The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1911-11-22
IN THE TRACK OF
THE STORM
By EMMA BELL MILES
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OF ley rain upon his aching flesh, III,
multitudinous wild voices OF the tenn
pest, The goblin laugh OF the water as
it sucked hollowly away down ths
gorge. Battered and bleeding, he
Broped about until at last he found
Siis old mate, pinned down by timbers
against whose rude bulk his frantic
efforts were futile He found a shred
VI what had been their bedding. with
which he hid her poor face from tho
ky and working by Intermittent
flashes of the electric blade, he man.
eged 10 shelter the unconscious woman
from the storms full strength--a fury
oow abating. Then he was OF, max,
ing what headway he could up the
pountain 10 their sons house.
The cove was strewn with woods<
wreck. All the sky resounded like one
huge wargong At first the wind. like
D current of fluid blackness. cut the
breath from his nostrils. The RAIN
was driven in his face, lifted and
waved up and down in sheeted squalls.
For long time he feared each step,
would be his last. But imperceptibly'
: The hammering OF the thunders gave,
way; the swelling uproar slowly sank
| bnd changed, like an orchestral COM,
| tination. from the strife of the wind
TO drowning, steady pour Of rain.
1t was growing colder every minute.
He won each foot of ground by a sep-l
hrate effort; he slipped on the winter-l
sodden leaves, fell sprawling on rocks,
istumbled over logs all fallen one way,
and upwTenched roots straddling highl
where the path had run the day be-
fore. Through 1t all he toiled pain.
fully. seeking help to bring his wife
under shelter. Strange fancies drifted
through his dizzied brain. Would Ve-'
roma be willing TO receive help from
her son? Would she be carried to the
house Of that daughter-in-law against
whom she held herself implacable?
When father and son returned,
stumbling down the cove together. they
thought at first that a dead body lay
pinned under the wreckage of the old
home. So it was with unseeing eyes
and a stilled voice which could not be
raised in protest that Verona Brymer
came into her sons house. And thus
for days she lay there barely con- /,
Scious. glad, In numb. animal fash .
ION, of her daughterin-law's tender
ninistrations and nursing But when
the came back to life, and recognized
what fate had done to her, her soul
was one pool OF bitterness. They had
carried her into Jensy's house-that
house she had vowed never to enter.
The threshold she had forbidden this
woman TO cross was tossing bit OF
drift somewhere down the creek which
had fioated Jamb and Intel of her door
toward the Tennessee, carried chips
and splinters of 1t no doubt into the
Mississippi and toward the great Gulf,
cradle OF storms. She was lying onl
Jensy's bed the food that nourishedl
her Jensy cooked; the hands that ten-l
red on her were Jensy's.
J And the unwelcome daughterin.law, !
was not long left In doubt as to her
feelings. The flashing glance from
those stern old eyes. the demand for
Aaron's hand instead OF hers. a swift
inquiry as to the Whereabouts OF her
various belongings, this taught Jensy |
where she stood and brought her to |
keeping herself and the baby in the |
puter room away from the invalid. I
/ An injudicious visitor, from time to /
lime, added details to the story that |
Aaron had told and Verona had lis
tened to with ilcredulous ears. There
Sas word OF broken saucers and a bat
tered milk bucket found In the far
belds; of shreds Of cotton, the very
lining OF her poor home nest, fringing
Iha hFa auabaa NJ
wash tubs and Aaron's fences, wrought
to toilsomely out OF stark timbe7
would never be seen again.
/ After the storm came ruthful Glenn
mt spring weather Old Verona.
growing better, lay all day. propped in
her bed, gazing quietly out of the open
Aaron would bring her
breakfast and put everything to her
hand; then he must go down with
Harvey TO where they were rebuilding /
the old home. Neighbors helped: thei
Did man was still too crippled to be,
pf much use, and Verona sternly bade 4
him come back In time to wait upon
her with dinner, since she stunned the, |
favors of those detested hands that,
cooked the food. She could not hin-l
Ter her own recovery, could not help, |
bauhlHk StithHt IL bAL sue "ds iui iouS
hat she must be here and alive at ALL |
My she ragged at the storm, at nature,
It herself, at Jensy.
1t added pognancy to her suiferings
hat she knew, AS the warm April days
ollowed each other toward May, how
very old mother in the country was
Iuniing through a collection of bak-
ng-powder cans and broken coffee pots
or saved garden seed, or running out
o look for eggs where the hens cack-
ed in the log barn. Here she lay de-
rauded of the usefulness that had
cen hers since she could remember.
hat woman out there kept the child
way from her. would not even offer
er the smallest task of knitting or
ewing. Life was pushing forward
-ithout her. The chirping OF newly
stched "weedies" filled the yard:
sang by night longtrilled
Dol nocturne; wrens building under
he porch caves twittered a sunshiny Il
arble for each hour OF the day. The
rst mocker greeted the morning from
le top OF q hickory near Harveys
arm: the first ruby-throat hoyered III
bout the lilacs She wondered how III
le bluebirds we're faring who, each
,ring, hid four sky-colored eggs IN a
eft apple-tree by her own kitchen
Dor. Like her they had lost their
EST From her bed she could see
70 lambs that lay in a sunny corner.
Ieir heads resting prettily and softly IL
/ each others backs, and Harvey's