American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1922-08-31

Sooner or later, that boy with the Fol-
ger blood in him and that girl with
the Ross blood would return, to at
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
a strange tradition to take the place
of hope. They said that some time, If
death spared them, they would see
Folger's son come back again, and
assert his rights. They said that a
new champion would arise and right
their wrongs. But mostly death didn't
spare them. Only old Elmira is left.
"What became of the secret agree
ment 1 do not know. 1 haven't any
hope that you do, either. The deed
was carried down to the courts by
Sharp, one of the witnesses who man
aged to get past the guard. and put
on file soOn after it 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 it. They had a deed
to show for tia forgery. And the
OuG llluB Illdl llCy ICdlEuf tut Oilt
weak chain, was that this secret
agreement between Folger and my
father would be found.
"You see what that would e 1t
would show that he had no right to
deed away the land, as he was simply
holding 1t in trust for me. Old Elmira
explained the matter to me-if I get
mixed up on the legal end of it, ex-
cuse it. If that document could be
found, their forged deed would be OBJ
viously invalid. And it angered them
that they could not find it.
"Of course they never filed their
forged deed-afraid that the forgery
would be discovered-but they kept
1t to show to any n that was in
t terested. But they wanted to make
themselves still safer.
"There had been two witnesses to
. 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
r still living in these mountains, and he
might be of value to us yet.
"Of course the clan did not feel at
Il all secure. They suspected the secret
agreement had been mailed to some
one to take care of, and they were
afraid that it would be brought to light
when the time was ripe. They knew
perfectly that their forged deed would
never stand the test, so one of the
things to do was to prevent their claim
ever being contested. That meant tc
whole matter.
81 hope l can make that clear. Tht
deed from my father to FOlger was oil
record, Folger was dead, and Folger't
1 son would have every right and OF
4 p%ortunity to contest the clans claim t
1 the land. If he could get the matte
into court, he would surely win.
II 1.-THE second thing to do was to wi
Il me over. l was just a child, and
y looked the easiest course of all. That
4 why l was stolen from the orphanag
81 by one of Simon's brothers. The ide
n was simply that when the time cam
n l would marry one of the clan and e.
. tablish their claim to the land foreve
q up to a few weeks ago it SCENE
. to me that sOOner or later 1 would wi
9 out. Bruce, you can't dream what
meant l thought that some time
y could drive them out and make the
pay, a httte, for all they have don
. But they've tricked me, after all.
: thought that l would get word to FC
gers SOC, who by inheritance wou
OF have a clear title to the land, and h
with the aid of the courts, could dri'
these Usurpers out. But Just recent
he I've found out that even this chan
lot is all but gone.
within a few more weeks tn
go. wifi have been in possession of t
ne land for a full twenty years. Throu
Use N legal twist l don't understaI
ler il a man pays taxes and has und
puted possession of land for tn
ON length of time, his title is secul
Oh They failed to win me over, but
looks as if they had won, anyws
II The only way that they can be defe;
ns ed aow>fs for that secret agreement
between my father and Folger-tO
10 appear. And I've long ago given
AT all hope of that.
hu There is no court session betwe,
,st nov and October thirtieth-vwhi
ny their twenty years of %undisputed DC
session is eliminated. There seer
w. to be no chance to contest them
make them bring that forged deed in
NJ the light before that time. We've lol
e. after all. And only one thing I
Ut mains"
." He looked up to find her eyes fl
upon him. He had never seen su,
Or eyes. They seemed to have sunk
ne deep into the flesh about them tn
~ only lurid Sits remained. 1t was not tn
ne her lids were partly down. Rath
1T was because the flesh-sacks benea
III them had become charged with h
nS hlOod Tho Rro,r oloup x,