Show eftimi dam cooper 90 affy iff bervice CHAPTER IX continued and with it hurried inter ir views running messengers clanging hn ha miners find and then on board the train which carried the three men buck back to Bell Bellu alne lne were six long coffin like boxes boci ench each with its excess baggage tag attil attached ched tho the premium of speedy transportation A truck awaited hem tit nt tho ali station anti bud met bart with a grimy bunch of men in tile the distance a great circular stockade blockade of bristling wire had find boon been built and around ii it stood a curious gaping crowd croud 1 to the stoc stockade kude hart bart went then to examine tile barbs to test tile the heavy wire studded gate nil and stepping inside to regard the lie possibilities and impossibilities ties of escapa once more lie he turned to ill ile be back to relieve you in a few minutes us its soon na as I 1 get this stuff I 1 up IP to the mayors house youre needing sleep who me say I 1 never want to look it 11 bed in tit tin face again boy im lorin to go rear better after youve snored aw awhile lille then hart bart rogers his old returned a portion oll ot dt lebest of ills his zest sest in life restored followed the truck anti the tong long casket like boxes to the home of the mayor there lie he called for old jim 7 that lie might fild aid in ili tile lie work bafo before re them lint but when the man appeared bart rescinded tits bis order jim appeared ghastly III and 4 aright eglit ened instinctively rogers went to jilin him and gripped grasped him by a thin trembling shoulder jim I 1 lie ordered buck up tip herel here I 1 the ra mutter titter with you oua no blodys i lies iles looking for tile me the llie voice was strange and cracked and lifeless A hand bund twitched in the general direction of outdoors outdo ora 1 I I 1 saw him go down the street looking for you saw him blin what are you ou talking about Gr graham illiam ile he came into town in a hurry a half hour flour ago lies ies hes looking suppose it he Is only be for assault and that wits was justified look here beret youre got to buck up lip youve let Fr annIston get your goat you tint find rue roe theres too much in ili it for him film not to keep heep look ing hell oil look it herel ere I 1 A slight air of disgust crept into barts voice nt at the lie continued fear of tile the other mun man forget it if all youre worrying about ill pay your ine fine wheres anita anfin upstairs la Is slie she feeling better the burning binning res eyes turned toward the lie other inan eyes eus which to d a thousand stories of su suffering frerIng ll better etter asked old jim in a voice olce that thai mis stranger st filore weird than ever no ashes crying it had to conic come ive done what ive always il waa been afraid of doing ive ie broken tier her heart ive ive told herl what do you ou mean just then hen the doorbell jangled fit at the door old jim n said slowly lies iles conle come fo forme foiling iline will you let him in ili certainly bart could say but lit ill tle tie else eise lie he tile tense figure and turned the knob sheriff gralian of mannington looked up ul at him bilm in surly burly fashion 1 I want him graham demanded whoa that standing back there in the hall jim allerby I 1 tile the faint voice answered did you ever go under the name of geoege morrison Morr lson that that was my real name then I 1 guess gueft a oud better come coine along ive got a telegram here from that flint they want you Alk Alkon onla lu bart rogers had edged into the conversation Alk onla where illinois but jim been out of fill tills town for well if youve got to known and the sheriff poked forward a telegram maybe letter better look tit lit tills hit and get an eyeful bart bait rogers took the message suddenly to find the words swimming before his eyes pa for a 0 rull lull inot moment tient lie be stared at it reading again igalo the crisp brutal order Gra graham hani sheriff main mannington III agton wyo arrest and hold for local officer george morrison Morr lson alias james Al derby fifty six five ten dark eyes second finger of right hund bund bent to left scar bear above right charge murder chief of police Alk Alko onla ill III murder bart rogers spoke the word dazedly non under there must be some about this I 1 tY youre oure not cot the one chos running tl it 11 t he ie sherl X cut la in this mans mana 1 admitted ills his identity tho the use ilse hut but jim I 1 dont stand there you been out of tills this town for years you ile ho censed ceased tho the old man annn lind had spread ills his hands and shaken ills head then slowly lie lind had conic come forward dont try to help me bart had conic pleadingly it only makes it harder I 1 I 1 told you id broken tier heart ini what you suy a murderer 1 I 1 I guess the lie worst kind of mur derer that ever god ever cursed a mur imir berer who killed the woman lie he loved ills wife and tho the mother of its ills baby I 1 long after the machine containing the shei sheriff ift and bild old oil jim had chugged hway away hurt rogers still stood there in ili the lie hallway looking with dazed eyes into nothing nothingness tims striving to encompass it all was ehilt the lie reason the thou thought glit shot like red t name a I 1 ie through t alie I 1 ie brain of bart rogers lingers that old jim had suffered anita to be mistreated fit at tile the hands of bull simply y because lie knew that even tills wits way better than the discovery that tier lier father wits n murderer did lie know that once lie he crossed the evil ugly tempered bull ahls secret would be n secret no longer was that why lie tin biad begged the roan man lie ho serve served to be more lenient lenvent with the girl why lie lind had basc eclied him not to force the issue to the lie breaking point instinctively hart bart knew th the c answer and yet with it till all th there ere till mill lingered tile the mystery the alic un tol question of why why in tile the first place lind had null bull Fr anniston allowed the girl to pose as ills da daughter tighter why lind had lie he kept D 4 A around it stood a curious gaping crowd near him her real futher father the man choin if the he deduction were true in ho knew to be a murderer why there were too many questions even for conjectures more jim biad ili spoken of a girl upstairs it a girl who wits was brokenhearted broken hearted and weeping bart turned in search of mrs jordan then etli bilth her beside him went to anitas room A little heap of humanity was curled in a chair weeping the woman hurried to her ile he told me ine the whole story entile brokenly ile he killed my enoth mother orl 1 then the sobs came again mrs jor dm nodded to dart bart and quietly lie he departed an hour later in the big living room dowst alra n sad faced motherly woman stood by tile lie window talking to hart bart rogers its not a plen pleasant plessant sant story came quietly pil etly kanbe maybe its not true baft it if it is IK I 1 cant help licup feeling sorry for old jim even if lie he Is n R murderer perhaps I 1 im too sympathetic but when it a man has tint anti and paid find and paid I 1 just cant help it 1 I dont understand mrs jordan neither do to I 1 in it 11 way was its the quick rejoinder old jim may have invented the lie whole story Cert certainly attil y there Is nothing but tits ills word for it however according to what lie he told anita lie he had and a young lawyer amson new were rivals for the same girl ba back ek in Alkon Alk onla lit site she had become eniz engaged aged to bartholomew still ply according to jim because he seemed to exert some sort of hypnotic influence over tier her she was afraid of him oven even otter after slie she had bad riven given tier lier promise she tod jim of her fears ind and of tier her dislike once she rah awtry from him As a result jim did not give up ull tits his suit tile time for the wedding approached pro ached end and the girl became more frightened than ever then jim according to ills story to anita decided to take things into his own lie hands ads ile he went to tier her and argued with her until I 1 aslie site gained the courage to elope him they ran away and nd were married that night of course they came back to al konin and the girl had to face tile the attorney but apparently lie hc had find decided to act ct tile the man about the thing ile he offered land and told him that it was only natural that tile the best man should win will then promised his undying friendship four years wd went it by in which the a attorney was a const constant atit visitor to the morrison Murr lson home that Is old alin jims s real iriaine you know then anita was horn born and hut but three months later the alie broke one morning jim opened tits ills mall mail to find tin an anonymous letter which made charges cli argea against ills hla wife and some soine man in town whose name anita could not recall jim accused alfr li er then went to the man in question fit accusing him I 1 guess there was tile the usual scene and a fight lit in which jim was bested those were drinking days daya and once tile the whisky find begun to work on him lie bought a revolver ile he hazily remembers bartholomew arguing with him to be sensible and trust tits ills wife then according to ills hla story ills mind became a blank when lie awoke lie dragged himself out of a drunken stupor to ind find that lie was in ills own house that ills hla revolver was clasped lit in ills right hand and that tha I 1 t across the room lay the dead body of ills hla wife CHAPTER X the sway of justice it wits was very evident what had happened re resumed sirs mrs jordan 11 drunk lie had wandered home hoine they had quarreled and lie he had find killed tier her jim staggered gored forth gave himself up to the ho first policeman lie he met and confessed it that after the arrest bartholomew came forward tits n jims friend and took charge of the baby stating to 0 o the lie court chilt lie was sending it out west to bo be adopted by a childless family then one night in the darkness of the jall jail someone slipped a packet into tits his cell it contained saws money and tin an address the name finnie of Fr anniston out tier hera in wyoming lie sewed ills his way out of tit alie e calup comparatively amatively arat ively flimsy jail and escaped A week later lie ho presented himself to Fr anniston here in Be ballaine llaine and asked for a job lie ile was given one without question nothing was waa said 1 I I 1 1 I to t 0 indicate that knew tits his real identity nothing lone done to show that lind the slightest idea that this man was the fattier father of the girl to whom ind given his own name but whom he had not adopted so the relationship began then a year later inter the truth dawned on oil jim bartholomew showed up in bellain Bel lalni under the nahne ot of barrows Fr anniston could reveal the true identity of the girl and slie she would be stained with the blackness of being the lie daughter of a ninn man who had killed tits his wife so he had jint jim in hla his power but was anything ever said to lit u dicato that was nothing bart rogers stored stared at the carpet it was strange that the of ficI ba back ek H east ast should learn of jims whereabouts so quickly especially when they had been unable to find him for years I 1 wonder if jim says that graham was the J jailer back in Alk onla I 1 suppose lie wits bribed to sneak the saws into the cell anyway there was an investigation afterward and lie he lost ills his job then lie cattle came out herp here so there concluded mrs airs jordan la is the story for a moment bart stood uncertain looking dully out the window nt at the casket like ilke boxes which had been plied piled on tile the front veranda then with a sudden resolve lie hurried up tip the stairway and to the doorway of the he room anita wits in its bart he announced when tier her faint answer lind conn to u ills his knock bart rogers may alay I 1 tall talk to you a moment assent cume came from within bart opened the door and walked impulsively III pul ay iy to the quiet white faced girl by the window TO BE CONTINUED |