Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1902-10-28
A STUDY IN SCARLET

BY A. CONAN DOYLE.

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whom he had rendered services at
different times. He therefore accost-
ed him when he got up to him, with
the object of finding out what Lucy
Ferrier's fate had been.
81 am Jefferson Hope" he said.
you remember me-"
The Mormon looked at him with
undisguised astonishment-ndeed, it
was difficult to recognize in this tat
tered, unkempt wandered, with ghast-
ly white face and fierce, wild eyes,
the spruce young hunter of former
days.
Having, however, at last satisfied
himself as to his identity, the mans
surprise changed to CONSERVATION.
"You are mad to come here" he
cried. "It is as much as my own life
Is worth to be seen talking with you.
There is a warrant against you from
the Holy Four for assisting the Fer.
riers away"
"I don't fear them or their war
rant" Hope said, earnestly. "You
must know something of this matter,
Cowper. 1 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 it 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 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
it's expression, while his eyes glowed
with baleful light.
Where are you going
Never mind" he answered; and,
a4r r. 31 h Sc oh
der, he strobe off down the gorge and
tains to the haunts Of the wild
beasts.
The prediction of the Mormon was
only too well fulfilled. Whether it
was the terrible death of her father
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 Terriers 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
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 a glance or a 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 it hard to believe 1t themselves
or persuaded other people of it, had
1t 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 bullet whistled through
Stangerson's window and f1attened
itself upon the wall within a foot of
him.
On another occasion, as Drebber
passed under a cliff, a great bowlder
crashed down ON him, and he only
escaped a 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, it had, If any
thing, augmented it. The hunters
mind was of a hard, unyielding ma
ture, and the predominant idea of re-
venge had taken such complete pos
session Of it that there was no room
for any other emotion.
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