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About The Springfield news. (Springfield, Lane County, Or.) 1916-2006 | View Entire Issue (July 28, 1921)
PAGE SIX TflQ ROBERT J. C . STEAD Homesteader - Amtm "Ttm Cm Copyright, Ail Rights Kninil )w " . CHAPTER XII Continued. 23 " "Oh, It's Sergeant Grey." she said, with a tone of relief. "I am Heulah Harris. And I've Just boon Retting myself engaged to yonr prisoner here. Oh. It's not o awful as you think. Von see, we knew each other In Mani toba, and we've really been engaged for quite a while, but he didn't know It until tonight" For a moment the policeman re tained his reserve. He reinemevred the girl, who had already cost him a dh fleeted glance, and he reproached him self that he could doubt her even as he doubted, but how could he know ht -she had not been passing In fire arms or planning a release? "What she says Is right, sergeant," said Travers. "She has Just broken the news to me. and I'm the happiest man In Canada, Jail or no Jail." There was no mistaking the gen uine ring in Travers voice, and the policeman was convinced. "Most ex traordinary," he remarked, at length, "but entirely natural on your part. I must say. I congratulate you, sir." ihe officer had not forgotten ths girl vho cluug to his arm the morning be 'ore. "Hang me. sir." he continued, "there's luck everywhere but la the counted police." He unlocked the door of the cell. "I night to search you," he said to Beu ah, "but If you'll give me your word hat you have no firearms, weapons, kulves. or matches, I'll admit you to his er drawing room for a few mln Mtes." "Nothing worse than a hat pin," she assured him. "Hut you must come, too," she added, placing her hand on tils arm. "You must understand .hat" He accompanied her Into the cell, but remained In the doorway, where he suddenly developed an interest In astronomy. At length he turned quick y and faced In to the darkness. "Speaking, not as an officer, but as i fellow man, I wish you were damned vetl that Is, very well out of this, old chap," he said to Travers. "Oh, that's nil right." Jim assured aim. ''You couldn't help taking me jp, of course, and for all your klnd iess younvouid quite cheerfully hang lie If It fell to your lot But It Isn't .U1U IU. i "I stand ready to be of any service! o vou that Is nermisslbie " I "The Inquest Is to be tomorrow. Isn't t?" asked Beuiah. "I think you aould be nt the Inquest, Jim." "That's right." said the sergeant You may throw some new light on he case." "I've Just one request," said Trov- rs. "Y'ou know Gardiner?" "I've heard of him." "Have him at the Inquest" "As a Juror or witness?" "It doesn't matter, but have him there." "All right. I'll see to It And now. Miss Harris, If you will permit me, I vlll bring your horse for you." Grey took a conveniently long time o find the horse, but at last he Bp eared iu the door. Beuiah released er fingers from Jim's aud swung her elf into the saddle. "Sergeant Grey," she said, "I think ou're the second best man In the orld. Good night." The sergeant's military shoulders ame up squarer still, and he stood at attention us she rode Into the dark less. CHAPTER XIII. An Inquest and Some Explanations. The Inquest party consisted of the oroner, who was the doctor that had ilready attended Allan; Sergeant irey, six Jurors, selected from the ownspeople: the manager of the bank, .hose suspicions had first been com lunlcatcd to Grey; Travers, and Gar Iner. In the early morning the po ceman had ridden out to the ranch or Gardiner, hut had met him on his ay to town. News of the tragedy id reached him, he said, and he was urrylng in to see If he could be of itne assistant to Travers In arrang ig for a lawyer, or In any way that light be practicable. Grey told him at as yet Ijo formal charge had been ild against Travers; that he was lerely held pending the finding of ie coroner' Jury, und suggested that ' Gardiner would accompany him to ie Inquest he might he able, not only throw some light on Travers' char fter, but also on his when abouts on ie night of t lie tragedy. To this urdiner readily agreed. It was noon when the party reached lie Arthurs' ranch. They swung Into ue yard amid u cloud of duM, the Jingle of trappings, and the hearty ex change of greetings between Arthurs and his ucqunlutanccs from town, Gardiner was Introduced to Arthurs, and shook hands without removing his gauntlets. Then the rancher walked over and shook hands with Travers. There were no signs of hundcufTs now, and an outsider would not have known that the young man's position differed from that of the others pres ent After the meal Gardiner Joined them again, and the party, which, now In eluded Arthurs and Harris -proceed ed up the valley to the scene of ths tragedy. It was a great shock to Har ris to find that the victim, of Allan's gun was his old neighbor, Riles. He stood for a long time as one dazed by the discovery, but gradually out of the confusion a horrible fear took shape In his mind. Allan tiad shot this man, with whom they had an ap pointment at this spot; had. shot htm down, as far as could be shown, with out excuse or provocation, before he had so much as entered the door. The body proved to be unarmed, and from Its position had evidently fallen Into the building after receiving the fatal charge. Harris' evidence was first received. He found It difficult to give his story connectedly, but Item by Item he told of his acquaintance with Riles In the eastern province; of their decision to come west and take up more land; of the chance by which they had fallen In with Gardiner, and the prospect he had laid before them of more proflta hie returns from another form of In vestment; of how his hesitation had finally been overcome by th assur ance that all he need do was have his money ready he was to be under no obligation to go any further In the "Perhaps t Am a Murderer," H Con tinued Simply. transaction unless entirely satisfied ; of the offer wired by the New York capitalists; of the sale of his farm for a disappointing sum, and their Journey with the money to the old shanty up the valley, where they were to he met by Mies and Gardiner, and also, as they expected, by the owner of the mine, with whom they would open direct negotiations, producing the money us proof of their desire and ability to carry out their undertaking; of how they hoped the owner would be Induced to accept a deposit and ac company them back to town, where an option would be secured from him for a period sufficient to enable them to turn the property over to the New York Investors at a handsome profit; of how he Harris wearied by the long ride In the bright, thin air, had gone to sleep confidently with Allan at his side, and of how he had sudden ly been awakened by a shot and beard Allan spring to his feet and ruah across the floor of the old building. Then there had been another shot a revolver shot this time and every thing was darkness, and he could hear only something struggling at the door. Then he told of his own fight ; of how they had fallen and rolled about on the rotten floor, and how, In despera tion, he had not hesitated to use his teeth on the hand of his ussallant, who had finally broken away and disap peared In the darkness. Then he told the ret of his story; of his vigil with AHhii, of the Joss of the money, of the rapture of Travers. and finally of the arrlvul of the policeman on the scene. "Didn't It seem to you a foolish thing to go Into the hills with all that money to meet a man you hud never seen, and buy a property you had nev er examined?" asked the coroner. "It wasn't foolishness; It was stark, raving madness, as I see It now," Har rls admitted. "Hut I didn't see It that way then. It I miked like a lot of easy money, f didn't care what the coal mine was like I didn't care whether there was a coal mine at all or not, so long as we made our turn over to the New York people." "Hut did It not occur to you that the whole thing con I mlno and mlns owner and New Yorkers and all was simply a scheme hutched up to Induce you away Into ffie fastnesses of the foothills with a lot of money In your possession?" . A half-bewildered look came over Harris, as of a man gripped by a new and paralyzed thought. Hut he shook his head. "No, It couldn't have been that" he said. "You see, Kites was an old neighbor of mine,; und Mr. Gardi ner, too, I knew (or a good many years. It wasn't like as If I had been dealing with strangers." "We will go deeper Into that mutter ufter a little." said the coroner. "It's very fortuuute Mr. Gardiner Is here to add what light he can to the mys tery. We will now adjourn to the room where the younger Mr. Hurrls lies und hear his evidence. It would be unwise to move him for some days yet" "I can't tell you how It happened. Doctor," he said, turning his eyes, larger now lu his pale face, upon the coroner, "but I think I got very home sick I guess I was pretty tired, too aud I begun thinking of things that had happened lung ugo, back when I was a little child. In a little sod shan ty that the old shuck lu the valley some way seemed to bring to mind. And then I guess I fell asleep, too, but suddenly I Bat up In u great fright I'm not a coward," he suld, with a faint smile. "When I'm feeling myself It tukes more than a notion or a durk night to send the creeps up the back of my neck. Hut I own I sut up there so frightened my teeth chattered. I had a feeling that I was going to be attacked I didn't know by what maybe by a wild beast but something was going to rush In through that old blanket hanging lu the door and pounce on me." The sweut was standing on Allan's face, and he sank buck weakly Into the pillows. Heulah placed a glass to his lips, and the doctor told him to take his time with his story. "As the minutes went by," Allan continued, after an Interval, "thnt ter rible dread grew upon me, and my sense of danger changed from fear to certainty. Something was going to at tack me through that door I I raised my gun and took curefut aim. I saw the blanket swing a little; then I saw the fingers of a man's hand. Then I fired. "I'erhaps I am a murderer," he con tinued, simply, "hut before God I know no more why I fired that shot than you do." There were deep breathing and shuf fling of feet as Allan completed this part of his statement, but only the coroner found his voice. "Most re markable evidence," he ejaculate! Most extraordinary evidence. I have never heurd anything so obviously sin. cere and at the same time so a! toge til ed uncxplulmihle." "Perhaps It's not so uncxplalnaMe," said a quiet voice; and Mary Harris made her way through the circle of men to the side of the bed. She sot down on the coverlet and took the boy's hand In hers. It mattered not how many were looking ou; he was her little hoy again. "lou will understand, Doctor, and some of you men are parents," she began. "Allan will be twenty-five years old this coming winter. A lit tle less than 25 years ago my husband was obliged to leave mo alone for a considerable period In our little sod shanty on the homestead where we had located down In Manitoba. There were no near neighbors, as we couut distance In well-settled districts, and I was altogether ulone. I stood It all right for the first day or two, but my nerves were not what they should have been, and- gradually a strange, unreasoning fear cuine upon me. 1 suppose It was the Immensity of the prairies, tho terrible loneliness of It all, and my own state of health, but tho dread grew from day to day and from night to night. I tried to busy myself, to keep my mind active, to throw off i lie specter that hcunted me, but day and night 1 was oppressed with n sense of Impending danger, w hnd no wooden dtHr on the house w limtn't money to bur the boards t make one, and all my protection was n bliinket hung In ths doorway. used to walch that blanket at olgh t would llcht the lantern and sit the corner and watch that blanket Mr fear gradually pictured to Use an attack through thnt doorway didn't know by what; by whits man, or Indlnn. or wild beast, or ghost, or worse, If that Is possible; my mm id could not balance things; lumitn seemed too unreasonable or terrlhl to expect. So I took the gun, and In the corner, and waited. (TO II U CONTINUED.) Mt USE OF ETHER IN SURGERY Youthful Dentltt Said to Have Bean Responsible for Its Introduction to Osnsral Practice. While various experiments had been made with so-called "laughing gas" or nitrous oxide gas In.Amerlca prior to 184(1, It was some 74 years ago that the first practical operation under ether was performed In the Maaaa cbusetts General hospital In Boston and the peculiar part of It was that the sulphuric ether was given, not by one of the house physicians, but by a young dentist who hnd teen expert mentlng on himself and had gone to sleep for eight minutes. II rushed over to the hospital and asked a chance to demonstrate his discovery. A mnn about to have a tumor removed from his neck gnve permission to have the "new-fangled dope" applied. Ifc'n tint Morton went to work and the tu mor was removed. The patient open Ing his eyes after the operntlon cried, "Gentlemen, this Is no humbug," and with thnt remark ether wus given to the medicnl world. Oliver Wendell Holmes came for ward with nnmes for the process and the liquid, and the dictionary gnlned "anesthesia" and "anesthetic." In three months the drug wus being ul throughout tho civilised world. China's Mlrscle. The miracle of South China Is asso ciated In my mind with a certalu limtlscnnn In northern China. Near Chlnglungchlsu. on the Peking Katgnn section of tho Chinese government rail ways. It was necessary for a section of the great wntl of China to be demol ished in order to let the locomotive pass through. At a point where one instinctively pauses io enjoy an Ira jtcsslve view of the historic harrier which winds up the precipitous sides of the mountain like a huge dragon, the eye drops bark to the foreground and to the familiar switch signal that Indicates a sidetrack. There It stands In the very gnp made In tho great wall, this prosaic emblem of modern progress. This switch signal and a huge billboard on the crest of the mountain to remind tho vls!torof the merits of a certain brand of clgareta are my most vivid memories of the great wall of China. IMgar Alien Forbes In Leslie's. Dignified Rebuke. The cnptnln of a battleship recent ly In New York hnrbor Is celebrated throughout the fleet for l.ls dignity and his conscientious efforts to set In Ids own behnvlor a gooj example to his men. Among other rules he made for himself while In port was one which, when he went cshcre, brought him back to his ship every night be fore midnight. On one ocruslon a combination of circumstances delayed him and lie did not get ntoard until near 1 a. m. The lieutenant on duty saluted the skipper with professional smartness and cheerfully sold: "Good morning, captain." The cnptnln returned the snlute punctiliously und replied thus to the greeting : "Good evening, Mr. Hlank; you have a great deal to learn of your profes sion, sir." An Egyptian Orchestra. A full Egypt Inn orchestra was com posed of twenty harps, eight lutes, five or six lyres, six or seven double pipes, five or six flutes, one or two pipes (rarely used), two or three tambou rines (seldom used). If vocalists were added, which was not necessarily the rule, they would number about three fourths as many as the harpers. Land of the Sugar Maple. The finest und most abundant growth of the sugar maple Is found In the New Kngluiid stateH, New York, northern und western Pennsylvania and west ward throughout the region of the Great Lakes to Mlunesota. Io the southern Appalachians It grow w ell were climatic conditions ere similar to those further north. The Eyesight In Dreams. To. dream of your sight Is a good omen. To dream you are neur-slghted denotes umioyunee from enemies. To dream you see a great dlstunco signi fies long life. A guntflght foretells quurrels. The pructlcul fanner raises better crops than the theoretlcul agriculturist FREEZING FRUIT TO HELP PRESERVATION Method Has Passed Experi mental Stage In West. Practice Is te Be Recommends In Sections Where There Is Surplus and Sufficient Cold Storage Space Available. (Prjird by lit Untied Dial Depart. mut ( Agriculture.) Preserving fresh fruit by frecslng has passed the experimental stag In the Middle Weatern and Pacific states. The office of preservation of fruits and vegetables, burvau of markets, has been Investigating the new nielli-., od for several years and the lures tlgntors report that such fruits as strawberries, raspherrlea, logan ber ries, bluetwrrlea, currants and cher ries are uow being froien and held In commercial lots. So fsr as the jrvcea Is concerned, this method of preservation hat all the merits of simplicity. The fruit la froreu In the seme crates In which It Is marketed. The temperature re quired Is about It) degrees K., though soft fruit Is usually subjected to ' a lower temperature than that of bet ter quality, flo long as tho teuqiers lure Is maintained the fruit can be kept In storage. The froten product must le used at soon as It Is thawed, however, a thawing hrrsks down the tissues and allowa the fruit to decay rapidly. In he cream, or when made Into plea ami preserves, the froxeu fruit Is lu every way comparable to the fresh product. In preparing their report the reprvnviif atlvra of the United Starrs Department of Agriculture state that the practice It to be recommended In "tactions where there Is a surplus of production and siiflhieiit cold storage space available to accommodate the fruit. Only fresh, sound fruit should be frosen. Kreeslng does not do away with mold, though mold will uot de velop as long as the fruit remains at the temperature employed. TREATMENT OF BROODY HEN Large and Unnecessary Lest In Sum. msr Production of Farm Flock Can Be Prevented. There often Is a large and altogether unncci-Ksury loss In the summer pro duction of the f a nil flock, due to the Coop for Broody Hene. Idleness of numbers of broody hens which are permitted to remain on the nests Indefinitely and so are unpro ductive for many weeks. If such hens are removed from the nest as soon as broodlness develops, are placed In a comfortable coop, and well fed and wa tered, they usually can be broken up promptly. There Is nothing better than the coop shown here. It Is made of pine hoard. The floor should he ubout a foot from the ground. The sides and floor are mudo of slats spaced one-half to three-quarters of tin Inch apart. CULTIVATION IS IMPORTANT Work Neglected in Garden Often Means Poor Vegetables and Then Very Few of Them. The mistake of waiting till one has time to spare to cultivate the garden has too often meant poor gurdeu vege table, and few of them. The garden should he cultivated when tho soli Is In the proper condition and when the vegetable need It. It should not wait: It Is us Important as any other farm work und more Important than most of It. HARMFUL TO PASTURE WOODS Practice Has Been One of Chief Causes pf Deterioration Young Growth Dtttroyed. Pasturing of woods has been one of the chief muses of their deteriora tion. The severity of tho damage de pends largely on the number of stock und the size of the woods. One char acteristic of a heavy pastured woods Is the almost complete almenco of young growth, or Its existence onJy In small rngged patches us broken or scrubby stuff, Mr