River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1912-11-07
cOpYRIGHT ACM CLURe G co 1911

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cred it then, but now-why, possibly
1t was true / read the lines almost at
glance, scarcely comprehending at
first and then suddenly realized the
base villainy revealed:
Have the money and papers, but
the girl got away. VIII wait for you
at Lone Tree tonight. Doa't fail, for
the whole country will be after Ms
! as soon as the news gets out apout
Esrnhurst FAGl&."
30 thst was tie reason for tnis Geid
l.-Srant's personal affair He had re-
! turned to ElInhurst. leaving his men
to trudge on into Philadelphia under
their Hessian officers so that he night
communicate with Fagin. What pity
| it was / had failed to kill the fellow,
instead of leaving him unconscious
The papers! Perhaps they were in
the coat also. Surely Grant had no
time to change or destroy them. as he
must have ridden directly to ElmhuTst.
| searched the pockets Of the garGent
hastily, finding a note or two, his
orders to escort Delavan. and small
packet tied securely by cord. l felt
no hesitancy in opening this, and as
certaining it's contents. The lines
read hastily seemed to blur before my
eyes; | could barely comprehend their
purpOrt. Little by little l grasped the
meaning of it all, and then my mind
leaped to recognition Of Grants puT-
pose. They were notes of instruction,
hV,ia low 10
such as might be issued to a secret
agent greatly trusted. These were adj
dressed simply Mortimer" many I'M
signed others marked by initials, but
l instantly recognized the handwriting
Of Washington, Hamilton and Lee.
Without question this packet was the
property of Eric Mortimer, but why
had the boy preserved these private
instructions, covering months of op-
erations, l should judge, although
scarcely one was dated? And what
caused them to be of value to Cap
tain Grant?
The answer came in a flash of suspi-
cion-the colonel. He could be threat
ened with them, blackmaiIed, dis
graced before Sir Henry Clinton, drfv-
en- from his command They were adj
dressed merely to Mortimer" discov-
cred at Elmhurst, and were sufficient
to convict of treason. 1t was a fend-
ish plot, we'll conceived, and Grant
was fully capable of carrying it out
to the end | could realize what the
possession Of these papers meant to
button of the Mortimer estate in which
he would doubtless share, and a fresh
hold on Claire whereby he could ter
rify the girl into accepting them.
stood there in uncertainty, turning
these papers over and over in my
hands, striving to determine my duty.
Should | return to Elmhurst? To do
so would only bring me into renewed
peril, and would apparently benefit no
one. Without this packet Grant was
helpless to injure Colonel Mortimer.
AS to Claire, Seldom would protect her
for the present, and as soon as the
father returned, he would doubtless
compel her to accompany him back to
Philadelphia. The best service | could
render was to destroy these notes, and
then seek out Eric Mortimer, in Lees
camp, and tell him the whole story,
All that anyone could do now was to
warn the Mortimers against Grant, 10
let them know his treachery, and this
could be best accomplished through.
Eric. Although in different 'armies,.
striving against each other in the
field, there must still exist some means
of communication between father and
son, or, if not, then between brother
and sister.
With flint and steel built small
fire of leaves in a cleft beside the
road and fed to the flames one by one
the papers from the packet, glanclng
over each one again to make sure of
its contents; all were addressed alike,
simply Mortimer" but upon two l
found the word ''Elmhurst" 1t was
easy to see how the discovery Of such
communications would tempt an un-
scrupulous scoundre1 like Grant to use
them to injure another, and win his
own end, but why had that young Eric
failed to destroy them as soon as re-
ceived?
When the last paper had been re-
duced to ashes, stamped out the en-
bers of fire under my boot heel, and,
with lighter heart, rode down the hill
toward the ford.