Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1915-05-06
CHAPTER xvIlI-contlnued.


He was in no better mood than my
self TO encounter insult, and what had
been a simple difference between us
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.
l 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 rasping, and, noting this and not
his 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 ON 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. | knew it, as
we know the face of Doom when once
it has risen upon us. Never, never
again would this lump of clay, which
a few minutes before had filled the
Hollow with shrillest whistling,
breathe or think or speak. He was
dead, dead, dead!-And l? What was I?
The name which no nan hears IN
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 | 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. | could not escape it. | should
never be able to escape 1t again,
Though / was standing in a familiar
scene--a scene | had known and fire,
guented from childhood, l felt myself
as isolated from my past and as com.
pletely set apart from my fellows as
the shipwrecked mariner tossed tc
precarious foothold on his wave
dashed rock. | forgot that other
criminals existed.
In that one awful moment | 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 .upor
which | had sat in judgment before
knew
What broke the spell? God knows;
all / can say is that, drawn by some
other will than my own, | found my
glance travelling up the opposing bluff
till at its top, framed between the
ragged wall and towering chimney o.
Spencer's Folly, | saw the presence
l had dreaded, the witness who wa:
to undo me.
1t was a Woman-a woman with
little child in hand. | did not see he
face, for she was just on the point 0
turning away from the dizzy verge, bu
nothing could have been palmer thai
4ba e;Ibo,at+a which Hasa tuyo modi
against the flush of that early evening
sky.
AS long as l could catch a glimps
Of this woman's futtering skirt as sh,
reiterated through the ruins. | stoo'
there, self-convicted, above the man
had slain, staring up at that blotch o
shining sky which was as the gate O
hell to me. Not till their two figure
had disappeared and it was quite clea
again did the instinct Of self-ppeservs
ton return, and with it the though
of flight.
But where could l fly? No spot |
the whole world was secret enough t
conceal me now. | was a marked maj
Better to stand my ground, and TAX
the consequences than to act the GOV
ards part and stink away like thos
other men of blood | had so often Sc
in judgment upon.
Had ! but followed this impulse
Had | but gone among my fellow
shown them the mark of Cain upo
my forehead and prayed, not for 4
diligence, but punishment, what day
OF gnawing misery | should have bee
spared
The horror of what lay at my fe,
drove me from the Hollow. AS n
steps fell mechanically into the ira
down which | had come in %innocent
and kindly purpose only a few minut,
before, a startling thought sh,
through my benumbed mind. tt
woman had shown no haste in h
turning! There had been a naturt