the front among the Dikeses, and goes in
All increasing wave back to the very real
of the line, half a mile away, where it
sounds like a shrill and high-keyed echo
of the nearer and louder shout. Some
body below the window calls out:
What is ut, Jim? What did you fell
lers do, anyhow
Come up to the court house un seel
Come on; come right on, everybody, up
TO the court house yard!"
Then the, words are drowned in an
other one of those odd, strange and
Dimcst frightful shouts that, beginning
among the Dikeses in a stentorian roar,
goes back along the line, rising in vol
ume and rising in tone as the sound
wave sweers back, until it is pitched two
octaves above in a wild, shrill, treble half
a mile back, among the boys of fifteen,
who again prolong it and raise it up
after il has almost died away.
A horrible suspicion flashes upon
I4izzy. She remembers in an instant all
the slow-growing antipathy of these peo-
pie to Mr.. Mason. She remembers the
serious charges that they have made and
reiterated against him. She remembers,
too, the dark and ominous words of Coon
rod Redden. And she knows that if the
old Hoosier does no more than to remain
quiescent, those whooping and yelling
savages from Big Rattlesnake will wreak
n terrible and public vengeance upon the
doomed man.
So maddening was this terrible appre-
tension that after the first moment of
faintness and utter incapacity which it
caused, she must have become almost OBJ
livious to everything not directly per-
tanning to the circumstances immediate
~ environing this man, who had gone
past her to his grave, placid and smil-
ing.
She had no recollection of how and
when she left her mother, or how she
pushed and crowded her way through the
ihrong to the south door of the court
room. True, every rough and uncouth
rider or footman of them all instantly
gave way when he saw her, and even
reached out to pluck the sleeves or col
lars Of others in front who could not
zee her, and hence blocked up the way.
iNt VI PuoS uiohb thui, Doyb. STOWu
back thar a leetle, and let Lizzy Wickly
git apast! She's intrusted en- this theng
more'n anybody. She wawnts to see at
she gifts her rights!' called out Big jim
bikes, as he set about pushing this way
and pulling that, in order to make a path
for the greatly agitated young woman.
Better let 'er go up stairs thar, Jim.
She can git to the winder en- the shuts
room, un see ut all, 'thout gittin run over
by the crowd. Little Sect Dary's gut the
key. Seef! H-yur!"
That was young Starr Go-uns, she
knew. Then the door was reached, and
the stair door to the left being unlocked
and instantly locked again after she had
gotten inside, she found there was some
one on the steps a little way above her.
Come right up h-yur, Lizzy, If you
wawnt to see the show. l guess the
shurf's rooms open. Yes, h-yur hit is!
The winder's up, too! Now, eff you don't
nina fha prnxuA alnnly,. So -,l -.