The Ely miner., 1943-02-04

W Va llC A4OQSCs lldo III
way of telling that she had been
shocked by the deadly pallor of his
face, its haggard, drawn look-end
by her stabbing realization that it
had been her hand to make him like
this. If he should die
The afternoon passed lingeringly.
There was so much to think about,
so little to do about any part of it.
For the most part, Cole Cody lay in
his room, fatigued and weakened by
his jaunt in the blackboard; Rance
Waldron kept to his rooms, seldom
emerging and always, as Aunt Jeni-
fer took pains to note, leaving
locked door behind him. Aunt Jeni-
fer herself did bit of shopping all
over the place but mostly In the
neighborhood of Waldron's quarters.
As for Ann Lee, she sat In the patio,
dreaming dreams of the future,
thinking of the immediate past, mus
ing about her benefactor, Early Bill.
Not long after the lamps were Lit
all gathered around the dining ta-
BILE when Aunt Jenifer rang the hand
bell for supper. Again the meal
was excellent and attacked as at
dinner; again conversation died
aborning. In fact, had it not been
for Aunt Jenifer's few CHEEKY re-
marks, there would probably not
have been so much as a please
pass the potatoes" remark. At the
end of this feast of silence and flow
of distrust, Cole Cody again said
some sort of polite thanks, and went
to his room. After Cody's depar-
ture, Rance Waldron sat a little
while over his coffee, smoking a Gig
arctic, and made some small en-
deavor to be agreeable. Aunt Jeni-
fer did not like the man, and made
him the curtest replies before she
got up to clear the dishes away:
Ann Lee seemed absent minded;
she said, What did you say?" twice
to remarks of his; he was not long
in saying his own good night and
going to his room.
Ann Lee patted a yawn; they
had been up early, it had been quite
day and she was sleepy al
ready.
go to bed, Kitten" said Aunt
Jenifer. ''Tl do the dishes and fol-
low along in two shakes"
Ann carried her lamp through
quiet empty rooms where shadows
seemed to come out of corners and
from under tables and chairs, and
scurry away like frightened things.
In her room it was very still, and
the starshine came In through the
iron grilles of her open windows.
She drew the shades down, un-
dressed and slipped into her night
gown and into her big bed almost
with one gesture and passed gently
from daydream to the land of nights
dreams.
And Aunt Jenifer, as wide awake
as any cat at any mouse hole, sat
for long while on the green bench,
and her head was tipped at an angle
that indicates the heads owner is
listening intently for the slightest
sound. Thus an hour passed; and
the night was still. At even the
slightest sound, she started; when
she heard the faint creak of board
within the house, she clutched the
edges of her bench with both hands,
ready to spring up. But she knew
the way of old houses; how In the
night for no reason on earth that she
knew, the ancient doorboards would
creak like that; sometimes she hadi
or - -
thinking, There goes ghost!" Now
she just sat back and continued to
wait.
Long ago little Ann Lee was fast
asleep, or she would have been out
here seeking her. Aunt Jenifer
stole out of her secret place and
crept like an agile small shadow out
to one of the big live oaks not
more than so yards from Rance
Waldron's outer door. Under the
thick branched tree, heavy with
young foliage, it was black dark;
here she established herself, seated
on the ground, leaning back against
the gnarled trunk.
At last even Aunt Jenifer began to
yawn and her eyelids to grow so
heavy that it required pounds of
effort and the final exercise of her
will power to get them lifted. But
when at last she heard the sound
she had waited for so long, her eyes
few wide open of their own accord
and she was as wide awake as
child early on Christmas Eve.
The creaking this time was no
ghostly creaking; it told of door
being slowly opened on rusty hinges.
It was the door from one of Rance
Waldron's rooms. And the steps she
heard were no ghostly tread; two
men, with the door softly closed and
locked after them, were coming out,
and one of the men walked scuf-
iingly as though he dragged an
injured leg after him.
She hid as best she could behind
the dark old oak tree, peering out
to see what she could see. The
night was clear and there was light
enough for her to be sure of two
things: One of the men was stran-
ger to her, and he was hurt or
sick The other man was helping
him along, and was Rance WaL
dron. She shifted ''As though he
could fool me, with someone hid in
his part of the house. Well, know
now it's a man and not some fool
girl he's hiding out"
She strove with all her ears to
hear what was said between them,
but they spoke few words only,
those IN lowered voices. She saw
them move, one man lurching and
the other supporting him, toward the
group of ranch buildings at the foot
of the slope, and furtively she fol-
lowed them. She saw that Wal
dron had couple of horses hid IN
a willow thicket just across the
creek she watched him helm his