The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1917-04-07
SEiRGHF0R The NEEDLE
BY A. W. PEACH.

an ask if there was mail for her. Ii
was her manner as she asked that
aroused MarShalS interest.
Marshal stepped to the window. As
the clerk ran through the mail Mar
shall said in casual way. Il have seen
disappointed people. hut that little lady
who just left here acts rs if she had
been sentenced when you tell her she
has no mail Anything peculiar about
herr"
The clerk nodded his head. Yes. she
has been coming to this window for
twenty-five years. She expects letter
from chap who left here. So they tell
me, TO make his fortune in the West.
He vanished and no letter has come
from him. She Is little off. | guess,
but she's harmless"
Gathering up his mail Marshal went
to the country hotel. The white
headed proprietor was perfectly will
Ing 10 talk IN" matter over Sure"
said he, Il know the whole thing. She
was rs pretty Il little thing rs You ever
see, and she was dead in love with
Clarke Sherman and he with hrr-aS
far a. We could tel. Then he got the
idea that the place WAS too small for
hlIn-you know how the young fellows
often 1"cl-and away he went | guess
sh" heard from him for three years ::
lie was doing tine-So he said. Then
came silence. All sorts of yarns went
around. You know; but she held her
head right up, | tell you. Then she
rot clipping from some cheap news
paper out West telling about an acct
gent ne had been in. and with the clip
ping was letter from friend of his,
saying that he had died since the ac-
cldent. II threw her off her head, |
guess. for since then she's been going
to the post office just the same"
1t was like searching for needle in
a hayStaCk, Marshal knew. To seek out
man by the name of Clarke Sher-
man, for there We're many i'm the world !;
but Marshal made up his mind To look
up the man If his business brought him
near the town. The opportunity came
few months later. Marshal planned
to make sure that if Clarke Sherman
were living he would know what one
man thought of him
His first question after arriving in
a Nevada town was asked Of the hotel
clerk, but the latter shook his head.
Never heard Of anybody round here
by that name-hOld on, perhaps some
of the old fellows know"
An "old fellow" called from the
front of the hotel, smoked slowly.
"Why-er-yeS. there was sech a chap
lived out Butte way. but guess he's
been dead an gone for twenty years"
Marshal was in despair. and was
about to give up the foolish search,
when the man who had been speaking
pointed 10 thin individual across the
street. There goes a fellow named
Seeker from out that way-p'rhaps he
knows something about him."
Crossing over, Marshal hailed him
and made known his desire. The mans
eyes were keen and crafty. and
Marshal did not like them, nor did he
like the mans answer.
mo. sir. there's no one out there
now by that name. Clarke Sherman
was killed in an accident"
Afterward as he thought the matter
over. the antagOniSm in the mans atti-
tude made Marshal suspicious. 81 be-
lIeve. just for the deuce of it, I'll motor
out that way"
Early in the afternoon of the next
day he reached a rundown. ram
shackle place which his guide told him
was Seekers home. Marshal raped
on the door. There was no sound. He
stepped in-and stopped.
On a shabby couch lay a man. so
emaciated he seemed in the last stages
of existence. His eyes We're closed.
"DoeS Clarke Sherman live here?"
Marshal asked.
He bent to catch the faint whisper
"Why-yes-I am-Clarke Sherman
yes"
did you ever know a Martha
Lane?"
Martha Lane of Reedsboro?" the
whisper asked. "Yes-she died-twen-
" or more years ago"
"NO. she didn't" Marshal said blunt.
ly. "She's living now and waiting for
you. I've seen her. / know"
The shrek of the automobile horn
drew his attention. He turned to face
the raging Seeker.
What are you doing here? Get out
or you'll get thrown out!
With an oath. Seeker jumped at
him. and Marshal met him half way
Once more in his hotel room, in spite
of n thrObbinC head. Marshal wrote q
letter to a business friend in the New
England village; and in it was this
paragraph:
"The whole mystery is now clear
sherman fell into the hands of this
Seeker. who. after Sherman's injury
took charge of him. and managed tC
get hold of his affairs. Learning that
Sherman was planning to return East
| am fully convinced he fixed up some
scheme by which he made Sherman
certain that his sweetheart was dead
and. of course, it was easy for Seeker
TO try similar scheme on Miss Lane
gave him a pretty sound drubbing
and have started legal action against