Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1935-12-19
CHAPTER III

Inc village store, grandll0quently
styled by a red sign the Wilton EN-
porium, was thronged with the usual
noontime crowd.
1t was a still, gray day. murky with
fog. and the odors of wet oilskins,
steaming rubber coats. damp woolens
blended with a mixture of tar. coffee
and tobacco smoke, made its Interior
thick and stufry. Long ago the air
tight stove had consumed such rem
nants Of oxygen as the room contained.
The windows reeked with moisture;
the floor vas gritty with sand.
These dIscomforts, however. failed
TO be of consequence to the knot of
men who. rain or shine, c~ongregated
there at mail time. They were accus-
toned to them. Indeed, q drlzzle, far
from keeping the habltues away. rem
dered the meeting place unusually pop
ular.
Shutting over to the counter where
his friends were huddled. Zenas Henry
unostentatiously Joined them.
"Yes, stree. there'll be somethin'
dom In Wilton now" Enoch Morton.
the fisli-man. was saying. THAT sand
bars goin' to be the center OF the
town, If | don't miss my guess. ThereH
be more'n Charlie Eldridge fishin' Ia
the channel"
A laugh greeted the prediction.
who's seen herr" Captain Benja-
min Todd inquired.
Il have came the piping voice OF
Lemuel gill. "Me and 'Becca rowed
over from Belleport Saturday. The
girls Jason's niece all right. same 5
folks say. though she looks nc more
like him than chalk like cheese. A
prettier little crltter 'twould be hard
TO find. And she's head over heels In
love with the place. I'm almighty
glad she's come, too, for It's goin' to
be grand for Marcia. who must he
lonely enough out there with only the
setter for company"
Its her own fault. She could nave
other companions was she so minded"
declared Captain Phineas Taylor, sig
nificantly.
"Oh, we all know that, Phlneas,"
agreed the gentle Lemuel Gill. There's
plenty of folks hankerin' to be COM
rades to Marcia. The only trouble is
she doesn't want EN-"
with this girl at her elbow, she'll
want 'em even less, / reckon" Asaph
Holmes interposed.
"Mebbe. Still, l fgger that amt
a-goin' to discourage her admirers
none. Why. within the week Sylvia's
been here, | happen to know Marcia's had
four buckets of clans, a catch of iloun-
ders, an a couple of cuts Of sword
fish presented to her." Ephriam Wise,
the mail carrier announced.
THAT stray blue-iish OF Charlie
Eldridge's must "a swelled the collec-
ton some, too put In LemueL "When
/ asked Charlie what he done with 1t,
he owned he left 1t owe at the Home.
stead. He said he never wanted to see
another fish longs he lived"
THAT amt all the gifts The Wild
der's had, neither" volunteered Silas
Nickerson, the postmaster. who now
Joined the group. 'More'n one lob
ster's been sneaked to Marcia after
dusk"
Il don't so much mind folks maxim
Marcia friendly donations" Captain
Jonas Baker declared with guilty haste.
I'm my opinion, it's right an proper
they should. But when 1t comes to
Eleazer Croker. who's head OF the
fire department an undertaken as well,
goin' over there for the entire evenln'
with the keys to the engine house In
his pocket, l think the town oughter
take some action bout II. S'pose there
was to be a FIRE an him hemmed In by