Cottonwood chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1917-current, 1919-02-07
The
Tourniquet
90
BY R. RAY BAKER
Copyright, 1918. by Mcclure Newspaper
Syndicate.J


Syndicate.J
"My hermiting business is ruined"
James Morgan stood in the door
way of his hermitage and gazed re-
sentfully across Silver lake, where the
red brick buildings of the new Ash
ton Memorial hospital loomed against
blue June sky.
| She slight frOwn developed into a
/ pronounced scowl as his ears detect
ed faint humming which originated
some distance back of the shack. The
hummipg became a roar as motor
car. with cutOut open, whiZzed past
not far from the dwelling of the de-
! jected hermit.
Its the limit the way civilization
| chases a fellow around" he grOwled.
"Here l got a place all picked out for
quiet, unmoleSted summer of soil
tude, and when l arrive to begin my
hermiting l find that some one has
built a concrete race track at my back
door, and some one else has erected
a kill-or-cure place in my front yard.
Between shieking motorcars and com
planning, convalescent patients and
giddy nurses my hermitage bids fair
to ripen into a main street of busy
town on Saturday night"
He shrugged his shoulders in dis
gust and strobe into the shack. which
consisted of living, dining, cook and
sleeping room-Nll in one. Three open
windows permitted plenty of light and
breeze to dispel germs and gloom.
In one corner were a cook stove and
a table. lin another a narrow cot de-
void of bedding. Still another corner
held a bookcase in which were some
dust-incrusted volumes. Two three
legged stools and one which, possess
ing four, stood aside in proud disdain,
comprised the other articles of fur
niture.
The hermit rummaged In his peck
cts and produced a pipe, sack of to-
baccO, a box of Matches and rail-
road guide. Planting himself on the
naughty stool, he filled the first-men-
toned article from the second, APP
piled part of the third and began to
peruse the fourth.
He was not a veteran hermit. His
face was clean-shaven and he had
clear-cut, youthful features, set off by
pair of piercing brown eyes. He
was only twenty-seven years old, and
that Is altogether too young for one
to be in the business of hermiting.
The decision to become a recluse
was due to two things. They were
the acquisition of a fortune and the
loss of an attractive young woman he
had intended making his partner in
venture far different from hermit
, ing.
Janet Ellison had decided, after all
that she did not care to settle down.
so just before she left with her par.
; ents for a tour of the continent she
broke off her engagement with James
A month later James inherited near
ly half a million dollars from an
uncle who died in the KlOndike. The
money acted as soothing balm for his
shattered heart for brief period
until doting mothers heard of his
stroke of luck and began setting
snares for him.
This having sweethearts thrust upor
him when he had just lost his heart:
desire was too much for James. He
got tired of attending debuts of young
misses and listening to their chat
ter of society and fashion and Other
subjects that held no interest for him
especially since he was still yearnin&
and longing for Janet. The deceit OF
the whole thing grew on him and made
him cynical. He determined to sevel
the sphere of feminism from his uni
verse.
He decided to spend a winter IL
California, and then in the summer
to start hermiting for fair. Before
his trip West he located this shack II
the Ohio woods, learned who the own
er was, and rented it for the season
When this transaction took place there
was no sign of a habitation or a rOaC
in the vicinity.
Only one man knew his presen
: whereabouts, and that was his chun
of college days, Ralph Williamson. VIII
hanson helped him locate the plac,
and even offered to spend some of tn,
time with him; but James declined, de
claring he was going into hermitinI
"fOr all there was in it."
Williamson laughed and remarked
"YOull soon be back and you'll MARI,
Janet, after all, when she come
L homo Thon tbiDl-iDu 70 10 Ii.