The Red Cloud chief., 1905-02-03

| uNHMXINU ~ ~ I'iNt
- ns they turned eastward on
the pike toward home.
They'll make the eight miles i'm
~three-quarters OF an hour said Judge
Briscoe proudly. He turned from his
daughter ut his side to Miss Sherwood.
who sat with Mr.. Fisbee behind them,
n pointed ahead with his whip.
Just beyond that bend we pass through
Six Crossroads
Miss Sherwood leaned forward eager
~. "What did you mean last night
after the lecture" she said to Fisbce,
when you asked Mr.. Martin who was
to be with Mr.. Harkless?"
Who was watching him. he an
swercd.
watching him? / don't under.
stand"
"Yes; they have shot ut him from
the woods at night, and'-
"But who watches him?'
"The young men of the town. He
mas n habit of taking long walks after
dark, and he Is needless of all remon.
STRANGE. so the young men have organ
lied Il guard for him, and every even
Ing one of them follows him until he
goes to the office to work for the night.
1t Is a different young man each night,
n the watcher follows at a distance,
SO that he does not suspect"
"But how many people know of this
arrangement"
Nearly every one in the county ex-
cept the Crossroads people. though il is
not improbable that they have discov-
cred it,"
"And has no one told him?'
mo; he would not allow IL To con.
dnue. He will not ever arm himself,
"Thcy follow and watch him night
after night. and every one knows and
no n tells him? oh, l must say"
cried the girl, 81 think these are good
people,"
The blackboard turned the bend in the
road. and they entered a squalid settle
ment built raggedly about a black
smith shop and Il saloon. I'D hate to
have a breakdown here" Briscoe re-
marked quietly.
Half Il dozen shanties clustered neal
the forge. a few roofs scattered through
the shiftlessly cultivated fields. four or
live barns propped by fence rails, some
sheds with gaping a%pertures through
which the light glanced from side to
side, a squad Of thin razorback hogs,
now and then worried by gaunt hounds,
and some abused looking hens cropping
about d"isconsolately i'm the mire. n
broken topped buggy with q twisted
wheel. settling into the mud of the
middle of the road (there was always
abundant mud here i'm the driest sum
mer): n dim face sncering from a bro
ken windOw-Six Crossroads was for
bidding and fOrlorn enough by day.
The thought of what might issue from
1t by night was unpleasant, and the
legends OF the Crossroads, together
with an unshapen threat easily fancied
In the atmosphere of the place. made
Miss Sherwood shiver as though Il cold
draft had crossed her.
ut Is SO sinister!" she exclaimed.
sand so unspeakably mean! This is
where they live, the people that hate
him, is it? The White Caps?"
"They call themselves that" replied
Briscoe. Usually White Caps are a
vigilance committee In a region where
the law isn't enforced. These fellows
aren't that kind. They got together to
wipe out grudges, and sometimes didn't
need any ~grudgc-just made their raids
for pure deyilment. There's Il feud be-
tween us and them that goes back INTO
pioneer days, and only a few of us old
folks know much about it,"
And he was the first to try to stop
thcmY'
well You see, our folks are pretty
long suffering" said BriscOe %apologet-
ically. Wed sort of got used to the
eannc of the Crossroads. 1t took
a stranger to stir things up, and he
did. He sent eight of them to the peni-
Tertiary, some for twenty years"
AS they passed the saloon a man
stepped into the doorway and looked
ut them. He was coatless and clad in
garments worn TO the color of dust.
His bare head was ~curiously malform-
ell, higher on one side than on the 9TH
er, and though the blackboard passed
rapidly and ut a distance this singular
l~Opsidedness was plainly visible to the
occupants, lending an ugly significance
to his meager. yellow face. He was
tall, lean, hard, powerfully built. He
eyed the strangers with affected Ian
guor and then, when they had gone by,
broke into sudden loud laughter.
ITO be Continued