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About The Loup City northwestern. (Loup City, Neb.) 189?-1917 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 27, 1908)
m HAMPTON < of PLACER By MVmi PAMHSi!AUTHOR Of £ 'W/nfmt&mm" Hf/wofRfMw Himic/um/oM ^ j copy#?mr .vox py ACHtru/oc r-ro. SYNOPSIS. A detachment of the Eighteenth in fantry from Fort Bethune trapped by Indians in a narrow gorge. Among them is a stranger who introduces himself by the name of Hampton, also Gillis the post trader, and his daughter. Gillis and a majority of the soldiers are killed dur ing a three days’ siege. Hampton and the girl only escape from the Indians. They fall exhausted on the plains. A company of the Seventh cavalry. Lieut. Brant in command, find them. Hampton and the girl stop at the Miners’ Home in Glencaid. Mrs. Duffy, proprietress. Hamp ton talks the future over with Miss Gil lis—the Ki«l. She shows him her moth er’s picture and tells him what she can of her parentage and life. They decide she shall live with Mrs. Herndon. Naida the Kid—runs away from Mrs Herndon’s and rejoins Hampton. H * induces lur to go back, and to b .vo nothing more to do with him. Hanij.von plays his last gam** of cards. He announces to Red Slavin that he has quit, and then leaves Glen caid. Miss Phoebe Spencer arrives in Glencaid to teach its first school. Miss Spencer meets Naida. R< \. Wynkoop. etc. She hoards at Mrs. Herndon’s. Naida and Lieut. Brant again meet with out his knowing who she is. Slu* informs him of the coming Bachelor club ball in honor of Miss Spencer. Lieut. Brant meets Silent Murphy. Guster’s scout._ H** reports trouble brewing among the Sioux. Social difficulties arise at the Bachelor club’s hall among the admirers of Miss Spent er. Lieut. Brant meets Miss Spen cer but she is not his acquaintance *»l lit** day before. She tells him of Naida. and he accidentally meets her again as lie i** returning to the ballroom with a fan for Miss Spencer. Brant accompanies Naida home from the dance, tin th- way she informs him as to who she h. and that she is to meet Hampton. I.rant and Hampton meet. Hamilton informs the lieutenant tiiat his attentions to Naida must cease, and proclaims an authority over her that justifies the statement. Brant tells Hampton of tin* presence of Silent Murphy, and < f the fact that Red Slavin receives government messages for him. Miss Spencer called *»n Bob Hamp ton. Tells him of a red-faced stranger mistaking her for Naida. Brant inter views Red Slavin. Finds the.t he is an **x trooper in tin- Seventh cavalry. It was Slavin’s and Murjhy's testimony that more than ten y> ai* before had convicted Rotx rt N >lai captain in tin* Sev enth. of the murder of Maj. Brant. Sr. Hampton attempts to force a confession from Slavin. Slavin insists it is Murphy he wants, and Murphy had left. In a scuffle Slavin is killed by a knife thrust. Hampton surrenders t** 15;: k Mason, marshal. Mob attempts b* capture him. Mason and his prisoner escape to a bill and defend themselves. Mob lights fire to burn them out. Brant tells Naida that he loves her. She tells him there is an insurmountable barrier between them, but that she does not fully understand it. Brint and Ins troop rescues Hampton and Mason from the tires set by the mob. Brant carries the unconscious gambler through the lines «>f fin*. Hamp ton is taken t«* tin* hotel and Naida comes to nurse him. Miss Spencer accepts tin heart and hand *>f Rev. VVvnkoop. Brant is ordered to take the field. Before be goes Naida tells him she loves him. but cannot become his wife, or offer an ex planation. He insists he will return to her. CHAPTER XXV.—Continued. She smiled at him through a mist of tears, a smile the sad sweetness of which he would never forget. "In the sense you mean, no. No living man stands between us. not even Bob Hampton." "Does he know why this cannot be?" "He does know, but I doubt if he will ever reveal his knowledge: cer tainly not to you. He has not told me all, even in the hour when he thought himself dying. I am convinced of that. It is not because he dislikes you, Lieut. Brant, but because he knew his partial revealment of the truth was a duty he owed us both.” "You leave me so completely in the dark,” he said: "is there no possibil ity that this mysterious obstacle can ever be removed?" "None. It is beyond earthly power —there lies between us the shadow of a dead man.” He stared at her as if doubting her sanity. A dead man; Not Gulls? "No. it is not Gillis. I have told you this much so that you might com prehend how impossible it is for us to change our fate. It is irrevocably fixed. Please do not question me any more. I cannot bear it!" Brant rose to his feet and stood looking down upon her bowed head, her slender figure shaken by sobs. "Naida, as you have asked it, I will go; but I go better, stronger, because I have heard your lips say you love me. I am going now, my sweetheart, but if I live I shall come again. 1 know nothing of what you mean about a dead man being between us, but I shall know when I come back, for, dead or alive, no man shall remain be tween me and the girl I love.” "This—this is different," she sobbed, ' "different; it is beyond your power.” “I shall never believe so until 1 have faced it for myself, nor will I even say good-by, for. under God. I am coming back to you." He turned slowly and walked away. As his hand touched the latch of the door he paused and looked longingly back. “Naida.” She glanced up at him. “You Kissed me once; will you again?" She rose silently and crossed over to him. her hands held out, her eyes up lifted to his own. Neither spoke as he drew her gently to him and their lips met. “Say if once more, sweetheart?” "Donald, I love you.” A moment they stood thus face to face, reading the great lesson of eter nity within the depths of each other's eyes. Then slowly, gently, she re leased herself from the clasp of his strong arms. "You believe in me now? You do uot go away blaming me?” she ques tioned, with quivering lips. "There is no blame, for you are do ing what you think right. But I am coming back, Xaida. little woman; coming back to love and you." An hour later X troop trotted across the rude bridge and circled the bluff on its way toward the wide plains. CHAPTER XXVI. Mr. Hampton Resolves. Mr. Bob Hampton stood in the bright sunshine on the steps of the hotel, his appreciative gaze wandering up the long, dusty, unoccupied street, and finallly rising to the sweet face of the young girl who occupied the step above. As their eyes met both smiled as if they understood each other. "There is nothing quite equal to feeling well, little girl," he said, gen ially, parting her hand where it rested on the railing, "and I really believe 1 am in as fine fettle now as 1 ever have been. Do you know. I believe I’m per fectly fit to undertake that little de tective operation casually mentioned to you a few days ago. it's got to be done, and the sooner I get at it the easier I'll feel. Fact is. I put in a large portion of the night thinking out nay plans." "I wish you would give it up ail to gether. Boh." she said, anxiously. "I shall be so dull and lonely here while you are gone.” "I reckon you will, for a fact, hut, Xaida. it isn't likely this iittle affair will require very long, and things are "Donald, I Love You.” lots happier between us since my late shooting scrape. When fall comes i mean to take you east and put you in some good finishing school. Don't care quite as much about it as you did, do you?" "Yes. I think I do, Bob." She strove bravely to express enthusiasm. "The trouble is, I am so worried over your going off alone hunting after that man." He laughed, his eyes searching her face for the truth. "Well, little girl, he won’t exactly be the first I've had call to go after. Besides, this is a particular case, and appeals to me in a sort of personal way. If you only knew it, you're about as deeply con cerned in the result as I am, and as for me. I can never rest easy again until the matter is over with.” It's that awful Murphy, isn't it?" "He's the one I'm starting after first and one sight at his right hand will decide whether he is to lx; the last as well.” "I never supposed you would seek revenge, like a savage,” she remarked, quietly. "You never used to be that way.” “Good Lord, Xaida, do you think Tin low down enough to go out hunting that poor cus3 merely to get even with him for trying to stick me with a knife? Why, there are 20 others who have done as much, and we have been the best of friends afterwards. Oh, no, lassie, it means more than that, and harks back many a long year. I told you I saw' a mark on his hand I would never forget—but I saw that mark first 15 years ago. This is a duty I owe a friend, a dead friend, to run to earth this murderer. Do you understand now? The fellow who did that shooting up at Bethune 15 years ago had the same sort of a mark on his right hand as this one who killed Slavin. That’s why I'm after him and when I catch up he'll either squeal or die.” “But how do you know?” “I never told you the whole story and I don't mean to now until I come back and can make everything per fectly clear. It wouldn't do you any good the way things stand now, and would only make you uneasy. But if you do any praying over it, my girl, pray good and hard that I may dis cover some means for making that fel low squeal.” She made no response but stood gazing thoughtfully past him. "Have you heard anything lately. Bob, about the Seventh?” she asked finally. "Since—since N troop left here?” He answered with well-simulated carelessness. ‘ No; hut it is most like ly they are well into the game by this time. Crook’s column, I have just 1 heard, was overwhelmingly attacked ! on the Rosebud, and forced to fall back. That leaves the Seventh to take the brunt of it, and there is going to be bell up north presently, or I've forgotten all 1 ever knew about In dians. Hut come, little girl, as I said. I'm quite likely to be off before night, provided I am fortunate enough to strike a fresh trail. Under such condi tions you won't mind my kissing you out here, will you?” She held up her lips and he touched them softly with his own. Her eyes were tear-dimmed. "Oh. Hob, I hate so to let you go,” she sobbed, cling ing to him. “No one could have been more to me than you have been, and you are all I have left in the world. Everything 1 care for goes away from me. Life is so hard, so hard!” “Yes, little girl, I know," and the man stroked her hair tenderly, his own voice faltering. "It's all hard; I learned t hat sad lesson long ago, but I've tried to make it a little bit easier for you since we first came together. Still, 1 don't see how 1 can possibly help this. I've been hunting after thai fellow a long while now. a matter of 1 o years over a mighty dim trail, and i< would be a mortal sin to permit him to get away scot-free. Besides, if this affair only manages to turn out right. I can promise to make you the hap piest girl in America. But, N'aida, dear, don't cling to me so; it is not at all like you to break down in this fash ion," and he gently unclasped her hands, holding her away from him while he continued to gaze hungrily into her troubled face. "Sometimes I feel just like a cow ard, Hob. it's the woman of it; yet truly 1 wish to do whatever you be lieve to be best. But, Hob, I need you so much, and you will come back, won't you? I shall be so lonely here, for—for you are truly all 1 have in the world." With one quick, impulsive motion he pressed her to him, passionately kissing the tears from her lowered lashes, unable longer to conceal the tremor that shook his own voice. "Never, never doubt it, lassie. It will not take me long, and if I live I come straight back." He watched her slender, white robed figure as it passed slowly down the deserted street. Once only she paused and waved back to him and he returned instant response, although scarcely realizing the act. "Poor little lonely girl! Perhaps I ought to have told her the whole in fernal story, but I simply haven't got the nerve, the way it reads now. If 1 can only get it straightened out, it’ll be different.” Mechanically he thrust an unliglited cigar between his teeth and descend ed the steps, to ail outward appear ance the same reckless, audacious Hampton as of old. The military telegraph occupied one half of the small tent next the Miners’ Retreat, and the youthful operator in stantly recognized his debonair visi tor. "Well, Billy,” was Hampton's friend ly greeting, "are they keeping you fair ly busy with wars and rumors of wars’ these days?" "Nuthin’ doin’ just now,” was the cheerful reply. "Kverythiug goin' ter ' Cheyenne. The Injuns are giftin' themselves bottled up in the Hig Horn country.” “Oh, that’s it? Then maybe you might manage to rush a message through for me to Fort A. Lincoln without discommoding Uncle Sam?” and Hampton placed a coin upon tho rough table. “Sure; write it out.” "Here it is; now get it off early, my lad, and bring the answer to me over at the hotel. There’ll be another yel low boy waiting when you come." The reply arrived seme two hours later. Fort A. Hincoln, Juno 17. 1876. Hampton. Glencaid: Seventh gone west: probably Yellow stone. Brant with them. Murphy, gov ernment scout, at Cheyenne waiting or ders. BITTON, Commanding. He crushed the paper in his hand, thinking—thinking of the past, the present, the future. He had borne much in these last years, much mis representation, murh lrfneliness of soul. To run this Murphy to cover remained his final hope for retrieving those dead, dark years. Ay, and there was Naida! Her future, scarcely less than his own, hung trembling in the balance. The sudden flashing of that name into his brain was like an elec tric. shock. He cursed his inactivity. Great God! had he become a child again, to tremble before imagined evil, a mere hobgoblin of the mind? He had already wasted time enough; now he must wring from the lips of that misshapen savage the last vestige of his secret. He dressed for the road, for hard, exacting service, buckling bis loaded cartridge belt outside his rough coat, and testing bis revolvers with unusual care. He spoke a few parting words of instruction to Mrs. Guffy and went quietly out. Ten minutes later he was in the saddle, galloping down the dusty stage road toward Cheyenne. CHAPTER XXVII. The Trail of Silent MurDhy. The young infantryman w.io had been detailed for the importan t serv ice of telegraph operator sat in the Cheyenne office, his feet on the rude table, his face buried behind a news paper. ■'Could you inform me where I might find Silent Murphy, a govern ment scout?” The voice had the unmistakable ring of military authority, and the soldier operator instinctively dropped his feet to the floor. “Well, my lad, you are not dumb, are you?” The telegrapher's momentary hesi tation vanished; his ambition to be come a martyr to the strict laws of • service secrecy was not sufficiently strong to cause him to take the doubt ful chances of a lie. "He was here, but has gone.” "Where?" "The-devil knows. He rode north, carrying dispatches for Custer.” ■When?” ”Oh, three or four hours ago.” Hampton swore softly Hut fervent ly. behind his clinched teeth. "Where is Cus'er?” "Don't know exactly. Supposed to be with Terry and Gibbons, some where near the mouth of the Powder, although he may have left there by this time, moving down the Yellow stone. Murphy’s orders were to inter cept his column somewhere between the Rosebud and the Big Horn. No other scout along this border would take such a detail. But that old devil of a Murphy just enjoys such a trip. He started off as happy as ever i see him.” "How far will he have to ride?" "Oh, 'bout 1100 miles as the crow flies, a little west of north, and the better part of the distance, they tell me, it's almighty rough country for night work. But then Murphy, he knows the way all right. Sorry you didn't come along a little earlier," he said, genially. "Do you know Mur phy?” “I'm not quite certain. Did you happen to notice a peculiar Mack scar on the back of his right hand?" “Sure: looks like the half of a pear. He said it was powder under the skin.” A new look of reviving determina tion swept into Hampton's gloomy eyes—beyond doubt this must be his man. “How many horses did he have??" "Two.” “Did you overhear him say anything definite about his plans for the trip?” "What, him? He never talks, that fellow. He can’t do nothing but sput ter if he tries. But I wrote out his or ders, and they give him to the 25th to make the Big Horn. You wasn't plan uing to strike out after him, was you?" "I might risk it if I only thought I could overtake him within two days; my business is of some importance.” “Well, stranger, I should reckon you might do that with a dog-gone good outfit. Murphy's sure to take things pretty easy to-day, and he's almost certain to follow the old mining trail as far as the ford over the Belle Fourche, and that's plain enough to travel. Beyond that point the devil only knows -where he will go, for then is when his hard ridin’ begins.” The moment the operator mentioned that odd scar on Murphy's hand, every vestige of hesitation varnished. Be yond any possibility of doubt he was on the right scent this time. Murphy was riding north upon a mission as desperate as ever man , was called upon to perform. The chance of his coming forth alive from that Indian haunted land was, as the operator truthfully said, barely one out of a hundred. To the end, to the death If need were, he would follow! (TO BE CONTINUED.) Know Tco Much of Thom. Few men have been admired by their own domestics.—Montaigne. IN THE PUBLIC EYE HANDLED GOTHAM PANIC William A. Nash, president of the vCorn Ex change hank, probably did as much as any man in New York to put a stop to the recent panic, ,J. Pierpont Morgan alone excepted. When the flurry came on he was made chairman of the clearing house committee, and it fell mainly to him to pass upon the securities offered by banks in need of assistance, to decide which should he aided and which suspended. He was regarded by the other bankers as the balance wheel of the Wall street situation. Nor is this his first ex perience of a panic, for in lb03 he was one of five men who, as executive committee of the clearing house, had that panic in charge. Ilis sound common sense, his keen business meth ods and his far-sighted mental vision In each case saved him front making any very grave blunders, and be came through both ordeals with flying colors. Mr. Nash commenced life as messenger boy in the bank of which he is 'now president. He won his advancement step by step, through his own efforts, and 25 years from the day he entered the bank he was its president. It then had a capital of $1,000,000; now it lias $8,000,000. He was the father of the branch system and the Corn Exchange was the first bank to open branches when the law was passed authorizing it to do so. To-day it has 22 branches and minor depositories throughout the city of New York. Mr. Nash holds the idea that hard work, no matter how inteiligent. will never raise a man very much above his fellows, unless it is combined with the power of thinking for one's self and aiding his superiors with sugges tions A man who can do this can practically dictate his own terms in the banking world. Chancellor von Buelow, finding that it re quires a man of more than the average attain ments to fill the shoes of the late Prince Bis marck and to conduct the affairs of the German empire, is said to be on the point of retiring to private life. His uncompromising attitude to wards the socialists, who are rapidly gaining in strength, has been the means of blocking many of the emperor's schemes and has caused the ut most difficulty in his getting the money he wants for an immense army. He has won for himself the hostility of some of the court favorites, be cause he has denounced their scandalous be havior, and he has even made enemies in the kaiser's own household by his opposition to the marriage of the crown prince to the beautiful Cecilie. because she was the daughter of a Hus sian grand ducliess whose escapades were the talk of all Europe. All this has reminded Germany that Von Ruelow was not so very impeccable himself when he was a young man. and that his marriage to the lovely Princess Camporeaie was achieved only after she had run away from Count Charles von Doenhoff, her rich but aged husband. The princess found the rambling old Roman palace lonely with only her husband, a man old enough to be her grandfather, for company, and she was attracted by the young attache of the German embassy. Without any pretense at secrecy the princess left her husband and Rod from Rome with her young lover. That of course terminated Von Ruelow's connection with the embassy, and few people would have given much for his chances of advancement in diplomatic life. The appealing charm of his wife, even then little more than a child, her rare beauty and their fidelity, coupled with Von Ruelow's own undoubted talents, kept him in the imperial favor, and he was sent from one embassy to another until he returned to Rome as German ambassador. Roman society conveniently forgot the elopement, and Von Ruelow hav ing married the lady when her husband had divorced her 11 years after the elopement, they were received into the most exclusive circles. The incident is now being recalled in Rerlin society, however, and strong pressure is being brought to bear upon the emperor to induce him to dismiss his chan cellor. 1 PLIGHT Warner Miller, formerly United States sena tor from New York and once prominent in Re publican politics as leader of the ‘'Halfbreeds,” has failed as a result of the Martinique disaster several years ago, "bankrupted by the acts of God and William Nelson Cromwell," as one of his friends expressed it. He did not own a foot of land in Martinique, nor did he have a dollar invested there, yet the terrible explosion of natural forces that blew off the top of the mountain, wiped a city from the face of the earth. laid waste the fields and caused much destruction among the shipping caused his ruin years later. Deeply interested in the Nica ragua canal project. Miller had invested much of his money in it. The United States had virtually decided to undertake the work. Miller stood to make a fortune. Then came the disaster, which brought with it the fear of similar outbreaks in Nicaragua. The Panama canal people had meantime come to their senses and were preparing to make an equitable bargain. The Nicaragua canal project was dropped and Miller was deeply involved. To meet his obligations he disposed of his pulp mill and lumber holdings and pinned his faith to the Sierra Consolidated Gold Mining Co., a West Virginia corporation. He held about one-third of its total stock of $'!,000.000, hoping to recover his standing through that, but the mines never became producing properties, although he held on for 12 years, and in the end it came to crash, bringing Miller down with it. Miller first, came into prominent notice when Senator Roscoe Conkling and Thomas C. Platt resigned their seats in the senate, to appeal to the peo ple for their indorsement. They failed to receive the indorsement they sought, and Miller became senator to succeed Conkling. He never did any thing remarkable in the senate, and retired almost as obscure a personage as when he entered. TROUBLE IN INDIA ~ Lord Elgin, secretary of state of the colonies, is accused by the British press of being respon sible for the latest ferment in the Transvaal by allowing the colonial legislature to treat British Indians as criminals and send them to jail if they refuse to register their finger prints and other marks of identification. Many of the proud-spirit ed high caste Indians have gone to jail rather than submit to such an indignity, and in a few days their ‘‘martyrdom" will be known ali over India. Just as the stories sent home by Indian resi ' dents of the Transvaal before the Boer war of the powerlessness of the British there brought on several uprisings and two rather serious wars on the northwest frontier, so the story of the treatment of these Indians now may be the cause of still more serious troubles. Lord Elgin is said to have explained that he was forced to consent to the registration law of the Transvaal on threat of a rebellion, but if he yielded to such a threat he shows himself to be a much weaker man than be was ten years ago when he was viceroy of India. The frontier was then in a disturbed state and the Afghans, stirred up by Russia, were committing outrages. Lord Elgin took upon himself the responsibility of sending an army to bring the disturbers to terms, which he did in short order. Lord Elgin, although a Scotch nobleman and a descendant of an uncle of King Robert the Bruce, was born at Monklands near Montreal, while his father was governor general of Canada. The latter died in Canada when the present Lord Elgin was a lad of 14. The family had been in the British dip lomatic service for generations, and the name was known al! over the east.