The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1908-05-08
IIontinued from last week. !

GU sou "NiN NNAhS A'SH''
Of course. but your action will have
terrible consequences. Now We'll have
riot, bloodShed and heaven knows
what. 1t was to save all this that |
wanted to break up their organization.
A weeks Imprisonment would have
done il, but now they're armed and
belligerent and we'll have n battle to-
night"
mo, no." she cried There mustn't
be any violence"
There Is no use trying to check
them. They are rushing TO their own
destruction ! have learned that they
plan to attack the Midas tonight. and
I'll have fifty soldiers waiting for them
there. 1t Is a shame. for they are de-
cent fellows blinded by ignorance and
rnisled by that young miner. This will
be the blackest night the north has
ever Seen"
With this Mcnamara left the house
and went In search Of Voorhees,, re-
marking to himself: Now, Miss Helen.
send your varning-the sooner the bet
tsf. n know those vigilantes, 1t will
cot them crazy, and yet not crazy
enough to attack the Midas. They will
strike for me, and when they bit my
poor unguarded Office they'll think bell
has moved north"
'Mr. Marshal" said he to big tool,
II want you to gather forty men quiet
" and to arm them with Winchester.
They must be fellows who won't faint
at blood. You know the kind. Assem-.
bic them at my Office after dark, one
at q time, by the back way. 1t must
Be done with absolute secrecy. Now,
see II you can do this one thing and
not get balled up. II you fall, III
mike you answer to me-"
"Why don't you get the troops?'
ventured Voorhees,.
eff there's one thing I want to avoid,
It's soldiers. either here or at the
mines. When they step in, we step
out, and I'm not ready for that just
YET" The receiver smiled sinisterly.
Helen meanwhile had fed to her
room and there received Gfenister's
note through Cherry Malotte's mes
senser. It rekindled her worst fears
and bore out McNamara's prophecy.
The more she read Of It the more
certain she grew that the crisis was
only q question Of hours and that with
darkness tragedy would walk the
streets Of Nome. The thought Of the
wrong already done was lost in the
louely girls terror Of the crime about
20 happen. for II seemed to her she had
been the instrument to set these forces
IA motion, that she had loosed this
swift speeding avalanche Of greed.
hatred and brutality. And when the
crash should come-the girl shuddered.
Il must not be. She would shrek a
warning from the housetops even at
cost Of her uncle. OF Mcnamara and Of
herself And yet she had no proof that
q crime existed. Although 1t all lay
clear In her own mind, the certainty
Of Il arose only from her intuition.
II only she were able to take a hand
Ii only she were not woman. Then
Cherry Malotte's words anent Struve
REQUIRED to her, "a bottle Of wine and
q woman's face" They brought back
the lawyers assurance that those doc
uments she had safeguarded all
through the long springtime journey
really contained the proof. II they
cid, then they held the power to check
this impending conflict. Her uncle
and the boss would not dare continue
Il threatened with exposure and prose
sution. The more she thought Of 1t
The more urgent seemed the necessity
TO prevent the battle Of tonight. There
was q chance here at least. and the
only one.
Adding to her mental torment was
The constant vision Of that face In the
curtains at the Northern. 1t was her
brother, yet what mystery shrouded
tha affair also? What kept him from
her? What caused him to stink away
like a thief discovered? She grew
dizzy and hysterieal.
etruve turned In bis chair as the
door to his private Office opened, then
le&peQ 70 ule Kcet dt sISut VI tho ktoy
eyed girl standing there.
II came for the papers" she said.
II knew you would" The blood went
cut Of his checks. then surged back up
% his eyes. ITS a bargain thenT
She nodded. "Give them to me first"
he laughed unpleasantly. What do
you take me for! I'll keep my part OF
be bargain II you'll keep yours. But
this Is no place, nor time. There's
not IN the air, and I'm busy preparing
for tonight Come back tomorrow
1Aep It's all over"
But It was the terror Of tonight's do
anss that led her into his power.
'In never. come back" she said. ut
- my whim to know today-yes, at
0nee."
He meditated for time. Then to-
DAY II shall be- III shirk the fight,
ri sacrifice what shreds Of duty have
tluns to me. because the fever for
roo IL in my bones, and 1t seems to me
d % murder ~ 1t. That's the kind
II 4 man am, .Ssd l have no pride In