Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1916-12-14
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES

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tiently. A silent figure passed him,
unseeing, scratched thrice with the
point of q knife on an unseen door,
was admitted. The hidden watcher
rose and stole on noiseless feet around
the corner of the silent shop and felt
his way along its wall. No window.
Then came the uncertain steps of still
another who sought the door Of the
rendezvous, stumbling along the IN
even tagging.
David sank to his knees, and as he
did so his fingers encountered an open
ing in the house wall, level with the
tagging. Bending lower, he peered in.
A noisome Odor assaulted his nostrils.
The opening was scarcely two feet
square; evidently the aperture through
which the blacksmith emptied the
dirty water from his forge. But con-
Quering his repugnance, he lay fiat
and wriggled his shoulders in. A
wooden bucket, full of water, stood
before the opening, on the inside; this
he pushed nOiselessly away and
peered in just as the attention of
those within was drawn to the late
conner at the door.
There were four men now within
the shop, one unseen by the other
three.
He now had his first sight of Girty,
the last conner. David, his head level
with the stone floor of the shop,
solved the puzzle of Glrty's noiseless
footsteps in the courthouse-not bare
footed, indeed, but shod with the ST.
lent moccaslns of the Indian. Clad in
deerskin trimmed with buckskin tas-
sells; the hunting shirt covering the
powerful shoulders and deep chest of
giant, Simon Girty was a man of
sixty, seemingly, but his quick, bright
eyes, Jet black, burned with the cold
fire of the lidless serpent's that never
grows old.
The two 11nglishmen were silent be-
fore the malevOlent challenge Of his
gaze; not daring to be first to speak.
Girty stood swaying unsteadily in the
light of the forge. A stain Of the juice
of the tobacco was on his cruel lips.
"And who's this bag of bones? he
. asked contemptuously of the British
, agent.
"This, Captain Girty, is a gentle.
, man who has preceded me from Eng
land on the same mission as myself
Mr.. Edward Scull."
At the name and at the sight of the
third man, who until now had been
, | oOnpno1nd NV Tronn,nr'c yoortlu fiO11ra
] David's teeth set and he trembled con
vulsively, like q mastiff that sees his
enemy. Scull! The weaver who ha(
; turned kings witness, the informel
: against David's father! A horrid dry
| ness stuck in David's throat and hi
t shook with an ague. When he lifted
his head again, he saw that the three
men had seated themselves in front Of
t the smolderlng forge; for the nigh
1 had grown chill. Black shadows huns
y in all the corners of the little room
/ and sat heavily upon the shoulders O
the three men huddled about thu
e forge. Only the warm, red glow O.
4 the charcoal set up a little sphert
: Of light and warmth. Girty was nut
: tering drunkenly to himself: "SeveI
d at Blue Licks two on the Mau
d NEE scalps than @ redsllil
n tibet long-ha'red gal .
r "See here, my fine friend" sal,
t Scull sharply, "never mind you
scalps. What is it that we are her
It for. eh?"
It Girty reused himself. ''Tell hin
e Cranmer."
The bluff and kindly-faced farme
d seemed out of place In that devil
/, crew. But he began to speak cheer
d fully.
!" "Well, Ned, I'm here to make 20
l. an offer on the part of the king, Go
1t bless himl You have seen my credeI
k tials. 1t was my intention to go dlreC
to the tribes in the country, takin
Is plans of the garrisons with me, but
O, was TO count you with us before
% set out on my trip to the North. Gu
y comrade brings word from the gref
y chief of the Shawnees, Tecumsel
!" that he is DESTROYS Of forming
& league with his brothers Of the Soutl
4 the Cherokees, the Chickasaws an
m the Creeks.
ID "You, Ned, are a man whom Enl
land needs. 1 am empowered to sa
a. that If you win enter his majesty
a. service you will be generously n
v, warded. What success can you hoI
s.. for in this pauper nation2 But EN-
land is a rich and powerful patron.
ID am a straightforward man, Mr.. Scul
,p and have no gift of argumen
s, but"
n Scull held UP a hand, commander
a. a pause. He leaned backward an
At piled the bellows upon the dying fir