Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1906-04-12

We spoke no more till we reached tie
castle.
Sheppard took our news gravcly and
seemed to turn things over in his mind.
This is bad, Ned; very bad" he sad
at length. The place will be TOO hot
to hold us
"They don't identify us with tie
murder said Montgomery.
NO" replied Sheppard deliberately.
"but it pulls the police web closer over
us. We're marked men in a way. We
shall have Il difficulty. This business /,
getting too complex. The fact is. We
ought to have settled it by a bold
stroke much earlier"
"Wc didn't know" said Montgomery.
l said nothing then at once, but urey.
entity I spoke up.
"Sheppard," l said, land YOU. Mont.
golacry. think this thing has gone far
enough. To tell you the truth. l have
had enough of it for some time past.
That man in the moat sickcncl I0c.
Look at it i'll this way. We have been
actuated by a mere greed OF gold.
There's no denying that. l will confess
that | undertook it lightly. l had 10
notion that we were to be called upon
to enter a bloody warfare. What has
Williams done? He stood no chance
with US: he was not to share In o.r
throw of the dice. It's plain murder,
II an ugly sound it has. Can YOU
tell me why he came by his death: l
can. That man 1 tracked through the
wood last night-he got wind of he.
What his mission was l have no guess.
but Williams was taken for an emis-
sary, and dead men tell no tales. What
he saw before he received his death
blow | won't hazard. But. mind you.
he was knitted to death-hacked in the
quick flesh till the life oozed out at the
bloody gaps. That's black; that's
~bloody-and that's good enough, or bad
enough, for me-"
spoke with heat, even with pas
sionate emotion, for the thoughts had
been burning in my mind for some
time. Sheppard said nothing for 4
space, but leaned forward and careful
~ knocked the ash from his cigar.
What you say is very true, Ned
he said quietly at last, land you have
put it very bluntly, and I don't say
that you have not something on your
side. You have emotion, at any rate.
and we shall all be agreed that good,
honest emotion is to be reckoned a
force as much as reason. But, to my
mind, you forget, you overlook, TOO
much, and your feelings miscarry.
What, precisely, have we done? We
nave defended against a pack of ruff
mans what certainly is not their prop,
erty, II what, so far as 1t is any
ones, is ours. or, rather, yours. We
nave drawn blood in the encounters
but 1t was that same cutthroat blood,
l Will confess to you both that | am
OF a ~squeamish temper myself, and
mat first surprise fairly wrought upon
me. But pulled myself up and con
Sidered. And as for this last affair,
there's no denying it's gravity. 1t has
the menace Of a tragedy-that's a fact.
But where do we intervene? Williams
meets a fate destined for one of US
We take our chances, but Providence
designs otherwise. Williams is dead;
| learn that with regret. l understood
him for q man Of spirit and pluck
Rest his soul. But by whom was he
killed! BY these very cutthroats
against whom we are conspirinS.
There's another reason, and, # you
IKE, a more potent reason, why we
should continue. Williams dead body
does not stand between us and the
treasure, and especially If we lin at
two ends. Justice will be measured
out hy our pursuit. You will think J
speak harshly, but l am talking sense
that is how it appears to- me"