Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1910-10-21
CHAPTER II.
The Seven Wives.


the lips of Obadiah Price than the old
man Strengthened himself and stood as
rigid as a gargoyle, his gaze penetra-
ting into the darkness of the room
beyond Captain Plum, his head in
clined slightly, every nerve in him
strained to a tension of expectancy.
His companion involuntarily gripped
the butt of his pistol and faced the
narrow entrance through which they
had come In the moment of absolute
silence that followed there came to
him, family, a sound, unintelligible at
first, but growing in volume until he
knew tthat it was the last echo of
tolling bell. There was no movement,
no sound of breath or whisper from
the old man at his back. But wheE
it came again, floating to him as il
from vast distance, he turned quick
Iy to find Obadiah Price with his face
lifted, his thin arms flung wide above
his head and ais lips moving as If in
prayer. His eyes burned with dull
glow as though he had been suddenly
thrown into trance. He seemed not
to BREATHE no vibration of life stirred
him except in the movement of his
lips. With the third toll of the distant
bell he spoke. and to Captain Plum
it was as if the passion and fire in
his voice came from another being.
Our Christ, Master of hosts, we
call upon thy chosen people the three
blessings of the universe-peace, pros
perity and plenty, and upon Strang,
priest, king and prophet, the bounty
of thy power"
! Three times more the distant bell
, tolled forth its mysterious message
and when the last echoes had died
away the old mans arms dropped be-
side him and he turned again to Cap
| tain Plum.
Franklin Pierce, president of the
! United States of America he re-
peated, as though there had been no
! interruption since his companions
question. The package is to be de-
liwered to him. Now you must excuse
me- An important matter calls me
out for a short time. But I will be
| back soon-oh, yes, very soon. And
! YOU Will walt LOl Iou III "etie
for me here, and then I will take you
| to St. James"
He was gone in a quick hopping
way, like a cricket, and the last that
| Captain Plum saw of him was his
! ghostly face turned back for an in
slant in the darkness of the next
room, and after that the soft patter
of his feet and the strange chuckle in
| his throat travelled to the outer door
and died away as he passed out into
| the night. Nathaniel Plum was not
| a man to be easily startled, but there
was something so unusual about the
! proceedings in which he was as yet
playing blind part that he forgot to
smoke, which was saying much. Who
was the old man? Was he mad? His
eyes scanned the little room and an
exclamation of establishment fell from
his lips when he saw the leather bag,
partly filled with gold, lying where
| his mysterious acquaintance had
| dropped it. Surely this was madness
or else another ruse to test his hon
/ esty The discovery thrilled him. 1t
next room and very dark. Were hid
den eyes guarding that bag? Well,
| if so, he would give their owner to
| understand that he was not thief
! He rose from his chair and moved
| toward the bag, lifted it in his hand,
and tossed it back again SO that the
gold in it chinked loudly. Then he
10 nnystII
! blocked it with his body and listened
until he knew that if there had been
| human life in the room he would have
| heard it.
| The outer door was opened and
through it there came to him the soft
breath of the night air and the sweet
ness of balsam and wild flowers. It
struck him that it would be pleasanter
waiting outside than in, and it would
undoubtedly make no difference to
Obadiah Price In front of the cabin
| he found the stump of a log and seat
| ing himself on it where the clear
light of the stars fell full upon him
| he once more began his interrupted
smoke. 1t seemed to him that he
|
| the sound of footsteps. They came
rapidly as if the person was half run
ming Hardly had he located the di-
rection of the sound when figure ap-
! peared in the opening and hurried
toward the door of the cabin. A
dozen yards from him it paused for
moment and turned partly about, as if
. inspecting the path over which it had
come With a greeting whistle Cap
| tain Plum jumped to his feet. He
heard little throat note, which was
not the chuckling of Obadiah Price,
| and the figure ran almost into his
arms A sudden knowledge of having
made mistake drew Captain Plum
pace backward. For scarcely more
| than five seconds he found himself
staring into the white terrified face
! of a girl. Eyes wide and glowing with
sudden fright met his own. Instinc-
lively he lifted his hand to his hat,
but before he could speak the girl
| c,r,,,r booly with low crv and ran