Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1915-06-17
CHAPTER xVIlI-continued.

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 taLnt, which the
boy, for all his obstinate clinging to
his journalistic idea, did not deserve.
Knowing my own temper, l drew
back into the Hollow.
He followed me.
I 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 ScovilIe) 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 whiriing 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, I never
doubted for an instant. knew It, as
we know the face of Doom when once
1t las risen uTon US. Never, never
again would this lump of clay. which
few minutes before had filed the
Hollow with shrillest whistling,
breathe or think or speak. He was
dead, dead, deadi-And I? What was I?
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 I 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. I should
never be able to escape 1t again.
Though I vas standing in a familiar
scene-a scene had known and fire.
quented from childhood, I felt myself
as Isolated from my past and as COM
pletely 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 was in
U ,Irr
universe-the sole inhabitant of the
new world into which had plunged
the world Of crime-the world upon
which l had sat in judgment before I
knew
What broke the spell? God knows;
all I can say is that, drawn by some
other will than my own, l found my
glance travelling up the opposing bluff
till at its top, framed between the
ragged wall and towering chimney of
Spencer's Folly, / saw the presence
I had dreaded, the witness who was
30 undo me.
1t was a woman-a woman with a
iittle 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 I could catch a glimpse
of this woman's fiuttering skirt as she
retreated through the ruins. l stood
there, self-convicted, above the man
had slain, staring up at that blotch of
shining sky which was as the gate CT
hell to me. Not till their two figures
had disappeared and it was quite clear
again did the instinct of self-preserva-
ton return. and with it the thought
OF flight.
But where could fly? No spot in
the whole world was secret enough to
conceal me nov. l was a 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 had so often sat
in judgment upon.
Had I but followed this impulse!
Had / 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 1 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 had come in innocence
and kindly purpose only a few minutes
before, a startling thought shot
through my benumbei mind. The
woman had shown no haste in her
turning! There had been a natural
ness in her movement, a dignity and a
grace which spoke of ease, not shock.
What If she had not seen! What IL
my deed was as yet unknowni Might
not have time for-for what? l did
not stop to think; just pressed on,
saying to myself, Let Providence de-
eide, If meet any one before I reach
my own door my doom is settled. If
/ do not"
And did not. As I turned into the
lane from the ravine I heard q sound
far down the slope, but it was too dis
tant to create apprehension, and
went calmly on, forcing myself into
my usual leisurely gait, if only to