The Washington times., 1911-06-14
CHAPTER XIV (Continuedl.

| On lIldl DlOSAB WIN "de
likely to be sought by a soldier
at such an hour. Springing out
of bed. Bledsoe strode to his window
and looked down,
In the street below a horseman, loom
ing unnaturslly large and black in the
| frosty moonlight, was riding along
close to the narrow sidewalk. and bend
ing sideways from his saddle to peer at
| the doors one after another.
Bledsoe quietly pushed up the window
sash.
Wait. Lieutenant letter." said he in
| low voice. Il am coming down.
When Bledsoe had put on a few clothes
and descended to the front door, he
found letter waiting on the doorstep
and breathing on his fingers to warm
| them.
What is it,"
This letter, sir, that we got last
night. It's plain enough reading thing
no harm as l can see-and l wouldn I
trouble you with 1t If you hadn't or
| dered all captures made that way to be
fetched up to you"
Tell the circumstances"
We'll, I posted my men in the bresh
as you ordered, along by Turkey Bend,
where you said you thought old Butler
was getting messages through. Along
about this time last night young fel-
low comes SDpplHB uOMI AliC ~
through the woods mighty quiet. and
bumps plum into two of my boys. he
was afoot, but respectable dressed,
likely appearing fellow. When the boys
| fetched him in to me. he put on Dig
front. pulled out a traders passport
he was bound for Norfolk to collect
some bills for his boss. He looked to
| be about eighteen years old, black hair
and eyes, smart little chap. Papers
were all right, but he said his boss was
Aaron Silber."
Just So"
Il pricked up my ears then. and put
| him through a right smart search. He
had this letter In the lining of his coat.
| When we pulled II out, he never turned
hair, just said it was ar old family
letter and must have slipped down
there" -,
what became of the messenger"
Bledsoe asked, taking the letter.
We'll, before morning the young man
thought he saw a chance and made a
disfgured him little. We buried
Just so. Good night
The chief watched his lieutenant
mount and ride away up the deserted
street, then locked the house door, as
| cended TO his room. lighted his candle,
replenished the embers of his fire, and
| sat down to examine the letter.
It was written on coarse, common
paper in a sloping feminine hand, and
its simple phrases, dealing entirely with
homely private affairs, were so unaf-
| fected and to the point that It seemed
ridiculous to ascribe any public impor-
| tance to them. Reading 1t, Bledsoe
looked amused II a face so imperturo-
| a BILE as his could ever properly De salu
| to look amused
He put the letter aside. Still drowsy
from his interrupted slumoer, and dis
| inclined to view the capture seriously
he decided to return to bed. Probably
letter had failed to find the real mes
sage. 1. there had been one. An exam
inatton of the dead body might reveal
something worth while, but that was
matter for the morrow.
Thus rejecting, he stood up to go back
| 10 he'd, and stopped to blow out the
er by chance or by some occult prompt
ing OF that power which decides the
! fate of men and nations, fell upon the
age Of his Bible. 1t lay open beside
the candlestick, Just as he had left 1t
on retiring. It was open at the tenth
words confronted him:
Woe unto them that decree un-
righteous DEGREES, and that write
gTievousness which they have pre-
scribed.
Rledsoe trembled. The words seemed
To stare forth from the page in letters
that grew of a sudden larger and black
er than the rest of the text. He was
wide awake now. To one OF mis- peculiar
temperament and faith, who constantly
| searched the Scriptures for divine guild
ance on even the pettiest practical con-
Germs of life, this ancient prophetic ut
terance, starting up so dramatically De-
fore him in his dubious mood, could be
no less than oracular.
IL down and took IN mis- nd0QS
gain the captured communication. Ex-
amining II more closely, he tested II
first at the fire, to discover whether neat
| would bring out something written IN
invisible ink. Nothing came of that.
Finally he brought all his enormous
power of concentration to bear upon the
language itself, which had appeared so
simple-the rambling discourse of a
woman writing to her brother about
| family matters.
Was It so simple?
Norfolk County. Virginia.
Dear Brother:
The last time 1 forgot what your
wife said. March first ought not to
worry YOU. Leave Henry to pay
Tunstall's mortgage, because when
he gets the city property. part falls
on MIN, too. reckon this will cause
Henry to attend to it, to save it.
Little Davis is down with measles,
but improving, other baby well.
Work on the farm here is slow, az
ter our niggers began leaving US.
All the folks send love. LIBBY
Under the old mans devouring scrut-
inv 1t was strange how quickly the
words lost their air of rambling spon-
| taneity, Even the letters gradually lost
| all resemblance to feminine handwrit-
| ing: they took on stiff shapes, as though
carefully formed by a hand wont to
write in heavier and broader lines. But
the hidden meaning Knocked him still.
He proceeded arithmetically to dissect
letter from letter, word from word, line
from line, and to rearrange them by va
rious rules for solving cryptograms. This
meant immense labor, but through the
remaining hours of the night he toiled
at IL as an old alchemist might have
toiled to discover the philosopher s
Gray dawn crept in over the bleak
Ihousetops at last and found him tireless
and intent. His guttered candle was
sending up a sinking smoke: the room
was raving outside, and the hoar-frost
| had enscrolled erratic fancies thick upon
| the wtndow-panes. But oblivious to all
except his task, the great gaunt man sat
there coatless before the cold stove, and
often in his deep preoccupation uncon-
sciously thrust forth hand to warm 1t
at the fire that had long ago burned it.
self out, neglected and unmissed.
No product of human ingenuity ever
baffied such a search. At eight o'clock
Colonel Bledsoe arose from his chair.
Stretched his numbed and stiffened
limbs. and then first discovered that his
room and stove were cold. But his prob
lem was solved. The solution turned
out. al the last, to be comparatively