The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1909-10-13

Sitting quite still 10 gszsd straight before
him at the open window.
quite still. he gazcd straight before
him Ut the open window. There was
little to be seen there but the sway.
Ing boughs OF the huge tree, but his
gaze never left those tossing limbs.
and his sentence hung suspended till
the movement made by Ransom re-
crossing the room reused him, and he
went on.
I have made the plunge. gentlemen.
and fortune favored me. l." here his
voice failed him again, but realizing
the fact more quickly than before, he
shook on his apathy, and facing the
two mon. who awaited his slow words
with inconceivable excitement, con.
tinued with sudden concentration up.
on his subject. II saw what I went
to see-poor Georgian's body. have
satisfied the coroner Of this fact. The
little bag tore from her side proves
her identity beyond doubt. You saw
1t, Mr.. Harper. They tell me that you
recognized 1t at once as the same you
saw in her hand In the stage-coach.
But If you had not, the initials on it
are unmistakable, @. @. H.. Georgian
Quinlan. Hazen. Auchincloss will get
his money, and soon, will he not!
Answer me plainly, Harper. Such an
experience merits some reward. You
Will not make difflculties?"
~" The lawyers query had a
strange ring to it. He glanced from
Hazen to Ransom, and from Ransom
back to Hazen, whose features had
now become more composed, though
they still retained their remarkable
pallor.
III the proof is positive" he then
went on, you assuredly can trust
both my client and myself to remem.
Der our promise to you."
THE coroner, you say, Is satisfied?"
Yes, with the proof and my sworn
statement. He is obliged to be. No
enc else, least Of all himself, feels
any desire to go down to that whirl.
Ing eddy for confirmation of my story.
And they are wise. do not think
That any man with less experience
Shan myself could sound the depths
sf that vortex apd come up alive. The
notes.-the sw:r the sense of being
sucked downtown in ever-increasinx
fury--but my purpose kept the life in
mo. ] was determined not to yield,
not to faint, till l had seen-and
proved"
whats that?"
The cry was from Mr.. Ransom. A
sudden gust of wind had torn it's way
through the room, flingng the door
vide. and strewing the floor with fly.
Ing papers from the large stand in the
window.
Nothing but wird. said Harper,
half rising to close the door. but i'm.
mediately sitting down again with q
strange look at Ransom. LET be-" he
whispered, as the other rose in his
turn to restore order. keep Hazen
talking. It's important: imperative.
I'll see to the door,"
But it was the window he closed.
not the door.
Ransom, with that obs Hence natural
TO client in presence of his most
trusted adviser did as he was bid.
and turned his full attention back to
Hazen instantly. That gentleman.
upon whom the rushing wind and the
havoc 1t created had made little II
any impression, rushed again into
words.
I've led an adventurous life" he
declared, and, in the last few years
especially, passed through many perils
ana experienced much awful suffer
n%. have felt the pang of hunger
aid tie p1ng OF biting. despair; but
nothing | have ever endured can equal
the horror which beclouded my mind
and rendered pOwerless my body as
felt myself sliding from the sight of
earth and heaven into the Jaws of that
rapacious eddy. whose bottom no man
had ever sounded.
Il went In yOung-I have come out
old. Look at my nands-they shake
like those Of man of ninety Yet
yesterday they could have pulled to
the ground an OK"
You saw Mrs. Ransoms body down
in that pool some fathoms below the
surface" observed the lawyer, after
waiting in vain for some word from
the shrinking husband. Won't you
particularize. Mr.. Hazsn? Tell us Just