An Oregon Girl

h the contour and walks and knew the location of the long steps, but in her a

ce was laden with a thin vapor. Down low on the horizon, above the line of hills, swung the half-moon, aglow with soft pale light, while the nearby electr

ver and anon were mingled with the distant attenuated sounds of belated cosmopolitan life. At times her walk would be rapid, then slow and hesitating, almost a halt, as she approached some indefinite obje

e thought designated in the note. She stepped off the walk onto the grass, and stood under the deeper darkness of a

l of a jackal, confined in the park menagerie, pierced the ni

"And this is the top of the long walk. Now the

til the pale moonlight again faded away, and darkness shut him from view. Then, as if by inspiration, she suddenly remembered that the note

ry, and though confusing in the darkness, she at last found her way to the appointed place without mee

s, which at that point was faintly illumined by the mass of distant lights spread over the city before an

r the fountain. As she watched him, another man, who had been concealed in the grove of trees, recently trimmed out to make way for the traditional group of Indians in bro

t directly below her, with such intense eagerness as

steps." She turned about, and was terrified to discover a rou

ean? Who are y

ees a-note a da fraid, Signora de Virginia. Eesa

her. Relieved, she said: "Then it was

but exultantly. "Eesa tole-a da sel

want-what am

doesn't recognize me as the old cripple," and evaded a

ho intruded on Mr. Harris' grounds a few nights since. "Yes-w

, he, eesa be a da fine-a artiste. Make-a

she almost shrieked, forgetting her fear

it was he, chu

guessa, Signora, Eesa

gar. I gave you money. What

ild-a?" he as

thy T

ed, and sharply turned on her: "W

me here for? Was it not t

da like-a see me-alone-at night, Signora." And he watched her

-a da boots, steal-a da chil. Anyting dees

ing the child?" she asked, withou

replied. Up to that mo

rejoined, and then as

he's a da safe,"

red, for she believed the man's statement to be

re there in this?"

a beeze, jess

questing this meeting. Who wrote

mewhat off his guard by her abrupt eagerness. He answered thou

good-a da

two of you in this 'o

didn't mean to make a break like that." And then he exclaimed, b

How much-a you-a da give to gett-

d he was getting

red over the rise in the ground a short distance from the two. He was a little too far aw

ied Virginia, surprised, and

ich is priceless, and I warn you of the severe penalty for t

come-a down wid a da handsome da mon-Eesa take de kid-wid da lo

am sure!"

you call the

da hard. Eesa cheap

y thou

round fla

irginia, for the moment forgetting herself, an

g that I have but to call and the

or the moment he verily believed they were within call, a circumstance he at once set down t

ghed low and gleefully, in strange contrast to the white of his

look-a da well bees-a compan-e-on ove-a mine, in a d

-a da hear a da game between ee mand a da Signora da Virginia, eh!

d then involuntarily

in leered at her. Then, with a most offensive smirk playin

the darkness could not conceal her flaming cheeks. She bent her

the Harris reception. "His disclosure would incriminate me with Rutley. Still, it matters no

and in need, I will give you five hundred dollars upon return of the chi

his voice. "Eef yourse da squeal on a da ma, Signora-look-a da

me a da twenty da thouse-a dollair, youse-a take a da kid-but youse-a da squeal!" and he dre

that it drove all courage from her heart. Again she felt, as once before, at the Har

er, and assuming a bold, threatening manner, in which she astonished herself,

at child, I, myself, will

d low and derisively. "Ha, ha, ha, Signora lak-a

ration at her courage, and his lips qu

threateningly. "Now look-a da ere. Eef-a youse-a da want a kid, gett-a da mon a da quick-twenty da thous, for eesa tink a da move-a da way. May bees gett-a da organ en-a da monk, go down So

and he leaned over to her, a sinister glint shooting from the corner of his eye-"Eesa slit more's a da one-a windpipe." As he replaced the knife, a low whistle sounded off toward the

lights, unconsciously gave a low whistle of warning, and spr

er or to in any wise have her think he had been shadowing her. Then feel

figure of a man suddenly loom up on the righ

courage, so worked upon her nerves as to produce a trembling of her

she began to think with lucidity. She had been followed b

s not dead," she thought. "Thank Heaven for that, too; but she is in the hands of a murdero

must act alone, act at once. Having arrived at that conclusion, she arose to her feet.

l in the ruin and disgrace of her only brother's happy home. If it was in human power to restore happiness to that

e took on a soft, strange, resolute calmness. "God helping me, I will take her from him, even t

out of the park, and