The Ekalaka eagle. [volume] (Ekalaka, Mont.) 1909-1920, 1913-01-03

IduN CooN utI accustomed CLdlt DIS Il
queen her throne.
is he ruiiled?" asked Stingaree.
Not irrevocably-not yet; but he
may be any moment. He must be be-
fore long
"Rut-but, what ails him, MADAME"
"Nillain w%orship!' cried the lady.
with a tragic face stripped Of all it's
humor and bare without it as Il win
ter's tree.
II remember. Yes-I understand.
He was mad about-StinSaree.'
ut is madness now" said the bitter
mother. ut was only a stupid. hare
Drained fancy then, but now it is
something worse. You're the first to
whom l have admitted it." she con
tinued with illogical Indignation. be
cause it's all through you
"All through meY"
You told him a tale. You made
that villain a greater hero in his eyes
than ever. You made him real
HE is real enough, God knows"
But you made him So to my SON"
The keen eyes softened for one di-
vine instant before they filed. And I
Il am talking my own boy over with
With
%Stingaree stood in twofold embar-
rasslnent. Did she know after all who
he was? And what had he said he
was the time before?
The lowest of the low" he answer
ed. with a twitch of his unshaven lips.
Il should be ashamed to tell you the
childish lengths to which he has gone"
she went on, IF he We're quite him.
self on the point. But indeed he is not
lie is Stinsaree in his heart. Stingaree
IN his dreams: it is as debasing a form
as mental and temperamental weakness
could we'll take. vet l know, who watch
over him half the night. He has an
eyeglass; he keeps revOlvers; he has
even bought a white mare. He can
o extremely like the portraits one
has seen Of the wretched man. But
come with me one moment
She took the lamp and led the way
into the little room where Oswald Mel
vim slept. He had slept in it from that
boyhood in which the brave woman had
opened this sort of shop entirely for
his sake. Music waS his only talent;
he was obviously not to be a genius in
the musical world, but it was the only
one in which she could foreSee the self.
ish, self willed child figuring with red
it, and her foresight was only eQualled
by her resource. The business was ripe
and ready for him when he grew up.
And this was what he was making
of it.
But Stingaree saw only the little bed
that had once been far too large, the
Bible still by its side, req. or unread,
the parents portraits overhead. The
mother was looking in an opposite di-
rection: he followed her eyes, and there
at the foot, where the infatuated fool
could see it last thing at night and
first in the morning, was an enlarged
photograph of the b~uShranger himself.
1t had been taken in audacious cir
cumstances a year or two before. \
travelling photographer had been one of
yet another coach load turned out and
stood in a line by the masterful mas
terless man.
Nov you may take my photograph.
The police refuse to know me when we
do meet. Give them a chance"
And he had posed on the spot, with
eyeglaSs up and pistols pointed, as he
saw himself now, not less than a quar-
ter life size, in a great, gaudy frame.
But while he stared Mrs. Melvin had
been rummaging in a drawer, and when
he turned she was staring in her turn
with CLASSY Eyes. In her hands was an
empty mahogany case with velvet
molds which ought to have been filled
by a brace of missing %revolvers.
He kept it locked-he kept them in
it, she gasped. lie may have done
it this very night"
Done WHAT"
stuck up the Deniliquin mail. That
him boast Of it to his friends-the
brainless boys who alone look up to
him-l have even heard him rave Of it
in his dreams"
Stingaree was heavy for a moment
with a mental calculation. His head
was a time table of Cobb's coaches on
the Riverina road system; he nodded
it as he located the imperilled vehicle.
a dream it shall remain" said he
But there's not a moment to lose"
d you propose to follow and stop
him!'
IF he really means it,"
He may not. He will ride at night.
He is often ont as late
Going and coming about the same