The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1916-05-25
CHAPTER ".
tato the ensmiss' HANDS.

lRto the ensmies' Hands.
The major lay dead. with my blood.
stained revolver evidently the
weapon which had struck the blow
lying beside him Dawn would reveal
the deed and ! would be discovered
alone In the house. Only my wakeful-
ness. my desire to Investigate. had In
tsrfeTed with the complete success Of
this htdeous plan. Taylor had pre-
pared himself for this emergency. had
deliberately taken tho weapon for that
very purpose. Where had the fellow
goneI And what had become of the
negro3
stood there. lamp In one hand and
revolver In the other. staring down at
the dead face Of this man who had
oEce been my fathers friend Out of
the mist doated the face Of the girl.
the girl who had waved to me In the
road. The vision brought back to mo
cooaness and determination. I felt
through the pockets Of the dead man
and found a knife. keys and = roll Of
bills untouched. but not q scrap Of pa.
per On the floor. partially concealed
by one arm. was 4 large envelope. un.
addressed. roughly torn open. 1t was
some document. then. the murderer
sought. and he had fed with 1t In bis
possession
Intent now on my one purpose Of
discovery. my mind active and alert. !
began . rapid search Of the house
The front door was fastened and
barred. proving Taylor had not left
that way There was but one other
room on that floor. q kitchen in con.
siderable disorder. a. though the serv.
ant had made no effort to complete his
work: but its outer door stood uu.
latched. Sam must have gone with
the mountaineer In his hasty flight
must be equally guilty. This wa the
only conclusion possible. and the
knowledge that was left there alone
rendered my own position precarious.
Harwood had surely never veutured
into this doubtful region without hav.
ing soldiers within call. no doubt in
the village. who. II he failed to appear
when expected. would search for him.
Before they came. and made discov.
cry Of the dead body. must be safely
beyond reach II found there. no de.
Tense. no asseveration Of innocence,
would ever save me from condemna.
ton. Their vengeance would be swift
and merciless
Thinking now only of my own es.
cape unobserved. I felt my way into
the night with my bundle. This would
b Federal territory; or II not. al
ready. my nights ride would brins
ne we'll within their lines before
dawn. I slipped instantly out Of the
soiled suit Of gray and donned the i'm.
maculate blue. buckling the belt about
ny waist, and securely hooking the
saber. Then scooped out hole in
the soft dirt and buried the old uni.
form. tearing my pass into shreds,
scattering the fragments broadcast
1t was 30 lonely and still all about
that felt return Of confidence, q
renewed courage. The house behind
me. and the stable before, were mere
outlines. scarcely discernible through
the gloom. Once safely In the saddle,
! circied the gloom Of the house 81
lentiy. and followed the roadway to
the gate
Not . light cleaned in any direction
and could recall 10 other house near
By. While 1t remained in view could
not remove my eyes from the mansion
had just left. or forget the dead body
lying there In the dark The shyn1
Of my horse at the gate caused me tt
note the black something iyinl
against the post. At first l deemed Il
= mere shadow. but the animal woult
not respond even to the spur, and
dismountsd better to ascertain tn,
cause Of bis fright. The negro IL,
there. dead as his master. a knit,
thrust in his heart. Then 1t was Tay
lor alone who had done the foul deed
There was nothing could do but de,
swiftly through the night My owl
position was now far too desperate Il
permit Of my giving any alarm. q
0SCAlA8 ~ AASV Sh0 uVAOl. " t0I
into Union hands would be my deatl
warrant. irrespective of HarwoodI
fate. and my duty lay in carrying ou
the orders Of "Old Jack" To ALLOW
myself to be captured would spoi
everything
rode toward Hot Springs as rap
Idly as dared. watchful of ever!
deeponing shadow. until came to tn
FIRST struggling houses. These wer'
dark and silent. and not 80 much rs |
dog barked as l walked my horse eau
tiously forward toward the mali
street l saw but one dim light Ltream
ms through an uncurtained window ,
what looked like law Office. an
passed close enough to learn that
group of men within were playtn
cards II was highly probable thes
belonged to the majors escort
passed the place urobserved and rod