Semi-weekly herald., 1911-06-19

1 huA hfplV NNisof ~A. 'ON N-.N
Maclaire."
IT'S little the isss 70 - not ter be
her, an Dim thinkin' loiksly Jack
Keith will be moiyhty well plaseA ter
know the truth. what's Black Bart
so ayger ter lit hold av this Asolairs
syur fer'"
"I do not in ~ least know. He
must have induced ne to 10 70 that
place in the desert believing me- to be
the other woman. Yet he said moth
ing of any purpose; indeed. he found
no opportunity"
Mrs. Murphy shook her head dis
paraginsly.
1T was shurs some diviiment," she
asserted. stoutly He'll be up to
some trick wid the poor gyurl; OF
know the loikes av Kim. shure. the
two sv yez must look as much aloiks
as two payes In pod. Loikely new.
It's twin sister ye've got7'
Hope smiled. although her eyes
were misty.
oh. no: Fred and / Mere tAs only
children; but what shall tof What
ought | to dor
The Irish mouth OF Kate Murphy
set firmly. her blue eyes burning.
It's not sthrong OF .am on aay,s:a'," !"
she said, shortly, but If 1t WAS me
ORD be fer foindin' out what all this
mix-up was about There's somethfn'
moighty quare In IT. N's my notion
that Hawley's rot hold av thin papers
av yer fathers. The ovid gint thinks
so. too. an that's why he's SO hot
afther catchin' him May the divil
admoire me 6v OF know whsro this
Maclaire gyurl comes In. but Oill bet
the black divil has get her marked
fer some part in the play. What
would oi do2 Be goory. Ord 70 to
Sheridan. an foind tho Gnerai, an
till him all | knew. Maybe he could
piece 1T together and guess what
Hawley was up ter"
Hope was already upon her feet,
her puzzled taes Frightening
"oh. that is what | wanted to do,
but I was not sure It would be best
How can l get there from hsrsf"
"Ye'd have ter take the stage back
to Topcky; loikely they'd be runniu
thrains out from there on the now
road. ltn be aisy fer me ter foind
out from some av the lads down be-
low"
The only equipment operating into
Sheridan WAS Il construction train,
with an old battered passenger coach
coupled TO the rear. A squad OF
heavily armed infantry rode along. as
protection against possible Indian
raiders, but there was no crowd
aboard on this special trip, AS all
construction work had been suspended
GA the line indefinitely. and most OF
the travel. therefore, had changed TO
the eastward, The coach used had
a partition run through 1t, and, as
soon as the busy tralnmen discovered
ladies' on board, they unceremonlously
drove the more blbulous passengers,
protesting. into the forward compart-
ment This left Hope In comparative
peace. her remaining neishbors quiet.
tsciturn men, whom she looked Mt
through tho folds Of her veil during
the long. slow, exasperaung journey
mentally guessing at their various 90
cupations. II was an exceedingly tedI
GUS. monotonous trip. the train slack
ening up. and jerking forward. appar.
emily without slightest reason; then
occasionally achieving 4 full stop.
while men. always under guard, went
ahead to hx up some bit of damaged
track, across which the engineer
dared not advance. At each bridge
spanning tho numerous small streams,
trainmen examined the structure be-
fore venturing forward, and at each
stop the wesrfed passengers grew
more impatient and sarcastic, a per
feet stream Of fluent profanity being
waited back whenever the door be-
tween the two sections CHANGED to be
left ajar.
Hope was not the only woman on
board, yet . glance at the others was
sufficient 10 decide their status. oven
had their freedom of manner and loud
talking not made 1t equally obvious.
Fearful lest she might be mistaken
for one Of the same class, she re-
mained In silence, her veil merely
lifted enough to enable her to peer
cut through the Krimy window at the
barren view slipping slowly past. This
consisted of the bare prairie, brown
and desolate, occasionally intsrssctsd
by some small watercourss, tho low
hills rising and falling like waves to
the far horizon. Few Incidents broke
the dead monotony; occasionally 4
herd OF antelope appeared in the dis
tance, silhouetted against the sky
line. and once they fairly crept for an
hour through mass OF buffalo, graz
ing 30 close that fusillade OF guns
sounded from the front end OF the
train. A little farther along she caught
= glimpse OF troop of wild horses
dRshing recklesBly down into a shell
tering rRvine. Yet principally all
that met her straining eyes was ster-
lie dssolstlon. Here and there n great
ugly water tank reared Its hidsous
shape beside the track. the engine al
ways pausins for fresh supply. Be
side It was invariably a pile of coal.
4 few construction cars. hut half
buried under earth, loop-holed and
barricaded. with several rough men
loafing about, heavily armed and in.
ouisitivs. A few OF these points had
encs been terminal. the surrounding
scenery svidcnoing past sloriss by
ntla~ nf fin -