The Filer record. (Filer, Idaho) 1919-1930, 1923-11-01


brought a swift pallor to Ellen
cheek. II was rawly chill, despite
suitry noon. a scorching afternoon. A
sunset had come almost a cyclone
with thunder crashes. lightning Tx.
nre through premature blackness. ans
over all heavy lce-cold rain filled witt
big battering hail.
Hail had stopped falling, but
through broken unshuttered windows
Ellen saw by lightning flares that
storm water had made drifts and
mounds OF IL. wherever the lawn
sloped. no matter how gently. She
had faced the powers OF the air gal
iantly at their onset-now terror laid
hold on her. Not for herself, but for
the many folk caught unawares In its
heart OF fury.
She had watched, rather wIstfully.
the stream Of cars. filed with laugh
ter and shouting. headed for the point
to-point race. the climax OF the hunts
meeting.
The point-to-point came last on the
card-the start had been delayed-so
much she knew through neighborly
use Of Der phone. Old Squire Willis,
ninety. yet still a sportsman. had kept
his small grandson running back and
forth TO find out any and everything
the horses. jockeys. scratches. added
starters-and OF course the odds.
The squire had planned TO be among
those present. but his third helpmate.
giddy person of sixty. had set her
face against his risking the journey
and not unreasonab!y. seeing that both
his pension and the fat annuity so
many envied or grudged him hung by
the precarious thread OF his life.
Ellen agreed heartily with Mrs. VIII
lis-since she had sold herself TO
senility wasn't she entitled 10 the
price? Still. she had been sorry enough
for the squire, the plteous age-wreck |
Of INSCRIPTIONS success. Hence news
gathering had not CALLED her-indeed, |
II had been rather absorbing, since she
herself had more than a drop OF sport /
ing blood. And the very last message
from the track had been thrilling. II
ran:
BLACK Shirt WHISKY a length.
keeble fell-broke-" there the com
ing storm had drowned all other
sounds.
II came so swiftly, so fercely. the
crowd had had no chance Of escape.
Ellen thought, shuddering. Of cars lift
ed, overturned. ditched in the swift
falling pail.
The heaviest, solidest vehicle would
De but toy for the power that had
lifted the big barn, overturned II. and
IL across the highway. Trees
our feet through had been twisted
M and for half a minute held up
light as though still rooted. What
thing had any chance :
gainst such might
But the interrupted messagef "Kee-
lie fell-broke--" lay heaviest on her
Keeble had been her
omrade all through his yearllng form !,
then after he was sold to the rich !,
udleys he had escaped their pad :
ocks and homed straight for the ;,
umbler meadows Of his birth. Other
ise-there even in thought Helen
aused. She could only let herself >
'el the rest-that she owed him touch 9
It'll the man she so loved. young o
'hn Audley. his rider in the big race. a
Telephones were dead-not a light u
owed along the mile Of highway =
histleden house commanded. The u
lme stuck. from the careless days g
Ellen's grandfather. who had rev. o.
I'd and rioted with wIllises and "a
ldleys and at last come cropper.
tai and financial. at a five-barred W
Re. or
Then his son-iri-law had taken over an
2 place and redeemed II by relent- do
IS. gripping thrift. Slim Ellen. her 70
'ther's only child. was no favorite lis
tn him-he fancied reproach In her no
!. dark eyes. when truly there was an
Iy wistful appeal for love. The ar
anger brood, loud. lusty. red DO
.eked. red-haired Ike their mother. cot
oke In him paternal pride. pa
Therefore he bad taken Them upon CRY
ten-day excursion-Eilen. invited raI
b-Ah-H 70 20 atunEs Ha1 known
ter than to accept. Utterly fearless. FIRE
relished the thought Of having the an,
Ise 10 herself Of
IN Jackson. head tenant. was the
hin easy call. and his wife. a kind ha'
son. would come AT any need. They one
gone TO the course. along with IS
bulk of the Thisileden workers. y
lien knew u rested with her alone IAN
help were possible The nru
q had broken 70 shorf savage gusts Tor
ie could stand against u. in the sun
rvals- MeihodicalIy she equipped SER
rubbers. fash
/. matches. a lantern. long can
and flask q the peach and-honey. A
Ned ffty years back by her grand L
er. Her father had kept It Tor its He
IN spite Of virulenf teetofaiism. was
Tory o. Il made Ellen smile PROV In I
she murnured half land
a. a. she skiffered toward the c