The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1902-10-24

riers away"
Il don't fear them or their war
rant" Hope said, earnestly. "You
must know something of this matter,
Cowper. l conjure you by everything
you hold dear to answer a few ques-
tions. We have always been friends.
For Gods sake, don't refuse to an
swer me-"
what is it!" the Mormon asked,
uneasily. "Be quick. The very rocks
have ears and the trees eyes,"
What has become of Lucy Fer
rier%
"She was married yesterday to
young Drebber.- Hold up, man, hold
up, you have no life left in you"
Don't mind me-" said Hope, faint
ly. He was white to the very lips,
and had sunk down on the stone
against which he had been leaning.
Married, you say?"
Married yesterday-that's what
those flags are for on the Endowment
House. There was some words be-
tween young Drebber and young
Stangerson as to which was to have
her. They'd both been in the party
| that followed them, and Stangerson
| had shot her father, which seemed to
give him the best claim; but when
they argued 1t out In council, Dreb-
ber's party was the stronger, so the
prophet gave her over to him. No
one won't have her very long, though,
| for | saw death in her face yesterday.
She Is more like a ghost than wo-
man. Are you off, then?"
"Yes, I'm off," said Jefferson Hope,
who had risen from his seat.
His face might have been chiseled
out Of marble, so hard and so set was
its expression, while his eyes glowed
with baleful light.
where are you going"
Never mind" he answered; and,
singing his weapon over his shoul-
der, he strobe off down the gorge and
so away into the heart Of the noun
tains to the haunts Of the wild
beasts.
The prediction of the Mormon was
only too we'll fulfilled. Whether it
was the terrible death of her father
or the effects of the hateful marriage
into which she had been forced, poor
Lucy never held up her head again,
but pined away and died within a
month.
Her scottish husband, who had mar
ried her principally for the sake of
John Ferrier's property, did not af-
feet any great grief at his bereave-
ment; but his other wives mourned
over her, and sat up with her the
night before the burial, as is the Nor
mon custom.
They were grouped round the bier
in the early hours of the morning,
when, to their inexpressible fear and
establishment, the door was flung
open, and a savage looking, weather
beaten man In tattered garments
strobe into the room.
Without glance or word to the
covering women, he walked up to
the white, silent figure which had
once contained the pure soul of Lucy
Ferrier
STOPPING over her, he pressed his
lips reverently to her cold forehead,
and then, snatchng up her hand, he
took the wedding ring from her
finger.
"She shall not be buried in that"
he cried, with a fierce snarl, and be-
fore an alarm could be raised sprang
down the stairs and was gone.
SO strange and so brief was the
episode that the watchers might have
found 1t hard to believe it themselves
or persuaded other people of 1t, had
It not been for the undeniable fact
that the circlet of gold which marked
her as having been a bride had dis
appeared.
For some months Jefferson Hope
fingered among the mountains, lead
ing a strange, wild life, and nursing
In his heart the fierce desire for ven
geance which possessed him.
Tales were told In the city of the
weird figure which was seen prowl-
ing about the suburbs, and which
haunted the lonely mountain gorges.
Once a bullet whistied through
Stangerson's window and fiattened
itself upon the wall within foot of
him,
On another occasion, as Drebber
passed under a cliff, a great bowlder
crashed down on him, and he only
escaped terrible death by throwing
himself upon his face.
The two young Mormons were not
long In discovering the reason of
these attempts upon their lives, and
lead repeated expeditions into the
mountains in the hope of capturing
or killing their enemy, but always
without success.
Then they adopted the precaution
Of never going out alone or after
night-fall, and of having their houses
guarded.
After a time they were able to re-
lax these measures, for nothing was
either heard or seen of their oppon-
ent, and they hoped that time had
cooled his vindictiveness.
Far from doing so, 1t had, If any
thing, augmented It. The hunters
mind was of hard. unyielding ma
ture, and the predominant idea of re-
venge had taken such complete pos
session of 1t that there was no room
for any other emotion.
He was, however, above all things
practical. He soon realized that even
his own iron constitution could not
stand the incessant strain which he
was putting upon it. Exposure and
want Of wholesome food were wear
ing him out.
II he died like a dog among the
mountains, what was to become of
his revenge then? And yet such q
death was sure to overtake him IL
he persisted.
He felt that that was to play his
enemy a game, so he reluctantly re-
turned to the old Nevada mines, there
to recruit his health and to amass
money enough to allow him to pur-
sue his object without privation.
His intention had been to be alb
sent year at the most, but a COM
binatiop OF unforeseen circumstances
prevented his leaving the mines for
nearly FIVE.
At the end of that time. however,
his memory of his wrongs and his
cravings for revenge were quite as
keen as on that memorable night
when he had stood by John Ferrier's
grave.
Disguised, and under an assumed
ha - al MA