Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1938-12-03

WAS AneM she Wa
swinging. She was In the BIZ
n swing, between two hemlOcks
and Uncle George was swinginl
her 50 high she felt soaring, her Ions
curs whipping out after her. One mo-
ment she was rushing up, up, up, I'll
she saw only the tops OF the naples
their new seed pods gilt against the
blueness Of the sky. and the next mo.
ment she was running wildly through
dark passage, her hair flying, hei
heart thudding with terror Of heI
pursuer's hands.
Then Uncle George was picking her
up. She was herself again but the
panic Of that dark passage was beat
ing In her and she heard herself gasp
ing, Did they catch me?" She knew
somehow that they had, her head was
sore from the jerk upon it that had
I pulled her back
Uncle George was feeling her.
Shes all right" he called hastily to
Mother on the porch. Nothing broken
( just a jolt" He asked her, Feel bad
/ anywhere? Hit your head?"
She said, 4 thought" and stopped
She had no memory of falling The
/ feeling seemed to have come to her
while she was rushing through the air
something to do with the way her
hair was streaming but of course that
wasn't so. But 1t was like a sudden
nightmare that had gripped her when
she was awake.
She never told about it, yet it haunt
ed her, with such recurrence Of the
panic that sometimes she thought of
cutting her hair, to free her from the
reminder She did not cut it. for it
was lovely hair, dark and long and
soft, and when she grew older the
knot of it on her neck beneath the
sleek curve OF her head, gave her dis
tinction.
Her hair, Hal said, was one Of the
things he fell in love with. Once, after
they were married, when he was play
ing with it, she told him that she had
thought of cutting it, and he protested,
"Oh, how could you?" and she MUIR
INJURED, at was heavy" reluctant,
even now. to mention that childish
fright of hers.
You'd better notl" he threatened,
jealousy poSsessive. "It's my hair
now" He spread its darkness over the
pillow and buried his face in It,
Don't you dare touch It'll" he said,
his voice husky with quick feeling.
She was struggling back to con-
Sciousness, goaded by stabs Of terror.
She felt dizzied and confused but a
wild fear was thudding in her, calling
her to effort. Then, like flame along
her nerves, came the realization Of
what had happened-they had flung
her aside from the door, flung her
so that she had fallen, striking her /
head, and they were racing up the |
stairs. after him.
Only for an instant had she been I
for she could hear the pound /
ing Of their heavy feet, high up there
In the darkness, echoing from the walls
that shut in those back stairs. He
must be running, uselessly, ahead Of
them
Trapped. They had been trapped.
5pied upon or betrayed Her waiting
Women-his mantle little page. She
began to run up the stairs after them,
ler knees giving under her, stumbling
On, the full, heavy skirt she tried to
hold up, Straining to oVertake them,
20 delay them, knowing there was no
sense in it, no help In it, no help in
any more.
And when she felt their bodies
blocking her, her deepest agony was
lot for herself, but for her young
over. Would they run him through
nd be done with it or would they
eize and hold him for horrors OF ]
orture? She was sobbing, sobbing {
wildly.
Cold water on her head, and Halls
ace, white, disordered, close above (
Ter Darling, darling-are you hurt?"
She gasped, did he get away?" and
Ials voice, ugly with anger, said, Il |
hot the brute. You'll never ride him :
gain" I
Her teeth clamped down on her lip, :
folding back the bewilderment.
Slowly, very slowly, it came back to
Ter. The horse. Black Knight. She
ad mounted and one of the dogs I
ad run in and he had reared. She
ad the memory, now, Of going up =
nth him but not of falling. But she !
ad fallen. She was on the couch in !
he library Of her own home, in riding :
lothes, her husband kneeling by her,
nd there was a dead horse out on the
rive for dogs to sniff at. +
Yet 1t was not as real to her as I
lose wild moments of terror up the =
ark stairs. She had never known =
lch madness Of emotion as In that y
ream. 1t was all so real, so real Il
le steep stairs that struck her :,
umbling knees, the heavy, stiff stuff 4
her skirt-it was more real to her :.
myers now than the whipcord OF her =
dhpurs which they were touching.
She wanted more Of it. She wanted n
sink quickly back where the dream e
uld recapture her, and she was angry As
the kind hands and wet cloths that m
ere taking her away from 1t. She
rs glad to be left alone, put to bed 81
her room, where she could shut her
es against the actuality of that room :,
I'd invite those strange sensations "
live again In her. ~
She had the queerest feeling about y
as II this dream was somehow con- -
cted with that other dream she had ~
d as a child, when she had fallen ~
I'm the swing. She had been the w
me girl in both Of them Only she "
d been a child, running from rough e
want in the first one, and now she "a
s q grown girl with her lover. Queer, "
1t I'm a dream, she could feel such ~
,ensity Of love and fear. On
She lay shivering, meath the bed pe
thes, with the fascination Of 1t. 80
Very sensibly, In those next days, sue
; told herself that it was silly nom US
Use TO let her mind play so intently
h that nightmarish panic-the ter 81
: was simply the behavior OF her on
)-conscious when she was hit on the -
I'd. Just as you dream Of shipwreck ASS
en- water falls on you, sleeping. But
emotion in It was so exciting, the
sion Of reality so profound, that