The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1911-12-07
CHAPTER v.
The One Way.

The One Way.
! Keith said nothing for some mo-
! ments, staring up at the light stealing
| in through the window grating, his
mind once again active. The eyes of
! the black man had the patient look
! Of dog as they watched; evidently
he had cast aside all responsibility,
now that this other had come. Final
ly Keith spoke slowly:
1--WE are In much the same position,
Neb, and the fate of one is liable to
be the fate of both. This is my story"
and briefly as possible, he ran over
the circumstances which had brought
him there, putting the situation clear
enough for the negro's understand
ing, without wasting any time upon
detail. Neb followed his recital with
bullying eyes, and an occasional excla-
nation. At the end he burst forth:
"Yo' say dar was two OBJ dem white
men murdered-one an OF man wild
gray beard, an de odder bout thirty?
Am dat it, Massa Jack, an dey had TO-
span oh mules, an runnin' hoss?"
"Yes."
"An' how far out was it?"
About sixty miles,
ooh, de good Lawd," and the negro
threw up his hands dramatically. Dat
sutt'nly am my outfit, Dat am Massa
Waite an John Sibley"
you mean the same men with
whom you came here from Indepen-
dence?"
Neb nodded. overcome by the dis
covery
But what caused them to run such
risk" Keith insisted. Didn't they
know the Indians were on the war
PATH"
''Sho'; I heard EN- talkin' bout dat,
but Massa Waite was jest boun' fob
to git novin'. He didn't pear to be
'fraid OBJ no Injuns; reck'ned dey'd
nebber stop him, dat he knowed eb-
berry chief on de plains. l reck'n dat
he did, too"
But what was he so anxious to get
away for?"
II dunno Massa, I done heerd 'em
talk some bout dey plans, an bout
some gal dey wanted ter fin, but I
didn't git no right sense to it, De
Gin'ral, he was might still man."
"The General? Whom do you mean?
Not Waite?"
John Sibley done called him dat"
| Then Keith remembered-just a
dim, misty thread at first, changing
slowly into clear recollection. He
was riding with dispatches from Long
street to Stonewall Jackson, and had
been shot through the side. The
first Of Jackson's troops he reached
was brigade of North Carolinians.
commanded by General Waite-Gen-
eral Willis Waite. He had fallen from
his horse at the outposts, was brought
helpless to the Generals tent, and an
other sent on with the papers. And
Mrs. Waite had dressed and bandaged
his wound. That was where he had
seen that woman's face before, with
its haunting familiarity. He drew the
locket from beneath his shirt, and
gaZed at the countenance revealed,
with new intelligence There could be
no Doubt was the face of her who
had cared for him so tenderly in that
tent at Manassas before the fever
came and he had lost consciousness.
And that, then, was Willis Waite ly.
ing in that shallow grave near the
Cimmaron Crossing, and for whose
death he had been arrested. Twas a
strange world, and a small one. What
miserable ending to life like his
division commander of the Army OF
Northern Virginia, a Lieutenant-Gov-
ernor of his state What strange
combination of circumstances could
ever have brought such man to this
place, and sent him forth across those
Indian-scouted plains? Surely nothing
ordinary. And why should those Dor
der desperadoes have followed,
through sixty miles of desolation, to
strike him down? 1t was not robbery,
at least in the ordinary sense What
then? And how was BLACK Bart" in
volved? Why should he be sufficient
ly interested to swear out a warrant
and then assist in his arrest? There
must be something to all this not ap-
parent upon the surface-some object,
some purpose shrouded in mystery.
No mere quarrel, no ordinary feud, no
accident Of meeting, no theory OF COM
monplace robbery, would account for
the deed, or for the desperate efforts
now being made to conceal it.
Some way, these questions, thus
surging upon him, became call to
live, to fight. to unravel their mystery.
The memory of that sweet-faced wom-
an who had bent above him when the
fever began its mastery, appealed to
him now with the opportunity of serv-
ice. He might be able to clear this,
bring to her the truth, save her from
despair, and hand over to justice the
murderers Of her husband. 1t was up