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Show I -- r ; m I I By OPIE READ 1 1 3 Copyrlcht, The Boll Syndicate. Inc. ffl Josh, haloed him ; and with her eyes she begged the General to drop the subject, but It was sweeter to him than any sugar ever grained In his mill. After dinner they were In the parlor' par-lor' when they saw a vagabond equipage equip-age stop at tlie gate, an old carry-all drawn by o staggering horse, driven by n ragged negro. There was one passenger in the habilaments of u scarecrow, topped off with a yellow cotton hat enough to disguise any man on earth save one, and this man was the exception. "Tycie, what did I tell you!" cried (he General. "I knew it ns well ns I knew my name. Now look at him!" They looked nt him, went out Into the hall to meet him, Tycie in convenient con-venient tears. The visitor kissed her and shook hands with the men. "It Is not necessary for me to assert as-sert that I hold no commission, civil or military," snid the vagrant. "Sit down, sir," commanded the General. Gen-eral. And then, surveying him slowly from head to foot: "Will you please state as to whether or not you regard yourself a human being?" "General," said Tycie, "please don't scold him, for I'm sure he must be hungry." "My dear, I shall not scold him; but I don't see anything nbout hlra that calls for congrutulatlonH." "Liberty," said Virgil, "tomorrow we'll go over nnd have the parish surveyor sur-veyor run you off a Rult of clothes." "My dear relatives, I thank you for these little attentions; and as to your question. Uncle Howard, let me say, sir, that my claims us to being a human hu-man are somewhat vague. One of the first things I discovered about myself was my unreality. When do we eat?" Tycie ran out and returned with a piece of frosted cake that looked like a corner broken off a marble mantle-piece. mantle-piece. The General was laughing. "Well, Liberty, we are nlwuys glad to see you. anyway. It Is the unreal- CHAPTER X Continued. 12 Tycie hugged him ; Drace shook his hand ; and the General exclaimed his astonishment "Well, that beats anything I ever heard In my life. It doesn't seem possible, pos-sible, sir." "No, and I was somewhat taken by surprise, Uncle Howard. But there Is often success in a change of occupation, occupa-tion, and I had tried everything else. It took me a few moments to adjust myself; then I got a draft, and in Mobile Mo-bile received premium enough on my gold certificate to pay my debts. And now It gives me great pleasure to perform per-form that duty. I owe you, Uncle Howard, twelve hundred nnd thirty dollars, all told. Aunt Tycie. I owe you five hundred. Virgil, I owe you but wd'Il get nt that later. Worthy and patient creditors, hero we are!" He took out a roll of bank notes, counted the amouut of his indebtedness indebted-ness to his "aunt and showered her lap with greenbacks. Then he turned to the General. "No, Liberty, I don't want the money," protested Bethpage. "If you pay me, It will be the first time you ever returned borrowed money to me. and I don't care to have you establish a precedent that might bring disappointment disap-pointment in the future." After the family bedtime, Shottle came Into Drnce's room and requested him td report as to what progress he had made; and Drace told him all that had occurred. "And now let me tell you a notion ct mine," said Shottle then. "If you are waiting for thnt old sharkbone to decay, you'll perhaps wait twenty years. Attention: I'm going on a little lit-tle trip tomorrow. In two days, when I come back, I'll drive down to a convenient con-venient point; you fetch the girl. Into the carriage you jump, and away we go, drive over to some place where we can catch a train, and Cincinnati before old Stepho knows which way we've gone. What do yon say?" I nm not your child. You hang his father and would murder him! But he will be gone; nnd If you kill me, It makes no matter. And you think I will stay here and let the man come to marry me ! I will " He seized her, nnd Tony ran in to help. She fought with the dirk, but they wrenched it from her hand, held liar helpless, dragged her into her room ; and she lay for a time on the floor while she heard them fastening her In her prison. It was now dark. She got up, went to the window and found that heavy bars had been nailed across It. She lighted her lamp and with a pencil began to write a note to Drace, praying in her heart that she might find some way to send it to him. Little she slept and In the dawn she was at the window, the vines all of them gone. She heard footsteps near, and she tried to look out to discover who it might be, but she could gaze neither to the right nor the left, so closely was she mewed. She spoke, softly, louder and then there drew the darkened form of a man, Batoche, nn old frog-hnnter whom once before she had employed. "I am here to borrow the mushkrat-spear mushkrat-spear for the one day, for mine he wus broke; but they are still asleep." "Come closer, good Batoche, and listen lis-ten to me. Take this note to Monsieur Drace, at General Bethpage's house quick, with no one to see you, and I will give you a diamond when you come back." "Give me the note, an' I be there soon." 1 She gave him the note, and he hastened has-tened away. She stood nt the door, wondering why she had not heard her father stirring about. Once she thought she heard him call Tony. After Af-ter a long time Tony came, and she heard them together as they went out. Then all was silent. Sick In mind nnd body, Drace made his way back to Bethpage. He made mm- rt Ity, If 1 may fo Kiieak, that Fplces our lives; und when you come with your elided worries, you enliven us. Where Ijnve you Ix-en, nnyhow?" "I've been wherever there snlJ Shottle, ;cstur!iiK with Ids cake. "I-'irst I went to Memphis, to the nice, nnd pave old yUlnny Ilu-hc-i two hundred for a sure card on tl.fi entries. I.ot ten thousand. Then I followed the hones to Lexington, with my bank nccount leaking ULe n sprinkling sprin-kling cart. I', ut why linger when notli-ln' notli-ln' can be swifter than the npproncli of poverty? I'lnnlly I pold my clothe to n liov;ro irencher nnd Invested my nil In lottery tl.-krts. It seuied that I possessed myself of all the figures of the miiltlldlcatloti table, didn't see hov I could possibly miss, but I did. It wasn't laid out for me to win again. He gets to n certain pinnacle of fortune, for-tune, slips oiT. nnd spends the rest of his life si niggling to get back. When do we tit?-' Long nfter bedtime Shottle came to Virgil's room. "Virgil, you know I've got to lilt on something of n permanent nature. So the ciuestlon Is. now that I've quit gambling, what am I going to do? If you'll not go to sleep, I'll tell you of n plan. Mark me: I have observed, along-wlth thousands of others, that nothing digs deeper after ralny dny money than n olrms nnd menagerie. It Is known that the poor man of thu South, nnd especially the negro, will sell his cookstove to buy n circus ticket. Now comes my plan, nnd mind yon, I strive to l:e-j It from being to. sudden. Attention! You buy n clmn. and I'll go along as ring-master. That Is the one thing I um really fitted for. You never .saw mc crack n whip, did you';" "Pon't believe I ever did." "All rli:!it. you've got Honiettilng to look forward to. . . . Yes, I'll bo the rlng-tiiasler. and" "And led nn elephant on the turn of a card," 'nld Virgil. "Ah. one of my ov-n, perhaps, but not one entrusted to mo. I am not n n embezzler of elephants. I wouldn't bet n gartur sn.'ike on n sure thing, I'.eiildes, I told you I'd ipilt gambling that In. I'm (iilttm:. It lan't wise to expose my const 1 1 ul Ion to the nhnek of a sudden change. . . . Well, good night." T 1110 CONTI Nt'EIV ) "Cut what becomes of my oath? Oh, don't think that because I dally I have forgotten It or that in one jot I shnll fall to keep It If I should, In all after-life I'd have a contempt for myself." CHAPTER ."I "Till Thursday!" Drace had cried. Nadlne Imd echoed It, nnd another voice, hlddtn In the cane, had muttered mut-tered the words with how different a meaning! Now Thursday was come again ; and Virgil Drace infirm of purpose, again made his way down the river and through the swamp to hia tryst with Nadlne. l',ut Death soug'.f to make a third at that tryst From afar the sentineled sentin-eled T-nny had seen Drace coming. And hardly had the Northerner's canoe touched the bonk when from out the cane Tony and Stepho leaped upon Mm and bore him to the ground, daz. d by a blow from an oar. "Ha! My fine carfietbngger ! You seize my wrist and keep my knife from tho old General ! You steal here to make love to my daughter! Ila ! Who will now Weep my knife from you? In a little while, now. you will be deep In the marsh, und the green mold will be on your bones. And the old fool at the big house, be die too, for my men will cut his throat. And then " A piercing cry from the house, and Nadlne ran to them, a knife that muted Stepho's dirk clutched In her band. "No no!" she cried. "You shall not." Stepho looked up. "Take the girl away, Tony," he ciimnanded. But Nndine threatened bin; off with her knife. Then she turned the blade In another direction and spoke ngaln. "If you do not let Virgil go," nhe said, "I ulli kill myself now." Stepho knew Nadine the vvl'd hern of her. "You promise never to see ibis man again, and to marry Monsieur Boyce, like I wl:-h?" "I promise nolhiog except that I will kill myself If you do not let him K'" Ktopho hesitated n moment, craft fighting with anger. Then craft won; he or Tony would stroll up to the I'.eih-fage I'.eih-fage plantation and ma Ice an end of the General arid Drace that night. "All right," he snarled. "He can go. But let him never come back here or " He drew the buck of hU dirk tT'tH bis own throat In a slgnlileant pt.turo. Then with Tony let lifted Onice Into his canoe; ami the young man, sllll dazed from the blow, feebly ri.Dik; his way out of the swamp. When he had pa.-xed from Might, Nadlne, Na-dlne, dropped her knife and 'am!: to t!, grourn sobbing. Old Sl'-pbo turned ttfi;eiy upon her. "Yon liar! You nl,e wolf ! I voald HH you, but I promi'-e you to the man Boy e. An' flO'V fhe,e eotne Snuieti l'ig 'that I tell V". .V'-u th"re 1 1 not Mi" ' tdood i.t f 'erd.o la Vine. I.'ot you newer ;,ln,ll Uno'V your name. You v. he wolf I" He t"'ii;if blmreir toward her. bin fsfK:! Ki'MiiiIng In l.'i ineiejii- , i mouth, but v I'l, out flinching file- ii'i laughed In bis f(o e. till, vou Mko ir.n so thankful that And Hardly Had the Northerner's Canoe Touched the Bank When From Out the Canoe Tony snd Stepho Leaped Upon Him. himself as presentable ns possible be. fore be entered the house; fortunately, too, the attention of Tycie anil th" General was at that moment, centered on Colonel .Josh, who had stopped off to ay tlnun a call and who showed astonishment when asked to wall; out to dinner, though h" yielded with as-tonlsb'ng as-tonlsb'ng alacrity to the pn-sKiire of the General's hand upon his arm. Ib-was Ib-was tiir-y with n helping of late mustard mus-tard greens and hog's Jowl, when Tycie Inquired; "Arid how Is dear I.ucy?" "Madam." Mild Josh, "I urn grieved to Impart to you n distressful piece of news. She Is soon to be man led to a man named Splvnn." "(lb. I'm so sorry, Colonel Josh." "Madam, It Is a calamity. .".uke flplvuti I" "What's the matter with htm?" the General Inipilred. "Isn't broke. Is he?" "General, the man bus money. But do you know what his calling Is? I shall enlighten you, sir. This fellow Is 11 dealer In oysters, the the excrescence excres-cence of the sen, you might say. And not Mily that, but he deals In cravillsh as well, back craw ling cravvllnh, sir. I offered her my heart and my home, I told her that I would devote my life to her. "id from week to week she '.:;t me off. But when this follow Splvnn asl cd her, I understand she ne-rcptcd ne-rcptcd him at n .lump. sir. And now a Ivi' ' biin to keep out of my way," "Ou'ers nnd era vv (i di. eh?" said the Coin. il, .-.inking at luace. '"I l,o 'o were my wo rdi. General not only ovf iers but ciavvll' h. I would not have believed It If she Imd not ns-Kiirid ns-Kiirid me v illi her own Hps, lips that ,..111 pleio-e pardon my nearness to orofa'il'v." T'le' nympnthy went out to old |