Glacier County chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1931-1940, 1940-09-20

taSS III q lew SSSOiluS- lHeH size
went cautiously and peeped through
the cracked old window glass and
the Sits in the shutters.
Outside was unbroken snow. There
was not a track upon it; not an
other house in view. A prolonged
hummock might have been the fence
that outlined road; she could not
tell. Near the house she saw a barn,
a well-sweep, outhouses, all muf-
fled and disguised by the white pow
dering of the storm. Great bare
trees stretched their branches over
head. The snow had stopped for the
time being, but the restless airs
were clicking the tree-branches and
blowing the drifts about, and the
low, leaden sky threatened to fall
again.
The room in which she found her
self was on the ground floor, the
railless porch was just outside. The
fields and what might have been the
road sloped away in a series of
rounded hills below the farmhouse
and beyond everything vanished
gently into a general dimness of
snow and cloud.
Sheila jumped, but it was only
Peter at her elbow.
where are WEI"
81 don't know"
"Seen anyone this morning?"
81 just woke up"
''This is hot one!" said Peter.
'Well, I know I'm freezing" Shei-
la said. She took a pocket comb
from her handbag and ran it through
her thick red hair. She rubbed her
face with both palms, ordered her
dress slightly and went to the door
at the back of the room.
'Look out what you're doing!"
Peter whispered sharply. But Shei-
la had already opened the door a
crack and was peering through.
The room into which Sheila looked
was unspeakably desolate and dirty,
the floor Uttered with old newspa-
pers, the windows sealed. The floor
shook under her feet as she timidly
ventured in. 1t had once been a
dining-room. 1t was quite unfur-
nished now.
At one end an open door led into
the front room that flanked the bed
room and here Sheila heard voices,
mumbling, voices of men, and from
this direction came also the smell
of pipes and wood smoke. She
turned to the back of the house, and
with sure instinct opened still an
other door and went into the kitchen.
. 1t was deserted, but the stove was
hot, and there was food. Sheila
pushed coffeepot forward; hacked
rather than cut stale slices off
round, hard loaf; broke eggs.
If the men in the sitting-room
heard, they did not modest her. Pres
emily toast and coffee and scram-
bled eggs were ready; she managed
to extract plates, cups, from the
incredible disorder of the kitchen;
Peter Joined her, and they cleared
an end of the table and sat down
together.
And never in her life, Sheila
thought, had she tasted such food.
1t was delicious beyond anything i'm
aginable; she felt that she could not
get enough of the sour, toasted, but
tered bread, the hot drink, the hot
eggs. Color and courage returned
with returning warmth and vitality.
An alarm clock, set down hap
hazard in the general confusion,
said twelve o'clock.
Peter, can it be twelve o'clock"
He looked at his wrist.
Stopped" he said, winding his
watch. 'It might be-" y
Sheila half filled her cup, luxuri-
ating in comfort. She went on eat
ing without further comment.
The old kitchen was on a level
two steps below the rest Of the
house. It ran straight across the
back of the building and had win
dows on both sides. From these
there was the same vista; snow,
meadows leveled under blankets of
white, trees and the dim far per-
spective of horizon, sky and whit
ened world.
''What'd they say to your"
''Who?"
''Those fellers in there"
''Nobody's spoken to me at ALL"
she said.
''What's-have you found out
what's the big idea?"
Peter looked cautiously toward the
front room as he spoke, and Sheila
answered almost inaudibly:
I'VE got mixed in just at the time
they were afraid of something, see?
And they didn't dare leave us-let
US 60, for fear we'd give them