Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1907-12-05
CHAPTER 4.

Nnip was very urea. All Ntlai iOuE
June day. since Tins harsh. Come.
out wild ye," had reused her TO daily
toll. until now, wearied and disconso-
late. she had crept, barefoot, up the
back stairs TO her room, not one mo
ment's rest or one kindly word had
been hers.
Below. in the one living room of
Tins Place. the men were grouped
playing cards, and the medley Of their
oaths. their laughter. the thump Of
knuckles on the bare table, and the
pungent odor OF pipes, reached her
through the floor cracks. Outside the
direaies twinkled above the slow.run-
ming river and along the stump-dotted
hillside. Close by. a few pigs dozed
contentedly in their rudely construct
cd sty.
a servant to those scarce at for
servants. a mental at the beck and call
OF all Tins Place. and laboring with
the men in the fields. Chip. a girl Of
almost 16. felt her soul revolt at the
Nth. the brutality. the coarse exist
ence Of those whose slave she was.
And what group they were!
First, Tim Common, the owner and
master OF this oasis In the wilderness,
60 miles from the nearest settlement;
his brother. Mike, as coarse; their
wives and half dozen children who
played with the pigs, squeaIed az often
for food, and were left to grow up the
same way: and Pierre Lubec, the hired
man, completed the score.
There was another transient resi-.
dent here, an old Indian named To
NAH. who came with the snow. and
deserted his hut below on the river
bank when spring unlocked that
stream.
Two occasional visitors also came
here. both even more Objectionable to
Chip than Tim and his family. One
was her father, known TO her to be an
outlaw and escaped murderer In hid
ing: the other n half.breed named
Bolduc, but known as One-Eyed Pete.
. trapper and hunter whose abode was
a log cabin on the Fox Hole. ten miles
away. His face was horribly SCARED
by a wildcats claws; one eye-socket
was empty: his lips. chin, and protrud.
ing teeth were always tobacco stained.
For three months now, he had made
weekly calls ut Tins Place. in pursuit
of Chip. His wooing, as might be ex.
pected, had been a persistent leering
ut her with his one sinister eye, Oft
repeated innuendoes and insinuations
of lasciyious nature. scarce understood
by her. with now and then attempted
familiarity. These advances had met
with much the same reception once
accorded him by the wildcat
Both these visitors were now with
the group below. That fact was Of no
interest TO Chip, except In connection
with a more pertinent one-a long con
ference she had observed between
she could not guess. and yet some
queer intuition told her that 1t con
cerned her. Ordinarily. she would
have sought sleep in her box.on-legs
bed: now she crouched on the floor,
listening.
For an hour the game and Its med
aey of sounds continued; th0n cessa.
ton, the tramp OF heavily shod feet
ahe light extinguished. and finally
silence. A few minutes OF this, and
then the sound OF whispered converse
low yet distinct. reached Chip from
outside. Cautiously she crept to her
window.
Il gif you one hunerd dollars now
FOR re gal" Pete was saying. "an' one
hunerd more when you fotch her"
It's three hundred down, I've told
We, or we don't do business" was her
fathers answer, in almost hiss.
A pain like a knife piercing heI
heart came TO Chip.
but s'pose she run away?" came II
Pete's voice.
what, 60 miles to a settlement
You must be a damn fooll"
AN n she no mind meT'
oval, thrash her then; she's yours.
~But I no gif so much" parleyct
Pete; Il gif you one-feefty now. an
one hunerd when she come"
You'll give what l say. and b.
quick about 1t, or III take her out e
morrow. and you'll never see he
again: 80 fork over"
-And you fotch her tomorrow"
Eyes, told you" And so the bal
gain was concluded.
Only a moment more, while Chip %
numb and dazed. then came the soun
Of footsteps. as the two men separated
and then sllence over Tins Place.
And yet, what q horror for Chip
Sold Ike a horse or a pig 70 this wors
than disgusting half-breed, and ON tn
morrow 20 be taken-no, dragged--t
the halE.breed's hut by her hated q
Their
Hardly conscious Of the real inter
and object OF this purchase. she "
understood Il dimly. Life here va
had enough--it was coarse. unIoye
even flthy. and YET. hard as &c was.