, 1922-09-06

49, $50 htCP me WHllinEI"
The girl smiled again-like n sor.
ceress. "Folger's wife was from tbo
plains country" she told him sIorl,,
IF she had beer. OF the mountains o.,
might have remained to do some l.tu
ing on her own recount. Like OLD ~
mira herself remained to do-kinina
on her own account But She v,as
from cities, just as you are, but She
unlike yon-had no mountain blood :.
her. She wasn't used TO DEAN anI
perhaps she didn't know how TO hate
She only knew how to be afraid
''They say that she went almost in
sane at the sight of that strong. brava
man of hers lying still in the nins
needles. She hadn't even known bo
was out of the house. He had gono
out on some secret business-lnte NJ
night She had only one thing left
her baby boy and her little foster.
daughter-iittle Linda Ross. who t.
before you now. Her only tboueht
was to get tAose children ont of thar
dreadful land of ~bloodshed and to
hide them so that they could never
come back. And she didn't even want
them to know their true parentuee
h seemed to realize that If they hod
known, both of them would return
some time-to collect their debts
Sooner or later, that boy with the Fol.
e blood in him and that girl with
the Ross blood would return. to M.
tempt to regain their ancient holdings.
and to make the clan pay!
All that was left were a few old
women with hate in their hearts and
n strange tradition to take the place
Of hope. They said that some time. n
death spared them. they would see
Folger's son come back again. and
assert his rights. They said Thai n
new champion would arise and right
their wrongs. But mostly death didn't
spare them. Only old Elmira is left.
what becnme of the secret agree
ment / do not know. ] haven't any
hope that you do. either. The deed
was carried down to the courts by
Sharp, n of the witnesses who man.
aged TO get past the guard. and nut
on file soon after IL was written. The
rest Is short. Simon and his clan took
up the land. swearing that Matthew
Folger had decided 1t to them the day
he had procured 1t. They had n deed
TO show for it-a forgery. And the
thing that they feared, the one
weak chain, was that this secret
agreement between Folger and my
father would be found.
"You see what that would mean. 1t
x.-nf,lI Chow tl.,4 l.. rx.a -.
deed away the land. as he was simply
holding 1t in trust for me. Old Elmira
explained the matter to me-lf | get
mixed up on the legal end Of II. ext
cuse 1t. If that document could be
found. their forged deco would be oh.
viously invalid. And 1t angered them
that they could not find It.
"Of course they never filed their
forged ~deed-nfraid that the forgery
would be discovered-but they kept
it TO show to any one that was in
terested. But they wanted to make
themselves still suffer.
.There had been two witnesses 10
the agreement. One of them, a man
named Sharp, died-or was killed
shortly after. The other, an old trap
per named Hudson, was Indifferent to
the whole matter-he was just pass
ing through and was at Folger's house
for dinner the night Ross came. He is
still living in these mountains, and he
might be Of value to us yet.
"Of course the clan did not feel at
all secure. They suspected the secret
agreement had been mailed to some
n to take care of, and they Were
afraid that 1t would be brought to light
when the time was ripe. They knew
perfectly that their forged deed would
never stand the test, so n of the
things to do was to prevent their claim
ever being contested. That meant 10
keep Folger's sol In ignorance of the
whole matter.
Il hope l can make that clenr. The
deed from my father to Folger was on
record, Folger was dead, and Folgers
son would have every right and op'
%portunity to contest the clans claim to
the land. II he could get the matter
into court, he would surely win.
1.-THE second thing to do was to win
me over. l was just a child, and 1t
looked the easiest course of all. That's
why l was stolen from the orphanage
by one of Slmon's brothers. The idea
was simply that when the time came
l would marry one of the clan and es-
tablish their claim to the land forever
up to a few weeks ago 1t seemed
to me that soone or later l would win
out. Bruce, you can't dream what I
meant. / thought that some time |
could drive them out ard make them
pay, a little, for all they have done.
But they've tricked me, after all. r
thought that / would get word to ~.
gers son, who by inheritance wou'u
have a clear title to the land, and ne
with the aid of the courts, could drive
these usurpers Out. But just recently
h