The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1936-03-20
Salvage

ing set -. the silver was undoubtedly
the most valuable of the small articles.
Yet Mrs. Plummer hesitated. There
ought to be somthing dearer to June
than the silver, surely. Silver pc
and clothes. To flee with such stuff
in her arms seemed grotesque.
Meanwhile, precious minutes were
flying. She heard footsteps on the
porch.
I'm coming!" Stumbling through the
dark dining room, she flung open the
linen cabinet, seized the object June
kept on the bottom shelf and started
back.
"Wait a minute!" she cried to no
one in particular, since no n had n
tered, and paused long enough In the
As she reached the screen door, it
opened.
Hell and damnation!" June's father
like chickens with your heads off. You
ought to be clear to Norwood by now.
Come on, get in the carl"
IT can't believe those tanks will ex-
plode."
That's right, start an argument.
Those tanks might go up any minute
darn fools from Willow forgot their
hose, then they get out their fire ex-
tinguisher and one of 'em says, 'durn
chemical amt mixed right! I got to be
gettin' back, so hop in the car, I'm
telling you, hurry up!"
IT can't drive a car"
1.-THE hell you can't! You're over 81;
bout time you learned to drive a car.
Here I borrow a car for you SOS you
can get away and you can't drive.
Wh'a'd you expect to do, walk, with
5000 gallons of gas at your heels? All
right. all right, get in that car. I'll
drive you out a mile an dump you, you
can get a hitch" He jerked his head
door, and for the first time Mrs. Plum
mer saw him as close to her as he was
in actual space, as close to her az he
had been in Carrie Newton's parlor in
st. Louis when, a stranger to her, he
offered to take her home with that
characteristic jerk of the head which
seemed so charming. Time as well as a
the gesture recalled, permitted her to
notice it quizzically. Nevertheless, she
felt that her youthful judgment had
been correct. Taken by itself, that ges-
ture had charm. She gave him a warm
smile of appreciation because he had
car. A while ago they had been chance
acquaintances. Now they were old
friends.
Mrs. Plummer noticed the car still
parked in the Yates yard as they went
by. She supposed June's father hadn't
seen it. Otherwise he would have told
her to get a lift with Mrs. Yates and
rushed back to danger himself.
THANK the Lord June and Pete
aren't home yet. Probably they don't
even know"
"Sure they know. We called the Ava
fire department for help"
pe sMa non,t n9 ID difference bers what she wants.
pete lets her do about what she
likes"
He made a growing noise in his
throat.
Scrub oak stood up thinly in the
the slopes; silver grass patched the
hills and the shone ahead of
them, a pillar of silver staining the
quiet earth. Cars made q whizzing
noise past them and then all was still
roundabout as if there had never been
a car except theirs.
A bare, pale gap broke the hills to
the. right; a stretch Of abandoned
highway ily; turned off here.
"S44s LII ~ W1VClC l lCdNC yOus
Hike up the road about a quarter Of a
mile and you'll come to the Rippey
place. You could stay there. Or, if you
want, III wait till q car comes along
with somebody from town."
There were NO headlights in sight.
The car made a dark little house about
them.
mot ~frightened?"
Mrs. Plummer denied this with q
short laugh. II lived in the country
once"
Maybe you'd better go on to the
Rtppeys: Hell, I must be getting back.
I-er-In say goodby." He held out
his hand.
you're going back9 That's the most
she cried out. swhat win June sayS"
She let go his hand, which she had
been clutching. Maybe it's all over by
mo. We'd Of heard something"
They listened. It was very quiet. They
might have been alone in the stiffness
Of a dream. when all barriers topple
spoken in consciousness come easily,
come naturally.
Annie" Che used to call her Annie,
because her name was not Annie) II
never thought the day would come when
Ia ask you but-One thing I want to
know-why did you write that letter,
you know, to my mother, not me?"
Mrs. Plummer took a long time to
answer. It was not because she did not
WISH to. It was as If she found herself
In the midst of a Landscape that should
be familiar, but with which she could
not quite rouse associations. She re-
membered the letter. She knew II for
q fact. She had often told June how
she sent 1t from st. Louis, where she
had been allowed to go to an uncle's
funeral. She had explained how she
not live with a man so Jealous he was
more her keeper than her husband; she
had described to June how, when he
went out on his run as brakeman, he
would make her accompany him to
the station half an hour before train
time so that he could watch her and
make sure she walked home and walked
nOma Qlnnn Rllk 70 Eaal Aia