Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1909-12-10
ETHE WILD GEESEA
TX BY Stanley j. Weyman.

W. w AAAAh 49,
his hand uncertain!
But this reputation alone. seeing that
reckless spirits were not wanting,
would have awaited him little IL the
protection of the McMurrough mao
not been cast over him. Why IT was
cast rel him men scarcely dared to
guess. 1t was a dark thing into which
il we're iii 10 peer too closely. But the
fact was certain that the anxiety of
the young man that the colonel might
meet with no hurt was plain and no
%torious, a thing observed stealthily
n with wonder.
Did Colonel John saunter across the
court TO look at the lake? The Nc
Murrough vas at his shoulder in a
twinkling, and thence, with a haggard
eye, searched the furzebush for the
CLINT of a gun barrel and the angle of
the wall for a lurking foe. IL was the
same IL the colonel Jared as far as the
ruined tower, or stretched his legs on
the road by the shore. The McMur-
rough could not be too near him,
walked with his hand on his arm, cast
from time to time vigilant looks to
the rear. A score of times between
rising and sleeping Colonel John smiled
at the care that forewent his steps and
covered his retreat; nor perhaps had
the contempt In which he held James
McMurrough ever reached a higher
pitch than while he thus stood from
hour TO hour indebted to that young
man for his life.
What Uncle Uiick, If he held the
key to the matter, thought Of it, did
not appear; nor was Colonel John
o~Vercurious to know. But what Flavia
thought Of the position was a point
which aroused his most lively curiosity.
He gave her credit for feelings so deep
and for 81 nOtnra 81 DOWNRIGHT that
time serving or paltering were the last
faults he looked to find in her. He
could hardly believe that she would
/ consent to sit at meal with him after
what had happened; and pOssibly-for
men are strange, and the motives of
the best are mixed-a desire to see
how n would bear herself in the
circumstances had had something to
do with the course he vas taking.
That she consented to the plan was
soon made clear. She even tool part
in 1t. James could not be always at
his elbow. The young man must some
times retire. When this happened the
girl took her brothers place, stopped
to dog the coloneTs footsteps, and for
a day or two cast the mantle of her
presence over the mar she hated.
But stoop as she might, she never for
a moment stopped to mask her hate.
LII "a z IiiCOIIllilBS ana H6T OulSOlISS,
In her risings-up and at table with
him, every movement Of her body,
the carriage Of her head, the glance Of
her eye, showed that she despised him;
that she who now suffered him was
the same woman who had struck at
his life, and failing, repented only her
failure.
For her brothers sake she was will
ing to do this, though she abhorred it
/ n nd thnV.-A .A- A. - -
bread with the intruder, met his Eyes
or breathed the air that he breathed,
she told herself that it was intolerable,
that it must end.
Once or twice, feeling the humilia-
ton more h a she could bear, she
declared to her brother that the man
must go. Let him got" she cried, in
uncomfortable excitement. Let him
go!"
but he will not be going, Flavvy."
He must go!" she replied.
And Moristown his" James would
answer. Eye are forgetting! Over and
above that, he's not n to do my bid
ding, nor yours!"
That was true. He would not GO;
he persisted in remaining and being
master. But il was not there the diff
Guilty lay. If he had not made a will
before he came-a will that doubtless
set the property of the family forever
beyond James reach-the thing had
been simple and Colonel Johns shrift
had been short. But now, to rid the
earth of him was to place the power
in the hands OF a stranger, an alien,
for whom the ties of family and honor
would have been no stringency. True,
the law was weak III Kerry. writ
was one thing and possession another.
A bold man might keep the forces of
law at bay for a time; but James Nc
Murrough, Notwithstanding the folly
INTO which he a been led, was no
desperate. He had no desire to live
with a rope around his neck, to flee
TO the bog on the least alarm, and in
the issue, to give his name to an Irish
Glencoe.
A position it had been hard to con-
ceive more humiliating to a proud and
ntam spirit such as Flavia's. The
McMnrrangh found little difficulty in
subduing his temper to his interests,
though now n again his churlishness
broke out. For Uncle Ulick, his habit
was to be asy and TO bid others be
easy; the dawn and dark OF a day
reconciled him to most things. The
O'Beirnes, sullen n distrustful, were
still glad to escape present peril. Look
ing for a better time to come, they
helped to shield the common enemy,
SuppOSSu II pOliCy anu IelL no Shame.
Flavia alone. in presence of the man
who had announced that he meant to
be master, writhed in helpless revolt,
swore that he should never be her
master, swore that. whoever bowed her
head, she never would.
And Colonel Sullivan, seated appar-
emily at his ease. on the steep lap of
danger, found his thoughts dwelling on
the one untamable person. on h one
enemy who would not stoop and whose
submission seemed avaua1ie. The
others COX up the positions he as
signed to them. rave him lip service.
pretended that they were as they had
been and as he had been. She did not;
she would not.
Presently he discovered with surprise
that her attitude rendered him unhap-
Ply. Secure In his sense of right, certain
hat he was acting for the best, he
should have been Indifferent. But he
was not Indifferent.
Meantime, she believed that there was
nc length TO which she would not go
against him; she fancied that there was
no weapon which she would not stooy
TO pick up IL II would hurt him. And
presently she was tried. A week had
! passed since the great fsasSo. again ii
was the v OF Sunday, ms in the usual
IL