Vernon Parish Democrat. (Leesville, La.) 1917-193?, 1920-11-04

head and the motion caused the eye
lids to flutter. Slowly the eyes opened,
and stared up into the face bending
over him. The wounded man breathed
heavily, the dull stare in his eyes
changing to a look Of bewildered in
teI1igence.
where am II" he asked thickly.
ooh, yes, remember; / was shot.
Who are your
II am Jim Westcott; do you remem-
Der meP'
The searching eyes evidenced no
sense of recollection.
"NO," he said, struggling to make
the words clear. 81 never heard that
name before"
Miss Donovan came forward, the
lamp in her hand, the light shining
full in her face.
"But you told me you were Mr..
Cavendish," she exclaimed, "and Mr..
WestcOtt was an old friend Of his
surely you must remembers"
He looked up at her, and endeav-
ored to smile, yet for the moment did
not answer. He seemed fascinated by
the picture she made, as though some
vision had suddenly appeared before
him.
I'll remember yOu," he said at
last. ''You-yOu are Miss Donovan;
I'll never forget you; but I never saw
this man befOre-I'm sure Of that"
"And am equally convinced as to
the truth of that remark" returned
WestcOtt "but why did you call your
self CavendishY'
Because that is my name-why
shouldn't I?'
"Why, see here, man." and West
colts voice no longer concealed his
indignation, "you no more resemble
Fred Cavendish than 1 do; there is
not a feature in common between
you"
Sired CavendishT"
Certainly; of New York; who do
you think we were talking aboutT'
1--WE had no chance to think. 1
claim my name is Cavendish, and it
is; but I've never once said 1 was
Fred Cavendish Of New York. If you
must know, / am Ferdinand Cav
endish Of Los Angeles"
Westcott permitted the mans head
to rest back on the floor, and he arose
to his feet. He felt dazed, stunned,
as though stricken sudden blow.
"Good Godv he exclaimed. "What
can all this mean? You came from
New York cityT'
"Yes; had been there a month at
tending to some business"
"And when you left for the coast,
you took the midnight train on the
New York Central?"
"Yes. I had intended taking an
earlier one, but was delayed"
"YOu bought return tickets at the
station"
"NO; I had return tickets; they had
to be validated"
"Then your name was signed to.
them; what is your usual signatures"
''F. Cavendish."
81 thought so. Stella, this has all
been a strange blunder, but it is per-
fectly clear how it happened. That
man BeatOn evidently had never seen
Frederick Cavendish. He was simply
informed that he would leave New
York on that train. He met this Cav
endish on board, perhaps even saw
his signature on the ticket, and Gull
tivated his acquaintance. The follow
never doubted but what he had the
right man."
The marshal of Haskell came out of
the bunk-house, and closed the door
carefully behind him. He was rather
proud of his nights's work, and felt
quite confident that the dlsarned Mexi-
cans locked within those strong log
walls, and guarded by Moore, with
loaded rifle acress his knee, would re-
main quiet until daylight. Naturally,
and ordinarily, Mr.. Brennan was con
siderable of a cynic, but just now he
felt in far more genial and sympa-
thetic mood.
"Jim's some man." he confided to
himself, unconsciously speaking aloud.
can the girls a nervy little thing-al-
mighty good lOOkin', too. reckon it'll
cost me a months salary fer weddin'
present, so maybe the jokes on me-"
His mind reverted to Mendez. give
thousand on the old cuss," lie NUT
tered gloomily, IAN somebody else got
the chance to pot him. Wen, by hooky,
whoever it was sure did a good job
it was tibet shotgun cooked his goose,
judgin' from the way his face was
peppered. Five thousand dollars-oh.
h-l!"
His eyes followed the outline of the
valley, able to distinguish the darker
silhouette of the cliffs outstanding
against the sky sprinkled with stars.
Far away toward the northern extrem-
ity dull red glow indicated the pres
ence of a small fire.
'Herders,@ Brennan soliloqpized, his
thought instantly shifting. "Likely to
be two, maybe three oy 'em out there;
an then there's them two on guard at
the head o. the trail. 1 reckon they're.
yOndprin' what oil fbiS varn ShOotfni