The Snowflake herald., 1922-11-24
CHAPTER XXI

events of the night partOok even Of a
greater mystery. The front door was
open, and she found plenty of evidence
that Bruce had returned from his
journey. In the center of the room lay
his pack. rifle slanting across it.
At first she did not notice the gun in
particular. She supposed it was
Bruce's weapon and that he had come
in, dropped his luggage, and was at
present somewhere in the house. It
was true that one chair was upset, but
except for an instant's start she gave
no thought to it. She thought that he
would probably go to the kitchen first
for bit to eat. He was not in this
room, however, nor had the lamp been
lighted.
Her next idea was that Bruce, tired
out, had gone to bed. She went back
softly to the front room intending not
to disturb him. Once more she noticed
the upset chair. The longer she re-
garded it, the more of a puzzle it be-
came. She moved over toward the
pack and looked casually at the rifle.
In an instant more it was in her hands.
She saw at once that it was not
Bruce's gun. The action, make and
caliber were different Besides, it had
certain peculiar notches on the stock
that the gun Elmira had furnished
Bruce did not have.
She stood a moment in thought. The
problem offered no ray of light. She
ooncidornd what Rruoo,c fret ootioD
would have been, on returning to the
house to find her absent. Possibly he
had gone in search of her. She turned
and went to the door of his bedroom.
She knocked on it softly. "Are you
there, BruceY' she called.
No answer returned to her. The
rooms, in fact, were deeply silent. She
tried the door and found it unlocked.
The room had not been occupied.
Thoroughly alarmed, she went back
into the front room and tried to de-
cipher the mystery of the strange
weapon. She couldn't conceive of any
possibility whereby Bruce would ex-
change his fathers trusted gun for
this. Possibly it was an extra weapon
that he had procured On his journey.
And since no possible gain would come
Of her going out into the forests to
seek him. she sat down to wait for his
return.
The moments dragged by and her
apprehension grew. She took the rifle
in her hands and, slipping the lever
part way back, looked to see if there
were a cartridge in the barrel. She
saw glitter of brass, and it gave her
measure of assurance She had a
pistol in her own room-a weapon that
Elmira had procured, years before,
from a passing sportsman-and for
moment she considered getting it also
She understood it's action better and
would probably be more efficient with
| it if the need arose, but for certain
never-to-be-fOrgOtten rea sons she
wished to keep this weapon until the
moment of utmost need.
Her whole stock of pistol cartridges
consisted of six-completely filling the
magazine of the pistol. Closely
watched by the Turner's, she had been
unable to procure more. Many a
| dreadful night these six little cylinders
of brass had been a tremendous con-
ISOLATION to her. They had been her
| sole Defense and she knew that in the
| final emergency she could use them to
deadly effect.
| Linda was girl who had always
| looked her situations in the face. She
was not one to finch from the truth
and with false optimism disbelieve it.
She knew these mountain realms; bet
| ter still she understood the dark pas
| sions of Simon and his followers, and
| this little half-pound of steel and
wood with it's brass shells might mean,
| in the dreadful last moment of despair, +.
| deliverance from them. 1t might mean
escape for herself when all other ways
were cut off. In this wild land, far
| from the reaches of law and without
allies except for a decrepit old wo-
man, the pistol and it's deadly loads
| had been her greatest solace.
The hours passed, and the clouds
were starting up from the horizon
when she thought she saw Bruce re-
toward her, over the little trail that
led between the tree trunks. She
peered intently. And in one instant
more she knew that the approaching
figure was not Bruce, but the man she
most feared of anyone on earth, Simon
Turner.
Her thoughts came clear and true.
1t was obvious that his was no mis-
sion of stealth. He was coming boldly.
freely, not furtively; and he must have
known that he presented a perfect
rifle target from the windows. Never.
theless, 1t Is well to be prepared for
emergencies. If life in the mountains
teaches anything. it teaches that She
took the rife and laid it behind a little