José — page 280: what you’re looking at

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

JOSE. 273 Slowly the iarge gate-wings swung open as the wagons approached. Through the vanguard the body of the young fort owner was first to pass into the echoing court, and stopping at the foot of the stair-way allowed the wagons following and the men to file into the yard beyond. With a hollow clang the gate closed again, the riders dismounted and while the overseer apportioned a number to care for the wounded, the larger part of them stepped back to the corpse that stood in waiting; twelve stout hands took hold of the mattress upon which the remains laid. and followed by the domes- tics in a line of two abreast, the procession slowly ascended to the upper story. Baumann and his wounded companion had fol- lowed the body. He was led to expect something so deeply affecting, yet withal poetical, in the sight of a maidenly widow wailing over the remains of the slain, that involuntarily he thought of the romance of a by-gone age. In aspacious room the body was deposited on a bed previously prepared; the aged overseer approached it and covered the gaping neck-wound with a cloth, tenderly stroked the hair back from the cold rigid face, then turned toward the door with lowered head. The men had silently disposed themselves along the opposite wall and McAllister’s departure was followed by a calm so hushed that the falling of a grain of sand had been audible. After a short while the sound of steps and the rustle of women’s dresses were heard without; the door opened and a slender figure in a black silk gown closed to the throat entered between the over- seer and the old housekeeper. At this juncture Baumann’s hand closed in a Eomichboo S (E(0)