Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1922-11-10
CHAPTER xxi

events of the night partook even of
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, a 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. 1t
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 a 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 q 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 moment in thought. The
/ off Of 1inht Shn
considered what Bruce's first action
would have been, on returning to the
! house to find her absent Possibly he
! had gone in search of her. She turned
land 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
a measure of assurance. She had a
pistol in her own room-a weapon that
Elmira had procured, years before,
from passing sportsman-and for a
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
ever-tO-be-forgotten reasons 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 q
dreadful night these six little cylinders
Of brass had been d 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 disbelieye 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 solacA
Continued Next Week