White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1926-07-09
GODFATHER TO SATAN'S KITCHEN
BY HAPSBURG LIEBE

a awful good boy"
Twill We come to see me some
times?"
"Yeuh. AS shore as green apples.
Run along with her, son."
Billy Bly, followed Mrs. Hardin out
of that room and into the next. While
he waited Buckmaster turned his
gaze interestedly down the rows OF
poorly clad boys and girls of the pri-
mary classes, all of whom eyed him
solelmnly and more or less admiring-
ly now They ran, mostly, from six
years of age up to ten-and then Lon
Buckmaster saw that among them
there was full-grown young woman.
And she was pretty. She was pref
tier, it seemed to him, than anybody
else he had ever seen, though she
wore the cheapest of calico and the
coarsest of shoes and stockings. He
always remembered that; at first
sight she seemed quite the comeliest
girl he had ever seen-and he had
been to the antipodes and back as a
soldier.
Acting upon an impulse, he walked
down the aisle and stopped beside
her. He knew that she was there, in
that room with all those small chill
dren, to satisfy her desire for educa-
ton, and he admired her immensely
for it. 1t was humiliating to her, he
knew that, too
II meet folks sometimes that
never do fo'git," he half whispered,
his manner sober and honest ~
amt never goin' to fogit you TO-
this what ye're dom now My hat
is shore off TO- you. Eff we don't mind,
what might be yore name, Miss?"
The girl almost smiled her appre-
citation of him.
Pap calls me Liz" she told him in
her soft and musical hill talk, "and
mother calls me Lizzie; but my real
name is 'Liz'beth. 'Lizbeth E,deridge
I'm here to Earn how to read and
write. Mother said l ought to know
that, eff l don't never know nothin'
else. Might-might l ak what yore
name is?"
His eyes hardened a little. He
hated to tell her, for it was plain to
him that she did not look down upon
him now But finally he did tell her.
my names Alonzo, but they calls
me Lon. I'm Bear Creek Buckmas-
ter, 'Liz'beth. l reckon, mebbe, we've
heerd tell o. them Bear Creek Buck
masters; haint ye?"
She nodded. She seemed disap-
pointed somewhat, he noted. He bent
over her with this in low voice:
1--WE done the best l could VII what
had, Liz'beth. It's allus been
hard, uphill road TO- me. Mebbe We
CANT understand. But I'd give six
fingers, one ear and a whole foot to
know We believe me-"
He Strengthened and looked around.
Professor Hardin and Little Billy BLY,
stood at the desk. Hardin was
preacher, teacher, and man all over.
He shook hands with Buckmaster and
proceeded forthwith TO tell him a
good deal about the work and the
hopes and something of the needs of
the Satan's Kitchen mission.
Then the Bear Creek Buckmaster
left the settlement. He went deep
into the hazy October woods, sat him
self down on stone and spent a
solid hour in hard thinking, after
which he rose and headed for the
Little Pigeon River logging country,
miles and miles away.
| A week afterward two of the Little
Pigeon River logging country's pay
| roll messengers were held up and
robbed by hickory-strong young
man with a steely voice, big blue
bandanna over hi STAGE and big blue
Cold in his hand And week after
that Professor Hardin of the Satan's
Kitchen mission awoke to find two
thousand dollars in cash lying on his
cheap pine dresser, which stood by
an open window of his bedroom. A
scrawled and unsigned note stated
that the money was to be used for
the school and the chapel and for
Little Billy BLY, in particular. The
bare hint of threat, too, was in that
scrawled and unsigned note The
money was to be we'll spent and not
a single whisper as to where it had
come from was to be uttered
The Bear Creek Buckmaster was
living up to the reputation that his
wild fathers had made for him and
the good, whisky-guzzling, lying,
swearing, gambling, Understanding
people" had saddled tightly upon him
whether he wanted it or not A
reward was promptly posted for his
capture and officers began to scour
the mountains for him. His bandanna