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Show J r H&jM ATale Of TheFlatwoods s L David AnggSni CaptjrigM.By The BokbiewlU Co. - CHAPTER XVII Continued. 23 "Has Texie Colin passed the gate t'day, Uncle Asbury? you know 'er, don't y'u?" "Ol' Sime Colin's da'ter the purty leetle gal wi' the brown hair an' laugh-In' laugh-In' eyes well, I reckon I do know 'er. No, she hain't passed the gate t'day, nary way why?" "Oh she rid up this way " "Did she? no, she didn't pass." Ht hobbled a step closer. "01 Sime hat t' let loose at last, didn't 'e? Dern shame, though, 'e had t' be bumped off. Reckon they ain't found the feller yit that done it?" The woodsman made no reply. It Is even doubtful if he heard. His mind was flying fast from point to point of every possibility that lay between Black rock and the tollgtte. He washed the froth off Graylock's nose; tightened the saddle girth ; paid his toll and mounted. "Thanks fr the drink, Uncle Asbury." As-bury." "I don't make no business o' water-In' water-In' hosses," the old man called after him as he rode away, "but a hoss like that he's welcome t' drink the well dry." The concealed house-boat the woodsman pondered the significance of it; the possibilities of it; the horrible threat of it as be galloped down the road. "He glanced at the sun within .half an hour of the tree-tops. He had blundered blun-dered Hopkins had Just undercut him but maybe the light ' would hold to redeem the blunder. His Jaw tightened tight-ened and he gave Graylock the rein, closely scanning every inch of the road and every foot of river that came Into view as he passed. Two miles above Black rock, just where a by-road, a mere wagon track, led off across the wooded bottoms, he found what he was looking for a mass of horse tracks, with a print or two of a boot heel that he knew. His lips twisted into a hard grin ; tightened till they squeezed every mite of mirth out of It. He had lost the trail ; like a hound at fault, had actually run by It and here it lay, right where he had crossed it hours before. He had been bending low in the sad dle. He straightened and rode cautiously cau-tiously down the by-road through the dank and dismal bottoms. Where the narrow by-road approached Mud haul he again found what he was looking for Brownie hitched to a tree, restless and prancing from side to side. Hiding Graylock in a thicket, he unbuttoned un-buttoned his blouse, loosened his revolver re-volver In its holster and crept down the mucky bank toward the hiding-place hiding-place of the houseboat; crawled close to Its lurking place it was gone. He came out of the bushes and found where the gangplank had freshly scarred the mud ; searched the shore for footprints; found them the marks of a shapely small shoe, and the print of a stylish boot heel. A speck of color caught his eye near the scar of the gangplank a spot of gold on the dank mud. He stepped forward for-ward and bent over it. The next moment mo-ment he had snatched up something and stood gazing at It a yellow or-. or-. chid, flattened and faded, in all likelihood likeli-hood the very one he had found for her the Friday before lady slipper day. Over the man's line face spread a light that transfigured it. But there was a task calling tense; Insistent ; mayhap horrible. Taking out liis pocketbook, he put the flower, carefully away; frowned hard down the river shore. Knowing that the narrow by-road led through the wooded flats almost to Alpine Al-pine island, angled sharply and crossed to the hln'Ts something more than a mile above Black rock, he went back to Graylock. left Brownie prancing and pawing the weeds, and rode cautiously on down the river. .lust short of the point where the narrow road angled toward the bluff's, he again hid (Jraylock. went on afoot some distance farther and stole through the trees to the river bank. Creeping down to the edge of the w-ater. with a caution so great that a crane wading a rod or two below failed to take t'ne alarm. Jack crawled out among the limbs of a Cottonwood that had uprooted and lopped over the stream and peered down the sides of the island, lying less than two hundred yards below. A short distance down the south side, almost completely hidden among the willows and riding at the nd of a rope hitched to a tree on the hank, lay a small houseboat with a skiff tied at Its side unmistakably the same tiny craft that had found concealment at the head of Mini haul. The woodsman was just stealing hack through the limbs of the cotton-wood, cotton-wood, with the bold Intention of creeping creep-ing farther down the bank and swimming swim-ming out to the Island, when a man came out of the snug little cabin, carefully care-fully closed the door, fumbled a while es If locking It and stood on the diminu tive forward deck looking guardedly about. There was no mistaking the somber frock coat, neck stock and high hat it was Caleb Hopkins. A moment he stood listening at the, door; glanced around again in every direction, and slipped over the side of the houseboat into the skiff. As he rowed up around the head of the island and across the north channel chan-nel to shore, he passed within less'than fifty yards of where the woodsman lay concealed, his eyes hard and dangerous, danger-ous, bis fingers betraying an almost irresistible ir-resistible inclination to stray toward the butt of the revolver at his hip. Drawing the skiff well in among the fringe of scrub willows, Hopkins glanced back in the direction of the houseboat, snarled out an Impatient exclamation and set off across the bottoms. bot-toms. The woodsman rose and softly followed; shadowed him through the tangle of bushes and vines and fallen logs out to the River road; watched him cross, pick bis way up the bluff and slip away among the trees of the upland. The unguarded safe, the bundles of money under the floor of the cabin at the homestead, crossed the woodsman's mind. But there was a far higher stake in his tense thought just then than safes and bundles of money. The frock coat and high hat were no sooner well out of sight than he sprang up from where he lay in the thicket at the edge of the bottoms and hurried back to the skiff ; slid it out from the wil-, lows and crossed the channel to the Island. There he hid It again and slipped through the tangle of underbrush under-brush and driftwood to where he could get a view of the houseboat. There reached him the dull sound of footfalls on the cabin floor, and the tiny craft rocked slightly as some one evidently crossed from side to side, but there was no sound of voices ; from which he concluded that the unknown tenant was alone. In the fast gathering shadows he crept to the edge of the island ; crawled with extraordinary care under the hand rail to the diminutive forward deck. The door he had watched Hopkins fumbling over he had locked padlocked pad-locked on the outside. He stood still 7 fm, 411 The Door He Had Watched Hopkins Fumbling Over He Had Locked Padlocked on the Outside. and listenea some one was moving about inside the cabin, and a speck of light showed behind a narrow crack between the door and the Jamb. Very guardedly he crossed the deck and brought his eye close to the crack It commanded a view of a narrow section of the room. A candle was alight somewhere at the side, and a shadow one shadow flitted about the floor. The shadow slid across the section that he could see; deepened; disappeared; and in its place Texie. She came to the door on the outside of which he was crouched and tugged at the hitch, as she had probably done many times since being left a prisoner, pris-oner, but the stout padlocked hasp held, firm. With an exclamation that held Just a shade of petulance, she turned away. He waiched her till she passed out of range of the crevice doubtless to sound the walls for some other means of escape. But the narrow opening had told hhu what it heartened him much to know. He took a bullet from his pouch; flattened It between his teeth; with his powerful fingers forced it noiselessly into the keyhole of the padlock in such a way as to make It Impossible to Insert the key ; jammed it so tight with the blade of his pocket knife that nothing short of a locksmith's lock-smith's tools could have dislodged It. Crawling along the gangway to the after deck, he rendered the padlock on the rear aoor equally useless; lis- j tened a moment to the quick restless , steps Inside; crawled under the hand rail to the bank and, with every precaution pre-caution known to woodcraft to hidi his trail, rc-crossed the ir.laud to the skiff. He shoved the skiff Into the water, rowed up around the head of the island, down the south channel and back to the house-boat. Fastening the skiff to the rail, he unhitched the rope from the willow on the bank ; sprang lightly to the forward deck, being careful to keep out of range of the crevice between the door and jamb ; picked up one of the two light poles with which such craft are propelled; pushed off; suffered the snug little vessel to catch the drift of the current cur-rent and, being careful to keep well within the shadow of the willows, let it drift down the channel. Far down toward the lower point of the island a narrow pocket gashed into the rather steep bank a place well known to the woodsman. Carefully Care-fully withdrawing the boat from the current as he approached, he deftly turned the prow ; poled the little vessel ves-sel Into the slack water of the pocket and far up under the overhanging vines and branches, where it would likely escape anything short of the very closest scrutiny, either from land or water; hitched It securely to a tree on the bank ; went back to the deck and stood listening. The girl inside the cabin had repeatedly re-peatedly wrenched at the doors as the vessel drifted down the channel. Several Sev-eral times she had called the name of Hopkins, begging him to release her, doubtless believing it was he that set the boat adrift. To all this the woodsman woods-man had returned no answer. She must have known when the boat stopped, must have heard the scrape of the limbs and vines as It was poled up into the pocket, for there followed an interval of silence. He could not resist the longing to steal once more to the narrow crevice where the bar of candle-light escaped. He brought his eye close; peaped within. She was standing near the middle of the floor, listening intently and apparently ap-parently in deep thought. As he watched, he saw a sudden light leap to her face and wake the wonder of her eyes.. She crossed the floor; came close to the door and, with the caution cau-tion of a woodcraft almost as fine as his own, softly called: "Jack!" It took the utter sum of the man's resolution to keep still. He watched the wonder of her eyes transform to disappointment and despair; watched her stand clasping and unclasping the slim fingers of her shapely small hands. One consideration alone restrained him from beating to fragments the disabled dis-abled padlock and setting her free right In that stout cabin, with its doors secured by jammed locks that could not be opened without breaking, securely hidden at the end of a covered cov-ered trail, was the safest place in the Flatwoods for her Just then. There would be hard faces and quick fingers In the red-roofed cottage that night. But even so, it was the most diffi cult thing the big woodsman had ever tried to do in his life to turn away ; from that door and go back to the skiff. With set and serious face he rowed up the channel, around the head of the island, across to the mainland and carefully stepped ashore; dropped both oars Into the river; set the boat adrift ; stood a moment watching It float away and, with extraordinary pains to hide his-trail, hurried back to Graylock. CHAPTER XVIII . In the Dead Night. Twilight had long faded into dark, the hazy stars seeming only to intensify inten-sify the deep gloom of the woods, when Jack Warhope returned to Black rock, coming in by way of the feed-pens, feed-pens, and slipping the horses into the barn through the cattle sheds. He crouched a long time on the kitchen step listening. No unusual sound disturbed the silence. Very carefully care-fully he fitted his key the same that had come so near causing him trouble at the inquest into the lock; guardedly guard-edly turned it ; worked the door slowly slow-ly open ; entered ; softly closed and locked It. Stealing across the floor, he made his way to the small office room where the papers and safe were kept. He tiptoed behind the curtains that hung over the entrance t. a closet under un-der the stair in the sitting room and stood still, his ears strung for every sound that rode the night. It couldn't have been short of midnight, mid-night, and his mind had gone back to the house-boat, riding safe and secure In the pocket at Alpine Islaod. when there came the sound for which his ears were straining hands outside prying at the window of the west room. lie drew his revolver, cocked It and took a position so that he could see through the curtains without causing them to move. There came a low sound of crumbling crum-bling wood ; the muffled slither of crack-' Ing glass; the soft grate of the sash as It was slowly raised; -finally the creak" of the window-sill and the faint swish of clothing as somebody crawled through. The sounds were repeated one no more. (TO BE CONTINUED.) |