Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1908-02-20
CHAPTER |,

Chip was very tired. All that lone
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 n 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
f~lrefies twinkled above the slow-run.
ming river and along the stump-dotted
hillside. Close by, a few pigs dozed
contentedly in their rudely construct
ed sty.
A servant to those scarce fit 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
filth, the brutality, the coarse exist.
ence of those whose slave she a
And what a group they were!
First, Tim Connor, the owner and
master of this oasis in the wilderness,
go miles from the nearest settlement;
his brother, Mike, as coarse; their
wives and a half a dozen children who
played with the pigs, squealed as 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 a h~alf-breed named
Bolduc, but known as One-Eyed Pete,
a luppCI anu AuuLCI WlODS dUOuC WdS
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 at Tins Place, in pursuit
of Chip. His wooing, as might be *
pected, had been a persistent leering
at her with his one sinister eye, oft
repeated innuendoes and i~nsinuations
of l%ascivious nature, scare 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 We're now VIII
the group below. That fact was of no
interest to Chip, except in connection
with a pertinent one-a long con-
ference she had observed between
them that day. What it was about,
she could not guess, and yet some
queer intuition told her that it 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 it's med
ley of sounds continued; then cessa-
tion, the tramp Of heavily shod feet,
the light extinguished, and finally
silence. A few minutes of this, and
than tho sound of urbjcparad oopuorco
low yet distinct, reached Chip from
outside. Cautiously she crept to her
window.
II gif you n hunerd dollars now,
for re gal" Pete was saying, IAN 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 a hiss.
A pain like a knife piercing her
heart came to Chip.
But s'pose she run away?" came in
Pete's voice.
What, 60 miles to a settlement?
You must be a damn fool!"
AN if she no mind me?"
"Wal, thrash her then; she's yours
But l no gif so much" parleyed
Pete; 4 gif you one-feefty now, an
n hunerd when she come"
You'll give what l say, and be
quick about it, or I'll take her out to-
morrow, and you'll never see her
again; so fork over"
And you fotch her tomorrow"
Eyes, l told you" And so the bar
gain was concluded.
Only a moment more, while Chip sat
numb and dazed, then came the sounds
of footsteps, as the two men separated,
and then silence over Tins Place.
And yet, what a horror for Chip!
Sold like a horse or a pig to this worse
than disgusting h~alf-breed, and on the
morrow to be taken-no, dragged-to
the half-breed's hut by her hated fa-
Their.
Hardly conscious of the real intent
and object of this purchase, she yet
understood it dimly. Life here was
bad enough--it was coarse, unloved,
hlthy, anu ycI, Hdlu db II WIS, IL
was a thousand times better than
slavery with such an wne
And now, still weak and trembling
the shock, she raised her head
cautiously and peeped out of the win
dow. A faint spectral light from the
rising moor outlined the log barn, the |
log cabins, and pigsty, which, with
frame house she was in, comprised
Tins Place. Above and beyond where
the forest enclosed the hillside, 1t
shone brighter, and as Chip looked out
mon the ethereal silvered view away