The Snowflake herald., 1922-11-17
CHAPTER Xxx

As Bruce waited, his eyes slowly be-
came accustomed to the darkness. He
| began to SEQ the dim outlines of his
| fellow occupants of the rOom-fully
seven brawny men seated in chairs
about the walls. Lets hear you drop
| your rifle" one of them said.
Bruce recognized the grim voice as
SimOn'S-heard on one occasion before.
He let his rifle fall from his hands. He
knew that only death would be the
answer to any resistance to these men.
| Then Simon scratched match, and
without looking at him, bent to touch
| it to the wick of the lamp.
| The tiny flame sputtered and flick
cred, filling the room with dancing
shadows. Bruce looked about him.
Simon sat beside the fireplace, the
| lamp at his elbow AS the wick
caught, the light frightened and stead
led, and Bruce could see plainly. On
each side of him, in chairs about the
| walls, sat Simon's brothers and his
| blood relations that shared the estate
with him. They were huge, gaunt
men, most Of them dark-bearded and
sallow-skinned, and all of them regard
| ed him with the same gaze of specula-
tive interest.
Bruce did not finch before their
gaze. He stood erect as he could, in
| stinctively defiant
"Our guest is rather early" Simon
| began. "Dave hasn't come vet, and
Dave is the principal Witness"
A bearded man across the room an
swered him. ''But I guess we amt
| goin' to let the prisoner go for lack
of evidence"
The circle laughed then-a harsh
sound that was not greatly different
from the laughter of the coyotes on
the sagebrush hills. But they sobered
when they saw that Simon hadn't
laughed. His dark eyes were glowing.
'You, by no chance, met him on the
way home, did you?" he asked.
.I wish / had," Bruce replied. "But
I didn't"
II don't understand your eagerness.
You didn't seem overly eager to meet
u.s.
Bruce smiled wanly. These wilder
ness men regarded him with fresh in
terest. Somehow, they hadn't counted
on his smiling 1t was almost as if he
were of the wilderness breed himself,
instead of the son of cities "Tm here.
am not?" he said. "It isn't as if you
came to my house first"
"And I'm wondering if you remember
what l told you just as you left Mar
tins store that day-that 1 gave no
man two warnings"
"T remember that" Bruce replied.
81 saw no reason for listening to you.
1 don't see any reason now, and
wouldn't if it wasn't for that row of
guns"
Simon studied his pale face "Per-
haps you'll be sorry you didn't listen,
before this night is over. And there
are many hours yet in 1t. Bruce-you
came up here to these mountains to
open old wounds"
"SimOn, / came up here to right
wrongs-and you know it. If old
wounds are opened, 1 can't help it."
"And tonight" Simon went on as if
he had not been answered, "you have
come unbidden into our house. 1t
would be all the evidence the courts
would need, Bruce-that you crept in
to our house in the dead of night If
| anything happened to you here, no
word could be raised against us. You
were a brave man, Bruce"
$50 1 can suppose you left the
note?"
The circle laughed again, but Simon
silenced them with gesture. you're
very KEEN" he said.
"Then where is Linda?" Bruce's
eyes hardened 81 am more interested
in her whereabouts than in this talk
with you"
"The last seen of her, she was going
up a hill with Dave. When Dave re-
turns you can ask him."
The bearded man opposite from
Simon uttered a short syllable of a
laugh. "And it don't look like he's GO
ing to return" he said. The knowing
look on his face was deeply abhOrrent
to Bruce. Curiously, Simon's. face
flushed, and he whirled in his chair.
"Do you mean anything in particu-
lar, Old Bill?" he demanded.
"It looks to me like maybe Dawes
forgot a lot of things you told him,
and he and Linda are havin' a little
sparkin' time together out in the
brush
The idea seemed to please the clan.
But Simon's eyes glOwed. and Bruce
himself felt the beginnings of a blind
rage that might. unless he held hard
upon it, hurl him against their re-
morseless weapons. 81 don't want any
more such talk out of you, Old Bill"
Simon reproved him, "and we've talked
enough, anyway" His keen eyes stud
led Bruce's flushed face. Zone of you
give our guest chair and fix him up
in it with thong. We don't want
him flying off the coon and gettinp