The Adair County news. [volume] (Columbia, Ky.) 1897-1987, 1921-01-05
Continued from pag. 2.


cr0uched low when the little door
opened and Uriah called her name.
"Come out here, Tonnibel," he COM
manded roughly. and Tony, with Gus
: sic In her arms, erept into the cabin,
where Reggie was seated on bunk,
looking pale and sullen.
'Set down on the floor, brat" COM
manded Uriah, and Tonnibel dropped
down. "Now listen to me, Tony"
went on Devon. ever since you've
been knee high to a grasshopper you
been as mean as the devil. You always
got in behind Eide when she was here,
but now there amt no skirts to shove
me OF. You hear?"
Every veStige of blood left the wan
! young face.
Where is mummy" she said, lift
Ing imploring eyes to his.
Dead" said Devon brutally, "as
dead as a door nail. Here, my lady,
If you hOller I'll rap you one on the
COB"
'DeadT cried TonnibeI. "Pop,
you're lying to mel know you are I"
Have it your own way, kid" re-
piled Uriah, with an insolent laugh,
~'but one things sure-Ede amt here
to buck against me now. What want
to get into your thick noodle is you're
goin' to get married as soon as we
get to Auburn. See?"
The girls eyes remained centered
on his face, horror deep seated In
their gray depths.
Here's Reggie wantin' to marry
you" continued Devon, with a wide
wave at the limp young man. "And
when 1 say you've got to I mean it."
Il won't" fell from Tony's lips, but
the awful expression on her face didn't
change nor did she drop her eyes.
Devon took a quick step toward her,
with an appraised arm, and as he had
beaten his wife so he laid the blows
about the girls head and shoulders.
The pig fell from Tony's arms in her
desperate efforts to protect herself.
"Oh, daddy, don't, don't, any more ="
she screamed.
Reggie Brown was watching the
brutal scene duly as if it interested
him but little. At the girls fearful
plea Devon stepped back and glared
at her.
"Will you do what bid you, miss"
he demanded hOarsely. I'D as soon
kill you as take a wink"
TOnnibel made no answer save to
weep more wildly, and, because she
did not make ready reply, Uriah
struck her again. Then suddenly
Reginald stood up.
Don't hit 'er any more, Dev," he
drGwled. shut FER up a while and
keep 'er without grub, and she'll come
to time. Give FER a night to think it
over. God, but you've walloped her
black and blue as it's"
In answer to this Devon picked
Tony up and threw her into the back
cabin. Then he kicked Gussie over
the threshold, slammed the door and
locked 1t.
\ Philip MacCauley had padded away
from the Dirty Mary with a dull,
sick fear for the girl he had had to
leave behind. To fight single-handed a
drunken man with a gun was fool
hardy and would do little Tony no
good.
When he reached the corner Of the
lake he ran his craft ashore and sat
for a long time thinking. Suddenly
he saw through the dusk that the ca
nal boat had left its moorings and was
moving slowly northward in the teeth
Of the rising wind. With an ejacula-
ton he showed OF and was out in the
boiling surf. Wherever that boat went
he decided to go, too.
As he padded carefully along, he
could see the shadows of two men in
the glimmer of the little light in the
small pilot house. Then Reggie was
there with Devon, but where was
Tony?
One small window in the canal boat
gave forth dim light. He felt within
him that she was there where that
light was, alone and suffering. What
had she thought of his allowing him.
self to be forced away from her when
she needed him most? His teeth came
together sharply. He was no coward,
this Philip MacCauley, this captain Of
the Salvation army.
Suddenly he caught sight of a pass
ing shadow in the cabin, and his heart
leapt up within him. Twas the shad-
oY of a girl walking up and down.
Grimly his teeth set into his under lip
and with one deep thrust of the pad
die into the water, he sent the canoe
headlong toward the canal boat. Then
it was that a girls face came to the
window.
The canoe almost crashed against
the side of the bigger boat as it came
sidewise of it. and Philip caught at it
m ~