Show THE PURCHASE 0 IF PRICE pric E OR THE CAUSE OF 1 compromise by EMERSON HOUGH copyright 1910 by emerson hough SYNOPSIS josephine countess st auban from washington by captain carlisle act ing on government order Is with him on an ohio river steamboat they are ap pro preached ached by War barville ville dunwody a mis bourl state senator the countess in a note asks dunwody for or aid she Is posing as carlisle a sec detary carlisle plays cards with dun and others and loses the two men play cards for custody of josephine dunwody wins and carlisle leaves the boat dunwody confronts jose phine the missourian Missour lan infatuated with jose phine declares he wll will take her to hia his home Il against her will the boat Is boa d ed by a party of recaptured slaves owned by judge clayton slayton a passenger continued from I 1 last ast week nied me la Is no longer on the boat ile left me word that in corn coin mon was ended see here is his note all I 1 can say madam Is that this Is not signed and that he did not tell me he was going to leave I 1 cannot allow you to go ashore at this point in ili fact I 1 should con consoler siler you safer here on this boat than an where else the boat was now alongside the dock doek at the river settlement and there was tome stir at the gangway as room was made for the reception of addi dional passengers two or three roughly dressed men were guaring guard ng as mary prisoners of the latter two were cotil black negroes the third was a young woman apparently of white hood nood of comely features and of composed bearing in spite of her situation A second glince showed that all these three who had been fugitive slaves in irons lor instance young lady look at that went ment on the boat captain turn ing to josephine m who ho was can carl ed back by the incoming rush of the new passengers it la is something we see novi nov and again on ou river borne kome times my heart aches I 1 lut ut what can I 1 do that a the law too I 1 have learn ednot ed flot to meddle my god my god exclaimed jose phine st auban her eyes dilating with horror forgetting hei bei own pi as she looked at the spectacle before her can these things really be in america L iou ion submit to this and you are men law Is there any law she did not hear the step tep behind them but presently a voice broke in if you please captain rogers said War barville ville dunwood I 1 think it will not be necessary to restrain this lady in any way by this time she knows it will be better not to make iny illy at tempt to escape jeanne the maid was first to see the di in the face of hei bet mistress she died flying at them her hands clinched her foot stamping dogs of pigs you are not men aou ou are not gentlemen see now dow see now tears stood in the eyes of je inne herself come said sl e and put an aim about abou bistress Ti stress lead ng mg hei he back toward the door of the cabin rails la bad business sir said the older man turning ilg to dunwody I 1 don it t understand all 11 this case but I 1 ta almost ready to t etke ike that girl girls a part who 1 la she hel ion ou ask me who she Is replied du i iw N 0 1 ly slowly and on my honor I 1 can tell yav you she Is a tempo daiy ward of the government that much Is sure lou ion know very well the aim of tl 0 e national government la is long I 1 lou on know too that I 1 in a state senator and iso a united states marshal in missouri but where do you come into this case senator I 1 came into it last night at a little aft after er 0 9 0 clock rejoined dunwody her iier former guardian has turned her over to me she does not leave the boat till I 1 do at jairo where I 1 change for up liver andl when I 1 go she goes don t pay any on to any out cry she maa ma make she a my plop erty captain rogers pondered for a time but at length his face broke out into a sort of smile there may be trou brou ble ahead for you he said some i sorts of women won mon t lead dunwody left to himself began moodily to walk malk up and down the nar row deck his hands behind his back on his face was the red fighting flush but it was backed by no expression of definite i and his m walk alk show ed his mental uncertainty all at once he be turned and with decision passed dom down n the stairs to the lom lower er deck ile had bad heard voices which he recognized judge clayton had hail joined the party in charge of the fugitives and was wits now in with the overseer I 1 a short man clad in a coarse blue jack et with high boots and greasy leather trousers why bedge slid he f fust off it di n t look like we d ever git track of em ein at all I 1 botched the trail at portsmouth Pott at last and hollered foll ered em back into ohio they was shore on the underground and bound for can ada or leastways chicago I 1 found em in a house way out in the coun try midnight it was when we got 1 id d summonsed the sher t and two constables to go long farm house was a underground railway sta tion all right and the farmer showed fight we was too much fer him and we took em out at last but one of the constables got shot some one fired right through the lindet at us now ow bedge be he continued of co se I 1 think I 1 can do something for these two bucks bill and jim this gal only persuaded em to run away with her but if I 1 was you I 1 shore would sell that lily gal south right away the speaker coarse and ignorant presented a contrast to the tall dagni ded led and quiet gentleman whom be he accosted lily said clayton at length what makes you act this way haven raven t you always been treated well down domn there at home yas sir I 1 reckon so replied the girl sullenly well as nig till gahs Is then why do you want to run off thi this Is the third time in the last year I 1 ve been kind to you I 1 say dun be went on turning suddenly as he siw the latter approach iia iian en it I 1 always treated my people right clinent I 1 always given them eer thing in the they ought to have yes ju ige that s the truth and any neighbor of yours will say it as seated dunwody as he joined the gr up hats wrong then this I 1 illy fly gill ri n 4 ff if again seems to me you told we about her yes slid judge clayton clay ton rubbing a i finger across hh big chin in perturbation the poor thim doeblin t know when shea well me off but ar what bat am I 1 to do with her that s the question I 1 don t believe in whipping but ID in this case allbon I 1 in goli got j g to turn ON avei ei two bos to you I 1 won t have the girl ahil ped e ei en yet see vou when m we e get doll down u to calro he a I 1 led turn ing away amity well have hale to chainge there to the S silly illy lee for the ver non doean it stop at our landing bhe she s going straight through to memphis As judge claa claton ton walked away dun turned to the overseer whom he had seen before on tl ti e clayton planta eions he ile put a gold double eagle in his hand listen here nilson said he lou seem to be able to handle such people discreetly now I 1 ve got a prisoner along upstairs myself never neler mind who she Is or how she comes here 1 I in going on up home beyond st gene ag ra you jut just substitute my pr for yours I 1 vieve and I 1 ve got to change down there at cairo mybert to take the up alier boit wit this prisoner Is about as tall as thit girl yonder and she s a whole lot lighter do you understand of a daik night say about the time wed get down to cairo midnight well wrapped up and the face of nei net ther showing it might be baid bald to tell one of them f from born the other there s a french girl along with this prisoner ot of mine juat take them both along to getter gether I 1 n ckon the french girl won t make any disturbance its the other the lady her mistress she a apt io eo ta to make trouble handle her gently as ai you can you 11 have to have help the captain will mill not interfere you just substitute my prisoner for yours yonder at cairo I 1 II 11 show you where she Is when the time comes once you have her aboard my boat for st gene vieve you ou can call come back and take caie cale of your own pil pi isomers here there may be another eagle or so in it you don t need to be a d but what III do the woi it colonel smiled M V ilson grimly ile I 1 v e had a heap 0 trouble the last w m eek and I 1 in about tired not stand no foolishness i had any friend seen Wa iville dun that night he must have plo pi bounced him ten years older than when the mount ernon add begun her voy age i CHAPTER V the shadow cab net Tal lwoods X LL very well gentle gentlemen mev all cry well repeated the man f who sat at the head of the table I 1 do not deny any thing you say ione none the less the question remains ahat we to do with this woman since she was mas here I 1 confess my own relief at thia this message aiom our agent captain car lisle telling of her temporary digap bearance pe arance A As he spoke he half pushed back his chair as though in impatience or agi tation over the problem which ell e dently oe culled led his mind A man above medium height somewhat spare in habit of body of hands me features and distinguished presence although with hair now slightly thinned ba b ad avancing ears lie he seemed if not by natural right at least by accorded au all dhority the leader of th s company ft N ith m whose hose members he was not un filing to take counsel I 1 hose who mho sat beffie him were mere his counselors chosen by himself in man ner ratified I 1 y law and custom they made as with mith may be stated a remarkable body of men it were less seemly openly to determine j their names and their station since they were mere public men and since as I 1 recently resent ly appeared they now m were ere en on business of such a nature as might not be placed in full upon pub lie records I 1 at least it may be stated that this meeting was mas held in the autumn of the year IS 18 K and in one of the great public buildings of the city of wash ington apparently it was mas more PH rate than official in its nature and ap patently ly lv it now had lasted for some time the hour was late the dark man at the leaders right begin to speak ills lils oice deep and clear as that of a great bronze bell was slow and deliberate as alt tingly voicing an accurate mind sir he said this matter Is one deeming serving de eming our most cageful study trivial though at first blush it would seem As to the danger of this V oman s machinations here there Is no question A match may produce con tulsie luls lna on disaster df when ap piled plied to abow powder er magazine ts ks you know this con country nit ry dwells continually above an awful I 1 magazine at any time there may be an all explosion which will mean ruin not only for our but our country the I 1 ree soil pat baity ty twice defeated does not down ihmie Is a nation allsto movement now dow going form ard which ignores the constitution itself vv IN ith you I 1 dread any talk any act of our own or another nation which shall even indirectly inflame the northern resentment against the fugi five slave law on that we me are perfectly agreed sir began the original speaker and then but then sir we come to the ques tion of the removal of this unwelcome person she herself la is i fugitive from no law she ba ha broken no law of this land or of this district I 1 may be un welcome to you you to me either of us to any man yet having done no treason so long as we pay our debts and observe the law no min may raise hand or voice us quite right broke in the lealer lea ler again but let us look fool simply it the gravity of it they say it is 1 treason not only against our own country but against a foreign pomer a which this woman Is fomenter fomen tir lt g the austrian at tache mr la Is altogether rabid over the matter lie ile said to me privately then moot moa improperly biake in a tall dark man improperly but none the less in he be said that his government will not tolerate her here lie charges her with machinations in burcope under cover of president Pies ident tay lor for s embassy of investigation into lI hungarian aff afflis lits but sir broke in the vibrant voice of another gentleman wh it Is our concern over that did they forte force ua us to fight why then we fight and vl ith proper I 1 teason eason true again sir bald the leader recognizing the force of the murmur which greeted this outburst but what I 1 fear what all of us fear gen gell tiemen Is tie danger here inside our own walls inside our own country silence again fell on all they looked about them as though even in this dimly I 1 gated room they felt the men ace of a divided country that Is tl e dread of all of us went on the leader let the abolitionist bring on this outbreak which he cov ets let the north and bouth south fly at each other s throats lot let the conten I 1 ng pow ers of europe choss the seis to quarrel over the spoils of our own destruction and w bat hat the i will be left of this re and I 1 tell you now nom gentlemen he concluded as you know very well yourselves that this woman here in washington would hold the match ready to apply to that magazine gen tiemen I 1 am mild as any and most of any I 1 am sworn to obey the laws and to gwi guarantee rantee the safeguards of the constitution but I 1 say to you and here his hand band came down with an em unusual in his nature law or no law constitution or no constitution an exigency existed under which she had to leave washington and that upon that very night but where Is she now ventured another voice f his young army cap tain simply sas in his leport that he left her on the mount heinon picket en route down the ohio where is she now and how long beffie she will be back heie bete match in handa viewed from the standpoint of our diplomacy the matter here is simple said the tile tall dark man last week at the reo eption where the re presenta tives of austria were present this wo man ai alp eared properly pio perly introduced proferij invited it Is true but wholly unwelcome socially in certain tei teis s the and his wife left the room and made plain to their host their reasons tor for doing so yes and it was shame that I 1 they should take such action the woman moman had the richt of her host hosts s pro lection for she was by indita in vita tion thus the bony man in the shadows but we me have just heard what rights we me have before the law sli sh ventured a hesitating drawling voice which had earlier been headd how ilow can we take co cognizance 9 of private insult given by a forein fogelen foi elen ein power in only quasi public capacity I 1 conceive it to be some what difficult no matter what the re caption in the society of Ras washington hington to eject this woman aiom the city of IV ashington itself or at least very like ly difficult to keep her ejected as you say sir where should she go demanded yet another voice and why should she not come back impatiently the leader replied IT where here I 1 du do not know I 1 do not want a aut to know I 1 must not know must we not bear our ourselves selNes in mind then sir in case of her sudden re turn you ask an agent said a keen clear and Inc istle voice which had not yet been heard gentlemen shall we me cast lots for the honor of watching the countess st auban in case of her un dashed return the grim demand brought out a hasty from a timid soul to that I 1 would not agree very well then went on the clear voice if we kiy not again kidnap the lady m why by may m we e not bi bilbe the her it could not be done broke la in the daik min toward the head of the th table if I 1 know the facts thia this woman could not be bought for any ransom she has both station and wealth ac chided her so the story goes for some service of her jamily family in the affairs of liance but aishe she will none of mo mon n archles SIC turned orned democrat 1 zionist in france and on the hotter botter stage age of giungi y and so sought chii r ew to conquer let us go came the rejoinder w il i hom the shad shadows oils we need some man ichols who Is a nice judge ol 01 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