The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1915-12-30
CHAPTER XIII.
Proof at Last.

The summer was upon the hills witt
vengeance.
Mighty unusual" said Ma Daily
this here heat. Hottest it's been lei
many year; its a-goin' to De q
mighty dry season an it's a-comin
early"
Which prophecy seemed due to DC
fulfilled. A blue heat haze lay deep II
the valleys, hung amid the Mills. The
deep floor Of pine needles in the big
woods was already dry as powder, and
1t was only late July. The camp was
humming ahead with the work They
had exceeded their expectations in
getting out logs, sending out more
than they had planned
Miss Ordway. still mistress OF the
| little south room, worked feverishly
at the new story OF the timberlands.
| A bit of her brightness, some of her
painstaking cheeriness, was gone with
the summers heat. She had thought
that long before this she would nave
won. that the engagement she mad so
daringly announced would be fact
She could not understand his holding
out against her.
Sandry had made many trips TO
Salem, consulting with the lawyer he
had summoned from the East, who was
turning heaven and earth in an effort
to prove what Sandry knew to be
true of Hampden, but it was unavail-
ing. The young commissioner at Sa-
lem was ION to his job" and the weeks
flew by with not one raveled end to
the ball of fraud and deception and
criminal intrigue which lay snug in the
doctored records of the state land Of
t1ce. Miss Ordway had dropped her
filing for the timber claim and the
young commissioner was uneasily
searching his offices for the two let
tiers and missing account book. He
did not family suspect that the last
time he had seen them was during the
visit to Salem OF the charming new
acquisition to the ring" In fact,
some of those days were still shrould-
ed in a nebulous haze of mystery-red
wine and red lips and heady infatua-
ton
But things were approaching an
other change in Daily's lumber camp.
One day in late July Sandry wrote sew
eral letters and Poppy Ordway. lean
ing Familiarity over his shoulder. |
reached out hand for them.
I'm going up to the forked stick" 4
she said languidly, land I'll take
them"
The dainty fingers were all but
trembling with eagerness, for she saw
that one of them was addressed to
John H. Musseldorn, at a town in New
Jersey. There was none to observe
her on the sunny Siletz road behind
the low growth OF spruce, and when
she strolled down the little meadow
again toward the cook-shack, that par
.icular letter lay safe inside the bosom
Of her dress.
She went straight to the south room.
entered and closed the door. Her
hands trembled violently. but there
vas no conjunction for what she was
lbout to do in her heart. She was
pretty well armed with knowledge that !
would give her hold on Sandry, in 1
,ase she was forced to use it, but ..
lere, she believed, would be proof pos )
tive, the actual written word that she !
night hold before his eyes IN some
lard event of the future.
With strong excitement she slit the )
nvelope, drew out the sheet and be-
an to read. Faster and faster came E
er hot breath. redder and redder :
rev her cheeks, while triumph spar y
led in her eyes. She moved slightly I
n her slippered feet, little motion
( satisfaction that set her garments n
when the tiger, scent
lg Its prey. squirms before the leap. b
With eager haste she sat down at +,
er typewriter and began TO write "
fter long intervals OF study, there lay p
nder her hand very creditabIe brief a.
[ the famous Whitby Casa verba-
m copy of President Whitbys last
,tter, concise history of Waiter San a.
rvs life since, college, the notes IN q
he red morocco book, plainly speci- D
ed as his dellrious words, and a copy !"
/ this letter to Musseldorn. Taken IL
,gether, they made a chain of deduc- p'
ons so plain and simple as to be
evidence. y
At that moment Sandry himself, st
coping near the south window, called az
or to come out and see the Siletz lie
luaws with their pyramids OF bas- hi
cts going down to Toledo. At his to
,ice she laid a jealous hand over the 10
spers, hurriedly pushed them back re
r safety, and rose. But Fate, that to
I'd been waiting, gave overimpetus to
o cautious motion and showed them on
little too far back. SO that they hung sh
the small space between the type 10,
ritter stand and the wall-hung ten a
lively until the wind from the clos ba
G door, which. as If it, too, were in pu
nspiracy, did not latch, caught them tn
ID pulled them down to the clean, ST
g-carpeted floor. 10,
Come, Sletz, called Sandry as they m,
srted for the road to intercept the bu