Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1942-07-10

dear. She didn't envy a single one OF
her friends. Yet strangely, or perhaps
naturally, because she had been Sc
young at the time, the impression
made by Karl was still vivid and, when
she chose, she could call up the ro-
mantle feeling he had aroused in her
After his return to Germany they had
exchanged letters for time but his
letters were formal, rather stilted, very
different from his gay, ardent pres
ence. They had ceased to write.
Joe never told her she was beautiful
In these days, when she was maid-of-
all-work, he sometimes made Jokes
about her appearance. Well, he was
an air warden and sometimes came
home, after digging in ruins, his
clothes and face covered with dirt and
SCOT, too tired even to wash himself
But they were always able to make
jokes and chaff each other. Their
morale was good.
Simmons, the ancient gardener
trudged past on his way home. It was
mercy they had been able to keep
him or their gardens would be jun
gle. Now he touched his cap and
smiled cheerfully.
There's goin' to be fine crop of
caDDaGeS, ne Sa1o.
Good old Simmons! He took as
much interest in cabbages as he had
once In carnations. She half
doZed.
A plane, like silver bird, appeared
from behind a cloud. 1t moved gently.
slowly sinking over the other side Of
the wood, just where the bracken and
heather clad stretch Of the moor be-
gan. She raised herself on her elbow,
feeling nervous curiosity about the
movements of the plane.
1t was rising again. But it had left
something behind! James heart gave
"a violent thud as she saw a para
chute descending with mans figure
dangling beneath it. 1t looked no more
than toy-the man little auto
maton-then the plane sped away, the
parachutist disappeared behind the
wood.
She found herself on her feet, know
ing she must do something but not
quite sure what. If she telephoned
headquarters the parachutist might
easily escape before aid came. Sim
mons was gone and, if he were here.
he would be of little use opposed to
a strong young German. But she
wished Simmons were here. After all,
he was a man and something to lean
on!
Her mind flew in panic from one
possible point of assistance to another.
The county town, with its soldiers and
police, was 20 miles away. The nearest
hamlet where Simmons lived, was two
miles. Her nearest neighbors were the
Oakleys but Major Oakley was laid up
with an attack of lumbago and Mrs.
Oakley would be worse than useless.
In fact, Jane herself was the young
est and most ablebodied of the neigh
borhood. Suddenly the panic left her
and a feeling of exhilaration took its
place. She bounded toward the house.
In the little cloakroom she found
Joe;s pistols in their leather case. She
took out one of them and, holding It
carefully so that it would not go off,
she ran toward the hedge that divid-
ed the lower lawn from the edge of
the moor. The puppy gamboled along
side her, delighted by her sudden &C
tivity. She found an opening In the
hedge and breathing very fast, pushed
through it.
The moor stretched before her, a
sea Of bracken and heather broken
only by the little wood which con-
cealed the spot where the parachutist
had alighted. The trees were small and
gnarled. Suddenly there was some
thing sinister about them-about the
moor Jane had never before realized
its loneliness. She had loved its isola-
ton and always returned to 1t with
gladness.
It would not have been so frighten-
ing II she could have seen the para