Evening star., 1927-11-03

"IRST. one, then another. of the
daad chiclans Edward BRIGGS

dead chickens Edward Brigg,
picked up from the floor of thu
Il chicken house. but it was no
till he saw the rooster lyins
dead over in one corner that his an
ger fiared up "'Twas hers Ed Briggs
continued to stare at the rooster
"Hers" and his face was not pleasan nj
to see. Seems like" Briggs broke off
and stood for a time staring out OF
the window of the coop. gazing across
the fields in the direction of the city
far away.
Finally he reused himself. A care
full search he made of the chicken
house and finally he was rewarded by
spying what he was looking for.
Over by the far window a faint
streak of daylight showed. Weasel.
Ed was examining the crack minutely
the while muttering to himself
''Weasel slipped in. Some of his hairs
left on the board"
For a half hour after chore time
that evening Ed was very busy. The
shotgun he braced firmly--it must not
twist or turn-the stout string he led
from the trigger over to the window
and tied it. One cartridge, its load re-
moved. Ed inserted. Then standing to
one side. using a long crotched stick
Ed tugged at the window. 1t gave
slightly. The resultant roar satisfied
him. Everything wofked.
"Now." Ed stood back. Now! Try
r again. Twill teach you"' He eyed
the gun, examined the cord, the
fastening, nodded grimly Teach
YOU" he reiterated. Then. Hers
All day Ed Briggs had brooded. A
strange man Briggs-quiet. given to
brooding. And. since his daughter, she
who had worked at the village, had
left people had taken to avoiding him.
A dangerous CLEAN would flare up at
times in Briggs eyes when his daugh-
ter's name was casually mentioned.
Shell come back" Briggs at times
spoke bravely addressing the horses
as he drove them up and down the
short burrows of the rocky fields.
"She'll come back" Or hers" as he
viewed some familiar object of the
farm. Hers he would refer to the
spotted COW that way, for Alice, the
daughter, had raised it. Hers" the
chickens also, for she had attended
them.
Yet the shell come back" although
spoken bravely, although the quiver
in the voice was hidden from all, did
not deceive Briggs himself. He knew
knew she never would. Even as he
keeping it speckless, even as he busted
the organ. hers" he knew-she
never would. And his hope. Once his
crony, Jim Talbot, looked up as the
two were playing their weekly game
of pedro" and said, Il wish" and
rambled on, voicing his favorite wish
for riches.
The smoldering fire in Briggs eyes
woke. Wish" He hammered the
table so that even jim, who knew him
well, was startled Wishes, I've
two. And if / could have them
Godr'
And so. finally satisfied, Briggs
turned from the chicken house and
made his way to his dwelling
"'Twould be dark soon-s. Jim
Talbot would come over. They would
play here this week. Next time he
would trudge across the fields TO Jim S
house.
AT the sound of the footsteps on the
gravel outside Briggs looked up curl
ously. Seyen-ten-not time for Jim,
and, besides, there was more than one
person approaching. Who could they
be?
The Hands up," sharp and short;
the masked faces, with the black. bril-.
liant eyes. startled him, but his ex-
preSSlonleSS race gave no sign. Only
his jaws moved a trifie faster as he
chewed. Robbers. Then he wanted
to laugh. Robbers-why, twas funny!
Throughout the threatening. while
they tried to frighten him. the humor
Of the idea kept recurring TO Briggs.
Money-he TO have money. From
words dropped he had soon determined
who they thought he was. Wilson,
they had meant to rob him. WILSON,
village rumor had it that Wilson had
recently come into money In the