The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1919-12-18


an'-an' SO / blazed away. rs pow
erful sorry bout 1t now, sah."
mo doubt 1t was more my fault
than yours. You are a free negro,
then2" .
@sYas, sab. / done belong onct ter
Colonul Silas Carlton, sab, but afore
he died, just because I done saved his
boy frum drownin' in de ribber, de Oh
colonul he set me free, an give me a
patch o Ian ter raise corr on"
what Is your nameY"
"Pete, sar. Free Pete is whut mostly
de white folks call me-" He laughed,
white teeth showing and the whites
Of his eyes. "Yer see thar am a pow
erful lot O. Petes round bout yere,
sah."
I drew a deep breath, conscious of
weakness as I endeavored to change
position. =
"All right, Pete; now I want to un-
derstand things clearly. You shot me,
supposfng I was making an assault
on you. Your bullet lodged in my
shoulder. What happened them"
swell after a while, sab, thar want
no NOR noise, an I reckoned I'd Ell
Their done hit yer er else ye'd
away. An thar ye wus, sab, a-lyin'
on yer back like We wus dead. Just
so Don as I saw ye I know'd as how
We never was no nigger-hunter but a
stranger in desc we're parts. So I
dragged We inside de cabin, an washed
up yer hurts. But We never got no bet
tab, 80 I got skeered, an went hoofn'
1t down fer de doctah at Beaucaire
Landin', sab, an when he cum back
along wild me he dug the bullet outer
yer shoulder, an left some truck fer
me ter Civ yer. He's done been we're
three times, sah."
"From Beaucaire Landing-is that
a town"
"A sorter town, sab; bout four miles
down ribber."
The mentioning Of this familiar
word brought back instantly to my
darkened understanding all those
main events leading up to my pres
nee in this neighborhood. Complete
memory returned. every separate Incl
dent sweeping through my brain
Kirby, Carver, the fateful game Of
cards in the cabin of the Warrior, the
sudden death Of the Judge, the mob
anger I sought to curb, the struggle on
deck, my being thrown overheard, and
the danger threatening the two inno-
cent daughters Of Beaucaire. And I
had actually been lying in this negro
hut, burning up with fever, helplessly
d%elfrious, for ten days. What had
already occurred in that space Of
timer What villainy had been con
cocted and carried out!"
"Now see here, Pete" I began ear
nestly. "How did you learn what my
name WASP"
"De doctah he foun' dat out, sab.
He done looked through yer pockets,
sab. an he took two papers whut he
foun' dar away wild him. He done toll
me as how yer wus an offercer in de
army-a ~leftenant er sumthin'-an'
tibet dem papers ought fer ter be stint
'er de gOv'ner at onct. De las time
he wus we're he tol' me tibet he whit
down ter st. Louee hisself, an done
sif bot dem papers ter Gov'ner Clark.
So yer don't need worry none bout
dem no NOR"
I sank back onto the hard pillow,
greatly relieved by this information.
The burden of official duty had been
taken from me. I was now on fur
Tough and free to act as I pleased.
"Have you picked up any news late
ly from Beaucaire plantations"
Il heerd dey done brought de body
,b de OF jedge home, sah-he died
mighty sudden sumwhar up de ribber.
rhet's bout all I know"
"When was thisY"
"Bout a week, maybe morn dat,
ago. De Warrior brought de body
down, sah."
'The Warrior? Did anyone go
ashore with it,"
"'Pears like thar wus two men
stopped off at de Landin'. I disre-
member de names, but n oh 'em wus
an OF friend OBJ de jedge's."
I turned my head away silently, but
only for a moment. The two men were
in all probability Kirby and his satel-
lite. Carver. Doubtless the Beaucaire
property was already legally In Kir-
by's possession, and any possible
chance I might have once had to foil
him in his nefarious purpose had now
completely vanished.
To be sure I had reasoned out no
definite means whereby / could cir
cumvent his theft, except to take legal
advice, confer with Governor Clark.
and warn those threatened girls of
their danger. But now 1t was too late
even to do this. And yet 1t might not
be. If Kirby and his confederate be-
1ieved that I was dead, were con
WINGED that I had perished beneath
the waters Of the river, they might
feel safe in taking time to strengthen
their position; might delay final ac-
ton, hoping thus to make their case
seem more plausible. If Kirby was