The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1911-11-29

|thlef!''
He pushed into the building a man
hatless and coatless, with pair OF
pale villainous eyes and a tobacco
stained chin. The Judge viewed the
newcomer with disfavor. AS for the
horse thief, he gave his companion in
misery a coldly critical stare, seated
himself on the STOOL and with quite a
fierce air devoted all his energy tc
mastication. He neither altered his
position nor changed his expression
until he and the judge were alone
then, catching the judges eye, he
made what seemed casual movement
with his hand, the three fingers raised
but to the judge this clearly was with
out significance and the horse thief
manifested no further interest where
he was concerned. He did not even
condescend to answer the one Or two
civil remarks the judge addressed to
him.
AS the long afternoon wore itself
away, the judge lived through the
many stages of doubt and uncertainty
for suppose anything had happened to
Mahaffy!
Standing before the window, the
JuuSS NdLSuCu tllS IdoI NCOIiSS VI lit5 LIZ
fade from the sky and the stars ap-
pear. Would Mahaffy cone? The sus.
pense was intolerable. Suddenly out
of the silence sounded long-draWn
whistle. Three times it was repeated.
The horse thief leaped to his feet.
| "Neighbor, that means mel" he
cried.
| The moon was rising now, and by
it's light the judge saw a number of
horsemen appear on the edge OF the
woods. They entered the clearing,
picking their way among the stumps
without haste or confusion. When
quite close, five of the band dismount-
led; the rest continued on about the
Jail or cantered off toward the road.
Look out inside there!" cried a
voice, and a log was dashed against
the door; once-twice-it rose and fell
on the clapboards and under those
mighty thuds grew up wide gap
through which the moonlight streamed
splendidly. The horse thief stepped
between the dangling cleats and van
ished.
The judge tossed away the stool. He
understood now. With a confident,
not to say jaunty step, the judge
emerged from the Jail.
"Your servant, gentlemen!" he said,
lifting his hat.
"Git!" said one of the men briefly,
and the judge moved nimbly away. to-
ward the woods.
Now to find Solomon and the, boy,
and then to put the miles between him
!self and Pleasantville with all dill
io,,, A. he ,1~
his elbow Mahaffy and Hannibal rose
from behind fallen log. The Yam
kee motioned for silence and pointed
west.
CHAPTER XIV.
Belle Plain.
"Now Tom," said Betty, with little
air Of excitement as she rose from the
breakfast table that first morning at
Belle Plain, II want you to show me
everything!"
II reckon you'll notice some chang
es." remarked Tom.
He went from the room and down
the hall step or two in advance of
her. On the wide porch Betty paused,
breathing deep. The house stood on
an eminence; directly before it at the
bottom of the slight descent was
small bayou, beyond this the forest
stretched away in one uEbroken mass
to the Mississippi.
What is it you want to see, any
how, Betty" Tom demanded
'Everything-th place, Tom-Belle
Plain! Oh, isn't it beautiful! had
no idea how lovely it was!" cried Bet
ty, as with her eyes still fixed on the
distant panorama of woods and water
she went down the steps, Tom at her
heels-he bet she'd get sick of it all
soon enough, that was one comfort!
"Why, Tom! Why does the lawn
look like this?'
Like what?" inquired Tom
"Why, THIS-all weeds and briers,
and the paths overgrown?"
Mr.. Ware rubbed his chin reflective
ly with the back Of his hand.
That sort OF thing looked al right,
Bet" he said, but it kept five or six
of the best hands out Of the field right
ut the busiest time of the year"
Haven't | slaves enough?'' she
asked. The dull color crept into Mr..
Wares cheeks. He hated her for that
''P. She was going to come that on
him, was she?
Don't you want to see the crops,
Bet?"
The girl shook her head and moved
swiftly down the path that led from ter
race to terrace to the margin of the
bayou. At the first terrace she paused. |
"It's positively squalid" cried Bet
ty, with a little stamp of her foot.
Ware glanced about with dull eyes.
"Tll tell you, Betty, I'm busy this
you poke about and see what
you want done and we'll do it," he
said, and made a hasty retreat to his
office.
Betty returned to the porch and
seated herself on the top step, with |
her elbows on her knees and her chin
sunk in the palms of her hands. gazed
about her miserably enough. She was
still there when half an hour later
Charley Norton galloped up the drive
rom the highroad. Catching sight of
ler on the porch, he sprang from the