The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1912-04-03
f Syj ~
ZXe/2m0usA 6p1/bv &1tM4%24k
VAUGHAN HESTER GAM1SE
Comnany \NE8HxHzxIp
CHAPTER XLIII.
Good Times Coming.

gentlemen in and about Raleigh yield
ed TO an overmastering Impulse to
visit newer lands, nor was it strange
that the initial steps looking toward
the indulgence of their desires should
have been taken in secrecy. Mr.. Peg
loe was one of the first to leave; Mr.
Saul had informed him of the judge s
declared purpose of shooting him on
sight. Even without this useful hint
the tavern keeper had known that he
should experience intense embarrass.
ment in meeting the judge; this was
now a dreary certainty.
you reckon he means near all he
says? he had asked, his fat sides
shaking.
I'D take his word a heap quicker
than I would most folks" answered
Mr.. Saul with conviction.
Pegloe promptly had sinking spell.
He recalled the snufing of the candles
by the judge, an extremely depress-
ing r.. mory under the circumstances !;
also the reckless and headlong disre-
gard OF consequences which had char
acterized so many of that gentleman s
acts, and his plans shaped themselves
accordingly, with this result; that
when the judge took occasion to call
at the tavern, and the hostile nature
of his visit was emphasized by the
cautious manner of his approach, he
was shocked to discover that his in
tended victim had sold his business
overnight for small lump sum to Mr.
Saul's brother-in-law, who had ap-
peared most opportunity with an offer.
Pegloe's flight created something of
a sensation, but it was dwarfed by the
sensation that developed day or so
later when it became known that Tom
Ware and Colonel Fentress had like
wise fed the country. Still later, Fen
tress' body showing marks of violence,
was washed ashore at a wood yard
belo'v Girard. 1t was conjectured that
he and Ware had set out from The
Oaks to cross the river; there was
reason to believe that Fentress had in
his possession at the time a consider
able sum of. money, and it was sup
posed that his companion had muir
dered and robbed him. OF Wares
subsequent career nothing was ever
known.
These were, after all, only episodes
in the collapse of the Clan, sporifc
manifestations of the great work OF
disintegration that was going forward
and which the judge, more than any
other, perhaps, had brought about.
This was something no one questioned
and he quickly passed to the first
phase of that unique and peculiar
esteem in which he was ever after
held His fame widened with the sue
ceeding suns; he had offers to help
which impressed him as so entirely
creditable to human nature that he
quite lacked the heart to refuse them,
especially. as he felt that in the i'm
pr0vement of his own condition the
world had bettered itself and was NOV
ing nearer those sound and righteous
ideals of morality and patriotism which
had never lacked his Endorsement, no
matter how ineXpedient it had seemed
for him to put them into practice. But
he was not diverted from his ultimate
purpose by the glamour of present
popularity; he was able to keep his
bleared eyes resolutely fixed on the
main chance, namely the Fentress es-
tate and the Quintard lands. 1t was
highly important that he should go
east to South Carolina to secure doc
umentary evidence that would estab
lish his own and Fentress' identity; to
Kentucky, where Fentress had lived
prior to his coming to Tennessee
Early in November the Judge set out
by stage on his journey east; he was
accompanied by Yancy and Hannibal,
from neither of whom could he bring
himself TO be separated; and as the
woods, flaming now with the touch OF
frost, engulfed the little town, he
turned in his seat and looked back. He
had entered it by that very road, a
beggar on foot and in rags; he was
leaving it in broadcloth and fine linen,
visible tokens of his altered fortunes.
More than this, he could thrust his
hands deep down into his once empty
pockets and hear the clink of gold and
silver. The, Judge slowly withdrew his
eyes from the last gray roof that
showed among the trees, and faced
the east and the future with serenely
confident expression.
CHAPTER Xiv.
Betty Bushes.
Betty Malroy and Darlington had
ridden into Raleigh to take leave OF
their friends. They had watched the
rs~ oh tho