The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1935-12-12

chance. why.
She retorted: 81 got fidgety with
him hanging around" And after a
silent moment she looked toward the
dining room, as though her thoughts
turned that way.
Saladine asked: 'How do you
reckon Mis- Ferrin come to fall?"
II want to know" said old Marin
Pierce, and Jim stirred in quick at
tention. The phrase was usual enough,
as an expression of surprise and in
terest and wonder; yet Saladine
thought her accent and her information
had not been usual.
There was step in the shed, and
Bart returned. She looked over her
shoulder, saw him empty-handed.
"Where's them feathers?" she de-
handed.
Bart seemed family to hesitate. 81
couldn't find dry one anywhere" he
declared. "The rain has wet them
allw
She protested irritably: LAND
sakes, sh'd think you could find
dry one somewhere! You come along
of mep' And she said to Jim, pointing
toward the stove: 'Let that boil up
good, and then set it to cool. I'll be
back in a minute to try it on her."
He nodded, and she went out
through the shed with Bart on her
heels; and Saladine was left wondering
why old Marin Pierce was so bent on
finding feathers to burn under Huldy's
nose, if there was in fact no chance
that the hurt woman could revive.
Then suddenly his hair prickled faint
ly; for it seemed to him there was a
low murmur in the dining room.
And a chair toppled over, some
where. The sound was loud and star
Ting. Saladine came to his feet, half
crouching, ready for any apparition;
but nothing did appear, nor did he
hear any further sound.
The pot on the stove boiled, and as
he lifted it, Marin Pierce and Bart
returned, and the old woman had
tuft of feathers in her hands.
"Men are all blind as bats !" she ex-
claimed irascibly. She saw the boiling
pot "Now we1l try if there's any,
thing to do" And she went directly
to the door between kitchen and din
ing room. Jenny, I'm opening the
door," she called, and waited a mo-
ment and then made good her word.
So they came into the dining room,
and learned that Hubby was dead;
and when Jenny said there was some
one in the Win-side of the house, Sal
adine remembered that sound of a
falling chair; and there seemed to him
something hideous in the thought that
anyone should prowl through those
moldering and empty rooms while a
woman here was dying. But Bart said
reassuringly:
"That's likely Win, Granny. He
stayed at my place last night. He set
out to go to Liberty this morning, but
he might stop by herer'
The old woman assented scornfully:
HE would If he was drunk enough!
You 60 along, Bart, and fetch Will,
and don't waste no more time"
So Bart at last departed; but Sala-
dine paid no particular attention to his
going. He was watching Jenny, puz-
zled by something in her eyes he could
not read. He had seen in her while
ago deep terror, unmistakable; yet
now it was gone. She had put on COM
posture, and a steady courage; and he
wondered, and wished to read her
mind.
There was nothing to keep Saladine
here; yet he stayed, and with sense
of waiting, an acute expectancy. He
thought more and more of Jenny, re-
Numbering her terror at the sight of
death, and the shadow in her eyes.
Life for her must in the end center
about some man. Bart Carey, per-
haps? Bart stood straight, and his
eye was bold and strong. 1t was sud-
denly strange to Saladine that Bart
and Jenny were not married long ago.
They were neighbors, of a like age,
both comely with the splendor of
youth, their interests akin. Between
them no obstacle appeared.
OuIcSS lclCS "SIC an Ou-
stacle? Yet Saladine thought she had
met Bart kindly today, treated him
with courtesy. This might be guile;
she might, while appearing to approve,
nevertheless check in every possible
way the tendency of these two lives
dine recalled the heavy rootstock of
the water lily, which Jenny had
fetched that morning from the brook.
Some shadow of forgotten memory
stirred in him, and was gone without
recognition; yet this memory would
recur. 1t was one of the intangibles
which made the whole of this day like
disordered dream.
The root itself was tangible enough;
yet there were implications in it, just
as there were implications in that peg
leg Will Ferrin wore, and the cowboy
hat so jauntily set atop the bowed and
humble head of Zeke Dace, and the
knotted rope that held Hubby Ferrin's
garment close about her, and the boot
prints on the fisherman's trail beside
the brook, which had somehow ended
without Saladine's remarking where
they turned aside.
But most of all he thought of Hubby,
and wondered how she came to fall to
her death this day.
Then suddenly the dining room door
opened, and Jenny came out into the
kitchen, the old woman following her.
cpd host oo povSolfo Tappy inc;ctod
and Saladine saw a sort of stubborn
haste in her eyes.
Marin Pierce protested: Like
enough Will and Bart will remember
t0 hrinp Somathippo