Cavalier County farmers press. (Langdon, N.D.) 1920-1921, 1920-05-20

AA WV ~ WA AIN AAo wv
have done with my father"
He laughed a little and looked 1t
her with eyes that narrowed like
those Of a cat basking in the sun. He
had something the look Of the larger
members of the cat family-the soft
long tread, the compact ripping mus
cles Of a tame panther, and with these
the threat that always lies behind it's
sleepy wariness.
you're q young lady Of n idea.
No use arguing with you, I reckon"
Not the least use. I've talked with
Mrs. Wylie."
He raised his eyebrows. EDO 1 know
the lady?"
"She will know you. That is more
to the point"
Did she say she knew me?" he
purred.
"She will say it in court-if it eve
comes to- that"
Just what will she say, if you
please"
Kate told him in four sentences with
a SlllSlIS ullSNIllSkoo IioS q AhN "aS
standing note of her, that and a fine
self-forgetful courage.
us that all? Comes to this then,
that she says I heard her scream, ran
in, and saved your fathers life. Is
that a penitentiary ~offense?"
You helped the villain take his
body into the cellar. You plotted with
him to hold father a prisoner there"
Says that, does she-that she over
heard us plotting!'
"Of course she did not overhear
what you said. You took good care Of
that. But she knew you were conspir-
ing"
Just naturally knew it without
Overhearing," he derided. And of
course if l was ii 4 plot must have
been Johnny-on-the-spot Il good deal Of
the time. Hung round there a-plenty,
1 expect?"
He had touched on the weak spot Of
Mrs. Wylie's testimony. The man who
had saved Cullison's life, after a long
talk with Blackwell, had gone out Of
llIc JUCh " llSdllS duu lldd " "
turned so far as she knew. Fol- her
former husband had sem her on an
errand just before the prisoner was
taken away and she did not know who
had helped him.
Kate was silent.
"How would this do for an explana-
tion?" he suggested lazily. We'll say
Just for the sake of argument that
Mrs. Wylie's story is true, that I did
save your fathers life. Well put it
that 1 did help carry him downstairs
where it was cooler and that 1 did
have a long talk with the fellow Black.
we'll. What would I be talking to him
about, if l wasn't reading the riot act
to him? And after he had said he was
sorry why shouldn't l hit the road out
me and Luck Cullison. / wasn't under
any obligations to wrap him up in cot
ton and bring him back this side up
with care to his anxious friends. If
he chose later to take a hike out of
town on p.d.q. hurry up business
amt to blame. And I reckon you'll
find a jury will agree with me-"
She brushed his explanation aside
with q woman's superb Indifference to
logic.
care. 1t is all lies-lies. You have
kidnapped father and are holding him
somewhere. Don't. you dare to hurt
him. If you should-Oh, if you should
you will wish you had never been
born" The tierceness of her passion
beat upon him like sudden summer
hail.
He forgot for the moment that he
was a man with the tolls of the law
closing upon him, forgot that his sue
cess and even his liberty were at stake.
He saw only a girl with the hunger of
love in her wistful eyes, and knew
that it lay in his power to bring back
the laughter and the light into them.
Suppose L can't fight fair any long
er. Suppose I've let myself get trapped
and it isn't up to me but to somebody
else. Up to your father, say?"
MY father?"
eyes. How could'I turn him loose
when the first thing he did would be
to swear out a warrant for my arrest?"
"But he wouldn't-not if you free
him."
He laughed harshly. Il thought you
knew him. He's hard as nails" He
laughed again, bitterly. "Not that it
matters. OF course I was just putting
a case. Nothing to it really"
He was hedging because he thought
he had gone too far, but she appeared
not to notice it. Her eyes had the far
away look of one who m with
herself.
"If I could only see him and have a
talk with him. I think I could get him
to do as I ask. He nearly always
does" Her gaze went swiftly back to
him. Let me talk with him. There's
a reason why he ought to be free now,
one that would appeal to him"
This was what he had come for, but
now that she had met him half way he
~ $500