The Brownsville daily herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1897-1910, 1909-03-20
might be that we should Be safer on
the xafer-"

served Dy Henry tOlDrOOk llan IN
highways about Annandale. It was,
be sure, a question whether the man =
had encountered at the canoe-maKer's
was really her brother; that question
was still to be settled. The presence
OF Gillespie had forgotten utterly
but he was. at any rate. the least i1s
portant figure In the little drama N
folding before me.
Il shall come to your pier with the
launch at five O'clock" I said, and
with thanks murmuring IN my ears
l turned away, went nome and called
for my horse.
] repeated my journey of the night
before. making daylight acquaintance
With the highway. brought my horse
TO a walk as I neared the canoe-ma,
ker'S cottage, and l read his sign and
the lettering on his mail box and sat.
isfed myself that the name Hartridgs
was indlsputably set forth on both
There was no one in sight; perhaps
the adventure and warning Of the
night had caused Holbrook to leave;
but at any rate was bent upon ask.
ing about him in Tippecanoe village.
This place, lying two miles beyond
the canoe-maker's, found TO be q
sleepy hamlet of perhaps 80 cottages,
country store. a post-ofice, and q
blacksmith shop There vas a water
trough in front Of the store. and !
dismounted to give my horse a drink
while 1 went to the cottage behind the
closed store to seek the shopkeeper.
! found him In a garden under an
apple tree reading newspaper. fie
was an old fellow In speetacles, ana,
assuming that was an idler rom
the summer colony, be greeted ne
eourteously. / questioned him as 70
the character Of the winters In thit
region, spoke Of the edpioyments d
the village folk, then mentioned the
canoe-maker.
Eyes; he works the year round down
there on the Tippeoanoe. He selfs
his canoes all over the country--4he
Hartridge, that's his name. You musf
have seen his sign there by the cedar
hedge. They say he gets bic prices
for his canoes"
Il suppose he's q native In these
parts?" IYentured.
mo; but he's been here a good
while. l guess nobody knows where
he comes from-or cares. He worke
pretty hard. but guess he likes It."
Hes an industrious man, is he?"
ooh, he's steady worker; but he's
queer kind, too. Now, he never
votes and he never goes to church,
and for the sake of the argument,
neither do T''-and the OLD fellow
winked prodigiously. He's mighty
odd man; but I can't say that that's
against him. But he's quiet and peace
able, and now his daughter"
"Oh, he has a daughter?
Eyes: and that's all he has, too,
and they never have any visitors. The
daughter just come home the other
day, and We amt hardly seen her yet.
She's been away at school,
Il suppose Mr. Hartridge is absent
sometimes; he doesn't live down there
all the time, does he?"
Il can't say that could prove it,
sometimes I don't see him for a
month or more; but his business is his
own, stranger" he concluded, point
eddy.
You think that If Mr.. Hartridgs
had a visitor you'd know it," per.
sisted, though the shopkeeper grew
less amiable.
Well, now, might; and again !
mightn't. Mr.. Hartridge is a queer
man. 1 don't see him every day, and
particularly in the winter l don't keep
track of him
With little leading the storekeepsp
described Hartridge for me. and hie
description tailed exactly with the
man who had caught me on the canoe
makers premises the night before
And yet, when / had thanked the
storekeeper and ridden on through tie
village, l was as much befuddled az
ever. There was something decidedly
inconSruous in the idea that a MAD
who was. By all superficial signs. a.
least q gentleman. should be eetaR.
brook. I found myself trying to &C
count for the fact that, by some means
short Of the miraculous, Helen Hol-
brook had played chess with Miss Pat
at St. Agatha's at the very hour l had
seen her with her father on the Tip
pecanoe And then l was bafhed
again as remembered that Paul Stod-
dard had sent the two women to St
and that their destination
could not have been chosen by Helen
Holbrook.
My thoughts wandered into many
blind alleys as rode on. was thor
oughly disguised with myself at find-j
ing the loose ends of the Holbrooks
affairs multiplying so rapidly. Thel
sun Of noon shone hot overhead. and
turned my. horse into a road that led
homework by the eastern shore of thei
lake. As 1 approached little country
church at the crown of long hill
saw a crowd gathered in the highway
and refined my horse to see what had
happened. The congregation Of faFmerss
and their families had. just been dis
missed; and they were pressing about