The Kenna record. (Kenna, Roosevelt County, N.M.) 190?-1924, 1912-11-22

AhS blOduy uOLutly uobCg OhS DAHN~Ap |
but alert, gray eyes, shining through |
the round lenses of his spectacles; the
high, broad, sloping, white brow and
the receding border Of dark brown,
slightly grizzled hair That, super
icially, was the face. But l saw more
than that In the visage Of one nat
urally brave saw battle waged be-
hind a mask-a battle between cour-
age and fear; and saw fear win.
Then the mask became Opaque once
more, and Cameron, giving me smile
for smile, was replying.
There are anonymous letters and
anonymous letters. Ordinarily your
method is the one should pursue. In
deed l may say that when, about
month or so ago, received COM
munication of that character, did
almost precisely what you now ad-
wise. Certainly l followed one-half Of
your prescription-I forgot the letter;
though, for lack of fire in the dog
days, l did not burn It, but thrust It
into q drawer with an accumulation
of advertising circulars"
My apprehension lest Evelyn and
were personally affected had been by
now quite dissipated. 1t was perfectly
apparent to me that Cameron alone
was involved; yet my anxiety was
none the less eager. Already my sym
pathy and cooperation were enlisted.
J l could only hope that he had mental
ly exaggerated the gravity Of the stu
alton, yet my judgment of him was
that his inclination would be to err
in the opposite direction.
"And now something has happened
, to recall it to your memory?"
: Something happened very shortly
after its receipt" he replied. Some
, thing very puzzling. But in spite Of
that, was inclined to treat the matter
as bit of clever chicanery, devised
: for the purpose, probably, of extortion.
! AS such, l again put it from my
thoughts; but today 1 received a sec
, ond letter, and admit / am interest
ed The affair has features which
! make it, indeed, uncommonly perplex-
ing"
l fear my imagination was sluggish.
Although, in spite of his dissemblance,
. l saw that he was strangely moved by
these happenings, l could fancy no
y very terrifying cohcomitants Of the
: rather commonplace facts he had mar
rated. For anonymous letters / had
ever held scant respect. An ambushed
: enemy, argued, is admittedly cow
i ard. And so was in danger of grow
! ing impatient.
! when the second letter came" he
a continued, bringing his left hand for
; ward to join his right on the dazzling
/, white ground of the tables damask, -
searched among the circulars for the
first, and found 1t. want you to sex
them both. The writing is very curl
y ous-I have never seen anything JUS
!, like it-and the signature, II may cal
it that is still more singular. On the
= first letter, took 1t for a blot. Blu
: on the second letter occurs the same
:, black blur or smudge Of Identical out
: line"
II OF course l thought Of the Blacl
c. Hand. 1t was the natural corollary
" seeing that the newspapers had beer
" giving us a surfeit of Black HanC
IN threats and Black Hand outrages. But
N somehow, 1 did not dare to voice 1t
If To have suggested anything so ordi
nary to Cameron in his present moot
n. would have been to offer him offense
7 And when, at the next moment, h
10 drew from an inner pocket of his eve
o. ming coat two thin, wax-like sheets o
i. paper and passed them to me, wa
IN glad that had kept silence. For TIL
7 letters were no rough, rude scrawl
m Of an illiterate Malta or Camorra. Il
n phraseology as well as in penmar
q ship they were impressively unique.
70 "If you don't mind" Cameron wa
Of saying, you might read them aloud"
ar He rose and switched on a group Q
~ electric wall lights at my back, and
90 marked for the hundredth time hi
or physique-his towering height, hi
powerful shoulders, his leanness c
n hip and sturdy straightness OF liml
~. He did not look the forty years t
DC which he confessed.
One Of the long French window
10. which gave upon the terrace stoo
N. a1ar, and before resuming his sea
,lv Cameron paused to close 1t, droppin
OF over it the looped curtains Of silve
I'M gray velvet that matched the walls
re In the succeeding moment the ROOF
was ghostly silent; and then, breakin
20 against the stiffness, was the sound
on my voice, reading;
els "That which you have wrought sha
ig in turn be wrought upon you. Tai
lis warning therefore OF what shall ha