Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1939-09-02

as a badge of his masculinity. Stod-
dard was massive jawed, keen-eyed
intolerant and hard. There was nc
give in his face. His body was that of
an athlete going into middle age. Here,
Father Willard smiled to himself, were
two oppositeS. Stoddard was at least
iron, possibly gold. Elwood, at the best,
Into the old priests moving gaze
fell Tony Barone, the black-haired
White-skinned passenger who had
boarded the plane at Chicago. Father
Willard bristled. The man was about
80 and around him hung the alert
stiffness of the congenital murderer
His eyes were cold with not q speck
of mercy IN them. His mouth was g
slit. But there must, Father Willard
unWillingly admitted, be iron In the
professional killer he believed Barone
was,
1t was a relief to turn from him
to Ethel Bourne, famous Broadway
actress, whose exotic beauty managed
to rise above an aura of persistent
drunkenness. On her way to Holly
wood under a fabulous contract, she
moved in an alcoholic mist which
blurred her lovely features and thick
sophistication flashed through her
drunkenness as she replied to ten
tative advance of Baroness.
"You didn't have to board plane
to climb out Of your natural habitat,
she drawled. your first step on firm
ground was sufficient You belong in
a swamp"
wit, Father Willard decided, beauty
of flashy kind, but no metal harder
than tale. She was charming eve,
forever straying in and out Of the
flock
Then there was 'Mr." Tolliver, as
he had drawingly and alphabetically
introduced himself, when he boarded
the plane at Amarillo, tall, bronzed
westerner with a large black dropping
mustache. An American of the outdoor
type, with no imagination but some
animal cunning. Possibly there was
enough metal in him to sustain exist
ence but no more.
And Mr.. (Pa) John and Mrs. (Ndal
Sarah CreSton, an Iowa farmer and
his wife on their way west from their
farm to visit their middle-aged chill
dren and their grandchildren in Long
Beach. Here, at least, was a toll,
worn dignity. And Pa had iron. But
Ma had little She was too dependent
upon her husband.
And himself?
He was suddenly embarrassed. He
tried to laugh his answer away. What
difference did it makeP
But still voice persisted. 1t said
you have presumed to judge others
of Gods creatures. Now, judge your
self"
So ashamed he looked in upon him
self, striving to judge as tmpartialy
and as harshly as he had judged
others. He thought back so years and
saw youth burning with a zeal SO
1nt m n n
He Thought of the % years he had
been one and could remember only a
few hard battles with human tempta-
lions. These already had lost their
strength in the fierce fire of his am
bition. The one human failing he rue
fully acknowledged now he had not
killed was his tendency to judge others
That had survived thousands Of his
own mistakes and millions Of those OF
others as told to him in the confess
sional and two years on French battle
fields with the American army.
His meditation induced a melan-
choly which he sought to ease by read
ing his office. But he could not concen-
trate upon the Latin words. He closed
the book and thrust 1t into his pocket
and turned his gaze out the window.
They were flying at an altitude OF
q Thousand feet or so over a terrain
that was rapidly growing more noun
famous. The sky was leaden gray
notified under an appearance Of clear
ness. 1t was a snow sky. There were
deep cloud shadows In the northwest
toward which they were heading
rather Willard pretended to study IT.
but he was really thinking Of his sin OF
presumption.
In the cockpit, Lee Wilson lounged
I'm his seat, with his hands and feet
engaged in the controls, his eyes on
the complicated instrument board with
ITS maze Of meters and indicators. His
ears stretched for the drontng voice
that came in at regular intervals
while he guided the big plane, bis
thoughts were nettled In personal
Things. The vibration OF the engines
were like the throbbing Of his own
He thought of Martha Graves, the
Laughing eyed young stewardess, and
With wonder, at the way she had taken
Possession of his thoughts. He had
never felt like this about q woman
before and he had known many women.
re was ten years older. Yves Enax
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