Tombstone epitaph., 1917-04-01


 the rear of the smithy. waited impa- tiently. A silent figure passed him, unseeing, scratched thrice with the point of a 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 un- even Tagging.
 David sank to his knees, and as he did so his fingers encountered an open ing in the ho0se 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 buct ct. 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 comer 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 Girty's noiseless footsteps in the courthouse-not bare 1 footed. indeed. but shod with the si- i lent moccasins of the Indian. Clad in | deerskin trimmed with buckskin tas- | sels; the hunting shirt covering the powerful shoulders and deep chest of : q giant. Simon Girty was man of sixty, seemingly, but his quick, bright | eyes. jet black. burned with the cold fire of the lidless serpents that never ! grows old.
 1 The two fnglishmen 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 O4 lle toDdCCO was ol ms N-ut. NSH'
 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 Mir. Edward Scull."
 At the name and at the sight of the third man. who until now had been concealed by Cranmer's portly figure David's teeth set and he trembled con yulsively, like a mastiff that sees his enemy. Scull! The weaver who had
 turned kings witness, the inforneI against David's father. A horrid dry ness stuck in David's throat and he shoOk with an ague. When he lifted
 his head again, he saw that the three
 men had seated themselves in front ot
 the smoldering forge; for the night
 had grown chill. Black shadows huns
 in all the corners of the little room
 and sat heavily upon the shoulders oi
 the three men huddled about tht
 forge. Only the warm, red glow ot
 the charcoal set up a little sphere of light and warmth. Girty was nut teriDg drunkenly to himself: "SeveI at Blue Licks two on the Mau
 mee scalps than Q redskir L. thet long-ha'red gal : "See here. my fine friend" saiC Scull sharply, never mind youl
 scalps. What is 1t that we are herr for. eh?'
 Girty reused himself. "Tell him Cranmer"
 The bluff and kindly-faced farme seemed out of place in that deviIt crew. But he began to speak cheer ] fully.
 Well. Ned, I'm here to make yol ; an offer on the part of the king. Go' bless him! You have seen my creden ; tials. It was my intention to go direc to the tribes in the country, takini , plans of the garrisons with me, but , was to count you with us before , set out on my trip to the North. Gu 7 comrade brings word from the grea ' chief of the Shawnees. Tecumset that he Is desirous of forming : league with his brothers of the Soutf . the Cherokees, the Chickasaws an l the Creeks.
 ] You, Ned, are . man whom Eng land reeds. I am empowered to sa that If you will enter his majesty service you will be generously re :. warded. What success can you hop !. for Tn this pauper nation? But Eng
 land Is a rich and powerful patron. l am a straightforward man. Mir. Soul p and have no gift of argumen ,, butt"
 Il Scuil held up a hand, commandin l. a pause. He leaned backward an t piled the bellows upon the dying fr'