Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1915-10-07


slips into the water.
Il reckon ye kin jest lay thar a
SPELL" added the woman, whilst
goes out an sees what victuals ! kin
skeer up"
Left alone, the girl from Philadei
phia ran over the events of the day
events which seemed to smother her
under a weight of squalor and fore
boding.
At length from the road came loud
shouts of drunken laughter, broken
by the evident circumstances Of a
companion who sought to enjoin quiet,
and by these tokens the "furrin"
woman knew that the lord of the
squalid manor was returning, and that
he was coming under convoy. She
shrank from a meeting with Fletch
McNash; but if she went out by the
only door she knew she would have
to confront him, so she lay still.
Fetch was deposited in n of the
split-bottom chairs by the doorstep.
Il jest went over thar ter borry a
hoe" he proclaimed, IAN | met up
with some fellers and thar was all
manner of free Ticker. They had white
Ticker an bottled -in-bond ticker, an
none of hit didn't cost nothin'. Them
fellers jest wouldn't hardly suffer me
ter come away"
AN whilst we war a-soakin' up tibet
thar free Ticker them pertater sets was
a-dryin' up waitin' ter be sot out"
| came the stern wifely reminder.
Between the strident voices came
every now and then the softly modu-
lated tones of the stranger whose
words Juanita lost. Yet, somehow,
whenever she heard them she felt
soothed, and after each of these ut
~terances the woman outside also
spoke in softer tones.
Whoever the stranger was, he car
ried in his voice a reassuring quality,
so that without having seen him the
girl felt that in his presence there was
an element of strength and safeguard
ing.
At last from one of the beds she
heard a scufling sound, and a moment
later a childish form opened a door at
the back of the cabin and slipped out
into the darkness.
That revealed an ayenu of escape.
Juanita had not known that these win
dowless cabins are usually supplied
with two doors, and that the one into
which the wind does not drive the
weather stands open for light on win
try days. Now she, too, rose noise
lessly and went out of the close and
musty room. 1t was quite dark out
there and she could feel, rather than
! see, the densely foliaged side Of the
: mountain that doomed upward at the
back.
In her brooding she lost account OF
/, time. At last she heard a voice sing
out from the stile:
I'm Jim White, an I'm a-comin
in"
; A thick welcome from Fletch Nc
:. Nash followed, and then again silence
settled.
: After a while, as she sat there OF
!, the rock, with her chin disconsolatelJ
in her hand and her elbows On hel
knees, Juanita became conscious o
footsteps and knew that someone wal
coming toward her. Then she caugh
= the calm voice which had already i'm
pressed her-the voice of the strange
who had brought home the half-helI
/, less householder.
a II reckon we're out of earshot now
- | reckon we kin hev speech here; bu
heed your voice an talk low"
In the face of such a preface the gil
shrank back in fresh panic. She ha
40 no wish to overhear private convers;
tons.
m She huddled back against the roc
as and cast an anxious glance about he
Id for a way to escape. Behind lay tn
or mountain wall with it's junglelih
10. growth, where her feet would SCUM
in an alarm of rustling branches and di
an turbed deadwood. But the men wei
adj strolling near her, and to try to reaC
of the house would require crossing the
til path.
"a Then the second shadow spoke, al
oh it's voice carried beside the mas
en- shrillness 30 common to the hills Il
he ~tenseness Of suppressed excitemer
"Thar's liable ter be hell ternight
lis The girl thought that the qui
to stranger laughed, though Of that g
as could not be certain.
ed II reckon We mean concernin' {
en- Douglas?"
ng "Thet's hit; when l rid outen Pc
nd. this afternoon Their jury he'd done to
ad. Their case, an everybody lowed the,
find a verdict afore shutdown"
I'm 81 reckon"-the taller of the t
ills men answered slowly, and into
rel softly modulated voice crept son
Ind thing Of 1inty finality-"I reckon | {
of tell ye what that verdict's goin'
Of be. Cal will come clear"
vas "Thet hain't Their pint" urged
ON messenger excitedly. tibet hain't "
and I've rid over hyar like a bat out
led hell ter cotch up with ye. | '
amin ter fotch word over ter Il
ian. dance, but es | come by hyar ! 81
ght yore boss hitched out thar in i
kin road, so | lit an come in. reel
ye knows tibet cote an tibet j.
she Thet's yore business. but tibet ha
,ure ALL"
lick We'll. what's the balance OF