Mansfield mirror. (Mansfield, Wright County, Mo.) 1908-1957, 1919-05-15

say before he died. lie gasped Il dozen
words or more In n tongue utterly UNI
known to Barnes. who bent closer to
catch the feeble effort. 1t was he who
now shook his head; with a groan the
sufferer closed his eyes in despair. He
choked and coushed violently an in.
slant later.
Get some water and a towel" cried
Miss Thackeray. TREMENDOUSLY. She
was very white. but still chung to the
mans hand. BE quick! Behind the
bar"
Barnes unbuttoned the coat and re-
vealed the blood.soaked white shirt.
Better leave this to me- he said in
her ear. There's nothing you can do.
He's done for. Please go away"
"Oh, l sha'n't faint-at least. not
yet. Poor fellow! I've seen him up
stairs and wondered who he was. Is
he really going to die?'
Looks bad" said Barnes, gently
opening the shirt front. Several Of
the craning men turned away sud
denly.
"Who is he, Mr.. JOneST"
"He is registered as Andrew Paul,
from New York. That's all l know.
The other man put his name down as
Albert Room. He seemed to be the
boss and this a Il sort of servant,
far as l could make out. They never
talked much and seldom came down
stairs. They had their meals in their
ROOM"
There is nothing We IA do" said
Barnes, except try to stanch the flow
of blood. He is bleeding inwardly, I'm
afraid. It's a clean wound. Mr.. Jones.
Like a rifle shot. l should say"
That's just what it is" said n Of
the men, a tall wOOdSman. ''rhe Teller
who did it was a dead shot, you en-
bet on that. He got t other man
square through the heart"
"Lordy, but this will raise a rum
pus," groaned the landlord. well
have detectives an"
II guess they got what was comm
to EN-" said another of the men.
whats that? Why, they was ridin'
peaceful as could be to Spanish Falls.
What do you meal by sayin' that, Jim
Conley? But wait a minute! How
does it happen that they were up near
your dads house? That certainly
amt on the road to Span"
Spanish Falls nothin'! They wasn't
goin' to Spanish Falls any more'n l am
at this minute. They tied their horses
up the road just above our house."
said young Conley, lowering his voice
out of consideration for the feelings
of the helpless a ut was about
'leven o'clock. | reckon. / was comm
home from singin' SCHOOL up at Number
Ten, an l passed the bosses hitched to
the fence. Naturally | stopped. curl
Gus like. There wasn't no one around,
fer as l could see, so l thought I'd
take a look to see whose bosses they
were. | thought it was derned funny,
them bosses bein' there at that time o.
night an no One around. Looked
mighty queer TO me. Course, thinks
/. they might belong to somebody
visitin' in there at Green Fancy, SO 1
thought I'd"
"Green Fancy" said Barnes, start
ing.
WAS 1t up that farT demanded
Jones.
"They was hitched jest about a hun.
dred yards below Mr.. Curtis prOpity,
on the off side o the road. | hadn't
| heard some one running In the road
up there behind me. Fore l knOwed
what was %happenin', bang went a gun.
l almost jumped Out'n my boots. The
runnin' had stopped. The horses was
rarin' an tearing Sc I thought I'd"
"Where'd the shot come frOm?" de-
manded Jones.
"Up the road some'cres. l couldn't
swear just where. Must'a' been up by
the road that cuts in to Green Fancy.
So | thought I'd hustle in an see If
pa was awake, an git my gun. Jest
then pa stuck his head Out'n the win
der an yelled what the hell's the mat
ter. You betcher life | sung out who
/ was mighty quick, cause pas purity
| spry with a gun an | didn't want him
takin' me fer burglars sneaking around
the house. While we wuz talkin' there
, one of the bosses started our way
lickety.split, an in about two seconds
! It went by us. II was purity dark, but
we see plain as day that there was u
man in the saddle, bendin' low over
the boss neck and shOutin' to it. We
waited II couple o minutes, wOnderin'
what to do, an %listenin' to the boss
gittin' furdcr and furder away In the