Middletown transcript., 1922-06-24

that. There ain't nobody except me
and you and Kitty knows. It's Jest
bad luck, Wilton"
Joe could never sense treachery nor
bring himself to believe In its possi-
bility; and If that weakness had kept
him, In the main. a poor man, it had
bound his friends to him with unbreak-
able bonds.
AT the best it's gross negligence"
said Wilton. "Those surveyors
scamped their work. accepted their
reports. couldn't 60 out with the
transit and aneroid and follow them
all up to check their results. But 1
might have sounded Big Muskeg. I
didn't" His voice chOked. Joe, II
you have any sense, you'll fire me
first,". he said.
Joe BOstOck laid his hands on the
other mans shoulders and the humor-
GUS smile came on his face. swell, l
guess not. Wilton" he said. "You
amt to blame. You've done all that
mortal man could do. The Missatibi
couldn't have been built ut all with
out you. Fire you? Why, Kitty'd have
my life If l dared suggest such a
thing"
Wilton frowned involuntarily Mt the
reference to the pretty young wife
whom Joe BOstOck had married in
Winnipeg the year before. JOe's first
marriage had been unhappy; 1t had
been long ago. and Wilton knew there
had been a separation. though Joe
was always reticent about that.
Kitty was five and thirty years
younger than Joe, and she had inter-
Nened into fast friendship Of more
thnn n decade between Joe and Will
ton. 1t made difference, as it always
does. though Joe had sworn 1t should
not, and Kitty thought the world of
Wilton.
Wilton could never understand his
secret feeling about Kitty. She was
devoted to Joe. Perhaps that was
what lay beneath his latent antago-
nism toward her: He was jealous Of
her. He was jealous Of a woman's
love for Joe.
II guess mott" said Joe Bostock
again. pressing his hand hard down
on WiltOn's shoulder
And, in that instant, Wilton heard
the crack of rifle, and felt violent
blow on the upper part of the left arm.
which knocked him to the ground. AS
he fell, Joe BOstock pitched forward
upon him.
Twice Joe's lips quivered, as If he
was trying to speak. Then the lower
jaw dropped and the eyes rolled up
ward. A grayish pallor crept over the
face.
Wilton saw that Joe's mackinaw had
n tiny tear in it, over the breast. A
trickle of blood seeped through the
cloth. He wrenched the garment open
with his right hand. pulled up the
sweater, and tore the shirt apart. The
heart, fluttering like wounded bird,
stopped under his hand. Joe sighed
once,~but he never stirred again. The
bullet had passed clean through Joe
Bostock's heart from the back. And,
as he tried to raise Joe's body, Wilton
that the same bullet had
broken his left arm, which hung limp
from the shoulder.
He sprans to his feet, mad
wrath giving back to him his ebbing
strength. He glared about him, but
it was impossible to ascertain from
where the SHOT had come. He could
not even locate the direction within
a hundred degrees, for Joe had been In
the act of turning. Nobody was in
sight, and the woods were silent.
His believing call Of fury that went
echoing through the trees elected no
answer, He tore strips from his hand
kerchief, holding it between his teeth.
md, with his left hand on his knee.
knotted them about a stick and i'm
provised a tournlquet. The blood was
squirting down his sleeve In jets, the