Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1922-12-29

1'99 Il wv
III Want the Truth. Did Liberty lie
to Me7"
that when he Is with me, believe In
him, but the moment he Is gone my
faith has gone with him. l 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
brace, that fellow makes me angry
with myself. Confound him, he almost
convinces me at times that have no
stability Of character. And yet am
fond Of him. / am always glad to see
him come. And let me say that he IL
Illustrates one truth very clearly-that
ability consists mostly In the fervor
with which we 60 at q thing. / sup
pose he has cost you considerable"
ooh, not very much. I am fond OF
him too, and I believe he is going to
be of much help to me-"
swell, I've lost five hundred this
morning, but can stand 1t. have Or
dered the mules hitched up, and am
going to drive with you about the
plantation. I am going to show you
government here In the delta"
During the drive the old gentleman
was laxative, sometimes with the
school mans hesitating precision, but
more often as the free companion,
/ agreeable rather than discursive.
BRACE evinced In everything keen In
terest, but 1t was not real. His heart
was not with him. It 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
ing in seeming idleness to boatmen
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 a house built of periwinkle
shells. On the opposite shore, and
several miles below the Generals
j home, there lay a great wood Of cy-
press and thick tangle Of salt cedar,
a sort of everglade, marsh with hum
dreds Of knoll-lslands here and there
/ rising among the bayous. Here was In
| deed an outlaws paradise, for BRACE
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 rope,
| one end of 1t hangman's moose, and
he smiled at it, grim and firm Of faith.
Sometimes his canoe would stall In the
carpet of scum. But he forced his
way through into a narrow and unob-
structed channel. Now he padded
swiftly. In front of him a great ALL
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. BRACE was
wish to fire it, 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 low
bank he saw 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
brushy tangle? He caught hold of a
weed and pulled the canoe up closer,
took hold Of the pole and now he
found lower Stat to which the wires
were also attached. Farther along he
discovered sort of hinge attached to
a snag almost hidden by briers.
"Tll 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 narrow
channel
It was easy enough to shove through
the weeds and to enter the new canal