The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1920-01-30

one KNOWS Were ne is, 0e00 or alive
"De good Lord! An de oil jede
never set her free?"
The lawyer shook his head, word
evidently falling MIN.
"BI.t are you absolutely certain Q
this?" l broke in impatiently. "Hav
you searched the rec0rds?"
mot only searched them. Knox, bu
before he left for the north on thi
last trip Beaucaire was In my office
and 1 practically forced him to &C
knowledge the negligence. He ever
authorized me to draw up the neces
sary papers for him to sign on his re
turn-for both Della and the girl
They are in my desk now, unexecuted
There is no mistake-Rene is legally
slave. together with her mother"
my God u exclaimed. "Could any
one conceive a more horrible position
Here is a young girl, educated, refined
of more than ordinary attractiveness
Throckmorton tells me, brought up
amid every comfort, and led to be
lieve herself the honored daughter OF
the house, awakening in an instant to
the fact that she is a slave, with ne
gro blood in her veins-a mere chat.
tel, owned body and soul by gam
bier, won In card game. and to be
sold to the highest bidder. Haines,
I tell you Kirby knew all this-he
either suspected, or had discovered
through some source that Rene Beau
caire had never been set free. For
some reason he desired possession of
both Beaucaire girls; they meant
more to him than either the money or
the property. This card game gave
| him one; the other"
"Eioise, you mean? Did the fellow
threaten herr"
"Here is what he said sneeringly;
gu can judge yourself what he meant:
She's worth fifty thousand dollars by
her mothers will. and intend to win
her If / can, fair means or FOUL"
Haines did not speak for some mo-
ments, his eyes on my face. Then he
paced back and forth across the floor,
finally stopping before the fire.
''This is as near hell as anything
ever knew" he said, "and so far as
/ can see there is no legal way out
of 1t. We are utterly helpless to as
sist."
eve are not" I answered holly, 'if
we are men. There may be no legal
way in which we can beat this villain,
but there is an Illegal one, unless we
are already too late, and I propose
TO xx-ha iasn ma IA
You are sure the girls are still at the |
plantation house--that they know |
nothing of this condition."
81 have reason to believe so. Della |
was buying provisions at the Landing |
yesterday; / talked with her a mo-
ment."
"And you said that Kirby and Car
yer were only in town for one night,
leaving the next morning on a IL
boat for st. Louis. My idea is ley
were not quite ready to take posses
sion: that they have gone to st. Louis
TO file the papers, and will come back
with officers prepared to execute
them. This means that we must work
fast to get out of their way"
what do you propose doing?"
LET me ask a question first. Is 1t
rue that Eloise Beaucaire is heiress
% fifty thousand dollars through her
estate"
Yes; invested most of it,"
'In what?"
"New Orleans property principally" {
"Then it is safe enough whatever Z
happens. The only thing we can do
s this: tell those girls and the mother ,
he whole truth-tell them al once, be- !
ore Kirby can return, and then help /
hem to get out of this country. 1t +
$ not necessary for EIoise to CO. un- .
ess she desires to, but there is nc i
Their safe course for Della and Rene. h
hey must reach northern state be- {
ore Kirby can lay hands on them. .
'ould Della pass for white woman?" a
"Not in the South: still she could Z
ravei as Renes maid. But l do 10, u
elieve it Is possible for the two (, n
scape in that way, Knox. Understand.
d be willing to risk il if there were N
ny show. How can it be done? Or q
he average at this time of year there :,
mt steamboat along here once :
Ionth. If we did get them onto +,
pat they would have TO travel n
raight south as far as the Ohio. y
irby wouldn't be more than a day
: two behind them, with friends on u
very boat on the river. Illinois is no !,
zee state for fugitive slaves-they
light just as well be caught in Mis- :.
,uri as over there. There is not one 8
lance in q thousand that they make q
"And less than that If they remain :,
ere for Kirby to get his hands on" =,
retOrted bitterly. "Now look here, -
aines. i am going to carry out this fo
an alone If you will not back me in =,
/ am not talking about steam /;
,ats; they could travel by night. and j,
de along shore during the day. All -,
ey would need would be two negro !,
rsmen, sufficient food, and boat =,
& enough to carry them safely. You
i've small boats. surely?" no
Il got one, Massa Knox burst out 81
tie eagerly. "She's down by de ~,
)uth oh de creek, sab, an she sure 70