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Show THE RED LOCK slab back, rose and slouched across the floor toward the rubbish heap. The man hiding behind It crouched still as one of the cabin logs and fingered the pistol butt at his hip. But the ruffian ruf-fian only rummaged out an old box, carried It back to the light and sat down. Drawing a short pipe from his pocket, he filled it from a grimy tobacco to-bacco sack, lighted it with another of the sputtering matches, and, with the air of a man quite at his ease, began to smoke. As he smoked, the bitter lines of his face relaxed a trifle, and its half-liaunting half-liaunting resemblance to a face that dwelt and would ever dwell in his memory again stole across the mind of the watcher. But Black Bogus had not smoked long until it became apparent that he was anything but a man at his ease. Every sound outside received his strained attention, and when not listening, lis-tening, he smoked viciously. At last he shuffled himself erect, felt of his elbow where it had rested heavily upon the larger box, knocked the ashes from his pipe, dropped an arm across his knee, bent forward und seemed lost in thought. Shifting his pose after a time, he straightened, put away his pipe, reached Into the inside pocket of his faded coat and drew out a thick bunch of greenbacks a handful of bills that appeared to be an assortment assort-ment of tens and twenties. The woodsman guardedly shifted his position so as to get a better look. As he did so, his knee accidentally jostled the rubbish heap. With an oath Black Bogus chucked the money back into his pocket and leaped at one bound into a corner out A Tale of the FlatwoodV By DAVID ANDERSON Author of "Tho Bluo Moon" Copyright bj Tho Bobb-MTill Ox CHAPTER XIV Continued. 18 The tracks had been made by a boot much worn and frayed. The man that made them must have been large and heavy, for his boot heel had dented deep Into the floor boards, and the length of his stride indicated him to be little, if any, under six feet. The profusion of tracks, together with a number of half-burned matches scattered scat-tered about the floor, indicated that he had been there some time possibly several times. The woodsman found himself wondering won-dering what manner of man he could have been, and what his purpose. And why did he bring a lamp Instead of a candle? Lamps were none too plenty In the Flatwoods. Again there came over him that strangely disquieting premonition of danger intangible; Indefinable; In-definable; deadly deliberate. Everything pointed to the conclusion that the cabin's unknown visitor would come again probably with the night. The lamp on the box, the blanket ready to hang over the window, were not without a purpose. 'What that purpose might prove to be could only be conjectured con-jectured possibly horse stealing. But no, or why a lamp instead of a candle? He glanced up at the loft except for a few boards lying loose and scattered scat-tered about upon the Joists, the cabin vas open to the roof; he looked around into the dim far corner back of the door it was half filled with a clutter of rubbish, broken boxes and the like but no tracks led that way. Using the greatest care to conceal his footprints, he opened the door, stepped cautiously out, closed it and, after a critical look about the surrounding sur-rounding weeds and bushes, slipped away up the side of the timbered bluff, through the woods and back to his unfinished un-finished chores. After a hasty supper, he drew out His revolver; bent over it a brief but thoroughly competent instant of inspection in-spection by the candle; tried the trigger-pull; twirled the cylinder; dropped It back In the holster; blew out the candle and laid his hand to the door-latch. door-latch. The warning of the mountain girl crossed his mind he turned back ; closed the hearth of the cook stove to hide Its light; opened the door softly and stepped out into the gathering night toward the dead woodchopper's cabin. The cloud-bank had dissolved In the west when he again reached the ill-omened ill-omened hovel and the sky was hanging hang-ing out its stars the big ones already out, and the little ones coming. He again crept down the wooded face of the bluff and, under cover of the fallen oak, festooned with the wild cucumber vines, stole up to the chink floor a tlrnfe or two; slouched dowu upon the box and, without turning us the light, again hunted his pipe. It must have been well toward midnight, mid-night, and the cramped position of the man behind the rubbish heap had grown almost unbearable, when, aftei many peeps through the narrow slit at the door, Black Bogus blew out the light and very softly slipped out of the cabin. The woodsman rose, listened to the low swish of Black Bogus' receding steps among the weeds until there came the creak of the rails as he climbed the fence Into the Eagle Hollow Hol-low road. Opening the door with the utmost caution. Jack slipped out and stood listening the steps had turned down the road toward the village. He closed the door and followed. He had not shadowed the renegade far until it became plainly evident that he was a very Indifferent woodsman. Sticks snapped under his feet, bushes slapped back into place as he brushed against them, and once or twice his boot struck the ground with a clumsy thud. Clear down to the mouth of the hollow Jack stalked him. He took the path that led along the east bank of the stream, and, when he came to the fork, followed the branch that led to the little park. The woodsman stole after him, tnk-Ing tnk-Ing the path himself this time and grinning dryly at the compliment he had paid the fellow the night before in thinking he might notice the croaking croak-ing of the frogs. It was a refinement of woodcraft of which Black Bogus had probably never dreamed. Down Into the little park and to the seat at Whispering spring the hulking shadow crept ; again, as on the night before, the man crouched down among the gnarled maple roots by the rustic seat. . The windows of the red-roofed cottage cot-tage were dark. The place lay serene and peaceful, with no spark of light alive to show that it was awake to the sinister web of evil slowly weaving weav-ing about it. After an interval spent in listening, the crouched figure among the gnarled maple roots lifted his hands to his mouth and again the lonesome wail of the screech owl shivered out upon the night. The woodsman seized the favorable moment to steal closer and to conceal himself in a clump of shrubbery much nearer than he had ventured the night before. Black Bogus had given his rather clever Imitation of the screech owl three times, and was on the point of giving it again, when the parlor door opened and the tall figure of the preacher, without his glasses and with the stoop gone from his shoulders, shoul-ders, came out on the porch. With a step that carried no suggestion of mincing nervousness he came down across the yard. The white butt of the six-gun at his side looked as if it belonged there. He went straight to the spring; took down the clipper, making a very obvious obvi-ous amount of clatter in doing so; dipped himself a drink; hung up the dipper; turned back toward the house; stopped by the rustic seat, and held out his hand. Black Bogus reached In the breast of his coat, drew out a package, the bunch of bills, without a doubt and laid it In the waiting hand. The preacher put it inside his shirt bosom ; turned away ; hesitated ; cam back a step. "Bogus, be ready any night now" the hurried tones barely carried to the man hidden In the shrubbery "there's a barrel o' money In there. I wouldn't 'a' believed any man would risk so much about 'Im, and that old, out-o'-date safe a horse jockey could open It. It's all right sllppln' the goats" he patted his breast "in among the sheep like we're doin' ; and It's lucky we printed a-plenty down the river off o' them new plates; and that waa a great Idea of mine mussin' 'em up In leaf mold dampened with tobacco spit so's they'd look like old bills. The devil 'imself couldn't tell 'em. "It works, and we'd carry it through, only for one thing Warhopel He's suspicious. I saw it that first evening at the supper table. That's why I went on that fool selnln' spree t throw 'im off; and that's why I couldn't leave no notes under the slab at the old cabin as we'd planned. Where he got his clue I don't know, but he's got It. I had the devil's own time blindin' them hawk eyes of his this afternoon. "Warhope! and t' think Loge had Mm right at the point of a six-gun and let 'im beat 'Im on the draw." "An' me had 'im at the point of a knife there in the schoolhouse," the man among the maple roots broke in "why didn't y'u let me alone?" The other whirled on him, and his voice thickened. TO BE CONTINUED.) In the wall and peeped between the logs. The cabin was apparently empty of Its unknown Intruder. After listening Intently for some time he again stole around the wall to the door, pushed It slowly open and entered. As soon as his eyes grew accustomed ac-customed to the gloom, he saw that the room was just as he had left It a few hours earlier. Not daring to venture out on the floor, the light being too dim again to risk hiding his trail by stepping in the tracks, he reached up, caught one of the Joists and, swinging from hand to hand, crossed to the far corner of the room ; concealed himself behind the old boards and boxes of the rubbish heap and sat gripping his sore shoulder the exertion had opened the gash, and he could feel the blood crawling down his side. There Is something depressing, fearsome, fear-some, about entering an old deserted house especially after nightfall. And this was the cabin of dead Henry Spencer. Few flatwoodsmen would care to go near It much less Into it at such an hour. Jack watched the last faint light from the west die out in the smudged window so foul with clay that he had not been able to make out more than the bare outline of the face that had peered through It few hours before. He knew the bats were darting about In the cabin, for the dark was alive with the click of their teeth. A screech owl shivered his lonesome wall from an upstanding branch of the fallen oak. The woodsman half started, listened closely, smiled. The sound was genuine genu-ine It was a screech owl. The low wash of Eagle run, lapping the rocks In Its shallow bed, came up across the lonely road; the melancholy melan-choly note of a whippoorwill carried down out of the woods. A sound fell upon the night the low swish of weeds In the yard and the woodsman grew tense and strained. There followed a guarded footfall; a hand fumbled over the door. It J opened; a heavy step creaked the sagging floor; a form bulked huge and black In the gloom; a hand and arm passed across the window and hung the blanket Into place. A match scraped one of the old-fashioned old-fashioned kind that sputter a while before making much light the chimney chim-ney of the lamp wn- raised ; the match laid to the wick. Out of the dark flared the powerfu form and truculent face of Black F.ogus. After a somewhat close study of the tracked fl'or, he went around on the other side of the lamp to the ruined hearty lifted up a loosened slab of stone and felt under It. Apparently what he expected to find or am not tie.-e. for he swore, put the Out of the Dark Flared the Powerful Form and Truculent Face of Black Bogus. of range with the window, a heavy revolver balanced In his hand, his eyes sweeping every nook and cranny from which the alarming sound might have come. At that tense Instant a bat, darting about under the rafters, blinded by the light, dashed itself against the cabin gable and fell almost at the desperado's des-perado's feet. "Damn the thing I" he growled, placing plac-ing his foot upon the half-stunned creature and grinding it to death, at the same time thrusting the heavy revolver re-volver Into his pocket and turning back to the light. He slouched down on the smaller box ; took the money out of his pocket again and began a close Inspection of each bill, one by one. Ten of the bills the ones that appeared to the man watching him to be the newest he laid out upon the box. The others he put back in his pocket. Then an astonishing thing happened to the ten new bills. He took from his greasy, wrinkled trousers a plug of tobacco and snipped off a chew with his powerful teeth ; drew from the side pocket of his coat half a handful of what looked to be ordinary black soil of rotted leaf mold ; moistened mois-tened it very slightly with tobacco Juice; rubbed a little of It on each bill and scoured them between his hands, rumpling and crumpling them lu every conceivable way. He rolled the corners between his fingers and thumbs ; bent the corners down ; twisted twist-ed and scoured the bills as If he would wear them out. It soon appeared that to wear them was the very thing he was attempting to do, for as he worked them and broke them In his powerful hands, they lost their newness and took on the look of bills that had been long in circulation. He was making old money out of new. Light began to dawn on the man watching him. An hour or more he spent at the task. When nt last It appeared to be finished to bis satisfaction, he examined exam-ined them all close to the light, bill by bill. They appeared to pnss the very painstaking and critical Inspection, for, with a satisfied grunt, he picked up his pipe, relighted It and smoked nervously. Another hour or more he smoked and fidgeted; finally turned the lamp low; strode to the door, opened It a narrow silt and peeped out. But apparently enough of the night had not gone for whatever purpose he had In mind for with a muttered grunt, he closed the door; strode Impatiently Im-patiently back a.id forth across the ' |
