Vernon Parish Democrat. (Leesville, La.) 1917-193?, 1919-08-09


word from Putnam Jones they opened
up and allowed Barnes to advance 20
the side Of the man.
"See IL you en- understand him, Mr..
Barnes" said the landlord. Perspira-
ton was dripping from his long, raw
boned face. sand you, Bacon-you and
DlllingfOrd hustle upstairs and get q
mattress Off'n one OF the beds. Stand
at the door there, Pike, and don't let
any woman in here. Go away, Miss
Thackeray! This Is no place for you"
Miss Thackeray pushed her way
past the man who tried to stop her
and Joined Barnes.
'It Is the place for me-" she said
sharply. Haven't you men got sense
enough to put something under his
head2 Where is he hurt2 Get that
cushion, you. Stick it under here when
I lift his head. Oh, you poor thing /
Wen be as quick as possible. There |"
The mans eyes were closed. but at
the sound of a woman's voice he
opened them. The hand with which he
clutched at his breast slid off and
seemed to be cropping for hers. His
breathing was terrible. There was
blood at the corners Of his mouth, and
more oozed forth when his lips parted
in an effort to speak.
With courage that surprised even
herself, the girl took his hand in hers.
1t was wet and warm. She did not
dare look at 1t.
"Merci, madame" struggled from the
mans lips, and,he smiled.
Barnes leaned over and spoke to him
in French. The dark, pain-stricken
eyes closed, and an almost imper.
ceptible shake of the head signifled
that he did not understand. Evidently
he had acquired only a few of the
simple French expressions. Barnes
had a slight knowledge Of Spanish
and Italian, and tried again with no
better results. German was his last
resort, and he knew he would fail once
more, for the man obviously was not
Teutonic.
The bloody lips parted, however, and
the eyes opened with piteous, appeal
apparent that there was something he
wanted to say, something he had to
say before he died. He gasped a dozen
words or more in o tongue utterly un.
known to Barnes, whe 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 coughed violently an Inc
slant later.
Get some water and 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"
ooh, 1 sha'n't faint-at least, not
yet. Poor fellowl 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.. JonesP
"He is registered as Andrew Paul,
from New York. That's all know.
The other man put his name down as
Albert Room. He seemed to be the
boss and this man a sort of servant,
far as I could make out. They never
talked much and seldom came down.
stairs. They had their meals in their
ROOM"
"There is nothing we can do" said
Barnes, except try to stanch the flow
Of blood. He is bleeding inwardly, I'm
afraid. It's clean wound, Mr.. Jones.
Like rifle shot, should say"
''That's just what it is" said one of
the men, a tall wOodsman. "The Teller
who did it was a dead shot, you en-
bet on that. He got t. other man
square through the heart"
s'Lordy, but this will raise rum
pus," groaned the landlord. wen
have detectives an
81 guess they got what was comm
| to 'em," said another OF the men.
"What's thatP Why, they was ridin'
peaceful as could be to Spanish Falls.
What do you mean by sayin' that, Jim
Conley? But wait a minute! How
does 1t happen that they were up near
your dads house? That certainly
amt on the road to Span"
"Spanish Falls nothin'l They wasn't
gOin' to, Spanish Falls any more'n 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 man. at was about
Ieven o'clock, reckon. was comm
home from singin' school up at Number
Ten, an passed the bosses hitched to
the fence. Naturally stopped, curi-
GUS like. There wasn't no one around
fer as / could see, so thought I'd