| Show f selwood el sleepy aleby SL a cat by FRANK H V service copyright ly by charles scribners scribner sons son I 1 CHAPTER XV continued 18 what to it dob bob he asked at length scott lifting his eyes answered with ith a broader smile and another question got any money V no Inq inquiry could have surprised selwood wore not it a whole lot he bi confessed with alt h abating interest terest lq now much do you want two thousand dollars selwood took it for a joke we well 11 im broke just nt at present but if 1 its coming to you get it what do you want with two thousand dollars ive got a man down below the barn you been wanting to see gee chos tile the man I 1 mont to see aa asked selwood Sel nood with only moderate interest the old padre carpy was stowing ilia his instruments away tn in his bag lie ile looked up tip with an exclamation of astonish astonishment ment set wood regarded scott searchingly you mean the old padre I 1 wanted to see scott nodded selwood bellwood who had taken a chair rose to his feet and with one hand picked up hla his coat to throw over his shoulders scott helped him where in thunder did the old padre turn up asked carpy mcalpin passed him on tike the gala cain bases basas trail about an hour ago when he was bringing in dave he had a couple of gunlocks gunlicks Gun locks with him scott so BO designated the indians from gunlock reservation mcalpen Me Alpin told me he met a black robe and that he was on no his way up here and going to camp along the river so I 1 rode down there und and talked with hij guld gulden es they told me they had a very old black robe along so I 1 to him heading for the country 11 1 I saw the big lire fire in the sky he told mo m and I 1 sold said to my men the deiv new town Is burning many people are in distress we will ivill po go there before we start up the river t 1 I held my lantern into his moe fare continued scott ile he Is the sant man whose picture you hod had in your room up tit nt the hall and leold tom him IM ebere was waa a white than bar hera wanted to see him himy and tokeo tota to afif horse barn if ier burned B balt f he sam he would camp down by bv the river hes there lt if there was a surprise for carpy inthe a the recital there was a greater one awaiting him in Se lwoods reception of ft t for a moment selwood did not when he did corpy stood okeh e bied bcd well said selwood deliberately it if youve got the man the money is coming to you when I 1 can dig it up but dont hold him on my account I 1 dont care about seeing him carpy was well nigh speechless with amazement lie exclaimed recovering ills his breath dont 1 care about seeing him Matilt he be cried dont want to see the man it if it la Is the man got your whole story have you lost your senses selwood standing unmoved the attack with stubborn indifference he felt that christie had bad cast him oft off what did a name good or bad mean to him now but lie would say not one word and doctor carpy unable to stir him film with eloquent reproach in the end lost his own temper here after all these years 1 l he protested that blamed old martinet roper lias has been running binning over you and you vou get a chance to nail him film by jing you wont take the trouble to do it all right ill do it ft myself the doctor exclaimed 1 I wont let that old buck run over me any longer loinger bob continued the incensed surgeon pointing his finger at scott hold on to your black robe and his red skins if we cant find anything else for breakfast bring lem em up here for a cup ti 0 coffee anyway and with selwood staring at the wall and tile the halfbreed grinning perplexed carpy flung out of the room in the glaum of the hall carpy stiff exasperated by Sel Se wooda lwoods obstinacy and talking resentfully resent fulli to himself alinosi ran into christie a pathetic figure he thought for a chance to speak to somebody As he stopped with an apology abe seemed encouraged for she die stepped close to him doctor she exclaimed tn in a frightened whisper as Is mr terribly hurt buit carpy laughed its as he looked into alno her appealing eyes one of those ito se reassuring laughs that chat would bring life lind hope to a dying roan mail chrystle Chrls tle he murmured theres more the mat ter tei tegwith with that fellow than just star bucks bucki slashing I 1 think continued th 4 doctor eyeing tier her with a signia leant t expression that it if talk yon could tell better than anybody an j body A else Ofer a matter with him christie youre a one fine girl good enough for the best bast or I 1 talk to you so plain but youre in love ath john selwood and hes in t love with you there there I 1 hillh y mean to makii make you cry ellid child 1 I 1 g 4 zb looked up what can 1 I 1 do ar S ifa obe pleaded 1 I thought ass tha world of him why I 1 C W 40 to you you yoa be vr me I 1 do lef irl leow ow le be has saved baert fj fy bif alfe and bowhan mowhan my life but ip ij irv m at j how do you think I 1 felt when I 1 was told by that vile ann alan ad and py by him that lint lie ile was a gambler the doctor looked perplexed 1 I knowel knowel it christie 1 I knowel that lal w what hat made the trouble tween you lie said 1 I blaino you so much neither he added regretfully even if rm nothing but a poor drunken doctor myself you shant say that matt the obe exclaimed indignantly youre nothing of the alie kindl hind youre the kindest best doctor in the whole world t lie shoot shook tits his head tell the truth girl and shame the devil it if I 1 I 1 be wasting out gut roy my life alle in this hellhole hell liell hole bole but I 1 want to say any only wisht somehow ow it could be fixed up I 1 may not be able to speak it in words but I 1 know what hat goes into the making of a man my girl and whatever 11 ll it N s its ita in john selwood and if he ever quits quite the business hes hei in see a nian man all til rough through him A flood of berds broke through christies christias Chri sties pent up reeling oh I 1 believe every word of it doctor youve no need to tell me that lies just the finest man to so the world if n d only A thield suggestion occurred to her you doctor if ask him to give up that bust business you have auw influence with him than any one else carpy cut her off christie he said emphasizing every deliberate I 1 yord word with a abi ke of the head youve got more influence over film in your one little finger than I 1 have all over meo me but christie ive noticed this it it aint so good when somebody coaxes a man to quit anything even it if lie he does quit guit it its as when he quits quite a thing himself out of just his hs own free will now if john selwood ever quits quit the game of tits his own accord bet on him 11 1 tile the took look christie gave eave him na as site she went back to her room made him ten years younger he strode toward the stairs only to encounter margaret hide burring to meet him why yes the boys chipped up a little grumbled crumbled carpy corpy in answer to margarets manifest anxiety for hn was bilag thinking ills his own perplexities il nothing tit ang I 1 to hurt much aie ite added you look queer a matter with you 7 aint shot are you the drawn face and the sunken anxious a eyes of ills his housekeeper made ills his question almost an involuntary one she answered to reassure him but she could not hide bide her distress im not wounded doctor but might I 1 I 1 wonder iwonder she managed to say it in tier her low restrained voice a voice that no matter how often it broke never wholly lost a note of once gen geno tie breeding might I 1 she added repenting her plea speak to john selwood right away just for a few minutes doctor carpy lifted his eyebrows I 1 with a grating laugh and as it if things were getting too complicated so what youre hanging bm so I 1 talked to him around for why you so go well now ill tell you it youre worry worrying log about john dont do it that boy aint buried none to speak of shucks I 1 I 1 never thought she caught tier her breath its not about him slip she excia lined in far front from but I 1 must speak with him farald its too late to ketch him film now objected tile the doctor still mys titled by her strange interest tile the boys bos are waiting to set up another telegraph pole party and waiting for john to 0 o come down to the station before they begin see him when lie he comes back meg 11 tier her lips could scarcely frame words 1 11 I roust must see john selwood she repeated with a supreme effort tit at self control 1 I must see him now who Is in the there re with him bill Par daloe and bob scott IVo doctor clor she elie exclaimed d stepping closer in her almost frantic appeal help roel met ask them out a moment I 1 tell you I 1 must talk to him alone now 9 it was impossible not to acknowledge her extremity carpy reopened Se lwoods door ile he spoke to parda loe arid and scott look here boys he said beckoning with his head head both of you step Ste pout out here a minute ute meg wants to 16 talk to 3 aplin ohn private SOW selwood cleaned up and brushed up as decently as he be could be with ills his bandaged arm arin and hands stood before re the table preparing I 1 ng to ago go to the barn 1 ile he was buckling on his caArl cartridge dge belt his coat coal was thrown over his shoulder hearing grIng margarets footsteps foot stepa he be looked around one glance revealed the agony in her face ile he laid unlighted on the table a cigarette that scott had rolled for litin him and spoke what Is it afar margaret ga ile he pointed to a chair youre not hurt huntr looking at him blin IMP one thima with emotion she gat bat down she spoke she ehe had already forgotten foi gotten the question lie he had just justn sir mr selwood ile he interrupted her lie he hod had taken his revolver up from the table find and was slowly slipping cartridges hack back into the cylinder nee when he fie demanded with good unconcern did I 1 stop being just plain johnr john never ip p me never she ebe cald but tonight I 1 come to beg ny my life at your hand hoping pray it us you yon wont deny me let me ma tell on nil what I 1 mean tell you my story I 1 was worried married ten years ago when I 1 was ns elighte it 11 oh yes she said to cut off tits hla surprise 1 I know how bow old I 1 took look trouble has hap done that for three years I 1 had the best bus hand in the world kind considerate devoted devot td tits his friends persuaded him to go into politics they elected him city treasurer of the little town where we lived in michigan that was hla undoing it ft meant being out nights being a good fellow drinking spending wasting it lasted years and during uis thal tine I 1 fell sick I 1 was very sick a long time ind and he fie did everything lip hp could in the world to care for me to relieve raj diio I 1 cost him so BO much oh so much for doctors more inore than I 1 wanted him to spend but lie fie would won try everything that gave us ua the least hope lie he said I 1 should have tile the bes beg t ettre cure and lie he gave it liberally extravagantly pg antly to me then one night he come home lie he had been brinki drinking ag she stopped an instant it was the first in my life john I 1 had seen him in drink she went on ile he told me that night hla his ac accounts counti were short that the lie next day as books would be examined that he must fave face the penitentiary or run away in her agony she sat now twisting and clasping tier her fingers now her hands now looking at the floor now looking at selwood imploringly he her words wrung from tier her reluctant lips lip when ho he told me that she faltered on 1 I aks was frightened i I 1 was waa so wak that night 1 and I 1 was wicked I 1 told him to go john jobu to go at once pt but to write me and that when he found sonic safe place tar far away in the west I 1 would join him film I 1 selwood only looked at her not unfeelingly but as one who enid say nothing lecause tec he knew of nothing to 0 o say margaret moistened tier par clied lips ile he never wrote me she ghe said ft in a low hard bard voice if lie did I 1 never got the letter I 1 made up my mind he must have been hurt oe or killed and that I 1 would find out ont or find him myself roy celi and after weary weary months of search I 1 did find my husband here bere in sleepy cat ifer her eyes had dropped from her listeners eyes her head hung her voice fell still lower fie H was riot not hurt nor dead but worse for me h lis s feeling for me ine was dead ue he cared nothing for me nothing nut but you interposed selwood coldly you lou cored cared for him res its an old story well what then 1 I 1 stayed here while lie he was ana here then I 1 went to thief river to io be near hini not chasing him not bothering bot berIng him hoping sometime to repay him tor for ills his old goodness to we me but he had chosen bad comp company tiny and through was ft as going from bad to worse I 1 cant excuse him for tho the evil all but k mio there la Is good in my husband ive v come to you to plead for tits lila life to roe me echoed Set selwood wood mildly astonished to 16 me his dumet it took look all her courage to speak ile he t use his rai real nar name ne here she said cold in strained broken tones you know it if I 1 mentioned I 1 it lit Is knowd own here as aa cliff star buck I 1 St starbuck arbuckl I 1 she heard the name blurted out in hateful amazement with dry despairing sp ring eyes she bhe watched ahe ilia passionless si sl features feature before her harden into the cold refusal that she daw was coming coining leaning table fictile fit tile with hla his back to it the gambler shifted front from one foot to theo the other trier his bis eyes that he might avoid bir her eye ft fixed on the he boor lie flattened hla his hand heind at ills his side bide 01 on a the table and his h right liand hand recited on afe grip of ibid tover I 1 lie bud bad bluj lu in tbt abo cabbard l st at ills his haa TU kl d A at with apparent un con concern cerp but deadly tin sorry jourd youre 11 up p with aha chattel it fel jow ow bif I 1 do a thin for you if I 1 wanted 0 o and 1 I cant han est eally ly so say fm r J iii loo looking to 4 do anything for that man gorndt to hint han him an and d its ita al almost too good for or ani fayou if you want ito lt la Is honest opinion bupt you you might t go a and kit talk calk tot to the pe two cole boys bas john and abdelf abes auva at a and nil to t the he teamsters juthe t willingto let et mm him goi go he be lifted again on ahls feet 4 1 I wont flay anything but john slie ibe pleaded ln heartbreaking breaking iones tones iou if you W wont say anything na im lost none of these tahe men would have any mercy for me pot or fr for hint him but to fo hang him they have no hearts no you knori kno know wI 1 might na as well go aidi out and beg the stones atones th in the streets for mercy selwood W motionless life pulled a knife cimela on me in that clinch tonti tonight lit he muttered 1 y 1 ilet aie plea was so swift he was drinking tonight lie he dragged christie tyler fyler out of this hotel down fo that 11 words could convey no no more moreon of batol hateful ful bitter angert angera thin ills w words padg carried lie he was drinking john 1 and thet others were going to burn the hotel was as here V I 1 know and I 1 went with her to protect lier fief min john ident I 1 went with her I 1 id have given alien up my life rather than she should come to harm 1 I 1 thought of her I 1 thought of you my to you would be to let him film hang I 1 she sprang rp frontu her chair and clasping one of her bony hands in the other at the waist of her worn dress 8 tood stood aty ary eyed 1 before him john listen 1 have bolf never dove done things wish you dainel done ile he snorted 1 I hope hoie they dont class roe me with that you know what whisky will do to a man v for gods take sake dont blame his meanness on whisky whiskeys whisk ys got enough to answer fort 1 I dont I 1 dont I 1 blame it on a myself bhelt |
