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___i_____________â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"-â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"- The Robbers of Markham Swamp The following story is founded on fact and as the author aptly said “everyone in this part of the country at Markham Swamp." The story was a continued story in The Liberal. deaf has heard of the gang It will run as who is not first published in 1886. SYNOPSIS The story opens about forty years ago in a small village near the town of Little York Mr Roland Gray is fleeing for his life as the result of having shot Mr]. Ham in a duel which arises from hard feelings and insol- cnce caused by the affection each has for a beautiful young lady, called As- tor, who lives with her father on a farm. The officers of the law have bloodhounds on Roland’s trail. Roland now things that his cap- ture is a surety but the elements seem to be in his favor, with the darkness of the night and the chang- ing of the wind he feels more at ,ease. Finally he comes upon the road and mounting a horse which one of his pursuers has left tied on the side of the road he hurriedly sped away. He meets Astor's father but suc- cessfully disguises himself and pass- es on to be met by the captain of the3 men who have possession of Mark- l.am Swamp. He has no choice but t' l.e led to the hear: of the swamp where he learns a numbe;~ of horrible and sickening truths.- Behind a huge rock he finds the gang asq-mhled. One, a hideous looking ruffian, Joe Murfrey; another villianous looking person, with greenish sk‘in and flaxâ€" en'hair, Jud Sykes, plays tlze part of a minister; the last of the male members of the gang being known as,’ The Lifter.. Two ladies, one very young and at one time beautiful, Nancy, and Silent Poll who seems quite content with her lot, look after the domestic needs. Sopper is pre- pared during which the rufl’ian Joe begins to harbor a hat d for Roland on account" of the at ention Nancy giVes him. Later on Roland discovâ€" ers that they are surrounded by a dense forest which.hold the dreadâ€" ful secrets he is about to learn. . ‘ Now Read On ,‘You wonder, I,presume, young- ster,’ the chief observed, ‘why our good company run the risk of build- ing a fire at night in this wood. Well, such an indiscretion we are not guilty of ‘When the moon is out; but to-night no foot save a practised one‘could make its way through the underwood. ‘But they might‘carry lanterns?‘ ,‘I grant you; but a light is\ an ob- ject that we as well as they can see. Besides: coming here in the dark is'about the last thing the guardians offorder would think of doing. Their visits were too fatal in the open day for that.’ i . At the table the liquor circulated freely, and as it was cognac twanty years old, as the robber chic; swore, it soon brought up the spirits of the gang. To his great disgust, Roland perceived that the girls drank almost as freely as the men. After Nancy had quaifed a couple of horns, the melancholy which the new-comer had a little while before noticed so plain~ ly in her face, disappeared; and she began to show marked attentions up- on the handsome and well-bred stran- ger. Not an action of hers escaped the eyes of the jealous Murfrey: and as the miserable girl was in the act of passing something to Roland, the robber have her a violent blow upon the arnL ‘You are too dâ€"â€"â€"-â€"d ready with your attentions,’ he growled, and then swore a terrible Oath. Nancy turned and looked upon hi mwith\ flashing eyes; and ferocious and bloody as the man was, she did not fear him. A little later she raiSed her horn and looking the stranger 'in the face, said. ‘I pledge you welcome, sir: you drink good-will and long.r friend- ship with me?’ Roland as we have seen, had from the first resolved to make the best of the deplorable set, so with easy courtesy and good nature, he raised his horn and said, ‘I drink with plea- sure.’ But before he had swallowed his sip, Joe had risen from his seat and reached his side; and without word or warning dealt him a severe ‘blow on/the head. Roland's blood boiled in his veins and were his life the issues ten times over he would not submit to the indignity. He sp- rang from his chair, weak though he was from his wound ‘Infamous ruffian,’ he thundered, ‘How do you dare?’ and striking the desperado one. twice, upon the tem- ple felled him like a beast to the: turf. 'For a moment the villian 1213" there as if he had received his death- 1 blow; then he moved raised himself, and was upon his feet again. first he reeled and staggered. though not from brandy; and putting his hand to his hip he drew his knife. Roland saw the reflection of thc glit- tering blud: flash upon the sombre front of the sombre forest: but he did not move. The iniscrcnnt ap- proached him with his weapon raised: I but our hero was prepared. Drawing his pistol he cocked it ‘Onc stop forawrd and I blow your brains out.’ will ' At ‘ 'Further mishap was prevented by the chief who sprang between the two. ‘Enough,’ he cried, raising his hand i‘replacc your weapons; and reserve them for other uses. You have my congratulations youngster. You are the right stuff; just such metal as we want here. As for you Joe, you got what you deserved richly. Not an- other word.’ No other word was the victor like a foiled beast. As for the robber himself whose ap- pearance I have not sought to descriâ€" \be so far, his stature was certainly a ‘spoken; but the robber glared upon splendid one He stood not less than six feet two inches high; his chest was full, and his neck and limbs such as a sculptor might make as a model for a Hercules. His face was not un- handsome, but it was marred by an all-prevading expression of cruelty. In his eye there was no room for piiy or remorse; nor was there a feature in his face that could harbor a gen- erous or kindly impulse; or one of honor. His hair was dark, but ting- efi with igrey; and the cruelties of the man’s career had left wide and hor- rible furrows extending from the cor} ners of‘ his mouth into his cheek. It would be too generous to say that the [man had been born under an evil star that some great cross had come to him ‘and turned his being to evil. For there was no trace of any good; i ‘the face, the voice the tout ensemble of the man were evil. Roland simply shuddered as he looked at hiih; and he shuddered too when he/reflecited that the monster had set his heart to turning him into a highwayman The gang lighted their pipes when the supper was ended, and the girls cleared the board Poor Roland, with the cold heavy hand of Despair squ- eezing his heart, walked a few paces away from the camp fire, and sat up- on a tree bole. In a little while the fire had grown so low that no light lcame from it save the scarlet glow from the smouldering embers. A deep gloom was everywhere; but it ‘Was not darker than the shadow that had fallen upon his life. Suddenly the gates of the dusk seemed to open and a flood of silver light filled the world. Looking, he perceived that the clouds were breaking, and through a rift in the pall the moonlight flood had been sluiced upon the darksome swamp. With the light came the stirâ€" )ring of h\0pe at his heart; and for a lminute he' surrendered himself to the l sweet t ought that a time might come 'when e, with honor untarnished, icould issue from the toils, and take lhis place in the world from which crime had banished him. \‘It will be.- forgotten in two or three years at most,’ he mused, and at the ,end of that time she may still rememâ€" ber. And then divers avenues of es- cap? from the'hideous toils were op- en to his imagination. Why could he not after the lapse of a few months, disguise himself, go boldly out of the wood and cross the fron- tier? In ,a republican city he could i engage in some honorable‘occupation; and perhaps his belovedimight care 'to hear something of his fortunes. His dreams had become very rosy when he heard the voice of the chief asking him if he did not want to ‘go to bed to-night.’ i He saw no camps, no blankets, no dwelling, and he marvelled as to where they slept or found shelter lfrom the storm. One by one his leompanions seemed to sink into the bowels of the earth, as the robber before supper seemed to have done, till at last nobody remained but The Lifter. ‘1 any waiteen to show you to your lbed.’ the fellow said in a voice as ‘Why where on earth does ’cpmpany sleep?’ l ‘Nowhere on earth,’ ' soft-voiced Lifter. ‘Come; we go under the earth;’ and Itaking our hero’s hand he led him to what seemed like the mouth of a pit. A faint light beneath revealed a sort \of step-ladder, and by this Roland ,following his guide, descended into what seemed a cavern. The air was not foul, as one might suppose, but there was an earthy smell which at first was disagreeable to the ‘trils of our hero. Takingr a taper, which was left burning below, The Lifter led the way for a considerable distance. and then turning to the ll‘lglit entered a sort of aperture or pocket in the clayey wall to his right. IThc flickering of the light here rc- vealcd a small bed; and setting down ithe candle the Lifter said: ‘This is to be your room while you stay with us: good nigln.‘ In spite of the sickening: sensation that came ‘ovcr Roland as he entered this unâ€" derground lair. and the feeling of [pain and shame at the part he was compelled to act he was soon asleep. and dreaming once again of the days your returned the soft as the ripple of an oily stream. ' nos- . \that held no evil. f CHAPTER v1 i The Ways of Robber Life 1 During the night a violent gale blew, rain fell in torrents. and many a proud tree received its death blow when lightning sprang from the {lowâ€"brooding cloud. _ ’ But the face of nature was as bright next morning as a child's face after its own little tempest and its tears have passed, and jop takes possession again The sky seemed so clearly blue, that one might think, as I myself often when a child imagin- ed, that in some unaccountable way the rain in falling had washed the sky and hence it looked upon the mor- row cleaner White clouds, like frail, wide tang- ilCS of thistle-down, drove across the ,sky and helped to form a vast con- gregation to leeward. ! Overhead and for a considerable Lway upon their journey, these clouds are white, but when they begin~ to form away beyond the reach of the lwind, they immediately turn to a .pearl gmy. sometimes you will no- ‘tice a flush of rose, and often little patches of violet; and if to these hues be added no other save the semi- universal cumulus or neutral you have little fear that the tempest will renew itself. But beware of the purple and the sulky indigo. The purple some- times clears up andrdissolves itself iin joyous crimson, or fairâ€"weather pink. I have hardly ever known in- digo to relent. When it rolls or steals into the heavens its purpose is tumult: and if you miss its fury be sure that someone else. some other where will not. I Roland’s heart arose as he stood ionce more under the pure honest heavens, the wholesome air filling his lungs, and the sunshine, despite his lot! creeping into his heart. And although the bush that clad the swamp was hateful as woods could be, it revealell here and there to our hero’s ken a touch of beauty; for among the evergreens several ma- ple, beech, and oak trees had thrust their roots The, dull bronze of the .oak, the pale gold of the beech, and the flushed crimson of the maple con- trasted richly and often gorgeously with the myrtle .of the evergreens. ‘Smitten by the‘beauty of our woods aye?’ the robber enquired. (To Be Continued) Unionville (Special to the Liberal) In St. Phillip’s Anglican Church Sunday last the services were of an unusual nature, the occasion being the animal harvest festival, the saâ€" cred edifice geing beautifully decor- ated for .the event by a lavish proâ€" fusion of the products of the farm and garden. The service was con- ducted b ythe' rector, Rev. J. J. Rob- bins, with Miss Ila Weighill the or- ganist in charge of the musical proT gram. Ther was a good attendance at the monthly meeting of the Unionville Branch of the Women’s Institute, held at the home of Mrs. R. L. Stiver on the 5th Concession. Following the ordinary business of the institute an interesting address was given by Brigadier Bloss 0f the Salvation Ar- my, on the great work done b ythe Army in prison life. At the conclus- ion-of the Brigadier’s‘address tea was served, the hostesses for the afterâ€" noon being Mrs. R. J. Cunningham. Mrs. John Hood, Mrs. R. L. Stiver and Mrs. John Young. ‘ A Case for Spankingâ€"School- :teachcr (absent-mindedly to her lyoung man)â€"“You did not turn up 'last night. Have you a written ex- cuse from your mother.” ASpecter to the (Roodâ€"Assistantâ€" “The seance is going pretty good." Mediumâ€"“Yes, just a shade more and it’ll be a success." ' IThe Richmond i Furnishing Store i l i Men's black and brown Ox- ‘fords, regular $5.50 value, a lspecial at $4.50. Also some in first grade calf [at $5.50 and $6.00. Ladies’ Summer Pumps in patent. gray kid. and satin, at $4.00. $4.50 and $5.00. We carry the special Good- rich Bi-Press athletic shoes for Men, Women and Children. iNORJIAN J. GLASS Markham (Special to the Liberal) The Annual Markham fair will be officialy opened on Friday by Hon. J. S. Martin, Mininstcr of Agriculture for the Province of Ontario. An at- tractive program has been arranged by the directors and all that is need- ed now is fine weather and President Davidson has intimated to The Lib- eral that he has ordered that. ._,._._ From reports received by the di- rectors, and entries received the show as a whole wil surpass the best hith- erto held. G. A. M. Davidson, of Unionville is president, and Roy Cros- by, secretary. ' ' No Agilityâ€"“How’s Smith in the high jump? Any good?” “Naw, he can hardly throat.” clear his THE We Will Never-"Be Satisfied Until YouAre Satisfied If you are needing anything in the line of Job Printing we are equipped to do your work and solicit your patronage. “ OUR AIM lSI‘AISATlSFlEDfUSTOMER ” RICHMOND HILL, ONTARIO . FOR EXCELLENCE IN ALL MANNER OF PRINTING. What Will Your Pallets Be Doing Three Months from Toâ€"day? WE. KNOW THEY WILL LAY AND PAY IF YOU FEED THEM THE STERLING WAY STERLING STARTER rl_‘he perfect food. for chlcks, should be fed the first six weeks. Follow feeding directions in every package or bag. Will assure you of Healthy and Vigorous stock and a full Egg Basket FOR SALE BY ALL DEALERS Manufactured By TORONTO HEIGHTS POULTRY SUPPLY C0,, Limited. ” Toronto, Ontario. STERLING EGG MASH Follows the chick start. er. combined with Sterling scratch feed for a perfect balance. “LIBERAL ” Telephone 9. R. CITY-DWELLER, where did you spend your boyhood days? Was yours the privilege of wandering through the fields and woodland where every tree and bush had been painted by the divine artist? Today you say ’tis but the hectic flame of a dying year. Then it contained all. 1:11 mystery of an enchanted palace. Ontario’s highways lead you to the land of yesteryearâ€"over white roads flecked with fallen leaves, patterned here and there by checkered shadows of trees. Field and hill- side are gay with fiery sumach. Maple groves aflame, backed by the darker ever- green. , Through this lovely panorama, in every direction, leads Ontario’s splendid system of highways. You are entitled to enjoy them, for they are yours. Keep in mind, however, that upon you will come the expense of maintaining them in proper condition. l l Issued by the Ontario Department of Highways to secure the co-operatiou of motorists in abating the abuse of the roads of the Province. Speeding eats away road surfaces. It “milks” your pocket-book for both motor and road upkeep. Moderate driving is far more economical and pleasurable. By so doing you will greatly assist the traffic patrol who operate for everyone’s safetyâ€"who have instructions to enforce the law rigorously. THE HON. G. S. HI’ 'IRY, Minister of l. ghways. s. L. SQUIRE, Dtpury Minister. 72