The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1923-10-26
CHAPTER III
Is
Flight.


There was a girl named Joan WHIT
followed Pierre Lands because he lait
his hand upon her wrist, and there
was another Joan who fled up the
mountain-side at sight Of him, a.
though the fire that had once touched
her shoulder had burnt its way into
her heart Then there was third
Joan, Joan astray. 1t was this Joan
that had come to Lazy-Y Ranch and
had cooked for and bullied 1.-THE outfit
"a Joan of set face and bitter tongue
whose two years lonely battle with
life had twisted her youth out Of Its
first comedy straightness. In Joans
brief code Of moral law there was
one sin-the dealings Of married
woman with another man. When
Pierre's living and seeking face looked
up toward her where she stood on
the mountain-side above Prosper's
cabin, she felt for the first time that
she had sinned, and so. for the first
time. she was sinner. and the In
evitable agony of soul began.
She fled and hid till dark, then
prowled about till she knew that Wen
Ho was alone in the house. She came
like a spirit from hell and questioned
him.
"What did the men ask? What did
you tell them?"
The men had asked for a lady. He
had told them, as Prosper had once
instructed him, that no lady was liv-
Ing there, that the man had just gone.
They had been satisfied and had left.
But Joan was still In terror. Pierre
must never find her now. She had
accepted the lie of a stranger, had
left her husband for dead, had made
no effort to ascertain the truth, and
had dealings with another man."
Joan sat In judgment and condemned
herself to loneliness. She turned her
self out from all her old life as though
she had been Cain, and, following
Wen Hos trail over the mountains,
had gone into strange lands to work
for her bread. She called herself
"Jane" and her ferocity was the ar
NOR for her beauty. Always she
worked in fear of Pierre's arrival,
and, as soon as she had saved money
enough for further travelling, she
moved on. She worked by preference
on lonely ranches as cook or harves-
ter, and 1t was after two years Of such
life that she had drlfted into Yarnall's
kitchen. She was then greatly changed
as a woman who works to the full
stretch OF her strength, who suffers
privation and hardship, who gives no
thought to her own youth and beauty,
and who, moreover. suffers under a
scourge of self-scorn and fear. is
bound to change. OF all the people |
that had seen her after months of |
such living, Jasper Moreno was the |
only one to find her beautiful. But |
with his sensitive observation he had |
seen through the shell to the sweet
ness underneath: for surely Joan was
sweet. a Fridays child. 1t was good
that Jasper had torn the skin from
up the hardness of her heart. She
eft him and Yarnall that afternoon
and went away to her cabin In the
.rees and lay face down on the bare
boards OF the floor and was young
again. Waves of longing for love
md beauty and adventure flooded her. |
For a while she had been very beau
iful and had been very passionately
owed; for a while she had been sur
'ounded by beauty and taught its
She had fed from 1t all.
She hated 1t, yes. but she longed for
I with every fiber Of her being. The
asst two years were scalded away.
'he was Joan. whoehad loved Pierre;
'oan, whom Prosper Gael had loved. |
Toward morning. dawn feeling with
White fingers through the pine boughs
nto her uncurtained window Joan .
topped her weeping and stood up. |
he ,eas very tired and felt as though
II the hardness and strength had
cen beaten from her heart. She |
pened her door and looked at pale I
tars and a still, slowly Frightening !
lorld. In hollow below the pines
stream ran and poured its hoarse,
urrying voice into the silence. Joan I
ent under the branches. undressed '
nd bathed. The icy water shocked /
Re back into her spirit She began b
, Jingle and to glow. In spite of her b
IF she felt happier. She had been 4
tony for so long, neither sorrowful a
or glad; now. after the night of sharp 1
ain, she was aware OF the gladness c
morning. She came up from her a
lunge, glowing and beautiful. with b
'ose, wet hair.
In the corral the men were watering n
ieir teams; above them on the edge e
mesa, against the rosy sky. the
Their ponies out all night on the range, h
ere trooping, driven by cowboy a
no darted here and there on his h
mble pony, giving shril cries. In G.
lie clear air every syllable was sharp "
the ear, every tint and line sharp "
the eye. IT was beautiful, very
.autiful, and II was near and dear 81
her, native TO her--this loveiness 81