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TOILERS OF the COLUMBIA JE By Paul De Laney Author of "Lord of the Desert," "Oregon Sketches," » and other "aclftc Coast Stories kcß| CHAPTER XXIII. Ringwold and Seadog. "Where is Hazel, wife?" "She has gone to the ball." "Did Captain Budlong go?" "Yes, he went with our Hazel." "It is good. They would make a fine match, wife. I would like to see Hazel marry well. 1 would dislike to have ner marry a common fisherman. | Wife, lam not feeling well tonight. I. fear that the voung militia surgeon does not know the truth. I believe that blood poisoning is setting in." Tims spoke old Seadog to hie wife. Strong as was the constitution of the powerful man it had begun to yield and he was first to detect it. His blood burned in its channels. A weakening, nervous sensation took pos-1 session of him. At times he could not distinguish the real from the imagin ary. Seadog was a very sick man. Several times that night he had sunk into spasmodic slumber. He could hear the dashing of the waves, the creaking of the oars in their locks, the ehouts of the fishermen and the crack of rifles. Then he would start with a groan as the hot blood burned itself against the fevered particles which were gradually decaying about the wound in his body. Then the poisoned life-fluid would rush forth to the heart furnace for purification, when it would be sent out more sluggish than ever to feed a burning system. The heart beats increased, the fever rose higher and higher. Old Seadog felt his Benses failing. The real be came more fanciful and the imaginary became more realistic. He finally fell into delirium. It was then that his tongue spoke words that - sounded strange to his wife's ears "Yes, Nelson Saarela, I won out over you! I swore falsely, but I won! You were sent to Siberia and I gained the czar's favor. I also won in the con tested will case and brought the money to America where I have invested it well. You were druggist to the czar, but the apprentice in the great estab lishment drew the winning card. I came near to losing it though. Those hateful southsiders 1 But Sankala! She is a brave girl. This burning in my side! Some one is prodding me with a hot iron! Help, Help!" ''Husband! Husband!" cried Mis. Beadog. She seized her companion's hands and rubbed them violently. "What has happened?" inquired the flick man. v "You have grown worse. You said ■och stiange things." "What did I say? I fear my condi t tion, wife." "You spoke of Nelson Saarela and a will." "Nelson Saarela! I have not uttered the name for 20 years. A gloom Bettled about the room that .ycaufled the man to ask why the light Vaß so dim. A deadness in his limbs e*Ußed him to suspect that he was growing worse. The sullen flow of his blood told him that unless a change came his hours were few for this earth. "Wife, send foi eld Ringwold. After all he knows more about medicine than all of the doctors in this countiy. Send for old Ringwold and be shall tell me whether or not I am receiving proper treatment." One of the boys was sent to request the aged man to come. It was the tirat time in his life of nearly 20 years in the village that he had been invited to the Seadog home. When left alone again the sick man inquired of his wife: "Did you say I mentioned Nelson Baarela and a will?" "Yes, and you said something about Siberia and America and money," re plied Mrs. Seadog. The old man looked about the room in bewilderment for a few moments and then dropped into a semi-conscious "tate. His tongue to give utter ance to strange things again. He spoke of the ship which had stranded upon the island nearly twenty i years before, the one which had brought Sankala and old Ringwold to the country. He spoke of some papers which he had found aboard the wreck. "I know he was lost!" he muttered, i I know he was lost. It is too late now to do him justice." He continued in this strain until the arrival of Ringwold. The feeble old druggist was conducted to the bedside of the sick man, and sat upon the bed from sheer exhaustion. In the faint gloom of the light he looked more like a ghost than a human being. His long gray hair and beard concealed his feat ures. But his sharp, keen eyes glist ened with unusual brightness. The old man placed his trembling fingers upon Seadog's wrist. Then he inoved his hand to the sick man's breast •nd placed it ovei his heart. A fiend jMi smile lit up his face as he felt the uttering and spasmodic beating of the organ. | He diew a hyperdeimic syringe fr< m his pocket and filled it with a fluid. Then he injected it into Seadog's arm. 1 Several minutes of silence followed. ! Ringwold kept hie Heat on the side of! the bed. He finally broke the silence,, "Bring the lamp," he said. While yonng Seadog held the lamp and tie wife looked on with anxiety, J ! Rinwgold shook the sick man. He | pushed back the eyelids and exposed the pupils which were greatly enlarged. "He died in Siberia and his brother went down at sea!" muttered Seadog. Another smile lit up the countenance of Ringwold. He placed nis hand over the heait of Seadog again. He played with the man as would a cat play with j a mouse. But the feeble little fellow looked more like the mouse and the prostrate form of the wealthy fisher man resembled that of a giant, in corn pa li eon. "Old Ringwold has his eyes, but he is not the man. No, he iB not the nan!" spoke out Seadog in plain words. Again the grizzled old man smiled almost to a stage villain's chuckle. Mrs. Seadog turned pale. Young Sea dog waß mystified. Ringwold slowly bent his body until he could place his mouth near Seadog's ear. He spoke in an ordinary tone of voice: "Charlie, you neglected to sweep out this morning!" Seadog opened his eyes as if by mag ic. He gazed into the face of Ring wold for a moment and then exclaimed: "Nelse Saarela, druggist to the czar!" "Yes, and back from Siberia and on to America that he might compel Charles Seadog to render an account ing!" fairly hissed the old man. The meeting was too much for the strength of either. Seadog fell into a silent relapse and old Ringwold drop ped across his body in a hysterical fit. It was then that young Seadog called to a neighbor and sent him to the ball room for aid. CHAPTER XXIV. A Final Accounting. With the dawning of morning there were many rumors afloat in the village. J.he story of Seadog's relapse, the send ing for old Ringwold, and the dying condition of the two men had reached the public eai. Stories of mysterious disclosures weie also being told and the people were wrought up to unusual excitement. It waß known that Captain Budlong had remained at the place all night; that Sankala was there and that the militia surgeon had been kept busy and that about daylight old Bumbo, the lawyer, had been sent for. Sankala and Dan Lapham had also been seen to visit the Ringwold cabin, and they had taken a large bundle of papers to the Seadog home. The interior of the Seadog house pre sented an interesting picture. On a bed lay old Seadog calm and weak. He was breathing easily and his physi cal suffering had oeen lulled,by heroic scientific treatment. But the agony which racked his brain is indescribable. It is only those who have suffered with a guilty conscience while looking death in the face that could properly sympa thize with Charles Seadog. On another bed in the same >-oom lay the aged Rinwgold. He had under gone a complete change. The feeble old form which had for so many years responded to the appeals of life and raised itself up as though coming from the grave, had reclined to rise no nore. His woik was over. His mission was about performed. Yet his brain was as clear as a bell; His eyes as bright as youth. Seadog's family hovered about him. The surgoen stood at his bedside. Bumbo, the lawyer, sat at a table near bv. Sankala held her aged protector's hand. Dan I-apham stood at the foot of Ringwold's bed. Captain Budlong was at the door to answer the questions of the curious. "Tell the whole truth, Charles, tell it all. I have proved to you that San kala is his child. She is entitled to his interest in the property. Do fair by hei upon your soul!" So spoke old Ringwold, ftebly but encouragingly to Seadog. "After my return from Siberia I looked up the boy. I had located you long before. When I got the papers arranged I persuaded him to come with me to America, but he had marrying on the brain and would not come until the ceremony was perfomed and his young bride was ready to come," contin ued Ringwold. "We were all poor in finances and had to take the old sail boat. The voyage was a long one and the child, Sankala, was born on board the vessel. The surgeon of the craft 1 made out a birth certificate and Bum ho i has it there. Ltook ft fr< m tlie hands !of the child's i&pther as the ship went (down and huve%ept it ever since, i "She is the only heir and entitled to | his share of the property. The other I papers will show what this is. I re ! reived the final documents yes erday. i Bumbo has them. Do justice, Seadog, I do justice, upon your soul, tell it all!" I Seadog's very moments were num bered. The wound which he had re ceived in the last encounter with the southside fishetmen had developed a I case of blood poisoning and no power ton earth now could save him. Of this, Ihe was fully informed. While the fact ! that he was about 4o face the final tri bunal where man is called upon to give an accounting, may have had some thing to do with softening Seadog's heart, he was confronted with the evi ' dence of his wrongs on earth and of the I just rights of others. | He to'd the story of how he had wronged Sankala's father; how he had 1 willfully caused Ringwold's exile to Si | beiia and how he had tied to America I with his illgotten gains. Of his accu \ mutations here, his auditors already I knew. He had learned of the sailing of Sankala's father and mother from the old country and had found their I names on the ship's register, and kiiow j int! that they were dead and having no knowledge of the birth of Sankala, thought all trouble from that source had ended. When he had completed his story, which was reduced to writing by Bum bo, he was completely exhausted, but the merciless attorney insisted on a further statement. "Seadog, you are in your right senses, are you not?" "Yes," came the reply feebly. "You realize that the end is ap proaching?" "I do," replied the dying man. "You make this statement as your dying declaration," insisted the tech nical limo of the law. "I do." "Well, one moment more, Seadog. There is still more left undone. You might as well make a clean breast of it while you are at it. You remember the deed Dan Lapham's father signed? Well, I have the evidence ready to bring action to have it set aside. You know the old man was drunk and didn't know what he was doing? You know ..there was no money paid and no con sideration for deeding the property to you upon which this town is built? You lemember all of th», da you not, Seadog? Make a clean it all, upon your soul, secured the pardon of the lialisbreed from the pen and he is ready to testify to it all. It ie true, is it, not Seadog, upon your soul, upon your soul ! 1' "Yes," came a faint voice. l "Then sign your statement here, your dying declaration, sign it here, Seadog, as you value your chances of pardon in the next world." Seadog touched the pen already thruet into his limp hand by thg per sistent attorney, who also wrote his name apd called upon the captain and surgeon to witness the signature. "(iod be praised!" The faint voice of Ringwold was heard, as he made a superhuman effort to raise himself, and clasping Sankala in his arms, he whis pered "My mission ft performed and justice done at list." The deathly silence of the loom was only broken by the Bobs of the grief stricken girl, as old Ringwold passed into the sleep that knows no waking. Within another hour Charles Sea dog's soul had also departed from the body, and such a spirit of gloom hung over the little fishing village as had never visited it before. (To te continued) Hatnplei of Hi* Toloo, "This is a marvelous age we live in/* said a theatrical manager, "and Us marvelousness was brought home to me forcibly t week. "I had written to a French tenor and asked him what he would take to come over here and sing next sea i son. His reply consisted of a letter i and two cylinders. | "'I will come for Ave hundred dol- I Inrs a week.' the letter said, 'and I I forward in another package samples j ! of my voice and of my acting.' "The larger cylinder was a phono graphic record of one of the man's solos. The smaller one was a moving picture film of him singing the solo. "I took the two cylinders to a deal er, and one we put in u phonograph, j the other in a moving picture ma ; chine. Then we darkened the room, and we started the machine and the phonograph simultaneously, By Jove, sir, the actor might have been present personally. There he was on *the screen, walking up and down the stage and gesticulating, and there was his voice Issuing in sonorous notes from the big phonograph born. I not from It as satisfactory an Idea of the man's talent as I could have got if ho had visited me." A Street Gar Napoleon. Old Gentleman —Tell uie, my friend, why you are ho ugly to passengers. Brutal Conductor —So they'll hate th' street car company wot employs me. See? "N-o, not exactly." "Why, when they hate the company, they'll just laugh to theirselvos when they see me cheatin' th' company by not ringln' up fare*. See?" FRANK x Emigh Lumber, Lime, Lathes and Posts. Lumber Studebaker Wagons and Harnett The Empire Drill. \ Yard, Wagon Extras on Hand. KENNEWICK. WASH. | Tl^^tag ! Sylvester & Roseman, - Props. H. E. BEACH, Livery, Feed and Sale Stable. Draying and delivering promptly attended to. Furnishes good rigs and saddle horses. Horses stabled and cared for. ::::::::: KENNEWICK, .... WASH. fyp Valley Barn, ' C. M. LLOYD, Prop. God Rigs. Draying and Delivering. KENNEWICK, WASH. A Howling Success That is what our business has been has been from the start, and it is getting better right along. There can be but one reason for this—and that is, we satisfy our custonlers, no matter what it coste. St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Yard H. E. Baldwin, yard foreman. A. F. Brown, Manager. Fine Whiskies, Wines and Cigars. f Agents for Olympia Beer. Best in the market. " The Merchan " HAWKINS & WILKIE, Proprs. Second street. 'Kennewick. Kennewick Market WILLIAM DIRCKSEN, ■ Prop. Fresh Meats of kinds—Pork, Sausage, Veal, Mutton, Etc. Poultry, Eggs and Fresh Vegetables. Fresh Ftsh every Friday. Becond Kennewick.