Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1909-01-27

IS, Ri unconsciously grateful
Eip for its new sensation.
N It's The. return of Hugh
~E- Sti,es and his apparent
66 curious transformation
was the prime subject of conversation.
For half year the place had known
but one other event as startling. That
was the finding some months before
of dead body-that of o comparative
stranger In the place-thrust beneath
th!cket on Smoky mountain, on the
very claim which now held Prender-
gast and his partner.
The amen corner" of the Mountain
Valley House had discussed the pros
and cons exhaustively. There were
many who sneered at the loss of men,
DRY and took their cue from Devlin,
who, smarting from his humiliation
and nursing venom. revamped suspi-
cions wherever he showed his battered
face. In his opinion Hugh Stires was
playing n slick game"
Your view is colored by your preju-
dices, Devlin." said Fielder. Hes been
blackleg in the past granted But
give the devil his due. AS for the
other ugly tale. there's no more evil
dence against him than there is
against YOU or met
"They didn't find the body on my
ground" hid Been the others surly
retort. and didn't clear out the day
before ether,
The phenomenon. however whether
credited or poohponhed. was a draw
ing card. More than few found oc-
casion to climb the mountain by the
hillside trail that skirted the lonely
cabin. These as likely as not saw
Prendergast lounging in the doorway
smoking, while the younger man
worked, leading trench along the
brow of the hill to bring the water
from its intake, which Harry's quick
eye had seen was practicable.
The spectacle of Hugh Stires, who
had been used to pass his days in the
saloons and his nights in even less be-
coming resorts. turned practical miner
added touch of opera bouffe to the
situation that to a degree modulatel
the rigor of dispraise. 1t was the con-
sensus of opinion that the new Hugh
Stires seemed vastly different from the
old; that If lie were playing game"
1t was a curious one.
On the one side was black record,
eXemplified in Prendergast-clouded in
fanny, a sluddering adherence of his
past self as he saw 1t through the pitt
less lens of public opinion; on the other
was grim constancy of purpose. Il pas
sionate wish to reconstruct the warped
structure of life of which he found
himself the tenant, days of healthful,
peace inspiring toll, a woman's face
that threaded his every thought. AS he
welded his pick in the trench or labo-
riously washed out the few glistening
grains that now We're to mean his dai.
ly sustenance he turned often to gaze
up the slope where, set in its foliage,
the glass roof of the sanitarium spar
killed. softly through the Indian haze.
Strange that the sight should mysteri-
ously suggest the face that haunted
him!
Prendergast saw the distracted re-
gard as he came up the trail from the
town. He was i'll an ugly humor The
bag OF gold Dust Which he had shown
to Harry he had not returned to the
hiding place in the wall, and with this
in his pocket the faro table had that
day tempted him. The pouch was
empty now.
Harry's back was toward nim, and
the gold pan in which he had been
washing the gravel lay at his feet.
With noiselcss. mirthless laugh Prem
dergast stole into the cabin and reach
ed down from the. Shelf the bottle into
which each day Harry had poured his
scanty findings. He weighed it in his
hand-almost two onnces, a little less
than $40, sMpshastily took the empty
bag fioipasfssfraclset
But just tRen3a shadow darkened the
doorway. and Harry entered He saw
the action and, striding forward, took
the bottle from the others hand
Prendergast turned on him, SIMS
ter snarl under his affectatlon of sur
prise. Cant you attend to your own
rat killing" he growled. 81 guess I've
got rlSnt 10 what need.D
Not to that" said Harry quietly.
I'VE shall touch. the bottom Of the
four. sack tomorrow. You expect to get
your meals here, presume"
Il still look forward to that pleas
ure, ;" answered Prendergast with an
evil :sneer. "Three meals a day and.
rotten roof over my head. When
think, of the little have done to de-
serve it, the hospitality overcomes me-
All have done is to keep you from
starving to death and out of quod at
the same time. only taught you
safe way to heat the game. an easier
one than you seem to know, and to
live on Easy street"
II am looking for no easy way" re-
sponded Harry, whatever you mean
by that. ! expect to earn my living as
I'm earning it now. It's an honest
method, at an events"
you've grown all fired particular
since you lost your memory" retorted
Prendergast his eyes narrowing
you'll be turning dominic one of these
days. Perhaps you expect to get the
town to take up with you and to make
love to the beauty in the green riding
habit that brought you here on her
horse the night yon We're out of your
head,'
Harry started. What do you mean?'
he asked thickly
Prendergasts oily manner was gone
now. His savage temper came upper
most.
~ forgot you didn't know. about
that" he scoffed. 81 made neat story
of 1t in the town. They've been CAB
bling about 1t ever since"
Harry caught bis breath. y