Courier Democrat., 1919-03-13
RvING hAEHELLER
AUTHOR OF
eBEN HOLDEN DRl AND DARREL OF THE BLESSED ISLES.
KEEPING up WITH LIZZIE. ETC. ETC


Uraileu Denlnu us.
We heard quick stir in the bushes
by the roadside
whats that?" Purvis demanded in
half-whisper of excitement. We
stopped.
Then promptly a voice-a voice
which 1 did not recognize-broke the
silence with these menacing words,
sharply spoken:
Your. money or your life!"
"Mr. Purvis" whirled his horse and
slashed him up the hill. Glancing
backward, saw him lose stirrup and
fall and pick himself up and run as
if his life depended on it. l saw the
! stranger draw his pistol. A gun went
off in the edge of the bushes close by.
The flash of fire from it's muzzle
leaped at the stranger. The horses
reared and plunged and mine threw
me in clump of small peoples by the
roadside and dashed down the hill.
My fall on the stony siding had
stunned me and I lay for three or four
seconds, as nearly as can estimate it,
in strange and peaceful dream. Why
did dream of Amos Grimshaw COM
ing to visit me again, and why, above
all, should it have seemed to me that
enough things were said and done in
| that little flash of a dream to fill a
whole day-enough of talk and play
| nd %h0 hN1
ing with talk on the haymow? Again
and again have wondered about that
dream. came to and lifted my head
and my consciousness swung back upon
the track of memory and took up the
thread of the day, the briefest remove
from where it had broken.
I peered through the bushes. The
light was unchanged. could see
quite clearly. The horses were gone.
It was very still. The stranger lay
helpless in the road and figure was
bending over him. 1t was a man with
a handkerchief hanging over his face
with holes cut opposite his eyes. He
had not seen my fall and thought as
I learned later, that 1 had ridden away.
His gun lay beside him, its stock
toward me. I observed that a piece
of wood had been split off the lower
side of the stock. l jumped to my feet
and seized a stone to hurl at him As
did so the robber fled with gun in
hand. If the gun had been loaded I
suppose that this little history would
never have been written. Quickly I
hurled the stone at the robber I re-
member it was a smallish stone about
the size of hens egg. saw it Craze
the side Of his head. I saw his hand
touch the place which the stone had
grazed. He reeled and nearly fell and
recovered himself and ran on, but the
little stone had put the mark of Cain
upon him.
The stranger lay still in the road
l lifted his, head and dropped it quick
ly with strange sickness. The feel
of it and the way it fell back upon the
ground when let go scared me, for l
knew that he was dead. The dust
around him was wet. I ran down the
hill a few steps and stopped and
whistled to my filly. I could hear her
answering Whinny far down the dusty
road and then her hoofs as she gal
| 1oped toward me. She came within a
few feet of me and stood snorting. I
caught and mounted her and rode to
the nearest house for help. On the
way l saw why she had stopped. A
number of horses We're feeding on the
roadside near the log house where An
drew Champion lived. Andrew had
just unloaded some hay and was back
ing out of his barn. I hitched my
filly and jumped on the rack saying
"Drive up the road as quick as you
can. A man has been murdered"
What fearful word it was that
had spoken! What a panic it made in
the little dooryard! The man gasped
and jerked the reins and shouted to
his horses and began swearing. The
woman uttered little scream and the
children ran crying to her side.
The physical facts which are further
related to this tragedy are Of little
moment to me now The stranger was
dead and we took his body to our home
and my uncle set out for the constable.
Over and over again that night told
the story of the shooting. We went to
the scene of the tragedy with lanterns
and fenced it off and put some men
on guard there.
In the morning they found the rob-
ber's footprints in the damp dirt of
the road and measured them. The
whole countryside was afire with ex-
element and searching the woods and
ields for the highwayman.
The stranger was buried. There was
nothing upon him to indicate his name
or residence. Weeks passed with no
news of the man who had slain him. T
had told Of the gun with piece of
wood broken out of it's stock, but no
one knew of any such weapon in or
near Lickitysplit
One day Uncle Peabody and drove
up to Grimshaw's to make a payment
| Inf Il