The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1915-11-13

0AAPo AAIO TIC aNCA-
- reckon ye kin jest lay thar
SPELL" added the woman, whilst 1
goes out an sees what victuals kin
skeer up"
Left alone, the girl from Philadel-
phia ran over the events Of the day
events which seemed to smother her
under weight of squalor and fore
boding.
AT length from the road came loud
shouts of drunken laughter. broken
by the evident remonstrances 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 F1etch
McNash; but if she went out by the
only door she knew she would have
to confront him, so she lay still
Fletch was deposited in one Of the
split-bottom chairs by the doorstep.
81 jest went over thar ter borry a
hoe" he proclaimed, AN l 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 ye 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 scuf1ing sound, and moment
later childish form opened a door at
the back of the cabin and slipped out
into the darkness.
That revealed an avenue 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 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 on
, the rock, with her chin disconsolately
in her hand and her elbows on hel
, knees, Juanita became conscious oil
footsteps and knew that someone was
coming toward her. Then she caught
, the calm voice which had already i'm
, pressed her-the voice Of the stranger
who had brought home the half-heip
, less householder.
81 reckon we're out of earshot now
, / reckon we kin hev speech here; bu
heed your voice an talk low"
I In the face Of such preface the cir
shrank back in fresh panic. She haC
! no wish to oVerhear private converse
/ lions.
l., She huddled back against the rocl
5 and cast an anxious glance about he,
/ for a way to escape. Behind lay tn,
r mountain wall with its junglelik'
: growth, where her feet would sounC
4 an alarm Of rustling branches and dis
4 turbed deadwood. But the men wer'
i strolling near her, and to try to reacl
f the house would require crossing thei
b path.
!. Then the second shadow spoke, AM
B its voice carried beside the nasa
n shriIlness so common to the hills tn
e tenseness Of suppressed excitement
''Thar's liable ter be he'll ternight.
s The girl thought that the quie
o stranger laughed, though of that sh
s could not be certain
d 81 reckon ye mean concernin' Ca
l. Douglas?"
g ''Thet's hit; when lid outen Per-
l. this afternoon Their jury he'd done too
Their case, an everybody lowed they
find a verdict afore sundown-''
/ ST reckon"-the taller of the tw
s men answered slowly, and into hi
II softly modulated voice crept som,
q thing of f1inty fnality-'T reckon ca
u tell ye what that verdict's goin' {
II be. Cal will come clear"
IS tibet hain't Their pint" urged th
u messenger excitedly. Tibet hain't VII
q I've rid over hyar like a bat cute
a hell ter cotch up with ye. va
amin ter fotch word over ter the
a. dance, but es come by hyar 1 see
1t yore boss hitched out thar in ths
"a road, SO l Lit an come in l reckc
ye knows tibet cote an thet jur
he Thet's yore business. but thet hahn
re- all"
X Well. what's the balance of Il
1s with zinc filings and produced aIizart
II and then the secret OF the madd,
:. | DIant was f7izeoverod In fbfa ~