Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1922-10-20
The Big Muskeg
By
VICTOR ROUSSEAU
rrwsfT$ SB SrAr

| crept up behind the rocks till was a
hundred PAGES AVA. Joe Bostocks
back was turned. l drew a bead on
his heart and fired. They bath fell
down. l ran back to the store
went to bed, Jules didna see me, ana
Molly hadn't come hame."
He groaned and hung his head upon
his breast. The voice Of Payne cut the
silence like Il knife.
you are telling this Of your own
free VIII, Meponald?" he asked.
AS God is my witness! I'm telin
this because my tines come now, ana
l. | wouldna have win Carruthers swing
for that red fox yonder."
"YNhat was the nature Of Mr.. Bow
S yer's hold on you, McDonald?"
l The crown attorney stood up with q
! wry smile.
Il object to that question: he said
n quietly.
v, IN put it in this way, then: why
Il did you hate Joe BostockT'
- AYE, I'll tell that, too" answered
III Mcl bDlulU, JOt was Az
to he was a young man, long ago. "A
Ill good girl. A sweet lass from my ane
en town in Scotland. They were Doth
young. They quarreled. She wanted
m TO yex him. She made up a story ina
O. showed her to be a bud woman. she
ne went too far. Joe believed her. oht
went TO him and told him that She
lied. He wouldna believe her woru
Because the foolish girl had manutac
tured p~roofs~-false proofs; n the ~
Ing ~scoundrel whom she trus'e'
claimed they were true.
"He blackmailed her after Joe ma
\ left her. She was at her wits END. Oh
IN went to his office to beg him 10 te
linn the truth. l happened to go ther
1M | overheard. She became frenzlea al
1HM drew Il revolver on him. lie struc
IHl her, He got her by the throat. lie ho
III y paper.weight on the table, a shar
edged metal thing like II cleaver.
struck him once with 1t. 1t split n
\ skull from side to side he dled. "
lG While | watched him he died.
INA 'The girl was mad wi fear. to'
Wfl hor ava'. | married her, for Joe n
vW divorced her In the States. But I'll
81 fox. Bower, knew. In my folly
~ told him oil. He said hed De
N friend. He got me my position az
nortoqe I've lived there ever since
first with my wife, then with my Tea
"A, and always with Molly-wlth MO
<,xM her child a~nd-Joe's"
The girls cry ram wildly thro'
y the courtroom. She reeled ana
toward him. Wilton, unhindel
stooped down from the loci and
norted her. She chung to him, W
aved and helpless. Nobody interyei
Even when Bowyer sprang forw'
maid, though the Judge raped his q
smortly. II seemed only an autom
mr. n~erfunctory act, for he made no
'Ye're rort 10 pie' t., " no oiled eer,
~ .He didn't die, you fool-you
-, fool. Lord, you've been a laug
500 stock these twenty years He's
~ 40 in court, and he's been blackma
mo as he blackmailed you. u
IN. master-forger and safe-Dreah
= !. .a'1 though we didn't need you for III
stem forward! Look at his head'
,.o Donald. and then see If you relhel
,eeless him!
,Sero'd Hes spoken true! The old +
,.ho snoken true, I've handled many a
90" and woman in my time, but God
-, ord Golf. they say, can't handle n
.aot 7 He swung around on his aecomp
.Keep your wits, Phayre!" he he
=, 49, IN Wild derlsion. "You didn't know
!. e,,od loo died. You're only the thlef
49,, % common thief | hired to work 10
"a ho Won won't swing for this. Neithe
.,thars 7 I took my chances-but by
and I couldn't handle a fool!
ohance hey rushed toward him, but
sh, and yer was quichei h.o,,g,
.ho courtroom Wilton saw that MOL
:, snow already mercifully unconscious
s.p. It But he knew that all the past
90 tho hecome dimmed with her awakei
orv (THE ENID