The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1919-05-08
CHAPTER xvI-continued.

this grave an put up the headstone an
then he tor me the story. He turned
the poor gal out o. doors. God O
Israel! It was in the night-yis, sir
it was in the night that he sent her
away. Goldarn him. He didn't have
no more heart than a grasshopper-no,
sir-nOt bit. 1 could "a Drained him
with my shovel. but I didn't.
81 found out where the gal had gone
an 1 fOllered her-yis I did-found
her in the poorhouse way over on
Pussley Hill-uh huhI She jes' put
her arms round my neck an cried an
cried. 1 guess twas cause 1 looked
Find o. friendIy-uh huh! I toll her
she should come right over to our
house an stay jest as long as she
wanted to as soon as she got we'll
Wis, sir, did
"She was sick al! summer long
kind O. out O. her head, We know, an I
used to go over hOssback an take
things fer her to eat. An one day
when 1 was over there they was won
derin' what they was g0in' to do with
her little baby. l took it in my arms
an I'll be gol dummed if it didn't grab
hold o my nose an hang on like a
puppy to root. When they tried to
take it away it grabbed its fingers into
my whiskerS an hoIlered like a pam
ther-yfs, sir. Wal, ye know I jes'
fetched that little baby boy home in
my arms. ay uh My wife scolded me
like Sam Hill-yIs, sir-she had five
of her own. toI her 1 was goin' to
take it back in a day er two but after
it had been in the house three days ye
couldn't "a pulled it away from her
with a windlass.
we brought him up an he was al
wuss a good boy. We called him
Enoch-EnOch Rone-did ye ever hear
the name?''
"'N0.'
81 didn't think twas likely but I'm
alwuss hopin'.
EARLY that fail Kate got better an
left the pOorhOuse afoOt Went away
sOmewheres- nobody knew where.
Some said she'd crossed the lake an
gone away over into York state, some
said she'd drowned herself. By'm by
we heard that she'd gone way over
into st. Lawrence county where SiIas
Wright lives an where young Grim
shaw had settled down after he got
married.
oval, bout five year ago the squire
buried his second wife-there It's over
In there back O. Hates with the little
speckled angel on it. Nobody had seen
the squire outside o. his house for
years until the funeraI-he was Grip
pied SO with rheumatic. After that he
lived all lone in the big house with OF
Tom Iinney an his wife, who've
worked there for bout forty year, I
guess.
f, oval. sir, fust we knew Kate was
there in the house livin' with her IA
tner. We wouldn't "a knowed it, then,
If 1t hadn't been that Tom Linney
come over one day an said he guessed
the OF squire wanted to see memo,
sir. we wouldn't-fer the squire amt
sOciable an the neighbors never dark
en- his door. She must "a come in the
night, jest as she went-nobody see
her go an nobody see her come, an
that's a fact. Wal, one day las fall
after the leaves was off an they could
see a corner O. my house through the
AHsheS, Tom was walkin' the OF man
round the room. All to once he
stopped an p'inted at my house
through the winder an KEEP p'intin'.
Tom come over an said he ca'Ilated
the squire wanted to see me. So
went there. Kate met me at the door.
Gosh! How old an kind o. broke down
she looked But knew her the min
ute I set my eyes on her-uh huh-an'
she knew me-yis, sir-she smiled an
tears come to her eyes an she patted
my hand like she wanted to tell me
that she hadn't forgot, but she never
said a word-not a word. The OF
squire had the palsy, so t he couldn't
use his hands an his throat was para
lyzed-cOuldn't speak nor nothin'.
Where do We suppose he was when I
found him?"
''In bed?" asked
"No, sir-no, stree. He was in hell
that's where lie was-reg'lar oil fash
Toned, down-east hell, burnin' with fire
an brimstun, that he'd mad the agency
for an had recommended to every sin
ner in the neighborhood. He was set
tin in his room. God o. Isr'el! You
OrtO "a seen the motions he made with
his hands an the way he tried to
speak when I went in there, but all 1
could hear was jest u long yell an
kind of rattle in his throat. Heavens
an airth! how desperft ne tried to
spit out the thing that was gnawin'
his vitais. Agin an ag'in he'd try to
tell me. Lord God how he did work -
"All to once it come acrost me what
he wanted-quick as We could say scat
He wanted to have Hates headstun
took down an put away-that's what
he wanted. The stun was kind o. lay
in on his stummick an painin' of him
day an night. He couldn't stan it.
He knew that he was goin' to die purity
soon an that Kate would come here
an see it an that everybody would
see her standin'. here by her own grave,
an 1t worried him. 1t was kind O. like
fire in his belly.
''I guess, too, he couldn't bear the
idee of layin' down fer his~las' sleep
beside that hell hole he'd dug fer Kate
no. siri
oval. ye know. mister, I jes' shook
my head an never let on that knew