Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1911-02-14
Every Jaw was axed ahd Svsry 90
turned upon the speaker.
Nanannnxrs 9naped La.

~vS ~"
turned upon the speaker.
"HDAnpoxr capped Lee.
Grsss resumed. en3o5ias, the sense.
lion 10 was crsating. Eyes, that
Basque hsrder Of mine. the n up
near Black Tooth. sem word he was
sick, 20 I hunted up q old tramp BY
the name Of Edwards to take his place.
Edwards found tho dago dying Of pox
and skipped out over the range. leav-
Ing him 70 die alone. Cavansgh went
up and found the dago dead and took
rare of him. Result Is he's full of
germs and has brought his apprentice
down with It, and both Of 'em must bs
guaranteed right where they are"
Good heavens. man." exclaimed
Dalton. "this Is serious business! Are
you sure its smallpox"
"One Of my men came from there
last night. I was there myself on
Monday; so was the deputy. The sher-
if missed Tom this morning, but I
reached him by phone. and Cavanagh
admitted to us that the Basque died
Of smallpox and that he buried him
with his " hands,"
The sheriff spoke up. "The criminal
part Of it IL this. Mr.. Dalton-Cava-
nagh didn't report the case when he
came down here. just when about leav-
ing q trail Of poison. Why didn't he
report 1t? He should be arrested"
"Wait a moment" said Dalton. per
haps 1t wasn't pox; perhaps it was only
mountain fever. Cavanagh is not the
kind Of man to involve others in q
pestilence. reckon he knew 1t was
nothing but a fever, and, not wishing
to alarm his friends, he just slid into
town and out again"
A fash Of light, of heat, of Joy, went
through Lees heart as she listened to
Dalton's defense Of Cavanagh. THAT
was the reason why he rode away"
she thought. HE was afraid Of bring
Ing harm to us" And this conviction
lighted her face with a smile even
while the forester continued his sup
position by saying. ''Of course proper
precautions should be taken. and as
we are going up there the supervisor
and I will see that a quarantine Is es-
tablished If we find 1t necessary"
Gregg was not satisfied. "Cavanagh
admitted to the deputy and to me that
he believed the case to be smallpox
and said that he had destroyed the
camp and everything connected with
It except the horse and the dog. and
yet he comes down here. injecting ev-
erybody he meets" He turned to Lee.
you'd better burn the bed he slept
on. He's left a trnil Of germs wher-
ever he went. I say the man Is Grim
inally liable and should be jailed II
he lives to get back to town."
Lees mind was OF now on another
tangent. Suppose it is trueY' she
asked herself. Suppose he has fallen
sick away up there, miles and miles
from any nurse or Doctor
There's something queer about the
whole business" pursued Gregg. "Fof
instance. who II this assistant he's
got7 johnson said there was IN old
man in ranger uniform pottering round.
Why didn't he send word by hint
Why did no let me come to the door1
He might have involved ne in the dis
ease 1 ten you, IL you don't take care
Of him the people Of the county win"
The forester looked grave. III he
knew Il was smallpox and failed TO
report It he did wrong. but you say
he TOOK care Of this poor shepherd
nursed him till he died and buried
him, taking all precautions. You can't
complain Of that, can you? That's
the act Of . good ranger and q brave
man. You wouldn't have done FL! he
ended, addressing Gregg. sickness
up there two full miles above sea level
Il quite . different proposition from
sickness in Sulphur City or the Fork.
I shall not condemn Mr.. Cavanagh TIL
I hear his side Of the story"
Lee turned a grateful glance upon
him. You must be right l don't be-
lieve Mr.. Cavanagh would deceive any
one"
"Well, we'll soon know the truth -
said Dalton. "for I'm going up there.
If the ranger has been exposed he
must not be left alone"
HE amt alone" declared the sher-
ID. TON phoned me that he had an
assistant"
"Swenson. I suppose" said Redheld,
who entered at this moment. "Swen-
son is his assistant"
II didn't see him myself" Gregg
continued, "but I understood the dep
uty to say that he was an old man"
"Swenson is a young man." correct
ed Redfeld.
The sheriff insisted. "Tom said Il
was an old mana stranger to him
tall. smooth shaver, not very strong.
he said-'peared to be a cook. He had
helped nurse the dago. so Tom said"
That's very curious" unused Red
field. There isn't an old man In the
service Of this forest. There's a mis-
take somewhere"
WELL" concluded Gregg. that's
what he said. 1 thought at first It
might be that old hobo Edwards. but
this Teller being In uniform and smooth
shaven"- His face changed; his
voice deepened "Say, I believe It was
Edwards, and, furthermore. Edwards
Il the convict that Texas marshal was
hitter the other day. and this man
Cavanagh-your prize rangers har-
boring him."
what n%onsensey' exclaimed Red.