Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1916-05-05
CHAPTER xxII-contInued.

out to a line of sweetness and the |
light in his eyes turned to a fiery, blind |
alteration. The letter had been sent |
to him, sealed, by J. Y, who had ac-
companied it with a note The letter
began. ITO my boy at Thirty" and
signed. "With undying love. your
friend and Mother" In life be could
not remember his mother. but he saw
her now in three pages of laboring
words traced by dying hand. In her
self. dying at thirty, she had seen her
boy revealed. She had had no
strength-no time-left for slow ap-
proaches. With the first words of her
letter she laid a cooling hand on his
burning soul. She spoke the all-seeing
wisdom of death. She held him close
to her heart and fed him with her life's
blood. All that she had been. all that
she had learned, all that she foresaw,
was crowded into those three pages.
They were brittle with age, the ink
yellow and faded in words that no
eyes but his and hers had ever seen.
They gripped his soul and held It
steady. Wlthont this letter be would
have torn up the other But the other
had come as a complement and he kept
it because it helped him to see himself.
AS Alan weakened the bridge ap-
preached completion. Batches of men.
as special work was finished, were
dispatched to the coast. With each
batch McDougal strove to send his
master, but Alan was too weak to GO,
though he did not say so. He had
realized 1t with terror and then with
calm. "NO, McDougal, not this time,"
he would say, and finally, 81 think
might just as well stay on till they
send up to take over. It's unprofes-
sional to chuck it before. 1t won't be
long now" And McDougal had cursed
low, rolling oaths and taken it out on
the men.
Alan seemed to have become child
ish in his weakness. He spent what
strength he had left in cutting words
into a board ripped from a kerosene
box. When he had finished be called
McDougal and showed him his handi.
work. "McDougal," be said, 'if any
thing should happen to keep me here
permanently just cut these words into
some big rock and lay me under It
Be careful you get them just so. The
French are mighty particular about the
way we use their lingo, and while II
wasn't a Frenchman that wrote this
bit, guess he'd be just as particular
"Aweel, SIR" said McDougal. sitting
his rage within him, "I'll do as you
wish" He took the board and looked
at it. The words meant nothing tC
him but the scene meant much He
went out and concluded his agreement
with twelve quiet, lowering men gath
cred from the countryside. They wer,
pioneers without knowing it. The.
and their fathers and their fathers
fathers had held these far depths o
the world against wild beasts ant
drought and food since, centuries ago
the Jesuits swept through the subcon
tinent and left a trail of settlers be
hind them. They were proud, narrow
independent. They were .uninventive
unimaginative. No man among then
had ever thought to lie. They did no
steal, though they were robbed when
ever they invaded civilization wit
their wares
From them McDougal had learne
thay due east, halfway to the sea. wa
a place called Lieber's and that thi
Lieber was known as the American
and had fame as a curador of fever'
Four men could carry a sick man
LieDer's in a hammock in four day
Twelve men could do 1t in two. an
quicker than that hundred men cOul
not go. For the price of three steer
each-two-year-olds would VI
dergake to deliver the sick man {
LieOer's in two days. McDOugal pol
dered. 1t was a chance. If he sci
Allan to the rail-head there wouldn
be .'ven a chance. There was no or
who could help at the rail-head, M
J along the thin line, nor even at IL
coast.
"In two days" said he despairing
the master will be dead"
They gathered at the door of Alan
tent and looked in at him as he la
hair comatoSe. NO" said the olde
OF them. "he will be dead in sevt
days time"
AS McDougal picked him up ar
laid him gently in a hammock. Ala
came to. The hammock was paddle
with pillows and blankets and strur
on a stout bamboo pole with two me
at each end supporting it.
. What are you doing with me?"
asked angrily and sank back into Il
pillows. From there his eyes glare
up at McDOugal.
"I'm sending ye home" said NJ
- Dougal gently but firmly.
Alan smiled a twisted smile. "Sen
ing me home" be repeated. and add,
reslgnedly. "0h. all right" Then
tsr.ed up. Bring Matches" he sal
irnougal took matches from his poe
Alan SFrovv frun Iofforo from lnSf