The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1911-01-12
CHAPTER n.
The Seven Wives.

Hardly lad the words fallen from
the lips OF Obadiah Price than the old
man Strengthened himself and stood AZ
rigid as n gargcyle. his gaze penetra-
ting into the darkness Of the room
beyond Captain Plum, his head In
clined slightly. every nerve In him
strained to a tension OF expectancy
His companion involuptariiy grlpped
the butt Of his pistol ard faced the
narrow entrance through which they
had come. In the moment OF absolute
silence that followed there came to
him, family. n sound. unintenigible mt
first. but growing In volume until he
knew that II was the last echo Of a
tollng bell There was no movement.
no sound OF breath or whisper from
the old man at HIS back. But whcE
II came again. floating to him a. II
from n vast distance. he turned quick
" TO find Obadiah Price with his face
lifted. his thin arms flung wide above
his head and his lips moving rs " in
prayer. His eyes burned with n dun
glow as though he had been Suddenly
thrown into trance IIa seemed not
TO breathe. no vibration OF life stirred
him except In the movement OF his
lips. with the third toll OF the distant
bell he spoke. and 10 Captain Plum
Il was as II the passion and fire In
his voice came from another being.
Our Christ. Master OF hosts. We
call upon thy chosen people the three
blessings Of the universe-peace. pros
perity and plenty. and upon Strang.
p,iest. king and prophet. the bounty
Of thy power'"
Three times more the distant bell
tolled forth It's mysterious message
and when the last echoes had died
away the old mans arms dropped be
side him and he turned agutn 20 Cap
tain Plum.
Franklin Pierce. PRESIDENT Of the
United States of America" he re
poatcd, as though there had been no
interruption since his companions
question. The package f. TO be de
liycred to him. Now you must excuse
me An important matter calls me
out for a short time But ] VIII be
back soon--oh. yes. very soon. And
you will wait for me. You VIII wait
for me here. and then VIII take you
TO 81 James"
lie was gone In quick hopping
way. like n cricket. and the last that
Captain Plum saw Of him was his
ghostly face turned back for an In
slant In the darkness " the next
room, and after that the soft patter
Of his feet and the strange chuckle In
his throat Travelled TO the outcr door
and died away ms he passed out into
the night Nathaniel Plum was not
man 10 be easily startled. but there
was something so unusual about the
proceedings in which he WAS as yet
playing n blind part that ~ forgot to
smoke. which was saving mach Who
was the old mani Was no nad9 His
ewes scanned the little room and an
exclamation OF establishment fell from
hts lips when he saw the leather bag.
partly filled with gold. lying where
his mysterious Acquaintance had
dropped t. Surely this was madness
or else another rusc TO test his hon
esty. The discovery thriecd him. II
was Wonderfully quiet out In that
next room and very dark. Were hid
den eyes guarding that bag! Wen.
II so. he would give their owner TO
understand that he WAS not thief
lie rose from his chair and moved
toward the bag. lifted Il In his hand.
and tossed II back again so that the
gold In Il chinked loudly. Then he
went to the narrow aperture and
blocked n with his body and listened
until he knew that II there had been
human life in the room he would have
heard H.
The outer door was opened and
through Il there came 10 him the soft
breath OF the night air and the sweet
ness of balsam and Wild flowers. II
struck him that II would be pleasanter
waiting outside than In. and II would
undoubtedly make no difference to
Obadiah Price. In front Of the cabin
| he found the stump of n log and seat
| Ing himself on II where the clear
| light of the stars fell flRl upon him
he once more began his interrupted
| smoke. II seemed To him that hs
had waited a long time when he heard
| the sound of footsteps. They came
rapidly as n the person was half run
ming. Hardly had he located the d.
rection OF the sound when n figure APP
peared In the opening and hurried
toward the door of the cabin. A
dozen yards from him II paused for a
moment and turned partly about. as II
. Inspecting the path over which II had
come. With a greeting whistle Cap
tain Plum jumped to his feet. lie
heard little throat note, which was
not the chuckling OF Obadiah Price,
! and the figure ran almost into his
arms A sudden knowledge of having
made mistake drew Captain Plum
pace backward. For scarcely more
than FIVE seconds he found himself
staring into the white terrified face
OF girl Eyes wide and glowing with
sudden fright met his own. instinc'
lively he lifted his hand to his hat
but before he could speak the girl
sprang back with low cry and ran
swiftly down the path that led into
the gloom of the woods.
ITO RE CoNTINUED)
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