Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1919-05-08

does u nnppen that they were uD near
your dads house? That certainly
aint on the road TO Span"
spanish Falls nothin'! They wasn't
eoin' TO Spanish Falls any more'n sm
at this minute. They tied their hors. :
up the read Just above our house~
said young Conley. lowering his voice
out OF consideration for the feelings
OF the helpless man. 1T was about
Ieven O'Clock. ! reckon. I WAS comm
nome from Singin school up at Number
Ten, an / passed the hOsses hitched 10
the fence. Naturally stopped. curl.
Gus Ike. There wasn't lao one around,
fer as 1 could see. SO thought I'd
take a look to see whose hosses they
we're. j thought IL was derned funny.
them hosses bein' there at that time o.
night an no one around Looked
mighty queer To me. Course, thinks
|. they might belong To somebody
sisitin' IN there at Green Fancy. so ]
thought I'd"
"Green Fancy" said Barnes, start.
Ing.
WAS IL up that farY' demanded
Jones.
They was hitehed Jest about hun
dred yards below Mr.. Curtis propity,
on the Of side D the road. / hadn't
any more'n got to our front gate when
l heard some one running In the road
up there behind me. Fore / knOwed
what was happenin'. bang went a gun.
I almost jumped out'n my boots. The
runnia' had stopped. The horses was
rarin' an tearing so l thought I'd"
"Where'd the shot come from?" de-
manded Jones.
up the road s0me'eres, I couldn't
swear just where. Must'a' been up by
the road that cuts In to Green Fancy.
So i thought I'd hustle In an see II
pa was awake. an git my gun. Jest
then pa stuck his head out'n the win
Ter an yelled what the helIs the mat
ter. You betcher life | sung out who
| was mighty quick. cause pas purity
spry with gun an | didn't want him
takin' me fer burglars sneaking around
the house. While we wuz tnlkin' there
one OF the bosses started our way
lickety-spllt. an In about two seconds
II went by us. II was purity dark. but
we see plain as day that there was u
man LID the saddle. bendin' low over
the hoss' neck and shoutin' to II. We
waited couple o. minutes. wonderin'
what to do, an iistenin' to the hoss
gttin' furder and furder away in the
direction OF the crossroads. Then
way down there 10y the pike we heerd
another shot. Right there an then pa
said he'd put on his clothes an we'd
set out to see what it was all about.
swell, pa come out with my gun an
hisn an we walks up to where / seen
the hosses. Shore 'nOugh, one Of 'em
was still hitched to the fence, an
fother was gone. We stood around a
minute or two examinin' the hOss an
then pa says let's go up the road ways
an see1n We en- see anything An
by gosh, We hadn't gone moren' fifty
feet afOre we come plumb on a man
layin' In the middle Of the road. Pa
shook him an he didn't let out a
sound. He was warm, but deader'n a
tombstone. wGZ fer leavin' him there
till we cd git the coroner, but pa says
no. Wed carry him down to our porch
an lay him there. SOS he'd be out o
danger. j jumps on Polly an lights
out fer here, Mr.. Jones, to telephone
up to Saint Liz fer the sheriff an the
coroner, not givIn' dang what run
Into on the way. Polly SHE'D some
thin terrible jest afOre we got to the
pike an i come derned near bein'
throwed- An right there side the road
was this feller. all In a heap. Thinks
], you poor cuss, you must a tried to
stop that feller ON hossback an he
plunked you. That accounted fer the
second shot. The thing that worries all
Of US Is did the same man do the
sh0otin', or was there two Of 'em, one
waitin' down the cross-roads?"
Must have been rwo," said Jones.
thoughtfully. ''The same man couldn't
have got down there ahead of him.
that's sure. Did anybody go up to
Green Fancy to make inQuiries?''
"'Twasn't necessary. Mr.. Curtis
heard the shOoiin' an jest before we
left he sent a man out TO see what IL
was all about. The old skeezicks that's
been drivin' his car lately come down
half-dressed. He said nothIn' out Of
the way had happened up at Green
Fancy"
Its most mysterious" said Barnes.
glancing round the circle OF awed
faces. There must have been some
one lying In wait for these men. and
with a very definite purpose in mind"
STRIKES me-" said Jones. that these
two men were up To some kind of dirty
work themselves. else why did they
say they were goin' 10 Spanish Falls;
They were queer actin men, I'll have
to soy that"
His eyes met Barnes and there was
q queer light in them.
"You don't happen To know anything
about this, do you. Mr.. Barnes?" he de-
manded, suddenly.
CnNTTNV-En NEWT u-Erf.