Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1923-04-13
His Neighbor's
Wife
Bv O WHITCoMB
1922. Western Newspaper Union

elmer held Watson guiltless of his
fnnumerable offenses against him be-
cause of Watson's wife.
In the southwest, where men are
Quick to avenge insult, Watson
dwelled unframed, mounting impreca-
lions against Elmer, holding him up
to the scOrn of the township.
The men were neighbors. Elmer
ON his arrival at Westwood, had gone
TO call upon his neighbor to talk
over their boundaries. But he found
Watson in a drunken stupor and q
sad-eyed girl of twenty-five cooking In
the wretched cabin.
"Mrs. Watson?" asked Elmer, doff-
ing his hat. 81 am Elmer; l have
taken the neighboring range. l came
70 talk over" Then he paused in
embarrassment and saw the wounded
pride on her face.
Mr. Watson shall see you tomor-
row." said the girl quietly, and Ell
mer withdrew, wondering n DIS
mayed that such a girl should be
DOuDQ 10 SUCH - man.
He halted at the back of the cabin
TO fix his boot. Watson, thinking that
he had gone, sat up on the couch.
"You-" he yelled, uttering a vile
Doth. 1--WE trapped you at last. You
thought l was sleeping, didn't you,
and that you could bring that man
into my home! l know that you've
been meeting him while l was tend
ing sheep on the range. IllZIE-
He staggered across the cabin toward
the girl. Elmer strobe back into the
cabin. Watson was standing over his
wife In an attitude Of impending as
sault. Elmer took him by the shout
ders and ran him back across the
room.
II don't believe in interfering be-
tween q man and his wife-ordlnar-
ily." he said. But if you ever lay a
finger upon this lady I'll shake your
teeth down your rum-soaked throat
you hound. Savvee"
Watson fell back with a groan and
Elmer, releasing him, departed.
He met Mrs. Watson in town next
day and was relieved to see that she
bore no marks Of violence. She nod
ded very slightly as she passed him.
He learned something of her story
a few days later from some Of the
townspeople. Emmeline Watson had
been married to her husband SIX
months before they moved west from
st. Louis. She was the orphan daugh-
ter of a famous architect who had
killed himself in shame at his Inn
pending bankruptcy. Ignorant OK the
world, she had fallen a victim to the
coarse, g9od-looking travelling man
who had told her he loved her. They
we're married; six weeks later she
learned that Watson was a drunkard
and an ex-convict. She had prevailed
on him to go west, to make a new
start.
At night, lying In his lonely cabin,
Elmer thought of Emmeline. His pas
sion drove him forth to mount his
horse and gallop f~uriously across the
ranges. He turned his horse toward
Watson's cabin and then, irresclute,
refined In upon the top of en- ACTIVITY.
In the south a thin column Of smoke
was rising. 1t was the first onset OF
a forest fire. He galloped hastily to-
ward the place.
The sun rose as he rode, and long
before he reached the spot the smoke
had become a hell of flame. Already
the tree-tops were leapiDg wires OF
fame when Elmer drew birdie at Wat
sons home.
It was empty. Elmer shouted with
Joy. Doubtless the fugitives had been
warned in time. They must have fled
north along the open rage toward
Westwood. He turned his tired nag's
head and spurred him relentlessly.
The animal shifted the breeze, la
den with smoke and flying sparks, and
galloped madly for safety.
Then out Of the blind smoke came
a cry. 1t was Emmeline's voice. 1t
seemed to come Out Of the smoke
wrack like the cry Of a child that
seeks its mother-desperate hopeless,
and weary. He shouted.
"Emmeline! Emmeline! r
An instinct had Guided him
Alright, for, though she did not call in
answer, he found her.
She was bending i've a flame
blackened thing that lay in a little
hollow among the pastures. Elmer
saw at once that Watson was dead.
Emmeline Watson looked up. She
seemed to come to her senses.
"My husband Is dead" she said
slowly. "It is judgment. He tried to
set fire to your cabin last night and
burn you tt death. He fired the cabin
and the forests. But God saved you"
He ran back for his horse and led 1t
to where Emmeline stood. He swung
her, to the horses withers and mount
ed behind her. A few minutes later
and thew had left the flames behind