Semi-weekly herald., 1911-07-24
Elarins impotenly At the two
swore sharply.

menacingly across. tho room. First.
II want to know who the devil you
are?"
Keith Strengthened UP. looking di-
rectly into tho fierce questioning eyes.
81 have told you my name-Jack
Keith" he replied. quietly. Doctor
Fairbain knows something of me. but
Tor your further information will add
that when we met before was Cap
tain Keith, Third Virginia Cavalry.
and bearing dispatches from Long
street to Stonewall Jackson"
The gruff old soldier, halfcrazed by
the news of his daughters peril, the
CLEAN of his eyes still revealing un-
controlled temper. stared at the young
er face fronting him; then slowly he
held out his hand.
"Keith-Keith," he repeated, as
though bringing back the name with
an effort by God, that's sold JEFF
ferson Keiths boy-killed at An.
tetam. And you know Hope2"
Yes. General"
He looked about as though dazed
and the sheriff broke in not unkindly
search for your daughter We better
be ut it. Come on. all of you; Miss
Maclaire will be safe enough here
alone"
He took hold of Keith's arm, ques.
tioning him briefly as they passed
down the hall On the stairs the lat
ter took his turn. still confused by
what he had Just heard.
who is Miss Maclajre2" he asked
Phyllis Gale"
"Of course, but who is Phyllis Gale =?
What has she to do with General
Waite? His daughter has told me she
never heard of any one by that name"
We'll, Keith, the old man has never
told me very much; he's pretty close
mouthed, except for swearing, but I've
read his papers. and picked up a point
or two. reckon the daughter, Miss
Hope. maybe never heard word
about 1t, but the boy-the one that
was shot-must have stumbled onto
the story and repeated 1t to Hawley
That's what set that fellow going. 1t
seems Mrs. Waite's maiden name was
Pierpont, and when she was seven
teen years old she was married TO the
son of rich North Carolina planter
The fellow was a drunken. dissolute,
good-for-nothing. They had daugh-
ter born-this Phyllis-and when the
child was three years old her father,
in a fit of drunken rage, ran away, and
to spite his wife took the little girl
with him. All efforts to trace them
failed. and the mother finally secured
a divorce and. two years later, mar
ried Willis Waite. Waite, of course.
knew these facts. but probably they
were never told the children. When
the father OF Mrs. Waite's first hus-
band died, he left all his large proper
ty to his grandchild, providing she
could be found and identified within a
certain time, falling which the proper
ty was to be distributed among GER
tain designated charities. Waite was
named sole administrator. Well, the
old man took as much interest In 1t as
though 1t was his own girl. but made
mighty little progress. He did dis
cover that the father had taken the
child to st. Louis and left here there
with woman named Raymond, but
after the woman died the girl com
pletely disappeared"
Then Miss Maclaire Is Hope
Waite's half-sister2"
That's the way 1t looks now"
And Hawley merely happened to
stumble on to the right party?"
Sure; it's clear enough how that
came about. The boy told him about
the lost helress his father was search
ing after, and showed him his sisters
picture. Black Bart instantly recog-
nized her resemblance to Christie
Maclaire. and thought he saw q good
chance for some easy money He
needed the papers. however. to ascer-
tain exactly the terms OF the will,
and what would be necessary for the
Identification. He never intended to
go into court, but hoped to either get
Waite out Of the way. or else convince
him that Christie was the girl, relying
on her gratitude for his profits. When
Waite played into his hands by COM
ing to Carson City the chance was too
good to be lost I'm not sure he meant
to kill him, but he did mean to have
those papers at any cost. Probably
you know the rest-the girl was easy,
because she was SO ignorant of her
parentage,' and nothing prevented
Hawley from winning except that
Waite got mad and decided TO fight
That knocked over the whole thing"
They were outside now, and the
first touch OF the cool night air. the
first glance up and down the noisy
street, brought Keith to himself, his
mind ready TO grapple with the prob
lem of Hopes disappearance. 1t
seemed to him he had already looked
everywhere. yet there was nothing TO
do except to continue the search, only
more systematically. The sheriff as
sumed control-clear headed, and 40
customed TO that sort of thing-cau-
Ing in Hickock and his deputies to
assist. and fairly combing the town
from one end to the other. Not rat
could have slipped unobserved
through the net he dragged down that
long street, or its intersecting alleys
but 1t was without result, nowhere
was there found trace OF either the
gambler or his companion.
They dug into saloons, bagnios,
dance. halls searching back rooms