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

now she was lying and where. Mr..
Ransom cannot but wish to know, dim.
cult as he evidently finds 1t to ask
you"
The coroner has the story" Hazen
began, with the slow, painful gasp Of
the unwilling narrator But will tel,
1t again; t. is your right, the painful
duty which we cannot escape. She
was lying. not on the bottom, but in
a niche of rock into which she had
been thrown and wedged by the force
OF the current One arm was free
and was washing about; tried to
clutch this arm as / went down, but
1t eluded me. When / arose, the rush
and swirl Of the water was against
NE and I felt my senses going, but
enough instinct was left for me to
snatch again at the arm as I passed,
and though 1t eluded me again, my
fingers closed on something, which I
was just conscious enough to hold on
to with frenzied grip. We have
spoken of this thing-a little bar
which must have been fastened Ia
her side, for the end of it's connect.
Ing strap is torn away by the wrench
! gave it."
Vivid enough. but I am sure you
WILL tell me one thing more. Did you
see the face Of this body as we'll a.
the arm? It would greatly add to
the strength of your testimony II you
could describe it."
Ransom, who had been watching
Hazen, cast q sudden look back at the
lawyer as he dropped these insinuat.
Ing words. Something more than q
cold.blooded desire for truth had
prompted this almost brutal inquisi.
ton. He must know what 1t was, II
\ anything In Harper's well-controlled
countenance would tell him. The re.
suit transfixed him, for following tho
lawyers gaze. which was fixed not on
the man he was addressing but ON a
small mirror hanging on the opposite
wall, he saw reflected in 1t the face
and form OF Anitra standing In the
open doorway behind them.
She was looking at Haxen and, -
Ran.,om noted that look, he under.
stood Harper's previous caution and
all that lay behind his insistent and
cold-blooded questions. For her gaze
was no longer one of simple inquiry
but Of horrified understanding; the
gaxe Of one who heard.
Meantime, Hazen was answering In
painful gasps the lawyers pointed
question, did you see the face of this
body a. well as the arm?".
did ! see--God help me, yes. Just
glimpse, but I knew 1t. Eyes that
my mother had kissed, blind-staring
-glassed In awe and unspeakable
fright. The mouth, whose every curve
l had studied In the old days of per-
feet affection, drawn into a revolving
grin and dripping with upwholesome
weeds brought down from the shal.
lows. All strange, yet all familiar
my observation-disclosures
but recognizable. Don't ask me IL I
saw st. / always see it; 1t is before
me now. the forehead-the chin-the
eyes"
Ransom sprang to his feet, Harper
also.
The girl In the doorway had gone
white as death, and with outstretched
arms and frantic, haggard eyes was
striving to ward OF the frightful vis-
ion conjured up by her brothers
words. The movement made by the
fuuN l.
herself, and she drew back-the hest.
tating. appealing, anxious-eyed girl
whom they all knew. But 1t was too
late. Hazen had seen as we'll as the
others. and leaping in frenzy from
his chair stood confronting her-a
dominant and accusing hgure-be-
tween the quietly triumphant lawyer
and the crushed, almost unconscious
Ransom.