Nogales international., 1929-07-16
Twelfth InstaIInent
WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE


WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE
The Sheridan Dramatic Club, of which
'.'a1a Bilbeck, the narrator, Maryella, the
Girl he cares for. ard jim Cooper, his
,iva!. are members, start performance OF
~ alion and Galatea at the Old Sol
= i. Tome, but are Interrupted by FIRE.
.ugrg .he rehearsals Tom Bilbeck is ac.
a.<4i by the husband of one of the actors,
ileilr gway, of being in love with his
->iding away from the scene Of the III
tied play i. their costumes and cvercoats,
>i,g group OF players is held up by two
escaped corvicts, o.e of whom Is captured
by Eil!eck after struggle.
The carturcd thief is tied to a chair at
he O3 Soldiers Home. Unable to leave
;;1e home as the car refuses to bulge, the
o!s>c*s must stay there, and Mr.. Heming-
eaI., hearing this over the phone, says he is
{. AN. right 10 the horae-as he is suspicious
Of his wife and Bilheck. Meanwhile the
:. cr:f arrives.
ilet1mirgway arrives Just when Bilbeck
il assisting Mrs. Hemmingway, who has
.ntitS!, and of course thinks the worst.
Meanwhile a disturbance is heard In the
cellar, and all i'll the house rush down
10 it.
il. Sheriff's horse has broken loose.
Meanwhile Hemingway suspects Bilbeck
niore and more, and Jim Cooper mixes in
10 tell Blbeck he has arranged that the
II Hem.e,ngways be divorced and that Bilbeck
is t marry Mrs; Hemingway: u o..,. ...
travel by foot, and Bilbeck offers to go
with him. In violent disagreement, they
nevertheless start out together On snowshoee
and skis and soon Bilbeck tumbles over
H:1nmingway the going being os g.diaieu difficult
NOW GO ON WITH THE STORY. =
Just by way of diversion we now
had an argument as to which way
the nearest farmhouse lay from
where we were. We had determined
to postpone trying to reach Fair
Oaks until morning and wanted
food and shelter for the night.
thought that I had seen farm
buildings on our right, about mile
back on the trail. Hemingway in
sisted that they were on the left.
"There is no use quarreling about
it." said finally. There is nothing
to prevent each of us going the way
he thinks is right. It's cinch we
will both find shelter if we keep go
ing far enough"
SO we separated. We had grown
intensely tired of one another any
way; especially since hunger had
put an edge on our tempers. Hem
:ninQway started southwest and |
branched off over toward the north.
1t grew dark very rapidly after the
sun was gone, but the snow on the
ground made it fairly easy to see
and i was able to hit up quite q
fast pace. o.
But the farmhouse I thought
had seen did not materialize.
could have sworn it was in that di-
rection, too. Rather than give UP ]
pushed on further. l did not like
the idea of going back to Hem
mingway and admitting that I was
wrong. Surely if / kept on in the
same direction I had been going ]
would eventually reach some sort
of shelter and foodl
1t was a long time, though be-
fore / saw a welcoming light. ]
can't say just how long, but i
would have guessed several hours.
Anyway I was so thoroughly IA
tigued that I could just barely drag
one ski after the other.
But when l saw the light quick
ened my pace and made for It. ]
was afraid that the people who
lived there would go to bed before
I could arrive.
AS I passed over the snow I had
a curious sense of familiarity. 8
feeling as if I had been there before.
It wasn't so much that / recognized
anything specific, but ! just felt
more or less at home. There was
something in the air.
All at once the moon came out,
and as it did the building toward
which l was heading loomed large
against the sky.
/ knew at once why the neigh
borhood had seemed familiar. The
building was the Old Soldiers
Home, and / had walked all day to
return at night to the very spot
from which I had started!
l had no very cheerful vision Of a
warm welcome upon my return to
the Home, but it was case of any
port in a storm, so I continued on
my way. The Home was still half q
mile distant when the light went
out. But / plugged on. felt pretty
sure that / could get in without
waking any one up, which I decided
would be much the better way be-
cause l could aYoid explanations.
AS l drew nearer in the shadow
of the woods that bordered the
road l saw figure dart suddenly
from their protecting sh:1e across
the patch of intervening moonlight
to the Old Soldiers Home.
That struck me as rather curious.
Why should any one be in such a
hurry and why so furtive5
I thought it over quite while as
I stood there waiting for something
else to occur.
Then a solution occurred to me.
1t was doubtless the other escaped
prisoner, the one who had held us
up in the road when we had started
for home the first timei
The chances were that he wanted
. to get back into the sanitarium and
release his partner. G
AS soon as I arrived at that de-
duction l, too, hastened in the same