Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1918-01-15
CHAPTER xv1-(continued.

CHAPTER XvI-(continued.)
Apparently, several Of them wer'
about to speak at once. Anthony hell
up his lean, commanding hand TO-
silence.
zone moment please!" said tn,
amazing Anthony. There is no caus'
for any further excitement, an!
further speculation. The thing ha'
gone too far now; it has passed be
. yond me and-I have failed
"What!' Robert rasped.
Anthony drew deep breath.
will you all be seated?" he asked
IL wish to confess the truth"
~You mean mean that you Dal
ton exploded.
. jured, to the best of my knowledge
and that your daughter Mary is per
. fectly SAFE" Anthony smiled sadly
Put the gun away Dalton and heal
me through at least. Later on, if YOU
feel inclined to use it, I don't know
thst I shall object greatly. quite
understand what is likely to happen
to me when you haYe heard what
have to tell and-in spite of that the
whole AFFAIR seems to have tangled
itself 50 terribly that there is nothing
10 do but ten it,"
/ He himself was sitting behind the
tblo nov. and he had certainly
Claimed their attention. Dalton
perched On the edge Of chair; Rob.
ert tpok ono Of its arms Beatrice
seemed At INST unwilling to leave the
csnAsr Of the stage, but presently she,
too. vas seated-and Johnson Boiler
ahu6led to a chair and went into it
Wlls Imply, gazing at Anthony and
LAneGehtng hsrd.
UDeD Anthony was lying. he meant
% tan the truth; and while some of
|thnoe present might believe the truth,
/ Aeatdce Boiler was not among the
lnkG
( don't know. Dalton" Anthony
|esenn evenly, that l have anything
DO say IN extenuation Of what I have
done. Evidently lost my head, even
TO the point of downright insanity:
some Of Us do that occasionally. you
know. Brooding over the business
was responsible, l suppose. Your Ce-
1ast9aa Oh has been cutting pretty
heavily into Imperial Liniment this
1AA yeG"
humps! SAID Dalton.
:. Cutting in 80 heavily that what.
ever efforts 1 have been able to put
forth have been of no avail whatever
Anthony pursued. Last week-all
day last Saturday, in fact-I went
over the years business and it fairly
maddened me to see the falling OF. ]
spent Sunday thinking and am
frank to say, Dalton, that by Sunday
night l was all but ready to murder
you. Toward midnight l conceived
what seemed to be means of forcing
you into some sort of mutual contract,
by which each of US could do business
Yith the assurance that the other
wasn't coming over to take away what
didn't belong to him."
''You get away with thing like
hiatt Dalton demanded.
1T was wild notion Anthony
Gighed. II knew that talking was use
less; knew that fighting you openly
was equally useless, because once 1
became too conspicuous knew that
you'd sail in and wreck me. At the
same time something had to be done
and that in mighty short order, or
Fry's Imperial was likely to die a nat
ural death. Therefore. Dalton. l per.
fected the scheme Of kidnapping your
daughter and holding her until you'd
came to terms"
Great"
~Rest easy" Mr.. Fry smiled.
Part Of it succeeded. but she hasn't !
Aeen injured and l ask you to believe,
1t least, that / never had any idea of
Rn9W3ng her. What I did mean to do
~ to threaten you, through a third
Rnson I met most unfortunately and |
Who 1s., not to put too fine a point !
upon II, one of the slinaiest crooked |
lavyeu in the world-what l meant
that unless you came to terms, the |
gfrl would be killed!
IL the details interest you I'll con-
DeDs Chat I had q note sent to the girl |
~ evening, by a messenger who sue
oeedsd In telephoning her and having
hW meet him just outside your home.
rho note here informed Miss Dalton |
hat Vhing here-oh, sit still, vining. !
you may settle with me when I've
vtning here was en-
Eaged Il not actually married, to
l1other girl. Il was a very convincing |
R0te indeed, and the messenger was
instructed to tell Miss Dalton, should
ths note make its impression. that he
goud take her to a place where she
you'd be able to observe with her
VA ayes the faithlessness of one she
- On the point of trusting with her
vh03e nle!"
Weu. by the holy" Robert began.
Every little twist and turn of this
tory / had perfected before hand; /
>ould not SEQ the possibility of slip
Ind there was no slip. 1t was made
plain to Miss Dalton that, IL she
Wished to see Robert under the
unpleasant conditions, she would have
o attire herself as a man, for she
Vas likely to spend some time in the
rack room Of saloon. My messenger
wen took her wig for the purpose.
md she was informed that, If she
Wished to take along her own proper
;lothing it would be quite possible 10
'eturn in that"
Utter admiration possessed Johnson
Boiler; yet Beatrice. as he knew was
~