Show the WU se 0 of the th W adders g by IRVING BACHELLER copyright by irani anu corrice am CHAPTER XII continued 22 swift as a bolt of lightning the flash leaped upon them and shook their hearts with terror and darkness fell as quickly inthe light had riser for those affrighted ones it was like the flying open of the doors of hell bell for only a traction fraction of a second they were blinded by the glare of its games flames it may have revealed to one of them the fathomless deep of hla his own wickedness the girl give gave a little cry as they fled hidden behind the broad base of the big tree shad had not been able to see them but he be had seen the light fling itself through the tops and slender blender columns beyond him he sat still out near the edge of the thicket he could dimly hear a sound like that of smothered sobbing this for only a moment then receding footsteps silence fell again not until long after he be had heard miss Sp Spen enlows lowa clock tolling the hour of midnight did he arise from his station behind the tree As he be did so he heard a team starting away from some point near smithers store groping in the darkness he be found the camera and covered its lens lie ile picked up his things and set out for the doctors house his learned friend slept in a bedroom on the first floor shad tapped on a window pane in accordance with the doctors request the good man arose and opened the front door well what luck they came and I 1 guess that ive got the photograph good work my boy I 1 the doctor exclaimed as he patted the shoulder of his young friend ill put the camera in my dark room and show you to your bed perhaps we shall sleep better it if we do not know what it has to tell us until morning shed went to bed his excitement kept him awake until the keen eyed cocks had seen the light of dawn when bearese he be arose at eight hla his venerable friend wis was at breakfast ile he 10 looked very grave have you yon developed the photograph shad asked yes tea and it Is successful said the doctor 1 I was not surprised but I 1 was deeply saddened the whole tragic story is now as clear to me as the street I 1 see through yonder window I 1 hope that you will not mind if I 1 ask you to let the secret lie ile with me until it Is given to colonel blake it Is properly his secret the situation has come to its climax the time for decisive action his has arrived I 1 think that you had better go to the county seat and get in touch with the district attorney wherever he be may be and tell him Is needed here at once I 1 am going down to ashfield and can take you to the train as well as not do you think that they saw you when the flash came 1 I am sure that they did not I 1 was so hidden that I 1 could not see them ile he gave the scraps of conversation that he had overheard ab ahl I 1 I 1 thought so its a kind of verbal flashlight on the past there was a call on the telephone the doctor answered it III be there to in a few minutes he said turning to shad he announced 1 the girl to Is sick this morning a and rid no wonder while you finish your breakfast ill go and see what I 1 can do for her the doctor returned saying her heart Is a bit troublesome shell get better naturally she Is a little depressed ile he put a sealed envelope in shads chads hands therein Is the photograph of the man who killed oscar perry please give it to your chief and tell him how we came by it it I 1 think that when he looks at this photograph he will know how it all came about if not I 1 can tell lim him they got into the buckboard and drove away soon after they set out shad remarked 1 I had vaulted a long time in the darkness when I 1 heard miss Sp enlows clock strike eleven A little later I 1 heard a team cross the bridge I 1 knew that it had come from ashfield it stopped somewhere near probably in ie de shed at smithers store I 1 said to myself there Is royce in a little while they walked into the trap A curious kind of a man I 1 the doctor exclaimed he Is III this morning and has sent for me 1 I wonder how he learned that the girt girl wasat was at miss bliss Spen lowa 11 jiow how could every one help learning it with dear miss Sp enlow s tongue as limber as it Is thy rode on in silence shad was jut just in time for his train near the depot in canton a little before twelve i he be met ruth buth blake ne ile was on his way to the office you are 90 going fog wrong she said how so why because yon are to eat luncheon with mother and me mother wants to have a italic with you come on 1 I have got to see your father t i he will not get hero here until seven tonight hes been to chicago but I 1 want to go to my room and change my linen and put on my very best suit of clothes why all that fussing 1 I must be dressed like a gentleman if it was any other girl I 1 care ruth blushed a pretty joke she answered looking into his eyes hurry and well wait for you yon CHAPTER XIII C the truth crushes its ita enemy sheridan morrison Morr Mor yeon ryson now a distinguished lawyer has written in a volume of reminiscences not to be released for publication until he has been lying ten years in his grave that for only a fraction of a second they were blinded by the glare of its flames a abay boy be careful in making the mer memories norles that are to go with him up the road he has given the historian a limited right of quoting from this record of his early life he writes I 1 see mostly darkness when I 1 look back upon my young boyhood it was the darkness of ignorance and oppression with which I 1 could not be content but as I 1 look a light falls upon my way it came from gentle friendly faces mostly it was the light that shone out of the big honest blue eyes of a young girl I 1 began to feel the stir of a new life in me in a little time the restless daring adventurous human being that I 1 am was born he knew his way no task was too great for him he had a strange faith in his heart that no undertaking was be yon anis strength if it was an illusion etwas if was worth having I 1 knew mean and sordid people these I 1 have almost forgotten but I 1 do not forget or underestimate the kindly help of mrs smithers in spite of her narrowness or the gentle severity of betsy Sp enlow or the great he hearton artof heart of bumpy brown especially I 1 remember the keen intellect and fatherly counsel of the beloved doctor and the generosity of mr air converse and of colonel and mrs blake above all these forces that have helped to make me the man I 1 am is that light which long ago shone upon me out of a girls eyes I 1 was a ro romantic comande young knight of the age of chivalry when that day in december elated by my success in amity dam I 1 came to colonel blakes house I 1 eat down at the table with ruth and her mother cautiously I 1 tried to ease the fullness of my heart forgive me if I 1 look at you too much I 1 said to the beautiful girl it Is winter there are no flowers the trees are bare and my eyes long for something good to look at mrs blake smiled saying 1 I suggest that you turn your eyes on that portrait of a lovely lady looking down at you yon from the wall she is very grand but her eyes tell me no secret her ups lips do not speak to me my heart beats no faster when I 1 look at her these things I 1 tell so that those who read may know that I 1 had an active imagination and a spirit not quite fitted to my time extravagance in A dress and speech was the keynote of nay my youth the ladles lik liked edme me some men did not those who said that I 1 was a born liar have never understood me they will not understand me now when I 1 say that there Is no one so uninteresting as aborn a born truth teller whose veracity has the precision of mathematics mrs blake knew my heart she faced me about with these words dear boy I 1 know that you mean what you yon say but you yon are on forbidden ground did I 1 not warn you to keep off the grass she was smiling my ardor had amused her true I 1 but when you gave me that warning you thought that I 1 was a child since colonel blake has told me that I 1 have done the work of a man he does not know it but I 1 have helped to solve the mystery which has baffled us so long I 1 present it to him she took my hand in hers hera a gentle motherly gesture she said you are a boy of a thousand brave thoughtful keen minded a gentleman I 1 am proud of you but you are only a boy in years even if you are a man in accomplishment you must be Vat lent and wait a while before you can be ba engaged to marry 1 I can wait but the thought of it la in like a knife in my heart I 1 shall have to go away where I 1 can not see her when I 1 take her hand band in mine when I 1 look into her eyes my heart ts Is telling her of my love I 1 should think that I 1 might as well say it with my tongue why not I 1 wonder not that she laughed 1 I think that you are a born pleader she answered the judge decides against you but you can take your case cabe to a higher court why do you not appeal to the colonel 71 ruth euth had been silent but amused by these proceedings I 1 turned to her and asked have I 1 your permission to appeal I 1 think that she never looked so beautiful as aa when she turned to me and answered quite seriously of course well appeal mother knows how to bribe him 1 I shall be scared I 1 know what he will do he will remind me of the brass brasa cannon and tell me that he uses it to shoot at young fellows who want to marry his daughter then mrs blake offered a suggestion which betrayed her ber sympathy it was waa this you will say that you are not the tha kind of man who finds discouragement at the cannons mouth I 1 arose and went to her side and kissed her I 1 knew that my case was more than half won this much Is taken directly from the memoirs of the accomplished lawyer and statesman it accurately reflects the romantic fervor of his temperament Per pe amentt the forces that lifted him out of the slough of his bis boyhood and started him on his triumphant way the pride he be took in the approval of the friends who had bad done aone so much for him tb the illuminating passage should be associated with the query which euda his review of an unusual and most happy career it is how in any land save this could a boy born as I 1 was and bound for many years to a life of hard conditions have won the friends the lue peace leace the plenty that have long been mine colonel blake returned that even evening from his journey in the west bring ing good news he said algyre has been con convicted I 1 have la in my pocket a sworn confession of his part in the crime at amity dam the doctors theory was correct the plan was argyres Algy res he planted the revolver and the cartridges on bumpy brown he was to get a certain sum of money ile he got only half of it TO CONTINUED |