Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1935-12-05

| 0odto odIU AOOhcu up ulotS anu
here's note to the nun. The mans
not to get tough with her under any
circumstances: she'll tell him anything
she knows when she sees that note.
Kerrigan's man ought to check the
hospitals first. I'm not sure this place
did them thoroughly. Have you got
it all straight"
"Yes, Mr.. Ireland" said Spears, with
conviction.
Hal held out his hand and forced
the sadness and fatigue out Of his
4 own smile. "Thanks a lot, Spears"
every glad of the chance to help"
said Spears as though he was. "And
what about your father? Shall I tell
him anything except that you're COM
ing along well and will drop him a
line any day now?"
"Oh, yes" said Hal, and tried to
think plainly about that too. "Tell him
the guy who telegraphed him about
| me was nut, that he had nothing on
me, that the whole things put to bed.
Tell him I'm writing him everything
and there's absolutely nothing to worry
about. Remind him that I never said
that before"
Then Spears was gone, and the
nurse came in to see that Hal was
comfortable. He told her he was. Am
too, he said to himself, except for
shock, slight conclusion, compound
fracture of arm, cut head, Commissions
of hip, id smell of ether, and
Dear God, what were they to the bit
ter, steady, excruciating, and just pun
ishment Of his soul? What more hurts
wouldn't he take to his body to keep
the incredible events of his anguish
unreal.
The events of his anguish had &C.
cured: they seemed sometimes unreal
because his fancy couldn't compass
scene of vicious melodrama between
the figure of beauty he knew and loved
and the figure of evil he knew and
hated. In the black, burning chaos Of
his delrium he had seen Barry stand
ing in room like the one in Saint
George; black automatic pistol, level
in her hand, logged to its own sharp
splitting; and Crack stood before her
with his bemused smile, nodding sly
approval as each invisible bullet
punched into him but never even made
him drop his indolent golf ball. That
was unreal, fantastic even in delirium.
And yet now, with the delirium be-
matchmaking off his new loneliness
from his old folly-Hal knew some
thing like that had happened.
If his old, dread folly had created
nothing but unending loneliness for
himself, the pain of penalty would be
clean thing. His father had told him
he needed to learn about life. He had
learned something: he had learned
that if you were a vain fool, life in
one gesture could give you it's lesson
and snatch away your most happy
chance to apply it, could mutilate you
for good in teaching you to avoid mu-
tilation. Did his father know that? Did
Sister Anastasia know that? Had Ker-
rigan known that? Had Kerrigan-
Chill fingers slipped newly about Halls
heart and he reached for his bell,
holding down the button hard and long
as he tried to hold down this re-
freshed agony of fear. When the nurse
came, he told her: Telephone Mr..
Spears at the Bank of California Trust
and tell him-tell him l say he may
find out something something we ant
to know at the morgue."
o Cd, if Kerrigar were dead!
The only hope that the next slow
hours brought was that the morgue
had yielded nothing. In the early eve
ming, Spears came again to show him
the PERSONAL advertisement he had
running, and to tell him that Sister
Anastasia had no news.
Then there was another long, haunt
ed night maturing it's crop of torment
to roll Halls head on the hot pillow,
and snatch him from fitful sleep. And
finally another morning came, with
new solidity of hopeless conclusion.
The one slim silver of recurrent hope,
sharp and so very fragile, was still
that Kerrigan might be with Barry.
And yet If Kerrigan was we'll and free.
he would have come here to Hal, or
written, or something.
Later Hal was doing when he heard
the nurse saying something that sound
ed like, "It's your sister to see you"
And the name Anastasia leaped into
his mind like cool jet of water. He
turned his head so quickly that pain
ran deep in his arm. "Show her in
right away"
"She's waiting downstairs" said the
nurse. She'll be up in moment"
She knew something about Barry.
Hal fought that hope for his fear of
disappointment. Probably it was only
that her brother could be left for
while and she-bless her dear, cool
goodness-had come to comfort him
The door opened softly, and there
was an instant's whispering behind
the screen before it closed again. Then,
tense for the first look of Anastasia's
whiteframed face, Hal felt his bloods
business stop, time stop. the dav sion