The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1921-04-28
THE LAW In THE
VALLEY

bein' human bein' no way you tax,
it. A man may have . good educa
tion and grand notions and be Q per.
feet scamp, and not know it till some.
thing happens to prove it.
Pappy paused and knocked the hot
embers out Of his pipe.
1--WE had fellow like that In here
once. He was a prospector named
Horton. And he'd set on top OF Z
worm fence half q day arRuin' that
II want ethical for q man to have
anything Of his own. Lowed it was
selfish; that we ought to hold every
/ thing in common. He talked wrong
so well that nobody could answer
him, and | didn't try to.
II knowed he'd run up against the
moral law in the shape Of man some
day and git the Ten Commandments
and the fore part of the Sermon on
the Mount taught him with the butt
end of an OK goad And it happened
az | expected.
"Nothin' happend to him so long as
he took his say out ag'in Adam and
! Eve, lowed there wasn't no such per-
son as Jonah, that the sun never stood
still the way Josh said it did, and that
1t was p'int-blank lie about Moses
partin' the Red Sea with stammer-
in rod. None of Us set any great
store upon them little exaggerations
of the Scriptures. But when / see
that fellow making up to the women
with his fine clothes and sech talk as
that morals were jest customs, like
partin' their hair in the middle,
knowed his time was short.
"For women amt got much relia-
bility Of mind. That's why they take
up with every new fad and new reli
gion that comes along. SO | say it
made me nervous to see the way Hor-
ton was headin' his arguments to-
ward the female members of our
community. And he kept right on
accordin' to his logic till he come to
covet Bill Stark's wife. Mary Stark
was the prettiest woman in the valley.
She had married Bill because he'd
helt her on till she said yes but she
knowed no more about love than
hen sparrow do about spring. And
she would have lived and died none
the wiser, as most women do, IL it |
hadn't been for Horton.
"Now it won't do to covet another
mans wife in this valley. And in
particular it was a mistake for Hor-
ton to covet Bill Stark's wife. And
if he hadn't been dern fool he'd have
knowed better than to tech anything
that belonged to man with face
like wise. Bill want what you
call gentleman, but, jumping cats,
he was mani Still, Horton couldn't
take warnin' because Bill was so
dull and dumb. He so p'intedly de-
spised him for bein' that way that he
finally wheedled Mary off to his shack
up yonder on Blood Mountain one
day without so much as an umbrella
to hide 'em from Bill.
81 recollect it so we'll, it was in the
early spring We were burnin' brush
plowin' and the air was full Of smoke
in the fields gettin' ready for the
and the faint smell of wild flowers
Me and Jim Bledso were in the new
ground at the foot Of the mountain
with Horizons shack settin' on the
ridge just above. About the middle
Of the afternoon, as we stood by a
pile of burnin' logs, we seen Horton
and Mary pass up the little trail to-
ward the shack. He was talkin'
grand, as usual. We could tell by
he tone of his voice, and I recollect
low wild and white her face looked
rs she went by.
81 was all of tremble when the
ioor shet behind 'em and l says to
lin:
Lands sake, what must we do?'
"But Jim he took one look at them |
wo and now he was runnin' like all |
down into the boiler where |
Bill was also burnin' logs. I
"Well sir, in about three shakes of {
sleeps tail here comes Mary's hus- I
,and tearin' over the hill. His arms
we're swinging, his big, red hands
pening and shettin' like he was get
in ready to squeeze something to ;
cath, and, by ginger, sir, he was
it want funny laugh! =
lie wan'n't more'n five yards away =
yhen the door opened and Horton !
ONE out to meet him with the white !
DOL look q man would have at such !,
lined to fight or just to argue as .
time. / don't know whether he :
sual, for Bill lit on him before he :
ould speak. In
mister, did you ever see two men 4
ght to kill one another with their !,
are fists? There amt more terri =
lie sight in Nature. This one I'm :
.liin' you about was more like first i
ass dog fight than anything else. :;
hem two were clamped together Is Il
ght as the hug Of hate could draw :.
m. They ripped and tore the earth :,
it'll their heels and tore and bit one -
mother with their teeth. Lord, sir, =
makes me sick yet to think Of that . :,
ghtl And all this time that poor -
tile fig of woman inside the house
dn't show her face. n
Presently saw Stark stumble rs Il
he were about to fall, and | yelled Ct
Jim Bledso comm back across the "
cid.
!" Dang it, Jim,' seq |. we amt GO 81
to stand here and let that polecat a
urder Bill, air wel' NJ
No. sez he, as We hurried up the n
all together, and we won't let Bill A
I into trouble for KILN skunk, NJ
,ither.' NJ
well, sir, we got there just in time az
keep him from chokin' Horton to NJ
'ath. They were lynn on the ground IS
vered with blood, and Bill had his W
md on Horizons throat. i reached 10
'wn and ketched him good hard by "