Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1918-02-15

@ OFO O4O 1AC o@0@
wronged-would be committing a moral
crime to prevent 1t. To take a person
who wants to make a fresh, honest
start, and shut that person up amongst
criminals and brand him as q criminal,
seems to me a worse wrong than to
steal a few head of cattle; don't you
think so, Mr.. Seabeck?"
What Mr.. Seabeck thought did not
Immediately appear In speech. He was
pulling a little harder at his whiskers
and staring at the ears of his horse.
"That would depend on the person."
he said at last. "Soine men are born
criminals
"Oh, we aren't talking about that
kind of a man. Surely to goodness
you don't call Charlie Fox a born
criminal, or Marthy Meilke?"
"Charlie Foxl Is that the person
you mean, who has BEEN"
eyes, it isl And he is horribly sorry,
and s. is Marthy, and they'll pay you
for the cattle. And if you do any
thing mean about 1t, it will simply kill
poor old Marthy. You couldn't send
her to the pen, Mr.. Seabeck. Think
how she's worked there in the Cove;
and Charlie has worked like a perfect
slave; and he was trying to get a
start so he-could-get married.
"Hm-mm |" Rumors had reached
Seabeck, thanks to Billy Louise's
dropped lashes upon a certain occa-
sion, which caused him to believe he
saw further light.
Sand if you're going to be horrid-"
evil the-lady he wants to marry
give him another CHANGER"
''Don't you think she ought to-if
she l-loves him?' Billy Louise studied
the skyline upon the side farthest
from Seabeck.
"You say he wants to pay for the
cattle and"
Hell do anything he can to make
amends" said Billy Louise, with con-
viction. "He1l take his medicine and
go to Jail if you insist she added r
rowfully. SIT will ruin his whole life,
of course, and break a couple of wom-
ems hearts, but"
"It's a bad thing, a mighty bad
thing, when a man tries to get ahead
too fast"
"It's a good thing when he learns
the lesson without having to pay for it
with his whole future" Billy Louise
amended the statement.
Seabeck smiled a little behind his
fingers that kept tugging at his whis-
kers.
"Did Charlie Fox send Miss Por-
tia"
"He doesn't know I had any inten-
ton of coming" Billy Louise assured
him quickly and with perfect truth.
"They'l both be awfully surprised
when they find it out">-which was also
perfectly true-"and when they see
you ride up, they'll think you've got
the sheriff at your back. I haven't a
doubt they"
"There are a few points I'd like
to clear up, if you can help me-" Sea-
beck interrupted. "All this rustling
that has been going on for the past
year and a half: are Fox and the
Meilke woman mixed up in that? /
want" he said, ito help the young
man-and her. But if they have been
operating on a large scale, I'm
afraid"
81 believe Charlie must have been
influenced in some ways by bad ac-
quaintances," Billy Louise answered
more steadily than she felt. "But his
-rustling-has peer of a petty kind.
1 won't apologize for him, Mr.. Seabeck.
I think it's perfectly awful, what he
has done. But l think it would be
more awful still not to give him a
chance. The other rustling is some
outside gang, I'm sure. If Charlie
was mixed up with them, it's very
slightly-just enough to damn him ut
terly if he were arrested and tried.
He isn't a natural criminal. He's just
weak. And he's learned his lesson.
It's up to you, Mr.. Seabeck, to say
whether he shall have a chance to
profit by the lesson. And there's poor
old Marthy in it, too. She just wor-
ships Charlie and would do anything
even steal for him."
Seabeck meditated for a while, and
Billy Louise watched him uneasily
from the tail OF her eye. 10 tell the
plain truth, she was in a panic of fear
at what she had done.
Last night, when she lay curled up
by the stove under Wards wolf-skin
coat, this seemed the only possible
way out: To tell Seabeck and trust to
his kindness and generosity to refrain
from pushing the case. To have Char
lie Fox give back what he had stolen
or pay for it-anything that would sat
isfy Seabeck's sense of justice-and
let him start honestly. She had
thought that Seabeck would be merci-
full, if she told him in the right way;
but now, when she stole a glance at
his bent, brooding face, she was fright
ened. He did not look merciful, but
stern and angry. She remembered
then thai stealing cattle is the one