, 1908-11-05

And in that she was right" he
said at last. his eyes lowered to the
ground. II will tell you why. It was
the father Of MAZDA ellis who was
convicted Of the murder Of Mai.
Brant."
"oh, my father? Is she Capt. No
lan's daughter? But you say convict
ed Was there ever any doubt? Do
you question his being guilty?"
Hampton pointed in silence to the
hideous creature behind them. That
man could tell, but ne has gone mad"
Brant ~endeavored to speak, but the
words would not come; his brain
seemed paralyzed. Hampton held him.
self under better control.
II have confidence, Lieut.. Brant, in
your honesty" he began, gravely, and
/ believe you will strive to do what
ever is best for her. II anything should
happen to me u yonder. But for the
possibility Of my being knocked out, I
wouldn't talk about this, not ever to
you. The affair is a long way from
being Strengthened out so as to make
a pleasant story. but I'll give you all
o actually require to know in order
to make it clear to her. provided I
shouldn't come back. You see. she
doesn't know very much more than
you do -on!v what l was obliged to
tell to keep her from getting too close
ly s%ntangled with you. Maybe 1 ought
to have given her the full story before
l started on this trip. I've since
wished l had, but you see, l never
dreamed 1t was going to end here, on
the Big Horn; besides, l didn't have
the nerve.
You see, Brant, I feel that l simply
have to carry these dispatches
through. l have a pride in giving
them to Custer myself. because of the
trouble I've had in getting them here.
But perhaps l may not come back,
n in that case there wouldn't be
anyone living to tell her the truth. It
seems to me that there is going to be
a big fight somewhere in these hills
before long. So l want to leave these
private papers with you until l come
back. 1t will relieve my mind to know
they are safe; If / don't come, then I
want you to open them and do what
ever you decide is best for the little
girl. You will do that, won't your"
He handed over a long manila en-
velope securely sealed, and the young
er man accepted 1t, noticing that 1t
was unaddressed before depositing it
safely in an inner pocket of his fatigue
jacket.
Certainly, Hampton" he said. ~Is
that all?"
All except what l am going to tell
you now regarding Murphy. There is
no use my attempting to explain ex-
actly how l CHANGED to find out all
these things. for they came to me little
by little during several years. l knew
Nolan. and l knew your father. and I
had reason to doubt the guilt Of the
captain, in spite of the verdict of the
jury that condemned him. In fact, 1
knew at the time, although 1t was not
In my power to prove 1t, that the two
principal witnesses against Nolan lied.
l thought I could guess why, but we
drifted apart, and finally 1 lost an
track Of every one connected with the
affair. Then l happened to pick up
that girl down in the canyon beyond
the Bear Water, and pulled her out
alive Just because she CHANGED to be
of that sex, and 1 couldn't stand to see
her fall into Indian clutches. didn't
feel any special interest in her at the
time, supposing she belonged to Old
ellis, but she somehow grew on me
she's that kind, you know; and
when I discovered, purely by accident,
that she was Capt. Nolan's girl, but
that 1t all had been kept from her, ]
Just naturally made up my mind I'd
dig out the truth If 1 possibly could,
for her sake. The fact is. l began to
think q lot about her-not the way
you do, you understand; I'm getting
too old for that, and have known toe
much about women,-but maybe some
what as a father might feel. Anyhow,
l wanted to give her q CT nance, q
square deal, SO that she woul dn't be
ashamed Of her own name II aver she
found out what It was.
About that time l fell foul Of Muir
ply and Slavin there in Glencaid. ]
never got my eyes on Murphy, you
know. and Slavin was SO changed by
that big red beard that l failed to rec
osnize him. But their actions aroused
my suspicious, and 1 went after them
good and hard. 1 wanted to find out
what they knew, and why those liet
were told on Nolan at the trial. 1 hat
an idea they could tell me. So, for g
Btarter l tackled Slavin. supposing We
were alone. and l was pumping the
facts out Of him successfully by hold
ing a under his nose. AND occa
s~ionally jogging his memory, wher
this fellow Murphy got excited, anC
chasseed into the game. but happened
to nip his partner instead of me. Ii
the course of our little scufie
CHANGED to catch a glimpse Of the fel
lows right hand, and 1t had a scar OF
the hack ~ ~ thot loobad n,iobtv 70