Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-11-13
(CHAPTER xIy-Continued.,

stationed where her eyes ranged the
whole lower floor of the inn, drew at.
tention to herself in an elaborate cour-
tesy.
Miss Barbara wish me t. say she
done come heah on business, and she
like TO- to see yo' all right away. She
done bring huh saddle, and war
a-gwine ridin' twell you come back.
She's a-gittin' ready, and I'll go tell
huh you done come. She got heap o.
trubble, tibet young missis, so she
hev," and the black woman's pursed
lips seemed to imply that Professor
Griswold was in some measure re-
sponsible for Miss Osborne's Difficult
ties.
As he stared out into the street a
negro brought horse bearing a bet
ter saddle than Mingo county had ever
boosted, and hitched it near the horse
he had secured for himself An in
slant later he heard quick step
above, and Miss Osborne, sedately fol-
lowed by. the black woman, came
downstairs. She smiled and greeted
him cordially, but there was trouble
In her brown eyes.
II didn't warn you of my coming
didn't want to be a nuisance to you;
but there's a new-a most unaccount-
able perplexity. 1t doesn't seem right
TO burden you with it-you have al
ready been so kind about helping me;
but dare not turn to our oldest
friends-I have been afraid to trust
fathers friends at all since Mr.. Bos-
worth acted SO traitorously.'
"My time Is entirely at your service,
Miss Osborne; but have shameful
report to make of myself. | must tell
you how miserably / have failed, be-
fore you trust me any further. We
that Is to say, the prosecuting attor-
ney Of this county and a party got to-
gether of Appleweight's enemies -
caught the outlaw last night-took
him with the greatest ease-but he got
away from rs! 1t was all my fault, and
I'm deeply disguised with myself"
He described the capture and the
subsequent mysterious disappearance
of Appleweight, and confessed the OBJ
vious necessity for great caution in
further attempts to take the outlaw,
now that he was on guard. Barbara
laughed reassuringly at the end of the
story.
Those men must have felt funny
when they went back to get the pris-
oner and found that he had gone up
into the air. But there's a new fea-
ture In the case that's more serious
than the loss of this man" and the
trouble again possessed her eyes.
Well, it's better not to have our
problems too simple. Any lawyer can
win an easy case-though I seem to
have lost my first one for you he
added penitently.
She made no reply, but drew from
her purse cutting from a newspaper
and handed it to him.
That's from last nights Columbia
vidette, which is very hostile to my
father
He was already running over the
heavily loaded column that set forth
without equivocation the fact that
Governor Osborne had not been in Co
lumbia since he went to New Orleans
1t secuted the story that he was
abroad in the state on official business
connected with the Appleweight case
the yarn which Griswold had forced
upon the friendly reporter at the tele-
graph office in Columbia The COVER
nor of a state, the Vidette went on to
elaborate, could not vanish without
leaving some trace of himself, and
Vidette representative had traced the
steps of Governor Osborne from New
Orleans until-the black type is the
Wholesale had again entered South
Carolina under cover of night and for
purposes which, for the honor of the
state, the Vidette hesitated to dis
close.
The writer of the article had ex-
hausted the possibilities of gentle sug-
gestion and vague innuendo in an ef-
fort to create an impression of mys-
terry and to pique curiosity as to fur
fner developments, which were prom
ised at any hour. Griswolds wrath
was aroused, not so much against the
newspaper, which he assumed had
some fire for it's smothered trail of
smoke, but against the governor of
South Carolina himself, who was
causing the finest and noblest girl in
the world infinite anxiety and pain.
The thing is preposterous," he said
lightly. THE idea that your father
would attempt to enter his own state
surreptitiously is inconceivable in
these days when public men are de-
MED all privacy; and when it's any
mans right to deceive the press if
he finds it essential to his own comfort
and peace; but the intimation that
your father is in South Carolina for
any dishonorable purpose is preposter-
ous. One thing, however, is certain,
Miss Osborne, and that is we must
produce your father at the earliest
possible moment"
"But"-and Barbara hesitated, and
her eyes, near tears as they were,
wrought great havoc in Griswold's
soul-"but father must not be found
until this Appleweight matter is set
tied. You understand without making
me speak the words-that he might
not exactly view the matter as we
TO-"
1t was painful subject; and the
TACT that she was driven by sheer
force of circumstances to appeal to
him, stranger, to aid her to perform
B public service in her fathers name
rallied all his good impulses to her
standard. 1t was too delicate matter
for discussion; it was thing to be ig-