Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1881-10-06

sxpectia. ento for nors'ns thnna=suenfhs
hack"
RAnse had apparently paid no attention
to what the woman had been SAYING. until
the last Few words. He ratsed rs EYES as
she spske them, and he7c5l1ed sharply at
her.
II kin give you a piece Of my mind.
Ranse Loop, night hese. she cea1inued.
It's no more'n you deserve. Ef I'd he'd
SIGH DAD,
She made no prciense Of concluding
the sentence 10 words, but pressed her
thin lips tighter together, and took her
self OF toward home.
Ranse tossed his head. and curled his
lip little With his children clinging
tightly to his apron, he walked to the
front door to close it. A group Of quick
stepping men, beaming with suddenly
aroused virtuous indignation. were COM
ing MP the path toward the house.
'.Ke'H follow after them with you,"
said the foremost one. They can be
far In the start Of u.s. The postmaster
said as how Sly drove aWay in his cutter
shout nine o'clock last night"
The black coated villain cried an
othei, with an oath.
lucy say Has ttOOPS VI WotuCh III
ter him in every town where he stops,
and a wife in every place " said third.
Bv this time they had all gathered
around the doorstep, near where Ranse
vas standing.
She's no better than any Of them,"
was the observation o. still another
speaker.
1t seemed as though Ranse's closed hand
vas merely reached out TO him in a
friendly way. except for the qIckness of
the movement but he dropped on the
snow as though a mountain had fallen
upon him.
This business is mine,'' said Ranse.
$50 about yours" and he shut the door
10 their faces.
The jealous neighbors drifted away
from the premises. with feelings not pre-
cisely what they had been when their ac-
tive sympathies led them to Ranse's door,
some OF them going so far as TO agree
with the bony female neighbor, that the
blacksmith had been served about right,
and that such a tame-spirited chap didn't
deserve the cOuntenance of his fellow-vil-
layers.
slt amt like what you'd NV thought on
him." one observed. '.Ef there's a man
in these parts as would av enjied drownin'
. preacher, I would av picked out Ranse
Loop, Don't you mind. week ago las
Sunday, when Sly held baptism service
down by the creek ?''
when they he'd to cut hole in the
ice to get into the water?" another inter-
rupted.
They all laughed.
Yes" replied the first; land when
Ranse came tearin' through the crowd jest
as the preacher he'd taken his wife around
the waist to put her under. / thought
then, wouldn't av given two cents for
Sly's chance to escape q broken head"
They say that Ranse made his wife
walk all the way home in her wet clothes.
and when she got there she wasn't much
more'n an icicle!''
"Wonder she's alive to-day
Better be dead than have him lay his
hands on her again !"
Ranse didn't come out of his house
iagain that day, but early on the next
morning the ringing of his anvil could be
heard as sharp and busy as ever.
The wise gossips Of the village shook
their heads. They thought they under
stood Ranse. and looked forward to some
thrilling conclusion Of the matter that
would startle the whole community. They
knew he was the more dangerous the
more quiet and unobstrusive he seemed
They had seen him crossed before, al
though never 50 cruelty, and when all had
thought he had forgotten the sore, he had
shown that 1t had not even begun to heal
They knew the name that had been given
him rs the worst man that ever lived up
Hottie Creek" was no misnomer.
He had earned the title by scores and
scores Of mischievous actions, just outside
the pale of the law, and his most devoted
wickedncss had been directed against
what he called the ''chattering of fools. -
More than one camp meeting had been
broken up by the persistent annoyances
he and gang of men that he had at his
heels employed.
CONTINUED tomorrow