Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1908-01-17
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f0unQ TOT ION III tue piStty A@'iS 49,
/ bles amid the trees, where he helped
Fawcett with the horses and the cur
ricle. which was in Sydney on some
errand every day. Generally the mas
ter went alone. Once he took Tom
with him. 1t was on the occasion or
his eashing a check to meet the run
ming expenses of these elaborate prep
arations.
They were on their way home at
dusk when Daintree pulled up on the
outskirts of the town and hailed dis
consulate, soldierly figure with one arm
in a sling.
"Why, Harryp cried Daintree. THAT'S
never you"
81 wish it wasn't, sir"
you've left the forcef"
"These six months. 1t was my arm.
Look there, sir!"
An emaciated hand came through
the sling. The thumb and forehnger
were uninjured, but half the middle
finger and both the other two were like
dead, distorted branches on a living
tree.
"What did it,"
"a bullet; caught me on the funny
bone and paralyzed half my hand. My
right hand too. It's set me on the shelf
at thirty-three."
IAN accident, Harry%
Tom held his breath.
"Ouite," said Harry bitterly. ut was
meant for my heart You would hear
of the bushrangers at DR.. Sullivan's
last summer-that's when 1t was-and
the one that did it was the only one
to get away"
Toms clothes were sticking to him,
freezing him. 'Drive on! he whis-
pered. "For Gods sake, sir, drive on!'
Daintree expressed sympathy with
the man and whipped up his horses.
"Not so fastw cried Tom. "You Of
fered me wages. Advance me TO OF
what you got from the bank!
His face was white with horror, his
tone SO piteous and so eager that Dain-
tree pulled up, took 5 sovereigns from
q bag and dropped them one by one
into the trembling hand. Tom sprang
out and ran back to the disabled man.
"From my masterw he gasped and
thrust the money into his left hand
and darted back without daring to look
In his face. The astonished trooper
4 - ors1
"God bless you for that money" fall
tered Tom In terrible agitation as they
drove on. II gave 1t to him from you.
/ want no wages. Give them all to
him.!
The other remained silent.
'You don't ask why!'
81 think know"
at was | who smashed his arm and
spoiled his life!'
II suspected it,"
"When?
"On the road down, when you kept
looking behind and thinking they were
after you"
"Ah, no" cried Tom, almost beside
himself with grief and shame. "That
was for something else. See what a
villain have been! You should have
left me one. I could have stood 1t II
you'd left me what was! Oh, what
am / to dol in luxury and that man
shattered and ruined by my hand? l
can't bear it! / must confess! And 1
an innocent man in the beginning! Oh,
that was bad enough, to be condemned
for what you never did, but it's as bad
to know you're guilty and to go scot
freew
The other said nothing, but listened
.attentively as Tom now unbosomed
Hauself of the whole truth of. his adj
IRE with the bushrangers, where
Nciptree Justified his offense
den warmth of conviction that
Tom was little soothed. But his Law
fish friend went further. He under
took that the disabled man should
want for nothing, but first they must
find out what his circumstances really
were.
They found out within an hour, and
from the man himself. He had fol-
lowed them on foot to render thanks.
He even wanted to return the money.
Not only was the department treating
him handsomely, the surgeons had
hopes Of his arm, and he was ashamed
of the way in which he must have ex-
aggerated matters in the street. So
Tom was assured when the man was
gone. He kept out Of the way while
he was there.
The assurance consoled him--a little.
He never forgot that half ~withered
hand. He dreamed of it at night, 1t
haunted him by day, and all the while
that withered hand was surely though
invisibly restoring the shattered tenn
pie of his soul. 1t did for Tom what
mere kindness had failed to do, for
now a horror of his acts replaced the
dread of their consequences. Those
ignoble terrors passed quite away. 1t
never even occurred to Tom that he
had lightly confessed what no living
witness could have proved.
y He had been with Daintree now
some eight or nine weeks. There were
deep lines in his face, but his eyes
were no longer infamed and ferocious,
and he was beginning to hold them up
again as of old. The debonair glance
had not come back. 1t was gone for