The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-10-14
CHAPTER TX. Yellow Jasmine.

furrowed through the brush above them, searching them out, messen- ger of gravity
 Ut ain't no laughin' match" said the sheriff. "Thet coon means mur- der I know the breed. gentlemen an I'm not stretchtin' the racrs- He's plumb, starin' mad right now. I know Hardin gets letters from St. Louis now an then. Yo' comin spells danger to that Humpy. Danger to his boss; his god; an danger, mebbe, in thet twisted brain of his, to his otheh god, the Butterfly Flower. I've heard thet the Butterfly Flower was wo'th a mint of money. Mebbe Humpy has thet in his head. Thinks you'll take it. But one idee l know he's got, an thet is to kill we-all."
 FWhat about the shots?"
 Don't mean a thing in this neck of the swamp. Who's to hear them, except Hardin? Mind you, if Hardin thought Humpy was tryin' to shoot us up, he wouldn't stand fo' it. No, suh, not if he did plan to Kill th1s Forsythe. But Humpy does all the providin' fo' Hardin, an Hardin'll jest think he's after rabbits or shoot in at a mark. No, suh, we got 10 git thet niggah, an we got to get him befo' nightfall. or he'll git us.''
 
 Hardin?'' asked Cairns You say his. cabin isn't far away"
 Likely as not he's off in the swamp, moonin' around, lookin' for kidney-root or some one of the herbs he uses. He's partly deaf, ennyway, an when he's got something In hand he's deaf. dumb an blind to enny- thing outside. We may try it later But I'm goin' to git that Humpy. No niggeh can shoot at me an git away with it.''
 It was apparent that the sheriff thought no more of killing Humpy than he would of shooting a mad dos. aside from any question of self-pre- servation. But how he was gong to do it did not seem clear.
 tAll I want to do is to git down close to the bank sos to git a glimpse of him." said the sheriff. up to forty yards I'm nigh as good with this six-gun as Humpy and his rifle. l want you to draw his fire. While I snake down you interest him with a
 hat or two. Then, when I whistle soft, shake the bushes round to you- left as if some one was wigglin' throuhg 'em.''
 He went off burrowing in the muck, his cleaned gun stuck in the back of his belt. blowing a way for himself, using his knowledge of the
 morass to put hand or knee or elbow On some spot that kept him from sinking, never stopping, wriggling with the dexterity and swiftness Of a huge snake. The exhibition of the hats brought three bullets. making their perforations in the felt. Then came 3 low whsle.
 Stretched out fiat, slanting athwart inc nf tha 1r11nck'S flank, Cairns reached gingerly upward ana clutched at the roots of the spr1ngy brush that crowned the knoll and shook them. A missile swished through, barely missing his knuckles. Then another, and then the sound of the sheriff's revolver. followed by a queer cry. horase yet somehow shriII the yelp of an animal rather than sound of a. human being. And they could hear something thrashing on the other side of the slough. Then l a, dull splash.
 "All right" said the sheriff. "I got | him. Now we'll git thet log.'' He was close to the log when they strengthened up and saw him. Across the sluggish slough eddies were spreading. And a quantity of the big bubbles formed and broke, as if the ee1s were gathering to a feast and disturbing the muddy ooze.
 ''It was Humpy, suah enough" " said the sheriff. ''He got right anx- ious when you shook thet brush an showed himself the same way. He must hev been lyin' on his stomach in some jimson weed. Ennyway, the weed waggled, an I let him have it. Must have got him head-on," he said | in a professional manner. He comes | f1oppin' out on the bank, 1ettin' out one whoop, tryin' to stand on his head, fo' all the world like chicken with it's head cut off, sp1nn1n' in 1 circles an then Topped inter the | slough! The weeds hev got him now
 an the eeIs get him later. Dern his l black hide, tryin' to shoot the sheriff 1 of this county"
 1 They got the log and found that ii | reached across the slough. setting il l in the sliny grooves where the blanks | had lain and begging it on one stde l with broken boughs from the brush 1 wood so that it would not be so likely l to roll and throw them off. They were already wet throgh with slime and l water, and so hitched across the log | astride. Cairns and Blatch1ey were conscious of a close grip of their hands and a careful balancing o1
 their bodies as they made the primi- l tive bridge, the feeling of the corpse of the hunchback, somewhere in the 1 ooze, strong with them. But the 1 sheriff was nonchalan. l Reckon we-alr can pick up hi. | boat along this side of the slough. ,
 he said as they stood on the farther | side. Its frmer ground here o1 l the island, an we'll git the boat Iarel | and row round the loop.
 Reckon we'll hev passenger 9
 he asked, looking keenly at Cairns "1 don't know if we can take Hardi1
 along unless you develop somethin
 mo definite than you told me"
 T may be able to furnish you witt that, sheriff. said Cairns.
 The cabin was built of logs, with
 clay chimney at one end. One side o l the crude edifce was smothered in vine of yellow jasmine. The sheriff knocked on the doc and entered without waiting for reply. Cairns and Blatchley wer
 both surprised at the neatness or m, place.
 An old mahogany -sideboard stoot
 against one wall of the main room