The Prairie Detective — page 182: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

_ THE PRAIRIE DETECTIVE. 173 come up, he sed, for a leetle huntin’ an’ fishin’. He hed mighty winning ways about him, an’ palavered over the wimmen folks until they hed consented to take himin. “I didn’t like it very well, but I made the best of it, an’ next day we went fishin’ together. It “war the same way for day arter day, an’ week arter week, until the time stretched out to more nor -amonth. Arter thet he dropped goin’ with me part 0’ the time, an’ stuck to the house. He staid well-nigh on- to another month, an’ then, mighty sudden, one day while I war away huntin’ he skipped out, an’ went back to whar he kem from. Arter he war gone Sis- ter Kate mourned an’ pined for him like she would die, an’ I’ll take my solemn oath thet a short time arterward we discovered thet she hed ben betrayed. “The blow killed my mother, who died within a week of a broken heart. An’ my sister, who hedn’t ontil then fully realized what it all meant, one day, when I war away from the house, left a note on the table, sayin’ good-by, an’ tellin’ how she loved me too well to stay thar an’ disgrace me. Next day we foun’ her dead body in the river. ‘“Hrom thet day till this I hain’t seen the low-lived scoundrel what done thet thing. But to-day I hev seen him. Frens, his name is Bill Creighton !’’ The company had not time to recover from their astonishment at the announcement, for at the in- stant his name was spoken Persimmon Bill uttered a loud oath, and bounding from his chair, threw him- self upon Ryan with all his force. The scout was just rising from his seat, and so was taken at a decided disadvantage. Unbalanced by the shock, he fell backward through the open scut- tle doors into the black and yawning cellar. The Eomicboo cS (Efe)