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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (April 18, 1935)
Harold Titus w.m.u se. v i c« SYNOPSIS Ben Elliott — from “Yonder” — domes into the lumbering town of Tlncup, bringing an old man, Don Stuart, who had been eager to reach Tlncup. Nicholas Brandon, the town's leading citizen, resents Stuart's presence, trying to force him to leave, and Elliott, resenting the act, knocks him down. Judge Able Armitage hires Ben to run the one lumber camp, the Hoot Owl, that Brandon has not been able to grab. This belongs to Dawn Mc Manus, whose father has disap peared with a murder charge hang ing over his head. Brandon sends his bully. Duval, to beat up Ben, and Ben throws him out of camp. Old Don Stuart dies, leaving a let ter for Elliott, "to be used when the going becomes too tough." Ben re fuses to read it at this time, be lieving he can win the fight by his own efforts. Fire in the mill, sub dued, is found to have been incen diary. The Hoot Owl makes a con tract for timber, that will provide money to tide it over. But there is a definite time limit. Ben discovers Dawn McManus is not a child, as he had supposed, but a beautiful young woman. The railroad bridge over which Ben’s lumber must pass, Is blown up. By superhuman efforts Ben builds a new bridge and him self drives a train over the rickety structure, making the delivery with only a few minutes to spare. Bran don compels a woman (known as “Lydia") who is in his power, to accuse Elliott of misconduct with a girl. She does so at a dance which Elliott and Dawn McManus attend. Da.wn, apparently believing Ben guilty, leaves the dance without him. While walking in the woods, Elliott is fired on, and drops, seem ingly dead, but his fall Is a ruse to make his enemy believe his attempt has been successful. A little sleuth ing proves the would-be killer to be Red Bart Delaney, notorious Canadian desperado. CHAPTER XI—Continued —13— “Benny, your way of doing things fcares me! Why, this can’t go on. It mustn’t I It's your own affair, for sure, when he tried to shoot you down, but maybe, perhaps, possibly, I’m going to beg you to be careful. So long as Delaney’s In the country you’ve got to keep low. Get back to camp; stay there; let us pick some man I can trust to follow Bart and Brandon night and day so you’ll not be caught!” “No." Ben shook his head reso lutely. "I’ll go on about my busi ness as I should. I’ve never run yet and don’t like to start any fast footwork now.” “But it’s your life that’s at stake, Ben! Don’t be silly. That’s what recklessness is: downright silly! That’s not like you. Why, not tak ing precautions in this thing is like monkeying with a high tension wire.” “No good. Able. I couldn’t hold up my head if I hid out after the play I’ve made.” So Able was forced to give up after a time and shuffled up the street, drawing off his mitten again and rubbing his face briskly with his palm. He had only reached his office and was unlocking the door when Aunt Em, walking grimly as if with a definite purpose, approached. “Good morning—” he began. “Forget the palaver. Able Arm ttage!” the woman said sharply. “You’re in trouble. So are we all, maybe. That’s why I came to see you. Is it true what they say that this Red Bart Delaney has showed up here in Tincup?’’ “As true as disease or death or anything else unpleasant.” “That’s what I’d heard! Do I have to guess why he’s come?” Able untied his scarf and shook his head sadly. “No, Em. Your first guess will he right And he took a shot at Benny yesterday!" “And missed, I’d Judge from the look of him Just now. But if he’s still here there’ll he a next time; and he won’t miss then. Did you do your duty and send the boy to some safe place?" Able sighed and told her of his talk with Ben. “So you couldn’t make him listen to reason!" she muttered. “Well, if you can’t, I can’t. And, us fall ing, there’s only one other who would have a ghost of a show." “Dawn?” She nodded. "Dawn could. But she won’t. . . . She won't go to him no. She wouldn’t even listen to me talk about him, she’s in such a state. She’s up to her ears In love with Ben Elliott or I’ve got three legs! And then to have that scandalous woman do what she did and upset It all!” She sat down heavily in a chair and drew a great breath. “I don’t have to ask you or any other man about Ben Elliott, Able! I know the clean and decent folks when I see ’em. I’d bet my repu tation as a Christian woman on that hay! That piece of play acting M «be dance was some of Nick Brandon’s work, you can bet your last red cent! Why, Able, that man's worse than ever I thought: My, oh my! “Well, what I’m gettin' at is this: The boy's in danger of bein’ mur dered every minute of day and night unless he takes your advice. There’s no one left to try to talk him into being careful but Dawn. And how am I going to get her to see her duty when she goes into a cryin’ lit every time his name's mentioned : Yes, sir. Every time she hears his name." “She doesn't yet see that the af fair was a put-up job, then?” "See? She can t see anything. Able Aruiltage! Put yourself In her place. Suppose you were a young girl who’s had the things to bear that she has all her life; and sup pose you fell in love for the first time; and suppose that young man was accused of such nastiness right in public with everybody listening and gawping? Would you stop to figure that the reason he seemed guilty was natural? That the thing was so far fetched from the truth and such a shock that lie was all kerfiummoxed? I should say you wouldn’t! You'd do just what she’s doin’; make yourself all sick with chills and fever by cryln’." She twitched at the skirts of her cloak irritably and glared at the old justice as though he were a sworn enemy instead of a friend. “What ails her Is shock. She ain't got over the shock yet and every time his name or anything else about him is mentioned it sets her off again. She’ll get over it, give her time. But then she’ll be so humiliated to think she didn't use her reason that she won’t be herself for another spell. And she should be herself now! There ain’t any time to lose. She should patct up her misunderstanding with him right today—right this hour—and use her influence to persuade him to keep low. But how It’s to be done I’d like to know. For Lord’s sake, Able, ain’t you got a single suggestion?" The justice had been stuffing light wood into his stove during this. Now he touched a match to the tinder, opened the drafts and stood with his hands behind him, rusty overcoat unbuttoned and drooping, deep in thought. “It’s difficult to get anyone in her state to use reason. Maybe the shock of knowing that Ben’s life Is In danger would be a counter irri tant to this other shock. Maybe not. If the affair of last week could be cleared up, if Dawn could be shown that this Lydia woman was only carrying out a plan . . . But I wonder . . ." Aunt Em stiffened in her chair. She looked hard at Able and her eyes narrowed a trifle. “You see,” he resumed, “if the girl-” “Hold on. Able Armitage!” she cut in, holding up a hand in warn ing. “Hold on, now! I’ve got to think. ... Got to think, I tell you! And I can’t think while you carry on your gabble! You leave me alone, now. . . . Keep your tongue still. . . . They say a woman’s tongue is hung in the mid dle and loose at both ends . . , But . . . Yum . . .” As she pressed one naud over her eyes her words dwindled -;o nintelligible mumblings. “I’ve got it!” she cried excitedlv after a moment ‘I’ve ?ot it, now 1 You stay right here. Able! You stay until I come back. If It works, it works. ... If it don’t. It’ll be time to talk some more!” She moved resolutely to the door, left the office and strode down the street. On past the bank, the post office, the pool room. ... On be yond all the stores, on down to the depot. There, on the platform she stood a long Interval staring across the tracks to that short row of houses on Section Thirty-Seven. The sta tion agent came out of the office and looked at Em in surprise. “Hello!” he cried. “What brings you down here before—’’ “Homer,” she cut in grimly, “in which one of them nasty places does this Lydia woman live?" “Why-why . . Why, how should I know?” tie evaded as a red flush crept up from his collar. “In the one at this end. I think. I’m not sure, of course. . . I think she does, though. . . . She , . But he no longer had a listener. Resolutely, slowly with something like defiant majesty, the woman crossed the tracks, with never an other word to her informant and never a look to right or left. Her head was up. her mouth set, and her long nose wrinkled as if at a disgusting odor. A woman up by the stores shaded her eyes and peered at the moving figure and r stared and stopped. Annt Era Oo burn, headed for Thirty-Seven! Why, it couldn't be! But Aunt Em mounted the steps. She rapped at length and vigorous ly on the scarred panel of the door. She went within, leaving a dozen long-distance watchers to wonder. It was long before she emerged and then . , . Ah, then Tlncup had a sight to see, a subject for spec ulation! For by Aunt Em's side moved the woman Lydia, collar of her fur coat high about her face as if to hide the traces of tears which hastily applied powder could not eradicate. Tears from those hard eyes? Nothing less! For women know women and before Aunt Em had talked to this outcast live minutes she had discovered the weakness in her shame, the clean spot left in her heart. And how Emma Coburn could talk! She talked that clean spot to a growing, glowing, glori ous thing. She talked Lydia out of her house, across the tracss; talked tier into that slow, un ashamed, almost flagrant march up the main street; talked her out of all but one look of misgiving at the windows of Nicholas Brandon’s offices. . . . And around the corner and in beneath the hemlocks which whispered above the snug white house. They entered, where Dawn McManus had hidden since the woman's words sent her flying from the dance hall to the sanctuary of Aunt Em's understanding arms. All the way out to camp Dawn snuggled close again Able in his worn old buffalo coat. Now and ngain she trembled a bit; once she cried softly a few minutes. But much of the time she talked. “To think it was the man I used to call Uncle who did that thing!” she cried. “Why haven't you told me. Able? Why haven’t you warned me?” “What he’s done, what he’s been, what he is, were no things for you, Dawn, girl. I’ve Just tried ... to stand between you and many un pleasant things. You’ve had your share as it was.” “I could have stood this one "Homer, in Which One of Them Nasty Places Does This Lydia Woman Live?" more,” she replied, stoutly enough. “It hasn’t been so bad these last few years, knowing that everybody thinks my father a murderer. I’d Just gotten myself above that and now , . . and now . . “What now?” Able asked gently. She looked at him through tears. “When a man loves a girl, that girl can’t let herself love him, can she, when she’s under a clond her self? She can’t bring a man’s chil dren into the world and have them whispered about as the grandchil dren of a murderer?” "Dawn! Dawn, girl, don’t think that! Why, it’s—” “But it’s so, Able! I don’t wa want to talk about It. All I can do for Ben now is to let him know how weak I was to doubt him and to use any Influence I may have to protect him from this terrible dan ger. I will do that; I must do thnt because It Is duty. But it must stop there. It can’t go on, you see. Not while I have nothing more than Just my faith in my father’s good name.” Able, the wise man that he was, did not force the argument. He brought his team to a halt before the Hoot Owl oflice, gave the reins to Dawn and stepped out. Martin, the bookkeeper, was the only occupant of the place. "Where’s Ben?” he asked. The bearded man looked over his shoulder, recognized Able and then his gaze went past the man to the waiting cutter where Dawn sat. "lie’s ...” ft seemed as though Martin’s voice failed after thnt word. He half started from his chair and the pen, dropped from flexed fingers, rolled across the ledger sheet. lie made a faint sound and In Ills eyes appeared an expression that startled Able. "What’s wrong, Martin?” he asked in alarm, stepping quickly into the room. “Sick?” "No ... all right now,” the oth er said, as if with great effort. "Ben? In the mill, I think.” He picked up his pen, then, and bent over his work. Able crossed the mill-yard looking for Ben and as he went Martin rose cautiously from his chair, moved quietly to be In line with the win dow and stared for a long Interval at the girl huddled in the robes. f * His hands worked and his breath was uneven. "Dawn Is here to see you," Able said simply ns he encountered Ben. "She had me bring her out so she could talk to you. She’s waiting over by the office." Elliott stood hesitant for an In stant; then turned and walked swiftly along the pond. He gave no sign of recognition as he ap proached the cutter; made no salu tation as he came nenr the girl who sat watching him so steadily. He only spoke her name, when he was at her side. She gave him a small, gloved hand and smiled wanly. "I have cotne to say many things, Ben," she began in a strange, strained voice. "To beg forgive ness, to beg other things . . . per haps to explain a little. "A week ago tonight,"—strug gling, now, to hold her voice steady —“I ran out of the dance hall and on home, thinking that that woman was honest. The time since then, until noon today, lias been a night mare. “Lydia came to my house at noon. She explained everything. Aunt Km brought her. Lydia told me every thing. ... It was Mr. Brandon who thought out the plan and forced her to do It under threats of some sort. She didn't tell ns what the threats were hut left our house for the train and Is gone from Ttncup for ever. . . . And I’ve come to tell you how miserable I feel to think that 1 was weak enough to act ns Mr. Brandon seemed to he sure I would act. . . Relief was singing through El liott’s relief and a great Joy, lifting him above rage for Brandon. “Oh, I’m glad I" he said earnest ly. "I’ve . . . Why, it completely knocked me olT my pins! Dawn, It’s been terrible for you but . . . but this makes me so happy!” “I'iu happy because you are hnp py,” she said, but something In her tone and expression dampened his enthusiasm, checked his soaring spirits. She was so calm, so steady, so restrained; her mood was not ut all that of one who comes joyously to wipe out heart breaking misunderstanding. "And I’ll never forgive myself for . . . for falling into the trap that was set for me, Ben!’’ “Why shouldn't you? Any girl would have felt as you did. . . . But It's explained, now. Let’s for get it and begin where we left off and find peace and—” The sharp shake of her head and the quick withdrawal of her hand cut him off. “There are sterner things to think of, tirst; quite different things, Ben. That is why 1 came out here, to talk to you about Bart Delaney. Able has told me what happened yesterday. You don’t tnke it seriously enough. Keep safe until you're certain that the danger is past.” "Hide and skulk while other men protect me? A man can't do that. Dawn! I’ll be on my guard, of course. But I can’t run away from anybody who is trying to strike from behind. What would these boys here on the job think of me If I did? If I do the safe thing and think of my own skin, some of our workers will tumble to the fact that I’ve no more courage than most of them, less than plenty. I can’t let them down, you see, and still keep my standing In their eyes.” ‘‘It Isn’t worth It, Ben 1 It’s my Job, my property you’re taking these risks for. It Isn’t fair to me!” “I can argue that. I’m not anx ious to be put out of the picture yet a while. I’ll keep my eyes open. I’ve already made the move that should stop Delaney from trying me again. Able and the others have gotten you ail in a flutter, Dawn. Don’t worrry. I’m coming to Tin cup tonight and I’m going to ap pear to be thinking about nothing but the errands I have to do. Every second, I'll be on the watch for a crooked move from anybody. I promise you that. And when I’ve shown myself to people I'll come to see you and talk you into the same way of looking at this situa tion.” She shook tier head. "I’m asking two things of you. The first Is to stay here; the other Is not to come to see me. . . . Please!” She put a hand on his with that plea, and he frowned. “I can understand your being a little timid about having me around town but I can convince you that I’m right It's Itrnndon or me, now, you see. If I run, he wins. . . . But this other: Dawn, don't you want me to see you?’’ The girl’s Ups worked. “No." slip said, ever so faintly. “No. . . . Oh, please don’t argue with me, Ben! Please don’t come to see me. You don’t understand. You may never understand. . . . But I’m begging you from the bot tom of my heart not to come and see me again I" “No, I don’t understand. It’» . . . why, Its . . .** He laughed aloud at his own bewilderment and Able, in the near distance, mistook thnt laugh born of distress for one of relief and cam* toward them. “Well, have you two got matters cleared up?" he asked. Dawn nodded silently. “Some things are cleared up.” Elliott sold. "But there are oth ers. . . . Dawn, won’t you explain?" The girl turned her face to Able. “I’m ready to go home now," she said weakly. (TO BE CONTINUED.) MANY USES FOR CROCHET SCARF By GRANDMOTHER <«LARK Here Is a very practical scarf tlint Is easy to make and costs so little. It's made with the large filet stitch, is very lacy and can he used ns a decorative cover on many articles In the home. When using a number 5 steel crochet nook and number IS cotton, the scarf will measure about 12 by 84 Inches when finished, llulTei set ami chair set to match this scarf were shown a few weeks ago. This package. 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