The Elk Mountain pilot., 1924-01-17


in his voice. 81 trust her mother is
not i'll"
No teIlin'." was Strikers non-com-
initial response.
IT was quite apparent to Kenneth
that they did not wish to discuss
the matter. He waited a few mo
ments before remarking:
II saw light moving through The
woods above here-a lantern. l took
1t to be-just after was awakened
by the barking of the dogs / thought
at first it was that which set the dog,
off on rampage"
Striker was looking at him intently
under his bushy eyebrows, his knife
poised halfway to his lips.
Hunters. I reckon, goin' down
stream for wild duck and geese this
mOrnin'. There's heap o. ducks an
geese passin' over"
"See here, Phineas," broke in his
wife suddenly, whats the sense of
sayin' that? You know it wasn't
duck hunters. Nobody's out shooting
ducks with the river as high as 1t is
down this way. an Mr.. Gwynne knows
1t, If he's got half as much sense as
think he has"
"When I heard people out in front
of the cabin shortly afterward, nat
urally concluded that the lantern be.
longed to them" remarked the young
man.
"Well. 1t didn't" said Striker, lay.
ing down his knife. 81 guess 1t won't
hurt you to know now somethin' that
will be of considerable interest to
you later on. amt betrayin' no.
body's secret, cause l said 1 was 60
in to tell you the whole story"
Don't you think you'd better let
It come from somebody else, Phin?"
interposed his wife nervously.
"No, l don't, Eliza. Cause whyi
Cause I think he'd ort to know. May
be he'll be able to put stop to her
foolishness. We didn't know until
long after you went to bed that her
real reason fer comm here yesterday
was to run off an get married to Bar
ry Lapelle. She didn't tell you no
lies about her clothes an all that
cause her ma had put her foot down
on her takin' of black. They had 1t
all planned out beforehand. her an
this Lapelle. he was to come fer
her some time before daybreak with
a couple of hosses an they was to
be of before the sun was up, on their
way to Attica where they was to be
married, an then go on down the
river to his home in Terry Hut. Me
an Eliza set up all night in that bed
room, tryin' to coax her out of it.
don't like this Lapelle Teller He's a
handsome cuss, but he's as wild as all
get out-drinks CANDLES, an all setch.
Well, to make long story short, her
ma must have found out about their
plans, cause she come here herself
with two of her hired men an old
Capn Scott, friend of the family,
an took her daughter right out from
under Barry's nose. 1t was them you
heard down here last night. l will
say this fer the girl she kinder made
up her mind long about midnight that
1t was a foolish thing to do, runnin
of like this with Barry, an like as
not when the time come she'd have
backed out"
"Her mother don't want her to mar
~ Lapelle. She's dead sot ag'inst 1t.
It's mighty funny way fer the girl
to act, when she's SO fond of her
mother. All the more reason fer her
to stick to her mother when it's a
fact that the old woman amt got
what you'd call friend in the whole
deestrict. She's queer sort of wom-
an-close an stingy as all get out an
as hard as hickory log. Course, I
understand why she's so sot ag'inst
Barry. She's purity well off an the
girl will be rich some day."
"Shucks" exclaimed Eliza. Barry
Lapelle's after her cause she's the
purtiest girl him or anybody else has
ever seen. He's got plenty Of money
himself. so they say, so why"
Il amt SO sure about that" broke
In her husband There's q lot of
talk about him gamblin' away most
everything his father left him.
guess she's kinder lost her head over
him. He's an awful feller with wom-
en-. 30 good lookin' an all, an so diff
ferent from the farm boys aroun'
here. Allus got good clothes on, an
they say he has At couple of duels
down the river. Somehow that allus
appeals to young girls"
dwynne was decidedly upset by the
revelations; vague dream, barely
oegun' came to a sharp and disagree
able end.
"She actually had planned to run
away with this man Lapeller' he ex-
claimed, frowning. ut was all ar
ranged"
$50 take It," said Striker.
"The fellow must be an arrant
sconndrel," declared the young man
angrily. mo gentleman would sub
1ect an innocent girl to such"
"All's well that ends well, as the
feiler says" interrupted Striker, aris-
Ing from the table. AT least fer the