Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1911-03-03
CHAPTER xIv.-continued.

. CHAPTER xIv.-continued.
The messages were composed b.
their joint efforts at the station, will
not SO much haste but that an asso
ciate professor of admiralty, 20 years
old, could defer in the most %trilins
matters to the superior literary taste
of a girl of 20, whose brown yes were
very pleasant to meet in moments Of
uncertainty and appeal.
He signed the messages Charles Os
borne, governor, with a flourish in
dicative of the increased confidence
and daring which Miss Osborne's ar
rival had brought to the situation.
and now" said Griswold, as they
rode through the meager streets of
Turner's, I'VE will go to Mount Nebo
church and see what we can learn of
Appleweight's disappearance"
THE North Carolina papers are
making a great deal of Gov. Danger
fields activity in trying to put down
outlawry on the border" said Barbara.
Marked copies of the newspapers
are pouring into papa's office. / can
but hold Mr.. Bosworth responsible for
that. We may count upon it that he
will do all in his power to annoy us"
and then, as Griswold looked at her
quickly, he was aware that she had
colored and averted her eyes; and
while, as a lawyer, he was aware that
words of two letters might be provoca-
tive of endless litigation OF the bitter
est sort, he had never known before
that 'us," in itself the homeIiest of
words, could cause so sweet a dis
tress.
we are quite near the estate of
Jour friend, MI. ArGmore, aren't we@'
asked Barbara presently.
II fancy we are replied Griswold,
but with a tone so coldly at variance
with his previous cordial references
to the master of Ardsley that Barbara
looked at him i%nquiringly.
I'm sorry that / should have given
you the impression, Miss Osborne,
that Mr.. Ardmore and l are friends, as
l undoubtedly did at Columbia. He
has. for some unaccountable reason,
cut my acquaintance in.a manner so
unlike hip that l do not pretend to
explain it; nor, 1 may add, is it of
the least Importance. He had, only a
few days ago, invited me to visit him,
though 1 had been to his house so
often that the obscurest servant knew
that ! vas privileged even beyond the
members of Mr.. Ardmore's own fam
lily in my freedom of the place. When
! saw that his house would be a con-
venient point from which to study the
Appleweight situation, I wired him
that ] was on the way, and to my
utter Amusement he replied that he
could not entertain me-that scarlet
fever was epidemic on the estate-on
those almost %uncounted acres!"
And with a gulp and a mist in his
eyes, Griswold drew rein and pointed,
from a hill that had now borne them
to a considerable height, toward Ards
ley itself, dreamily basking in the
bright morning sunlight within its
cincture Of hills. meadows and for
est.
He knew the ways of Ardsley thor
oughly; better, in fact, than it's owner
eyer had in old times; but in his an
ger at Ardmore he would not set foot
on the estate II he could possibly
avoid doing SO in reaching the scene
of the nights contretemps. He found
without difficulty the trail taken by
Habersham's men, and in due course
Of time they left their horses a short
distance from the church and proceed
ed on foot.
1T seems all the stupider In broad
daylight said Griswold, after he had
explained just what had occurred,
and how the captors, in their super
stitious awe of Appleweight, had been
afraid to carry him on the moment
they were sure OF him. but had
slipped back among their fellows to
wait until the coast "a perfectly
.lear. To ease his deep chagrin Bar
lara laughed q good deal at the oc-
.urrence as they tramped> over the
scene discussing 1t. They went into
the woods back OF the church, where
s7riswold began to exercise his rea-
soning powers.
Some one must have come In from
this direction and freed the man and
taken himaMay,s he declared.
He knelt andsmafked the hoof-prints
where AprleWeiGht had been left tied;
but the grass here was much tram
pled. and GfiswOld was mjsled by the
fact, not knowing that news OF Ap-
pleweight's strange disappearance had
Enassedsamong the outlaws friends 81
the swift t~elegraphy of the border,
aud that the whole neighborhood had
been threshed over hours before. II
I-EnL- ----~1~