The Durham recorder. [volume] (Durham, N.C.) 1879-19??, 1907-07-05

II must be the work of that italian
brigand fellow
| All but De Gruchy burst out laugh
Ing. e<~
"And when first saw your fire." he
added. Il Thought you must be bis
| bandr'
All but De Gruchy laughed louder
than before. De Gruchy hid his sullen.
foreign face In his hands, and the little
gray man held up his hook for silence.
I'VE are!'' said he.
"What2 Bushrangers after allr
'''The band you speak Of"
tThen where's the Italianp"
"You saw him for yourself about an
hour ago"
And the little mans eyes were twin.
king through their horn trimmed lenses
as IL he had made joke. But there
was no more laughing outright, though
Tom heard Slipper chuckle and De
Gruchy snarl. AS for himself, he was
shuddering In the most Notifying
fashion under the fascinating specta-
Giles Of the little gray man.
THAT was your leaderi' he stammer-
ed out.
$50 he 1attered himself"
"And I thought 1t was his handi-
work. liz
at was mine," said Hockey Simpson
coolly. Indeed. benign smile accom-.
panied the confession, as though ii
were a public service he had perform
ed. with the utmost mercy. But Tom
thought of the stripped body with the
torn ears. and those living faces. lit up
by the cracking camp fire. lived ever
after In his mind in the yet more lurid
light of this dreadful revelation.
The high forehead. the twinkling
spectacles. the gray tufts and the pol:
ished hook Of the elderly man. the
broad, keen. flashing blade with which
Slipper sat pairing his finger nails. the
wall eyes hard, dead stare: the knot
ted hands that hid De Gruchy's face
and the blue black hair in turn hiding
half his fingers, the harmless playing
cards upon the ground. the ruddy. gen.
ial fire and the white, the watchfuh
moon peering through screen of trem-
bling leaves-all these were as pieces;
Of a mosaic inlaid at this instant In.
Tom Erichsen's brain. for him to carry
there to his grave.
80 you killed him yourselfT' be.
found himself saying ut last in stout
er voice.
81 did" said Hockey. II was under
that painful necessity this very after
noon. II wasn't done for the fun OF
the thing. you understand. but only
when ii became evident that one of US
must go. naturally preferred to stay.
At the same time. I must admit was
wearying of being hectOred and bullied
by u COMPOUNDED foreigner. and there
were three of us Englishmen of the
same mind. So you perceive how It.
all fitted In. Last night we had words.
Now, house divided against itself
cannot stand. Neither can band OF
bushrangers. much less when the
mounted police are on their track
"Are they?" cried Tom.
"Maybe within fifteen miles,. replied
Hockey Simpson. Maybe within FIVE.
An ensign. two sergeants and eighteen
troopers. as understand. But never
mind them. We two had words. They
had been coming on for weeks. WELL
there were three on my side and only
two on his. So we made II up. but lay
and watched each other with one eye
open all night. This afternoon at his
suggestion we rode behind together to
come to some understanding. but saw
him looking at me queerly." said the
little gray man. "and that was enough
for me When galloped after these
good fellows our number was reduced
by one but the little question OF lead.
ership was ut an end"
"a good job too cried Slipper. aud
wall.eye nodded grave assent.
"You see. the change IS not unpopu-
lar" continued Hockey modestly.
though I'm bound 60 add that don't
see how II could be-among English.
men. Whit was be before they kicked
him out of his own country The word
that described our friend Barabbas
was already applicable to the late
lamented But what was I before CIR.
cumstances compelled me to leave
mine' What do you supposef Come.
give O guess" said Hockey simpson.
You talk Ike q parson." suggested
Tom to compliment the wretch.
"And was next door 10 ope" cried
[Cnnfinnah IN fourth rapal