The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1922-08-31

family prayer was said each evening
after supper.
While Ethel knelt, listening to her
grandfather's voice so on and on, an
amazing panic possessed her. She
was feeling that the long. deliberate
reading and now the endless s4ppii-
cation was for a purpose other than
devotion. and hat purpose was to
keep her kneeling in hat stuhy room
with her face to the back OF . chair.
Suddenly she arose and slipped into
the hall where she found her coat and
cap and skis. She drew breath. when
she opened the outer door, as though
she had been sitting; and she went
out upon the SNOW in the direction Of
the lake.
She heard her gr~andfather's voice
shouting after her; but she did not
heed it. and he did not pursue her. It
vas after 8 o'clock and very cold. with
a constant wind blowing of the ice.
The Rock lay lost in ~obscurity. She
gazed frequently for the reappear-
ance Of the light which she had seen
the hour earlier. Its absence filed her
with dread.
She turned back to St. Florentin and
o o heard a shout which she recog-
nized to be Sam Green Sky's voice.
When she replied, Sam FASTENED up.
reporting friendly:
odd mar send me after you, awful
mad; old man tell you to come right
home and stay there"
Ethel found her grandfather 10 be
awful mad" indeed; he met her AT
the door and ordered her to 30 20 her
room and to bed and stay there. What
did she mean by going out In the
dark to see a stranger whom she had
met on the train? She was his grand
daughter and at his own house, and
he would be obeyed.
At II o'clock when the household.
except K~incheloe. had gone to bed.
Ethel rebuilt the fire in her stove and
sat in a chair by her window. From
the room on the other side OF the wall
at her left she could hear sounds
which told her that her grandfather
was still restless; she heard him open
his door and go out into the hall and
come to her door and stand there. He
was listening. she knew; but he prob
ably supposed her to be in bed and
asleep. At any rate, he moved away
and went downstairs.
In her stocking feet. she moved
noiselessly across to her door which
she opened carefully. She crept half
way down the stairs. Something
clicked; she recognized that her grand
father was loading a repeating rifle;
and a few moments later his great fig
ure came dimly into view when he
halted before a window.
She could see that he was holding
his rifle ready but lowered; n her
muscles went taut all through her. If
he raised his rifle to fire, she would
rush down upon him. But he did not;
he only moved from ono window to
another, looking out; and then he came
toward the stairs.
She regained her room without
alarming him; and he went back to
his room.
Close to midnight, she made out a
mans figure moving unGer h trees;
dogs ~foundered beside him-Lad and
Lass undoubtedly. So she knew the
man must be Kincheloe, returning.
He carried the gun which he had
taken to aid Asa in killing the fox,
and as he neared the house, Ethel
heard her grandfather go downstairs.
They went together to the office"
and locked themselves in. For a min
ute Ethel stood in the cold hall, held
by numbing dread; just as she started
to descend the stairs, she heard the
office door open and her grandfather
say distinctly, "al right; all rightv'
They had lit the office lamp, and
the beam of light from the door