Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1918-04-05

Knows of the seethins West
The talk he heard was OF cattle and
oil and agency affairs and outlaws
The last was the favored theme. for
somewhere off in the hills lnrked Bari
Sears and the two who rode with him.
waiting for the ripe moment 10 strike
OF course. they might not be planning
TO strike at Kiheka. but the population
of the place found no consolation in
The negative possibility. and com
munity fear, the most gripping OF All
emotions. was on the town.
Hardy learned much about the gun
men. on whom he had always looked
as figures In hectic fiction: came to
know OF the ireemasonry among them
and those who secretly aided them BY
information or more material helps
Through this he came to understand
the conditions that would seal the
lips of any number OF good citizens
who might know the location of The
bandit camp. who might even know
the plans OF Sears and his crowd for
the giving OF information against out
laws was ioOlhardy practise.
Some day one of their clan nigh,
discover and lhenjust a shot from
The brush and the informant would
pay the grim penalty OF meddlins in
the affairs Of others,
lie met biz Bob Mitchell, tho
deputy. who had been the first victim
of Sears on the reservation and
learned through Jim Hough that the
big. guileless-eyed officer was squaw.
man something which was dstaste-
full while picturesque until he learned
that Mitchell's wife, dead several
years, had been only remotely de
scendant of Usage parents
He met dozens. and only one whom
he distinctly dsliked chap
named Kennedy who. in The words OF
DR.. Hough, was a loan shark Hardy
put his aversion aside, though for the
Older doctor casually mentioned that
Kennedy was a close friend Of the
deputy. so close in fact that il was
generally expected he was to become
Mitcheii's son-inlaw.
But behind all these new germs Of
Friendship, all these new experiences.
was ever the warming intimacy with
John Housh. his fathers friend, who
dealt with him in gentle paternalism.
1t was not necessary for them TO
''thaw'; they were understandable
one to The other, from the instant they
clasped hands there before the stage
barn.
II was with sigh Of satisfaction at
gaining something in the nature Of q
settled condition that Hardy put Os-
ler's Medicine" on the shelf at the
end of his row OF hooks. slapped his
palm together to free them of dust,
and looked around his FIRST profession
/ al home.
Ii was mo- the sort of an office that
most men of his class would have
found satisfactory At the outset Of
their careers.
The table was mea9er fixture
two Of his three chairs bore evidence
Of having done loyal service before
his library rested on q single, painted
board, and his private Office was Iittle
'nn~c than a poorly lighted closet
But to Hardy il was all that could
! he desired. He felt stripped for ac-
lion. devoid OF embellishments that
might sometimes prove hindranres,
His sensation was one OF high ef1ici-
I ency.
The weather was at its worst, with
.aln sweeping down across the prairie
| in thick. clammy curtains, envelopine
The post.oak forests, and sliding down
off the hill to drench Kiheka; but that
gloom of the world outside did MOI
affect the man who moved to his Office
window and looked out at it,
Below him the street was mass OF
black batter, stirred by countless hooi>
and wheels which had made their way
through it in the days that the rain
|
had held
Out beyond. where the heart of the
town widened Into triangle. along
which had been built the tiimsy wood
4 a buildings, seasoned here and mere
by one OF sandstone, was an unhroken
sticky mire. et
Net human being was in sight.
Hardy knew tina, there were people
in the bank across the way and in The
drugstore below him; bur rs far
az his sense of sight could tell, Kihe-
ka had been stripped of men and
women.
A horse. hose TO the sidewalk, tail
to the wind, saddle protected by a
] yollow slicker, stood patiently bumped
up across the triangle and IFS presence
seemed to accentuale the deserton OF
7 the streets
Then life came, rider splashlns
along On a briskly trotting horse He
entered the triangle at its apex, from
The north. and rode straight toward
+ Hardy. who watched and shiyered as
/ hc TOOK into account the mans dress
and the weather.
The man wore no overccat, his hat
was down, coat collar up, and his
hands stuffed into his pockets, as
though he tried TO draw into himself
10 avoid the storm. He must have been