Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1920-02-06

mitted, as though surprised. "Gosh,
!. must'r hit the cuss harder than
!! thought-fair caved in his he'd, the
pore devil. / reckon it's no great loss
ter nobody"
But are you sure he is dead? That
will put different aspect on all this,
! Kennedy. exclaimed gravely, facing
him as he arose to his feet. "That and
the belief / now have that Kirby has
already contaminated his plan of mar
riage with Miss Beaucaire."
You mean he has"
"YeS, that he has forced the girl
to assent to some form of ceremony,
probably legal in this country. l over.
heard enough between him and Rale to
suspect it, at least and she is even
now under the influence of some drug.
She hasn't spoken, nor does she seem
to know what is going on about her.
They strapped her into the saddle"
'The h-'they did"
st has been a hellish affair al the
wa. through, AID the only way in
which l can serve her, if this is so, is
by getting her aN.sy-as far away as
possible, and where this devil can
never find her again. What bothers
me right now is your case"
mine? Lord, what's the matter with
me?'
Considerable, I should say. You
can't be left here alone TO face the re-
suit or this nights work. If Gaskins
is dead from the blow you struck him
these two fellows will swear your life
away just for revenge. Even if you
told the whole story, what chance
would you have? That would only ex-
pose us, and still fail to clear you. 1t
would merely be your word against
theirs-you would have no witnesses,
unless we were caught"
Il reckon thet's true; wasn't
thinkin' bout it,
Then there is only the one road
TO take, Tim" | insisted. ''We've got
to strike the trail together"
WHARF"
II cannot answer that now; haven't
thought it out yet. We can talk that
matter over as we ride. / have a map
with me. which VIII help us decide the
best course to choose. The first thing
is to get out Of this neighborhood be-
yond pursuit. If you only had horse"
That's two critters down in the
crick bottom. I reckon tibet Kirby an
GaSkinS muSt'r tied 'em thar"
Good then you will go; you agree
with me?'
''Thar amt nuthin' else fer me ter do
-hangin' amt never bin no hobby o.
mine"
"Then let's start" decisively. "Pick
up one of those horses down on the
bottom and turn the other one loose.
I'll lead on down the trail and yGD can
meet us at the ford-once across the
creek we can decide which way to
travel; there must be four hours of
darkness yet"
/ picked up the trailing rein of my
horse and slipped my arm through 1t.
Tim faded away in the gloom like
vanishing shadow. The young woman
next me, strapped securely to her sad
die, made no movement, exhibited no
sign of interest; her head and body
dropped, yet her hands grasped the
pOmmel as though she still retained
some dim conception of her situation.
The face under her hood was bent for
ward and shaded and her eyes, al
though they seemed open, gave no heed
to my presence. / touched her hands
thank God, they were moist and
warm, but when l spoke her name 1T
brought no response.
l started forward on foot, leading
my horse, the others trailing after
through the darkness. Knowing moth
ing of the way, I was thus better able
to pick the path, yet I found this not
difficult, as it was rather plainly out
lined by the forest growth on either
side. The trail was clay with few
small stones embedded in it, and the
horses made little noise in their de-
scent, except once when Elsie'S animal
slipped and sent a lOosened bit of rock
rolling down to splash in some pool be-
low. We came to the bank of the creek
at last, a narrow stream, easily ford
able, but with a rather steep shore line
beyond, and waited there moment I'M
til Tim emerged from out the black
woods at our right and joined us. He
was mounted, and, believing the time
had arrived for more rapid movement,
/ also swung UP into saddle and ranged