The Elk Mountain pilot., 1922-10-05

1|4y u N :
n Want the Truth. Did Liberty Lie
to Met"
that when he is with me, believe In
him, but the moment he is gone my
faith has gone with him. I have had
much experience with men, Mr.. Drace,
in the army and elsewhere. but my
wife's nephew is the most-I don't
know how to define him. Let me
thank you for protecting him in the
presence of my wife, and regret that
I may have seemed In doubt. But
Drace, that fellow makes me angry
with myself. Confound him. he almost
convinces me at times that have no
stability of character. And yet I am
fond of him. am always glad to see
him come. And let me say that he H.
lustrates one truth very clearly-that
ability consists mostly in the fervor
with which we go at thing. I sup
pose he has cost you considerable"
'Oh, not very much. 1 am fond Of
him too, and believe he is going to
be of much help to me-"
"Well, I've lost five hundred this
morning, but 1 can stand it. have or
dered the mules hitched up, and am
going to drive with you about the
plantation. l am going to show you a
government here in the delta"
During the drive the old gentleman
was talkative, sometimes with the
school mans hesitating precision, but
more often as the free companion
agreeable rather than discursive
Drace evinced in everything keen in
terest, but it was not real. His heart
was not with him. 1t was In New Or
leans, in a narrow street where boards
were nailed across a door.
From what he had been able to
gather from the General and by talk
and to men along the River, Drace
confirmed the information snatched by
Shottle from the label on the French
mans wine case-namely, that old
Stepho had a haunt somewhere in the
neighborhood. A shrewd old negro had
said that the outlaw lived in the
swamp, in house built Of periwinkle
shells. On the opposite shore, and
several miles below the Generals
home, there lay great wood Of cy-
press and q thick tangle Of salt cedar,
a sort of everglade, marsh with hun
dreds of knoll-islands here and there
rising among the bayous. Here was In
deed an outlaws paradise, for Drace
was told that not nearly all its lanes
and crooked byways Of brown water
had been explored. Herein he began
his search for old Stepho, day after
day penetrating farther and farther In
to this moss-hanging wild. He did not
confide in General Bethpage, for his
mission was sacred unto himself alone,
and by himself alone must 1t be ac-
complished.
At his feet in the canoe lay a rope
one end of it hangman's moose, and
he smiled at 1t, grim and firm of faith.
Sometimes his canoe would stall sn the
carpet of scum. But he forced his
way through into narrow and unob-
structed channel. Now he padded
swiftly. In front of him a great alli-
gator arose and sank. the canoe graz
ing his scaly back. With a shrek great
birds flew, Tapping low. their long legs
stretched out behind them. Drace was
armed with revolver, but did not
wish to fire 1t. caution warning him.
When he ceased for time to paddle,
how still everything was!
The adventurer liked to feel that no
one had ever been there before. But
now suddenly something caught his
eye. In the green tangle on a low
bank he saw a pole with wires strung
to 1t, sort of gate. The wires were
covered with vines, trained about them.
But for what purpose, here in this
bJushy tangle? He caught hold of
weed and pulled the canoe up closer,
took hold of the pole and now he
found lower slat to which the wires
we're also attached. Farther along he
discovered sort of hinge attached to
a snag almost hidden by briers.
'rIl open this gate and see what lies
beyond" he unused, drawing the canoe
back to the other end. He pulled at
the pole, and it yielded. The gate
opened. and through the weeds that
appeared to have been bent by the
passing Of a boat, he saw a narrow
channel.
1t was easy enough to shove through
the weeds and to enter the new canal.
Soon 1t broadened. winding about
among the enormous cypress trees.
Now he came upon a widening that
looked like millpond. except that in
the midst of 1t arose an island Of tall