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- * w. , » •. 4wQS??nX»i'.r • - • . I V ■* . • . •rv, -lt;T - ■ 3; '• 'rf.p2KKj-J rV.tVJr* ■ ?T•*: v j** i»»»’* J’* •'• :'•£s -ii\ i: . yVV'-«#VP-srtvst-w**.«T *. w.umK'-'■iCOPYRIGHT BY AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION. ISO A“No.w“And he dan got shot try in to git©her yere today?”“Yes. Is Ike Baxter’s wife at the house?”“Her am, an she dan jest hates MarsKenton.”“Then yo’ mast be keerful. Try andsee the gal alone. Tell her she mastsend the things tonight, bat not to comeherself till tomorrer. Go now as fast asyo’ kin. I’ll be waitin fur yo’ rightyere on this spot. Hold on a minit. Hevyo’ got a gun at the house?”“Yes. a double barTd shotgun.” “Then bring it back witn yo-, anapowder and shot and caps. If we bev a fout yere, it will be at clus range, and baeksbot will be better’n bullets.”“Fo’ de Lawd!” muttered the old man as he setoff at bis best pace. “Dat Cap’an Wyle be lie to Miss Sunshine. Den Mis3 Sunshine wants me to go to Harrisonburg. Deni meet up wid some gorillas an git switched till I smart like pepper. Den I start fur home an meet dat S'^f'/e Brayton an find out dat Mars Kenton hain’t dead but hurted, an cie Lawd only knows what’s gwine to happen tomorrer!”The invalid mother bad fallen into a light sleep, and Marian sat thinking. She and Mrs. Baxter had taken turns at watching with the sick, and this was her night, while the other had gone to the help’s quarters. Uncle Ben need not have been cautioned about Mrs. Baxter, as he felt that be thoroughly understood her di«rosition. He turned off the road to approach the house from another direction, and so softly did be draw near that the first warning Marian had of his presence was a tapping on the window pane. He pressed his old blackle^cati rmr-'‘•tV8fe:» !i. • •' / ; ’I4.'rvt .«-v .I;—'';I' •m.Ml ■»- -* ff .,Y*-.v• 7 “r* -vThe first warning Marian had of his preserve teas a tapping on the windozv.face against the glass that she might know who was there, and a moment lajter she stood outside the door with a sBkwl thrown over Her head.“You are back, Uncle Ben—what’s the matter?” she asked.“Heaps de mattab, Miss Sunshine,, heaps. I dun met up wid mo’ dan fo’ty bushels o’ trubble! I’ze news fur vo5!” “You—you met some one who told you about Mr. Kenton?”• “Fur shore I Dat Cap’an Wyle lie to yo’l Mars Kenton he dun git away arter dat battle, ’long wid Steve Bray-ton.”“Thank God!” she whispered as she raised her clasped hands to the bright stars in the winter sky.“Bat dar’s trubble, Miss Sunshine— heaps o’ trubble! Dey was tryin to gitober yere when some gorillas reckoned -- dey was Yankee spies an dun shotted Mars Kenton. He hain’t dead, but he’sMi.m'mzlt;had hart, an he’s lyin in the bresh an Jrocks down yere ’boat a mile. 1 metj^;,dat Steve Brayton, an he dun tole me ^ all ’bout it.m-r-A .* •*“Boyal Kenton wounded—badly hurt and lying in the brash this winter’s night!” moaned Marian as she grasped Uncle Ben by the arm.“Hist dar!” he cautioned. “We mustn’t woke up de missus or dat Baxter woman. Now, den, yo’ be brave. Yo’s got to be! Steve Brayton be dan *g?i :,gaid I was to bring back blankets an . bandages an sunthin to eat. We must gtep around mighty softly an pick ’em• -t v..rj:lt;4mJi . ;AAnd I will go back with you! Gc grant that bis life may be spared!”•or?rnnjugcnaT-bled by the law, but outside of the courtroom he hates with an intensity bard to realize. He is persistent, cunning, merciless. Ike Baxter had never had an ambition in his life up to the hour he enlisted. He could barely read and write, was naturally lazy and indifferent and felt no pride in anything except the fact that be was ‘ * better than a nigger.” When he found that corporals and sergeants were looked up to and respected, there came a queer feeling in his heart. He could not credit it at first, but Captain Wyle aided him in his mental struggle. The day came when Ike had an ambition and a burning desire. It was to be a corporal or sergeant. In his wild dreams of glorj7 he did not stop there. He determined to go higher and become a lieutenant or captain. As soon as he was given to understand that Royal Kenton stood in his way it was but natural with one of his nature to determine to remove the obstacle by any means possible.Before the war the “Yankee,” both as a man and as the representative of a section of the republic, had few friends in the south. He was supposed to be hostile to all southern “institutions.” The more ignorant the southerner the more heartily he hated and despised the citizen of the north. He believed what the fire eating politicians pretended to believe and often asserted. The John Brown raid upon slavery in Virginia and the events in “Bleeding Kansas” served to intensify the sectional hate of the ‘poor whites.” Thus it was that Ike Baxter, picking up his crumbs of history and his bits of information on current events at the doors of the livery stable or around the stove of the barroom, was something of a local champion in the matter of Yankee hating. If Kenton bad not stood between him and military glory, be -would still have felt a bitterness toward him as a man born in the north. Uncle Ben’s cautious approach to the house cn this night had reference onlv to Mrs. Baxter. There was another man stealing through the darkness and making a noiseless ap-j proa eh at the same time—Ike Baxter. Neither Uncle Ben nor Marian Percy caught a sight of him, but he noticed their every movement and drew his own conclusions. The gun which the old man bad been tcld to secure was in his room in the little house. He had departed from Rest Haven without being seen or his absence noted by the woman, but his return aroused her, and her sharp eyes were upon him as he carried away the firearm and loaded himself with the bundles Marian had prepared and brought to the door. She was dressing to follow him as he disappeared down the highway, having *a dim suspicion of the state of affairs, when Ike knocked at her window and was admitted. In less than a minute be had related what he saw outside, and she had told him of Uncle Ben taking the gun. “Whar’s he un bound fur?” queriedIke.‘ ’Dunno, but sunthin’s happened s«m-whar! Yo’ must fuller him!”“Has that Yankee bin yere?”“No, but the gal’s hearn news, fur shore! Reckon he un may be lyin out around yere sumwhar, and the nigger’s takin out stuff to him! Git right arter he un, Ike, and if yo’ find the Yankee go’n tell Captain Wyle and hev him cum with his critter company!”“I’ll do better’n that!” grimly replied the man as he stepped out into the night. “ If I find that Yankee around yere, I’ll put a bullet into him fust and tell Captain Wyle next!”Uncle Ben had only a few hundred yards the start, and the man on his trail soon lessened the distance until he could hear the old man’s footsteps and make out a shadowy form through the darkness. There seemed nothing more certain than that he would follow on and uncover the hiding place of the fugitives. For nearly three-quarters of a mile the slave messenger had but one idea—to return to Steve Brayton as fast as possible. He was hurrying along when a sudden thought flashed through his brain; and he ij^£inetively stepped aside and halted to listen.“How do I know but what dat worn-an dun heard me git de gun an is fol-lerin me?” he whispered to himself. “She’d do it! She’s powerful wicked, she am! An mebbe some mo’ of dem gorillas am waitin long yere to grab me an giv mexanodder wbippin!”He was listening as well as whispering, and after a minute he heard the , \ sounds of footsteps coming down the road. He drew back into the deeperSlealt;tioicagMeexaaboisent3,5lt;fan20hoi\vhcen1C.AnMaFe(derplosecboiBe]skifacofthedaitio:eveBnofthese\folgeiJa:lutBrthlt;tintinCO]Brtioa iTilM:Iii'dilt;ofwivehinemisa-StskofrahereintiishenbediarRPi \\ Ik tfa d i aspireind(wsiteTalt;fcP3TS€ C (b(ttrificiPt€I- -? “Hush, chile! Yo’ can’t go wid me ipnigfat, but tomorrer. Dat’s what Steve iJrayton dun said. When I git backlt;3ar, 111 see Mars Kenton wid my own?%es, an I’ll tell him all ’bout yo, an ’J1 stay right dar all night an nussMOh, Uncle Ben, but I feel that I/ :•$ • ’go to himr-.fi ■' v.|||^“:Hash! Yo’ jess git all dem fings iSfbajt I spoke of packed up fur me as k as yo’ kin an let me go back I If yef want dem gorillas to finish Mars ehton, yo’ jest make a fuss so dat rs. Baxter will open dem big ears o’ hrn an find out de news!”•;sw?lt;•»lt;*» CHAPTER XXIII._As was stated in a previous chapter, ipfain Wyle’s company, along with , bad been returned to the valley pfcplaeed under tbe orders of GeneralIke Baxter and the othersat Kernstown had rejoined the*«npany when exchanged, Ike felt orbjtban ever that .Royal Kenton was Fenemy he must get rid of, and,Cap-m^yje encouraged this feeling in Snpqs ways, though never openly and committing himself. On two 3^qus jke.ihad been granted leave ofhis wife. Both timesfter -secretly, eispirit which animated this huin-^ain/y^lfeshrprise ^ pnly those who, the . “poor, °U|: f ^ei31 ^shadow of the high bank, dropped his bundles, and taking a firm grip of bis gun he mentally resolved to make a fight for it if he was overhauled by the same crowd as before. A few seconds later he realized that only one person was approaching. The footfalls were too heavy for a woman. He had just decided this point when a man loomed up in the darkness before him and halted almost v/ithin arm’s length to mutter:“Drat my hide, but has that ole nigger left tbe road an giv me the slip? I heard be unonly a minit ago, but him’sdun gone now!”It was Ike Baxter of course. He stood peering and listening for half a minute and then growled:“I orter hev run he un right down an made, him show me the way! Now tbe cussed Yankee may git away from me! No, be won’t though! I’ll hunt over €very foot of this country but whatTMl finlt;? \\im an bev bis sn.all)!” .•h0lt;oEVtlntldItccta\1[TO BE CONTINUED,]CI\(IJealous Man’s Crime.Pittsburg, May 9 Albert Woodlev, a painter, shot and killed Mrs. Jennie Buchanan at Her home, 45 Sturgeon street, Allegheny, and then attemptedsuicide fey sHooting ihiinself: inThewoimdi^hqw^V^^jAs-Vvbefatah...e causelt;
Newspaper Details
Columbus Daily Times
Columbus, Indiana, US
Thu, May 10, 1894
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
GB 07 Sep 2019
Other Publications Near Columbus, Indiana
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