Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1915-06-23
CHAPTER xVIII-continued.


famed into a quarrel which reached
its elimination when he mentioned
DIVERS name with a taunt, which the
boy, for all his obstinate clinging to
his journalistic idea, did not deserve.
Knowing my own temper, | drew
back into the Hollow.
He followed me.
tried to speak.
He took the word out of my mouth.
This may have been with the intent
OF quelling my anger, but the tone
was rasplng, and, noting this and not
MS words, my hand frightened insen-
sibly about the stick which the devil
Cor John Scoville) had put in my hand.
Did he see this, or was he prompted
by some old memory of boyish quar-
rels that he should give utterance to
that quick, sharp laugh of scorn!
shall never know, but ere the sound
had ceased the stick was whIrling over
my head-there came a crash and he
fell My friend My friend!
Next moment the earth seemed too
narrow, the heavens too contracted
for my misery. That he was dead
that my blow had killed him, l never
doubted for an instant. l knew it, as
we know the face of Doom when once
IL has risen upon US. Never, never
again would this lump of clay, which
few minutes before had filled the
Hollow with shrillest whistling,
breathe or think or speak He was
dead, dead, dead!-And L? What was L?
The name which no man hears I'M
moved, no amount of repetition makes
easy to the tongue or welcome to the
ear! the name which | had
heard launched in full forensic elo-
quence so many times in accusation
against the wretches l had hardly re-
garded as being in the same human
class as myself rang in my ears as
though intoned from the very mouth
OF hell. I could not escape it. should
never be able to escape it again.
Though l was standing in a familiar
scene-a scene l had known and fire.
Quented from childhood, felt myself
as Isolated from my past and as COM
pIetely set apart from my fellows as
the shipwrecked mariner tossed to
precarious foothold on his wave
dashed rock. I forgot that other
criminals existed.
In that one awful moment l was in
my own eyes the only blot upon the
universe-the sole inhabitant of the
new world into which had plunged
the world of crime-the world upon
which had sat in judgment before l
knew
What broke the spell? God knows;
all l can say is that, drawn by some
other will than my own, 1 found my
glance travelling up the opposing bluff
till at its top, framed between the
ragged wall and towering chimney of
Spencer's Folly, I saw the presence
/ had dreaded. the witness who was
to undo me.
It was a woman-a woman with a
little child in hand. / did not see her
face, for she was just on the point of
turning away from the dizzy verge, but
nothing could have been palmer than
the silhouette which these two made
against the flush of that early evening
sky.
As long as 1 could catch a glimpse
Of this wOman's futtering skirt as she
retreated through the ruins, / stood
there, self-convicted, above the man |
had slain, staring up at that blotch OF
shining sky which was as the gate Of
hell to me. Not till their two figures
had disappeared and 1t was quite clear
again did the instinct of self-preserva-
ton return, and with 1t the thought
of fight.
But where could 1 fly? No spot in
the whole world was secret enough to
conceal me now. I was marked man.
Better to stand my ground, and take
the consequences than to act the cow
ards part and stink away like those
other men of blood I had so often sat
in Judgment upon.
Had I but followed this impulse!
Had I but gone among my fellows,
shown them the mark of Cain upon
my forehead and prayed, not for in
diligence, but punishment, what days
Of gnawing misery I should have been
spared
The horror of what lay at my feet
drove me from the Hollow. AS my
steps fell mechanically into the trail
down which l had come in innocence
and kindly purpose only few minutes
before, a startling thought shot
through my benumbed mind. The
woman had shown no haste in her
turning! There had been a natural
ness IN her movement, dignity and
grace which spoke of ease, not shock.
what if she had not seen! What IL
my deed was as yet unknown! Might
not have time for-for what? | did
no' stop to think; just pressed on,
saying to myself, Let Providence de-
cue II meet any one before reach
my own door my doom is settled. If
do not"
AND | did not AS turned into the