Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-12-18

abruptness not calculated to increase
the comfort of the harrassed fugitive.
He puffed from the unusual eXertion,
his increasing desire for rest met by
the increasing necessity for haste, as
shown by the angry sounds that rose
menacingly from the fiat below him.
Soon the storm began to take on the
character of a blizzard. half blottlng
out the landscape. and completely OBJ
literating the trail He was stumbling
blindly along, neither knowing nor car
ing whittier, when suddenly a bright
light flared up from the foot of the hill.
causing him to leap like a cornered rab-
bit behind an opportune boulder. From
this coign of vantage he looked eau
tiously down and saw the reason for
the illumination: $1,000 worth Of auto
mobile was going up in smoke and
fiame-the Peerless made pretty bon
fire. In the yellow light the black
figures moving about the blazing car
seemed to dance like goblins around a
witch's fire.
Gcddings was half CONCEALED with
cold by the time the light died down
and he was safe to venture from his
hiding place. The vague idea of seal
ing the mountain and reaching town by
that route WAS soon abandoned as the
snow grew thicker, more binding. Then
the gloom and showed him a tiny cot
tage hugging the hill-evidently one of
the "shackS" of the married work1nen
who preferred the open Sulches TO the
crowded quarters on the flat Feeling
his way towards it, GleddingS managed
to reach a lcan-to in the rear. Like
thief he tried the door, as silently as
his numbed fingers could manage the
task Then, not Suspecting the few
or plunged
them with sickening rapidity.
"Whlsht, man! Hold yer noise!" a
woman's voice admonished him in a
scpulchral whisper. The lads Is all In
there, and Owe been waitin' this long
tonne with yer duds. What's KEEP ye?"
Too bruised and dazed to speak, Ged-
dings lay where he had fallen. remain
ing so still that alarm finally seized
the woman: she grasped the candle
and approached him.
Hurt, Mickey? Drinkin' agin? She
held up the sputtering light and peered
down at him. anxiety and reproach
equally mingled In her voice. Then
as the grimy, frightened face of Ged
dings met her eyes. she gave a smoth-
cred cry and backed away
who arr ye? What ye doin' here?"
she cried.
Hide met" gasped Geddings with tho
They're after me-they'ye burned my
automobile-they mean to kill me. I'll
pay you anything you ask If you'll hide
me anywherc-quickl"
The words were tumble of fear and
PAIN but Mary O'Toole, long-versed i'll
the ways Of her men-folk. nodded un-
derstandngly. "Spreein agin-I know
'emi Up wid ye, then, and git into
these Mickey's self was t'ave warn
'em, but yen max good Santy-port-
ly-like and jolly
She chuckled delightedly and held out
what appeared to be bunch of bright
red rags. Struggling painfully to his
feet. Gcddings seized upon the mass.
eylng with puzzled dismay the monde
script garment valnly seeking mode
of lngress into the thing.
"Over yer head Wild ut-and wigglel
The kids is waitin' fer Sanity Claus and
I see where they come afthcr ye II ye
don't hustle. Whishst now"
With her assistance GeddingS wormed
into the sack-liSe affair. 1t was of the
material known as "turkey-red' with
trimmings of some fluffy white stun
that clung in knobs over the surface.
Made for a slenderer man. its meager
proportions were tight fit for Ged-
dings's ponderouS frame. But, gazing
on him with satisfaction, Mary OToole
calculated, "Jist the fgger fer Sanity
praise be!'
1t was with a positively joyous air
that she jammed on to his head a cap
with false gray hair appended thereto
and fastened about his chin a curly
white beard. But when she began to
apply to his sacred nose a coat of
greasy red paint, Geddings protested.
what the deuce he sputtered,
but all to avail.
"'Tis Sanity has the red nose, be-
gorra. and yer own mither wuddent
know we. so grin and bear ut, man!
'ris Saint Nicholas in the flesh ye arr"
Wild clamor In the next room sud-
denly rent the air and the door shook
under a violent knocking.
1.-The childher's impatient bless 'em.
Go now-talk In yer nose, like and
shake yer belly ofteni"-were the wom-
ans parting words as she showed him to-
wards the door and made her own exit
through window.
chorus of delighted shrieks greeted
Geddings's appearance as he stood on
the threshold. blinking with unfeigned
amazement For 81 moment ne could
not move. glued to the spot by an emo
ton he could not have explained. but
which was undeniably stage-fright.
Inside the little low room a crowd
OF tow-headed youngsters gaped In de-
lighted wonder at the apparltion. Repc-
tition never dUlled the splondor of this
yearly ceremony. nor robbed the myth!-
cal figure of it's mystery and charm.
The room was the meanest OF Its kind,