His son Roscoe had just finished telling him the story of the abduction.
Roscoe's awestruck tones and reddened eyes carried great weight with
them, and for the tenth time that day he had his sisters in tears. With
each succeeding repetition the details grew until at last there was but
little of the original event remaining, a fact which his own family
properly overlooked.
"Gentlemen," said Anderson, as if suddenly coming from a trance, "this
wasn't the work of Tinkletown desperadoes." Whereupon the committee felt
mightily relieved. The marshal displayed signs of a returning energy
that augured well for the enterprise. After the chairman had
impressively announced that something must be done, and that he was
willing to lead his little band to death's door--and beyond, if
necessary--Mr. Crow pathetically upset all their hopes by saying that he
had long been expecting such a calamity, and that nothing could be done.
"They took the very night when I was not here to pertect her," he
lamented. "It shows that they been a-watchin' me all along. The job was
did by persons who was in the employ of her family, an' she has been
carried off secretly to keep me from findin' out who and what her
parents were. Don't ye see? Her mother--or father, fer that
matter--couldn't afford to come right out plain an' say they wanted
their child after all these years.
Pages:
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133