The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1911-12-13

VUO7
the stores and taverns, especially the
taverns. And thus handsomely die
Charley Norton acquit himself OF the
mission he had undertaken at Betty
Malroy's request.
That same morning Tom Ware and
Captain Murrell were seated in the
small detached building at Belle
Plain, known as the office, where the
former spent most of his time when
not in the saddle.
$50 your sister doesn't like me, Tom
that's on your mind this morning, is
| it," Murrell was saying.
make it worth my while and l will
take her off your hands," and Murrell
laughed.
Tom favored him with sullen
stare.
| There was brief silence, during
which Murrell studied his friends
face. When he spoke, it was to give
the conversation a new direction.
did she bring the boy here last
night? l saw you drive off with him
in the carriage"
eyes. she makes regular pet of
the little ragamutfin."
as the boy going to stay at Belle
Plain?' inquired Murrell.
"That notion hasn't struck her yet,
for l heard her say at breakfast that
she'd take him to Raleigh this after
noon."
That's the boy l travelled all the
way to North Carolina to get for Fen
|tress."
"Eh-you don't say?" cried Ware
"Tom, what do you know about the
Quintard lands; what do you know
about Quintard himself?" continued
Murrell.
"He was rich planter; lived in
North Carolina. My father met him
when he was in congress and got him
to invest in land here. They had some
colonization scheme on foothills was
upward of twenty years ago-but moth
ing came of it. Quintard lost interest"
and the land?"
ooh, he held on to that"
"Quintard has been dead two years,
Tom, and back yonder in North Caro-
lima they told me he left nothing but
the home plantation. The boy lived
there up to the time of Quintard' s
death, but what relation he was to
the old man no one knew. Offhand,
Tom, I'd say that by getting hold of
the boy Fentress expects to get hold
of the Quintard land"
That's likely" said Ware; then
struck by sudden idea, he added,
Are you going to take all the risks
and let him pocket the cash? If it's
the land he's after, the stakes big
enough to divide"
HE can have the whole thing and
welcome, Pm playing for bigger
stake" His friend stared at him in
|astonishment. I'm licking a specu-
lation into shape that will cause me
to be remembered while there's a
white man alive in the Mississippi
Valley! Have you heard what the mig
gers did at Hayti?"
you let the niggers alone; don t
you tamper with Them" said Ware. He
possessed profound belief in Muir
relIs capacity. He knew how the lat
ter had shaped the uneasy population
that foregathered on the edge of civil
ization to his own ends, and that what
he had christened the Clan had be.
come an elaborate organization, dis.
ciplined and flexible to his ruthless
will.
Look here, what do you think |
have been working for-to steal a few
niggers? That furnishes us with
money, but you can push the trade too
hard and too far. The planters are un.
easy. The Clans got to deal coun.
ter blow or go out of business. Be.
tween here and the gulf" he made a
wide sweeping gesture with his arm.
81 am spotting the country with my
men: there are two thousand active
workers on the rolls of the Clan, and
as many more like you, Tom-and
Fentress-on whose friendship | can
rely"
Sure as God, John Murrc,', you
are overreaching yourself! Your white
men are all right, they've got to stick
by you; if they don't they know it's
only question of time until they get
a knife driven into their ribs-but
isn't any real fight in
a niger, if there was they wouldn' t
be here
yet you couldn't have made the
whites in Hayti believe that" said
Murrell, with sinister smile.
Ware, feeling the entire uselessness
of argument, uttered a string of i'm.
precautions and then iell silent.
well, how about the girl, Tom?"
asked Murrell at length. Listen to
me, Tom. I'll take her away, and
Belle Plain is yours-land, stock and
|niggers!" said Murrell.
Ware shifted and twisted in his seat
do you want the land and the Mig
gers? l reckon you'll have to take
them whether you want them or not,
for Pm going to have the girl"
CHAPTER XVII.
Bob Yancy Finds Himself.
Mr.. Yancy awoke from long
dreamless sleep, heayy-lidded, his eyes
slid open. For a moment he struggled
with the odds and ends Of memory
then he recalled the fight at the tav-
ern, the sudden murderous attack, the
fierce blows Slosson had dealt him, the
knife thrust which had ended the
struggle. Therefore. the bandages that
now swathed his head and shoulders ::
therefore, the need that he should be
up and dOing-for where was Hanni-