Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1920-12-17
v. VACEUIcTjoN.

W NNGEOIN ION.
1t was less woman than an anil
mated scarecrow that broke from n
dense thicket and stumbled into the
mountain trail In the hot blast Of
mid morning.
Her cloak was gone and her slip.
pers as well bare and bleeding feet
and ankles showed through the rem.
nants Of what had been silk stock
ings. Her frock, dripping water from
every fold, thanks to a recent mis-
adventure with brook, was an affair
OF shreds and tatters caked with
splashes of mud and stained with
green slime; one sleeve was missing
entirely. The barred white arm had
been cruelty scratched by thorns. The
hair falling round her shoulders was
a net Of tangles and knots In which
leaves and twigs had become en-.
twined. Her face was disfgured with
smears of mud In which tears had
washed pale channels. Her eyes
were red and swollen, her lips puffed
her look was stupid to the point of
witlessness
She painted and at times moaned
feeDly as she walked-if she could be
said to walk, whose progress was a
zig-zag thing of yaws and veers like
that of yacht under full sail in a
stiff breeze with no hand at the helm.
In a shallow clearing Of one side
OF the trail stood small shanty of
the crudest kind, crazy structure of
undressed logs and rough planks
weather-beaten to the shade of slatey
gray. 1t had door, however, and
the door was closed. The girl open
ed 1t simply by falling against It. 1t
banged against the wall and swung
pack into place after admitting her
The room inside-there was but
one--showed evidence Of more or less
recent occupation half-loaf of stale
bread on the table, seine open tins
holding samples of food from which
an unpleasant odor exhaled, several
empty whisky bottles and one half full
empty cigarette cartons and vast
litter of cigarette stumps. A frying
pan on the sheet-iron stove held a
rasher of bacon In a pool of coagrl-
lated grease. There were tumbled
blankets on rickety cot In the cor
ner.
The girl saw none Of these things
or III she saw them, they meant moth
ing to her. AS II her strength had
only sufficed to sustain her to the
shelter Of roof, she dropped to the
floor and lay there, painting and sob.
bling and quaking like child that
has been brutality punished.
Within three minutes a man came
running up the trail. He was young
slender and wiry of stature, and wore
an aged red sweater with a pair of
khaki trousers. His face was of a
glowing scarlet shade and dripped
with sweat which ran down into his
eyes and was at least in part the
cause of the monologue of profanity
which clogged his labored breathing
He numbered on YEARLY. like one
who has run long distance, ever and
anon looking back over shoulder as If
he feared pursuit. His right hand
held an automatic pistol of heavy
caliber, ready for instant USE
At the door Of the shanty he paused,
shut his lips tight to still the noise
Of his own breathing, and listened
with head bent to one side. Appar-
emily he heard nothing. A look Of
fear that had clouded his eyes passed,
and he grinned an evil, snarling grin
as he kicked open the door and went
In.
The girl had fallen on the far side
of the table, where she was not imme-
diately visible. Unsuspicious Of her
presence, the man closed the door and
lurched to the one unglazed window,
where he stopped to spy out anxious
ly, peering down the trail he had just
travelled and listening intently.
But the girl had been reused by his
entrance, and first pushing her Shout
ders up from the floor with her arms.
presently laid hold of the edge of
the table and pulled herself into a