The Ozark spectator., 1917-01-10

tiently. A silent figure passed him. unseeing, scratched thrice with the point of 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 tbe uncertain steps of still another who sought the door of the rendezvous, stumbling along the un- even flagging.
 David sank to his knees, and as he ..id so his fingers encountered m 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 flat and wriggled his shoulders in. A wooden bucket. full of water, stood before the opening, on the inside; this ne 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 Girty's nolseless footsteps in the courth0use-not bare footed. indeed. but shod with the si- lent moccaslns of the Indian. Clad in deerskin trimmed with buckskin tas- sels; the hunting shirt covering the powerful shoulders and deep chest of a giant. Simon Girty was man of sixty, seemingly, but his quick. bright eyes, jet black. burned with the cold fire of the hdless serpent's that never grows old.
 The two fInglishmen 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 bonesT he asked contemptuously of the British agent.
 "This, Captain Girty, Is n gentle man who has preceded me from Eng land on the same mission as myself MT. 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 vulsiyely. like a mastiff that sees his enemy. Scull! The weaver who had turned kings witness, the informer against David's father! A horrid dry ness stuck in Davids throat and he shook with an ague. When he lifted his head again, he saw that the three men had seated themselves in front of the smoldering forge; for the night had grown chill. Black shadows hung in all the corners of the little room and sat heavily upon the shoulders of the three men huddled about the forge. Only the warm, red glow of the charcoal set up little sphere of light and warmth. ~Girty was nut tering drunkenly to himself: ..Seven at Blue Licks two Hnthe Mau- mee scalps than fedskin thct long-ha'red gal ."
 "See here, my fine friend" said Scull sharply, never mind your scalps. What Is 1t that we are here for. ehY
 Girty reused himself. "Tell him. Cranmer."
 The bluff and kindly-faced farmer seemed out of place in that devils crew. But he began to speak cheer fully.
 "Well. Ned. I'm here to make you m offer on the part of the king. God bless him! You have seen my creden- tials. It was my intention to go direct to the tribes In the country, taking plans of the garrisons with me, but l was to count you with us before I set out on my trip to fhe North. Our comrade- brings word from the great chief of the Shawnees. Tecumseh, that he Is desIrous of .forming a league with his brothers ofSthe South, the Cherokees. the Chickasaws and the Creeks.
 "You. Ned, are man whom Eng land p.eds., l nm empowered to say that if you will enter his majesty's service you will be generously re- warded. What success can you hope for in this pauper nation? But Eng land Is a rich and powerful patron. am a straightforward man, Mir. Scull. and have no gift of argument, but"
 Sculi held up q hand. commanding pause. He leaned backward and piled the bellows upon the dying fire.