The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1920-03-26

By GEORGE AGNEW CHAMBERLAIN
Author Home Through Stained Glass" ~John Bogardu


His eyes had fallen on a group OF
carriers, newly arrived. and the crew
of his freight boat. The negroes were
squatting in a circle on guard, waiting
to make delivery to their master of
various cases. Some of them evident
| ly contained cloth, cutlery and knick-
knacks dear to the native heart, but
| one, at least, brazenly proclaimed In
deeply burnt stenciling Its contents to
be gin. 1t was on this small square
box that MacCloster's eyes were riv-
eted. He turned and spoke to Andrea
| in an oily tone that for some inexplica-
Bile reason frOze her blood. 1t was as
though he had suddenly assumed a
new and strange personality upon
! which her twelve hours Of brave inter-
course with him had had no occasion
to establish it's grip. He became a
stranger within stranger and hope
lessly inaccessible.
Come with me, my DEAR" was all
he said.
She followed him slowly, an unac-
customed weakness in her knees. He
| for her. For some mo;ssents the gloom
was impenetrable to her eyes but as
their pupils dilated she began to dis
cover shadows within the shadow until
she was able to make out the entire
scheme of interior arrangement. The
| ground floor, with the exception of an
| open space around the trunk of the
fv-nn fn6 To n Snvfnc of Of
sleeping rooms into which, she gath
cred from a muttered phrase of Mac
Closter's, were herded nightly all the
girls Of manageable age, accompa
MED By few of those old harridans
who in certain tribes act as govern
esses with the qualification that it is
| their duty to instill all the knowledge
which the mentors of the young of
civilized peoples are supposed to with
hold.
Around the trunk of the tree, which
was twelve feet or more in diameter
a rough spiral stairway had been con
structed to give access to a platform
which was built .on and around the
main intersection of wide-spreadine
| Ii
and lighted by oil lamps. A glance
within told her that it was the abode
of Manchester himself, the well-nigh
impregnable center of the spiders web.
From every side Of it extended the
sturdy limbs of the tree and up each
of them climbed a series of projecting
cleats which served as ladders to reach
| n-f Of 1nr. ,ls,tf
built wherever the natural disposition
of the branches afforded adequate sup.
port. These lesser rooms were used
as storehouses for merchandise, pro
visions and ivory and a few of them.
near the very top of the tree, were
fitted out as guest chambers especially
adapted to the safe-keeping of doubt
full strangers as also for the effective
hiding of chattel, human and other.
| wise, which for one reason or another
Manchester desired to keep out OF
sight.
Into one of the latter Andrea was
finally ushered, breathless from her
climb. On its floor was a fresh grass
mat, a clean blanket, clay pot of
of a coconut shell and a square box
filled with sand, evidently intended for
the bed of a cooking-fire. The only
light came from a cotton wick laid in
an open vessel filled with oil from the
castor bean.
There you are, Sissie," said Mac
Closter in his new oily voice, every
| ir,r
ever you want to go out, all you have
to do is to climb down and go through
my room. You won't have to do your
own cooking for a day or two; I'll send
your scott up"
Andrea's heart sank to depths that
it had never reached before her lower
lip trembled and drew down at the
corners.
''Now, don't look so glum," said Mac
Closter, leering at her. "Just remem-
Der that you couldn't be safer in HI
| than you are herel"
He turned and left her with laugh
at his own joke. The measured "Ha !
Hal Ha l-Ha Ha Hal' reverberat-
ed through the intermfnable mazes Of
| tue tllOiuDfu Tree. MUTE tlluIl ever IL
seemed the hooking laugh of thirty
voices, chanting in unison. She threw
herself full length, face-dowD, on the
grass mat and covered her ears with
her hands. Presently bodily exhaus-
ton came to her aid and she merci-
fully slept. ,
Hours later she awoke to a feeling
that she had been definitely summoned
by her subconscious self to face an i'm
minent danger. Night had fallen and
its peace had settled on the craal in
general, but there was no peace in the
great Gaia. Out Of MacCloster's room
arose through the whispering stiffness
series OK monstrous sounds mon
strously Notwithstanding, rumbling
| curses, mutterings. the occasional
crash of a shattered empty bottle.
Then came a silence more rminous
than the noises, for 1t was alive, q
| creeping thing with teDtacles that