"STAR" TALES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9212, 15 April 1908, Page 4

"STAR" TALES.

BY RIGHT OF EMINENT DOMAIN. (By FORREST CRISSEY.) Ever since Wesley had heard his father confide to Deacon Gamble that he feared his new son-in-law might prove to be a man with a past, the boy's interest in Guilford Breathitt Kidd had quickened and expanded. To be a " conmection " of a man who knew more than he told, and might at any moment turn up so splendid and exciting an asset as a dark past or a chequered career, was both, a hope and % distinction. Besides, this man,, who had married Wesley's sister after the Bhortest courtship and the most reckless score for livery hire on record In Gray Willow, had' other attributes which fascinated . the preacher's boy. ■He looked like thfe picture of " Dead- i shot Dan " in the v Nickel Library," | which Wesley was reading in the cool •eclueion of the depot baggage-room the j rery day when the young Lochinvar ptewed off the train. Then there was thelratoh.

The watch I As Wesley now stood at the edge of the oat-field waiting for Gil to reach the end of the windrow and halt the clicking harvester, he recalled Vhe first time he had seen the watch. palled jauntily from the mysterious Stranger's vest pocket, lifted lightly by Si hand which had just swept caressingy along the curves of his heavy moustache of raven blackness— to borrow the illuminating line from the pages | of "Deadshot Dan." Every line of the silver timepiece was •till clear in his mind, but the longing to again, feast his eyes on the shining treasure which had brought him out to the farm was so strong that ho paused nob for conventional greeting, but .abruptly asked, "What time is.it?" . If a faint suspicion of a smile moved the lips under, the flowing black moustache, the boy on the rail fence did not notice it. His blue eyes were intently following the hand that reached for the chain which anchored the .watch to a suspender tab. Then the watch came •lowly out of the overalls pocket. "Let's see it," exclaimed Wesley, Parting to the side of the man on the harvester seat.

"jShVs a beauty, ain't she?" he murmured, gazing into the face of the timepiece and following the swift circuit of the small "second" hand. Then, seeing that Gil was about to eloee the watch, he threw discretion to the winds and exclaimed, "Lemme •nai> it." With an air of bored indulgence the proprietor of the treasure placed it in the boy's hands. There was magic in the touch ! The feel of the thing, as it nestled there in his grimy palm, electri- I fted hie courage to new lengths of daring. With ecstatic deliberation he snapped the case shut, and then paused for a "moment of joyous admiration of the engraved design: a jaunty hunter doffing a plumed hat of marvellously, expansive brim, and leaning from hi 6 i saddle to take a bumper or ale from the hand of a maid. "I 6*pose," remarked Wesley, ''that's why they call 'em huntingcasee." Reluctantly he yielded possession of the treasure. As he saw it disappear into the pocket of its owner he became bold enough to ask the question which had been in his mind a hundred times since the coming of the man with a part: "-Bay— Gil— where! d y' git it?" " Off a dead man," was the thrilling Answer, followed by a ," Git ud!" to the horses, which sent the clicking ' sickle of the harvester into purring refrain. • Wesley, with dream-haunted eyes, , dropped at length upon the narrow strip of 6od which fringed the cultivated field, joined his hands under his head and gazed into the blue above him. ? He did not arouse until the | harvester had made the round of the j field.-, Then, he jumped to his feet, the | light of high resolve in hie eye, the poise of his thin, boyish figure alive with unconscious entreaty. "Gfl_ eay, Gil— l'll work for that watch— hard — all summer!" The words came fa6t, spurred by eager hope, and also by a fear that his courage might fail if he did not make his plea quickly —for it had never been easy to asli^ tilings of the man from Nowhere, whoV had swooped his sister out of the parsonage in spite of parental objections and the scandalised chatter of the parish. A mile run would not have given him the choking lieart action that ehook his slight frame as he waited for the answer. "How long?" asked the laconic Kidd. . There was hope! Wesley stepped closer, and, between heart-beate, aniwerecL " All summer ! — honest. *Will youP" "There's a lot of hard work to be done, and " ."■ten do it," pleaded the hoy. " Hain't I earned every cent I ever had? Pa, he'll tell you that; so'll Ev." , ' Pa— Ev— Ma ! He hadn't thought of these obstacles to his buss. It was strange, too, that he had not. for they ■were perpetually standing between, himself and his chief desires. * "But," added Wesley, who read a yleWing.in tie face of Gil, " I'd mther you wouldn't say anything t' Ev 'r pa *r. ma. They don't know much about watches, anyway. An' a feller's got a right t' a vacation, an' t' kind o' help 'round on th' farm if he wants to, I guess," «- "No loafin'— remember. Th' little game of hookey aon't go in th' Gil Edd outfit !" • "Til work like— like " As he groped for a fitting comparison to his future industry the brother-in-law interrupted, " AH right," and gave the starting signal for the team. As the rickle began to click again, Wesley stammered : ! " Say, you — couldn't let me carry it kiow, could yuh, Gil?" The black, mysterious tyes of Kidd regarded him with discomforting keenness. "If th' parson would set you V restliri* in th' contributions." dryly remarked godless Gil, " T think he'd have Wore to live on. You'd better go to tP house an' see Ev-^-an' be ready to hamp yourself in the naornin'."

1 As an evader of labouT Weslev had Established an enduring reputation in *h« family circle; but now he courted work as consistently as he had before eluded it. '„."• During the first weeks of his servilude Wesley tasted the dregs of physifcal weariness. His limbs were numb fend laden at night, and stiff in the morning. Sometimes he was awakened hi the night houra by the pangs of Bhe "leg-ache." But he was working lor the watch. The watch that filled bis waking hours and sometimes haunted his dreams; the watch that had *' come off a dead man," and was owned by a man with a checkered career ; the watoh that ticked mystery, and shut between its silver lids dark history which only the silent man from Nowhere could unravel ! One night Wesley dreamed that he saw a towering figure like that of Guildford Breathitt Kidd bending over the body of a man in a mountain pass and taking the >vatoh from his pocket, while the terrified passengers of the stage-coach all field their hands high in the air, their white faces silently watching the fearsome tableau. A black mask covered €he eyes of the tall road-agent, but from under the disguise flowed a mous-