Argosy, Vol. 1 (1882) — page 357: what you’re looking at

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

348 trary, Dykeman was forced to conclude that Missouri Pete, the outlaw, who had been killed in the cabin, was both his own father and Dorothy’s uncle. He realized, when it was too late, that there was probably one thing that could have made the man’s identity more certain, and that was a scar on the head, which Conductor Orloff no doubt possessed, as the result of the injury he had received in the collision at Lonewood years before; but when he thought of this, the outlaw was in his grave. ‘The conviction that Missouri Pete was his father was both stunning and astonishing to him, and it took several days before the shame and humiliation of the discovery came upon him in full force. He had seen Missouri Pete buried, near the little cabin where he had fallen, but had not hinted to the pursuing party what had passed between him and the outlaw. The attackers on the cabin had noticed his intense agita- tion and pallor when he threw open the door to admit them, but they attrib- uted this to fright. They readily be- lieved that Dykeman had nohand in the defense, and permitted him to continue on his journey after the outlaw had been interred. He retained possession of the deed Pete had handed him, for he now felt that the paper and the property it rep- resented, was not only his by deed of gift, but by inheritance. The two deeds were now together, and it was a source of wonder to him that this was the case after a separation of nearly twenty two years, and that they had been the instru- ments of revealing such an amazing mystery. Then it occurred to him that he could never take possession ‘of the property as a gift if the deed was not regularly assigned to him in writing; and to do so as the son and heir to the outlaw he would have to reveal his relation- ship to the man, prove his disgraceful death, and establish his own identity THE ARGOSY. as the son and his right to the name of Orloff. : He felt that he could never do these things for all the wealth the paper might represent, and the latter seemed as worthless to him as the original deed, transferring the land to Mrs. Orloff, was to Dorothy. He would rather the shameful secret should never be re- vealed, and go with him to the grave. He decided he would send the origi- nal deed back to Dorothy and tell her it was made void by the record of the latter one transferring the land back to her uncle, and that the valid paper was doubtless then in the possession of the latter’s heirs, which was true; but he would make no mention that the un- cle had been alive recently, that he was his own father, and that she was his cousin. To do these things he would have to reveal the whole disgraceful business, and he determined he would not darken the happy and innocent young girl’s hfe with such a shadow. From the day of his ride over to - Grand Ledge he became silent, gloomy and despondent, and even .his health began to fail. Mr. Layard and others noticed it, but no amount of question- ing could get anything from him. They tried to rouse him out of his lethargy, joked him about being in love, and suggested numerous medical remedies, but all to no purpose. He plodded along for weeks and months, doing his work well, but show- ing no improvement in his spirits. He seemed to have merged into middle age, with a tinge of settled melancholy. He received letters occasionally from Dorothy, but he did not read them with the old eagerness and increased heart beats, though they were as full of girl- ish trust and artlessness as ever. Time passed till it was the fafl of the year. Dash had gone to Colorado, and - the Continental and the Great Divide Railroad had pushed its way around lofty mountains, and across dizzy can- yons for twenty miles. COMUCIOS STeom