The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1922-07-06

with her own sorrow over Uncle
Benny, that his father was gone-gone
from his guilt and his fear and his
disgrace? Or would he resent that
death which thus left everything un-
explained to him? He would be look
ing at the ring. That, at least, must
bring more joy than grief to him. He
would recognize that 1t must be his
mothers wedding ring; IL 1t told him
that his mother must be dead, 1t would
tell him that she had been married, or
had believed that she was married!
Suddenly she heard him calling her.
Miss Sheriff. I" his voice had a sharp
thrill Of excitement.
She hurried toward the u room.
She could see him through the door
way, bending over the card table with
the things spread out upon its top in
! front of him.
Yes"
He Strengthened; he was very pale.
Would coins that my father had In
his pocket all have been more than
twenty years old?"
She ran and bent beside him over
the coins. Twenty years !" she re-
peated. She was making out the dates
of the coins now herself; the markings
were erOded, nearly gone In some in
stances, but in every case enough re-
manned to make plain the date.
"Eighteen-ninety - 1894 - 1889" she
made them out. Her voice hushed
nI1narlu slNhnt InaS t. rnnopo ~ uhn
whispered.
He turned over and re-eXamined the
articles with hands suddenly steady
ing. There are two sets of things
here" he concluded. THE muller
and paper Of directions-they be-
lOnged to my father. The other things
1T isn't six months or less than six
months that they've lain in sand and
water to become worn like this; it's
twenty years. My father can't have
had these things; they We're some
where else, or some, one else had them.
He wrote his directions to that per-
~son-after June twelfth, he said, so it
was before June twelfth he wrote it /;
but We can't tell how long before. 1t
might have been in February, when he
disappeared; it might have been any
time after that. But If the directions
were written SO long ago, why weren't
the things sen to you before this?
Didn't the person have the things
then? Did we have to wait to get
them? Or-was it the instructions to
send them that he didn't have? Or, If
he had the instructions, was he wait
ing to receive word when they were
to be sent? You thought these things
proved my father was dead. / think
they prove he is alive! Oh, we must
think this out !"
He paced up and down the room she
sank into a chair, watching him. "The
first thing thHt we must do" he said
suddenly, "is to find out about the
watch. What is the phone number
of the telegraph officer"
She told him, and he went out to the
telephone; she sprang up to follow
him, but checked herself and merely
waited until he came back.
I've wired to Buffalo," he an
nounced. The Merchants exchange,
if it is still in existence, must have a
record of the presentation of the
watch"
"Then you'll stay here with US until
an answer comesP"
"If we get a reply by tomorrow morn
ing I'll wait till then. If not, I'll ask
you to forward it to me. l must see
about the trains and get back to Frank
fort. l can cross by boat from there
to Manitowoc-that will he quickest.
We must begin there, by trying to find
out who tent the package"
She helped him put the mufflcr and
the other articles into the box she no
ticed that the wedding ring was no
longer with them. He had taken that,
then; it had meant to him all that she
had known ii must mean. -.
In the morning she was up very
early; but Alan, the servants told her,
had risen before she had and had gone
out. The morning, after the cool north
ern night, was chill. She slipped a
sweater IN and went o on the veran-
da, looking about for him. An rides
cent haze shrouded the hills and the
bay in II she heard a ships bell strike
twice then another struck twice-then
another-and another-and another.
The haze thinned as the sun grew
warmer, showing the placid water of
the bay on which the ships stood dou-
BILE. She saw Alan returning, and
knowing from the direction from which
he came that he must have been to the
telegraph office. she ran to meet him.
"Was there an answer?' she inquired
eagerly.
He took a yellow telegraph shee
from his pocket and held 1t for her to
read.
watch presented Captain Caleb
Stafford, master OF propeller freighter
Marvin Halch for rescue of crew and
passengers of sinking steamer Winnie
bago Off Long point. Lake Erie"
She was breathing quickly In her ex-
element. "Caleb Stafford" she ex-
claimed. "Why. that was Captain Stat
ford of Stafford and Ramsdelll They
owned the Miwaka!"
YES" Alan said.
A great change had come over him
since last night he was under emotion
so strong that he seemed scarcely to
dare speak lest IL master him--a leap