The vidette. (Iuka, Tishomingo County, Miss.) 1912-1967, 1923-03-15

boar, his short mustache stuck out and
his heavy eyebrows looked like great
hairy caterpiuars crawling across his
lower forehead. In his dress there was
a wild touch, barbaric aspect. Slowly
he came forward
"This is General Bethpage, heh?"
"That is my name, yes. What do
you want with me?"
"Whut l want; heb? come TO pol
ogize to think them mule be NINE"
"Well, go on away. don't want any
apology from you"
mo? You put pistol at me. That
was in Louisiana. This is Mississp'.
An tell you here you hat turn car
petbagger."
"Whatl If General Andrew Jack
son should arise out of his grave and
tell me that, do you know what I
would say to him?'
'You would beg hees pardon as you
will mine, heh?"
81 would say to him as now say to
you: You are an infamous liar"
Drace sprang between them and
seized the man by the wrist; a dirk
fell from his hand.
"Stand back, General" cried Drace.
"There is not going to be fight here.
Stand back, lobe !"
The dark-faced man looked Drace In
the eye,
Monsieur was YER strong. Butt
see him some other day"
Turning, the fellow made off.
"Now, who the devil was that"
asked Drace.
"That, my dear Drace," replied the
General, twas the fellow you asked
about the other day-Stepho la vitte."
To BRACE this encounter with Stepho
la Vitte, the father of the girl he
loved-and the outlaw upen whom he
had sworn to wreak vengeance-was
disturbing indeed. The General, how
ever, was not at all upset by the fact
that he had been barely saved from
Stepho's knife, and when a short time
later they boarded the Bumblebee on
their return, he gripped Major Pewitt's
hand and said:
major, Mr.. brace and I have in our
precious possession three quarts Of old
Tobes wild grape"
"Ha-which is as much as to say
that you have three quarts stewed out
of the heart of Venus. I'll find Haw-
kins and the four of us will gather in
the Texas and-and flatter the stars,
by CAD But lobe lied-said he didn't
have any of the old stock left"
"And liars wine is sweet, my dear
Major. Come, Virgil, my boy, put all
brooding out of your mind. Brooding
is for the poet when the nag is tired,
and not for us. Wen have night Of
1t, and then Wen return to respectable
servitude and slow moral decay. My
dear Major, lead on. We follow"
The remainder of the trip back to
Bethpage was a matter of moral free
dom at the gaming table for the Gen
eral. For Drace it was occupied with
the hot struggle between thoughts of
his grim mission against Stepho, and
his longing for Nadine. For the time
being, however, the beautiful girl who
had rescued him from the burning hut
triumphed She had promised to see
him once more on Thursday. He
would keep the tryst.
Presently the Bumblebee made Beth
page Landing. And the Generals hos
pitality was at once so warm and so
gracious that BRACE felt no hesitancy
in remaining for the time being under
his roof-until Shottles return, at
least That night after dinner when
his wife. Tycie, had left, the old gen.
tleman lit cigar and for long time
sat smoking in silence; and BRACE was
silent, too, looking through the lattice
at the moon, loves slow timepiece
stopped and stagnant in the sky.
"Virgil?"
"Yes, General"
"Have you a pistol, sir?"
"No; 1 had one, but lost it."
"Well, provide yourself with anoth-
er. In saving me from deadly assault
you have MORALLY offended old La
Vitte. He is in no wise afraid but
neither is he gallant, and would shoot
you without warning. You told me,
you remember, of your appointment to
meet old Spence tomorrow. I haven't
any too much confidence in him; he
might play you into the hands of
Stepho. and I advise you not to go
fishing with him"
spence No that's not the name
Oh the old fellow I'm going with. His
mime is-Spillers, 1 think"
don't know man of that name In
the neighborhood But, anyway, arm
yourself and keep sharp lookout"
ana then they sat and smoked in
silence, inhaling the dewy breath of
In .s.~l.A