Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1924-12-11


were a man to deal with outside
well, she must shut her mind to that
until she came to it.
Mad Ruth was gone again, and Ju-
dith stood by the thick door. her
heart beating furiously while she
waited. 1t seemed to her eager i'm
patience that Ruth would never come
back Then after long, long time
she heard little scraping sound
upon the rock ledge outside, the
sound of quick step. And then, be-
fore she heard the snarling, ugly
voice which she had heard once and
had never forgotten, she knew that
| this time she had waited too long
that it was not Ruth coming.
One manand there might be 9th
ers. She stepped back to her bed,
hid the two weapons and waited She
must make no mistakes now.
The door was flung open. Outside
| it was dark, pitch-dark. But evident
| ly the man entering had no fear Of
being seen. He. threw down bundle
Of dry fagots, and set fire to them.
The blaze, leaping up, casting wav-
ering CLEANS to where Judith stood,
| showed her plainly the twisted, ugly
face Of Quinnion, his red-rimmed eyes
peering at her, filled with evil light.
'The better to see you by, my
dear!" was Quinnions word of greet
| ing Judith made no answer. She
drew a. little farther back into the
| shadows, a little closer to the things
she had hidden among the fir
| branches.
"Ho, sneered Quinnion, his mood
from the first plain enough to read in
the glimpses of his face and in the
added harshness of his voice. 'Timid
| little fawn, huh? BY Cd, man
would say from the bluff you put up
| that it was all dream about findin'
you an the handsome Lee in the cabin
! together! STAN off all you On
please; I've come to tame you, you
little beauty Of the big innocent eyes =
| Not drunk; no, Quinnion was never
drunk But, as he came a step closer,
the heavy air of the cave grew heavier
with the whisky he carried, WHISKY
enough to stimulate the evil within
him, not to quench it.
.Stand back" cried Judith, with a
sharp intake Of breath. Il want to
talk with you. Chris Quinnion"
80 you know who / am, do you?
| Well, much good it'll do you"
Il know who you are and what you
are" she told him defantly, suddenly
sick of her long hours of playing
baby, knowing at the moment less
fear than hatred and loathing. Listen
! to me: Bayne Treyors has come out
| in the open at last; he has made his
big play and is going to lose out on it.
Your one chance now is to let me go
and to go yourself. Go fast and far,
| Chris Quinnion. For when the law
knows the sort Bayne Trevors is and
how you have worked hand and glove
with him, 1t will know just how much
his word was worth when he swCre
/ you were with him when father was
/ killed! Coward and cur and MUIR
dered!"
Quinnion laughed at her.
"Little pussy-cat," he jeered. you've
got claws, have you? And you spit
and growl, do you? Want me to let
you go back to that staggering lover
Of yours, do you? Back to Lee
."That's enough, Quinnion,' she said
sharply.
us it?' He laughed at her again,
i and again came on toward her. the
red-rimmed evil of his eyes driving
/ cuick fear at last into her. Enough :?
why. curse you and curse him, I
haven't begun yet When I'm through
with you I'll go fast enough. And he
can have you then an d-n well
come to him !"
'4Stop!" cried Judith.
His laughter did not reach her ears
now. but as he kicked the fire at his
i foot and the flames leaped and
showed his face, she read the laughter
in his soul read it through the gleam-
ing eyes, the twisted mouth which
| showed the teeth at one side in hor-
rible leer. His long arms thrust out
/ before him, he came on.
"Oh, my Cd" cried Judith. my
i Cdr
i Then suddenly she was silent. She
4 thought that she had known tie ut
! termost of fear and now for the first
i time did she fully know what terror
i was. His strength was many times
her strength, his brutality was un-
/ bounded, she was alone with him.
/ There was no one to call to, not even
| Ruth, the mad woman.
She was shaking now, shaking SO
| that she could barely stand. Quinnion
came on, his long arms out.
She felt the strength die out of her
body, grew for moment blind and
\ dizzy and sick. She tried again to
call out to him, to plead with him.
| But her voice stuck in her throat.
He was, gloating over her, look
strangely like Mad Ruth's in his eyes.
Good Cd! He was like Mad Ruth;
the same eyes, the same long, power
! full arms the same look of cunning !!
| In flash there came to her suspi-
cion which was near certainty: this
man was blood of Mad Ruth's blood,
bone of her bone; her son, and, like
| her, tainted with madness.
He shot out long arm, his hand
barely brushing her shoulder. She
shrank back He stood, content to
| neuse a moment. to glOat further over