The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1906-01-18
CHAPTER XVII.

~ of footsteps and hoofs grow
i fainter on the trail The chill.
x dren looked at her to tell them
why this night was different from all
others what was happening. But she
could only cover among them, more
terrified than they She seemed to be
shrunken from the happenings of that
day. They hardly knew the little,
shriveled gray woman who looked at
them with unfamiliar eyes. Aida
gazed at the little Judith, and there
was something in her mothers glance
that made the little one hide her face
In her sisters shoulder. Young Judith
it was who all unwittingly had told
the lynchers that her father was at
home, and in Alida's heart there was
toward this child blind, unreasoning
hate. Better had she never been born
than live to do this thing!
1t was the wee man, Jam. who first
began to reflect resentfully on this in
trusion on his slumbers. He had heen
sleeping we'll and comfortably when
some grownups came with a lot of
noise, and his father had gone away
with them. It had frightened him. but
his mother was here, and why should
she not put him to sleep again?
"Muvvy, sing 'Dway Wolf.''' And
as she paid no heed, but looked at him,
white faced and strange, he again re-
peated, with his most insinuating and
beguiling tricks Of eye and smile:
"Muyvy, sing 'Dway Wolf for Dim
my"
The child put his head in his mothers
lap, and Aida began, scarce knowing
what she did:
'"The gray wolves are coming fast over
the hill.
Run fast, little lamb: do not baa, do not
! ~bleat,
For the gray wolves are hungry; they
come here to kill,
And the lambs shall be scattered
No, no, Jimmy, muvvy cannot sing
Oh, can't you feel, child? Judith, Ju-
dith, why were you ever born?'
It was still in the valley. Had they
come to the dead cottonwoods yet?
Had they begun it? The children
shrank from this gray faced woman
whom they did not know and but yet
a little while had been their mother
An awful silence had fallen on the
night. The range cattle no longer bel
lowed in their thirst; the hot wind no
longer blew from the desert A hush
not Of earth or air or the things that
were Of her ken seemed to have fallen
about them, muff1ing the dark loneli-
ness as by invisible fakes. The chill
dren had crouched close together for
comfort. They feared the little gray
faced woman who seemed to have
stolen into their mothers place and
looked at them with strange eyes.
Jimmy looked at the woman who
held him, hoping his mother would
come, and he could see them both. And
while he waited he dropped off to Sleep
and little Judith, hiding her head on
Topeka's shoulder that she might not
see the look in those accusing eyes,
presently dreamed that all was well
with her again, and Topeka reflected
that If her mother should ask her in
the morning whether she had dreamed
last night she would have fine tale to
tell Of men riding up and loud voices
and trying Of the door and father go
ing away with them. Her mother had
questioned her this morning when
nothing had happened to warrant it.
Surely she would ask-again tomorrow,
and Topeka could tell-she could tell
all.
The children were sleeping easily
The hush that had hung like pail over
the valley had not lifted. Had they
done It? Was it over yet? She went to
the door and listened. Surely the 81
lence that wrapped the valley was a
thing apart. It was as no other silence
that she could remember. 1t was still,
still, and yet there was vibration to it,
like the muf1led roar within a shell.
She strained her ears Was that the
sound Of horsemen going down the
trail? No, 10, it was only the beating
of her foolish heart that would not be
still, but beat and futtered and would
not let her hear. Yes, surely that was
the sound Of hoofs. 1t was over then
They We're going.
She would go and look for him. Per-
haps it would not be too late She had
heard Of such things. A dynamic force
consumed her. She had no conscious
ness Of her body. Her feet and hands
did things with incredible swiftness-
lighted lantern, selected knife, ran
to the corral for an old ladder that had
been there when they took possession
of the deserted house-and through all
her frantic haste she could feel this
new force, as it were, lick up the red
blood In her veins, burn her body to
ashes as it gave her new power.
It was dark in the valley, but the
menacing stiffness seemed to be lift
ing. The range cattle had again taken
up their plant, the sounds Of the des-
ert night swept across the stony walls
Of the canyon. Aida knew that it
must have happened at the dead cot
tonwoods. There were no other high
trees about for miles. Again she lis
i tened hafnro a1vo n0fnr T1,o,,n