Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1924-02-28
THE RED LOCK

look upon his aged friend, lost in won
der at his marvellous woodcraft.
81 got look at the man that made
EN-" was his slow answer, while he
laid blind that log a-watchin' me
straighten up the fence. don't think
he knows l saw i'm, but did--it was
the Teller that stirred up all that rum
pus at the schoolhouse night b'fore
last"
The old man threw away his sassa-
crossed his face.
THAT wus Black Bogus"
The younger man stared.
mol"
"Hit WERE"
The woodsman fell suddenly
thoughtful; glanced away across the
hollow toward where the double trail
led through the woods. The old man
studied him curfously. 1t may be each
was thinking the same thought-that
strange resemblance that had SO puz-
zled them both-but neither let fall
any inkling of it to the other.
"Al knows 'im," Uncle Nick went on
after moment. Hes friend of
Loge Belden' an he thinks mebbe
he's harborin' up thar with i'm"
He jerked his thumb up the hollow
toward where section of the warped
roof of Loge Belden's squalid cabin
barely protruded above the bushes
seemed to weigh his next words be
fore letting them fall.
Anyhow, thought I'd pint m nose
up the crick an kinda throw an eye
on Loge's cabin t. see if e is"
"An' if e Isl" the other ques-
toned, having caught the curious look.
The caution of lifetime in the
woods prompted the old hunter to
look guardedly in every direction be
fore answering.
Don't let on y'u know it''-he came
step nearer-"but Al says Belden
blongs t. the same gang o. cutthroats
down Vincennes way that Black Bo-
gus does, an he thinks more n likely
they're plottin' t. crack OF Slime Col
ms safe"
The hardness that had come at the
mountain girls warning crept again
into the woodsman's eyes, but he
made no comment.
Il low y'u .nee'n' t be told they
amt neither one got much time FIR
you, after what happened at the post
Office an at the schoolhouse :
they're the kind that won't stay
licked, an the kind that strikes in the
dark
Jack picked up the heavy shotgun
from where he had laid it aside when
about to rush upon his old friend,
thoughtfully blew a dead grass blade
out from between the hammer and the
lock, but offered no word. The old
man again bent his furtive look upon
him and went on.
BLACK Bogus hey's fifty sheriffs
a-lookin' FIR him, an standin' reward
Of five thousan' dollars, dead r
alive
The young man flinched, looked
keenly at the other.
Uncle Nick-yu wouldn't"
"No, l wouldn't" the old man re-
piled with instant readiness to the
half-implied imputation. 'T've shot
men in my time never sold one"
He stepped around the great sugar
maple, motioned for the other to fol-
low, and stole away along the brow of
the bluff, quite obviously in serious
earnest.
The young Woodsman fell into the
trail. STEPPED in the caution that
came from much living alone, he said
nothing, but it was the one thing that
had brought him to the woods that
morning-to have look at Loge Bel
denis cabin.
Reaching point, at length, short
distance below where the suspected
cabin squatted. they crept down the
bed of dry wash-out and through
some thickets Of brier and hazel until
they lay within less than a hundred
yards of its crude and mud daubed
walls.
There seemed to be no one about
except the comedy mountain girl, who
came to the open door a time or two
to look out, as If she expected some
one-some one that she would rather
not see, to judge by the troubled ex-
preston Of her face-a face whose
tragic sadness had so impressed the
woodsman at that strained and hur-
ried interview.
1t was late in the forenoon when,
above them on the hillside, they heard
the swish Of a brush swinging back
into place after having been dragged
aside. Uncle Nick held up a cautious
finger, and they crouched lower in the
cover.
There came the snap of dry stick;
man emerged from the swaying
bushes and stole toward the back door
of the cabin, passing within dozen
steps of where they lay. There could
be no mistaking the powerful form
and truculent face with it's stubble of
beard-it was Black Bogus.
CHAPTER XII