The Red
Lock
A Tale of the Flatwoods
By DAVID ANDERSON
Author of
The Blue Moon®
a
Copyright by The Bobba-Merrill Co,
CHAPTER X-—Continued.
Dem
In the glowing embers another face
began to form, slowly—a face hand-
some in spite of its forbidding beard,
formidable spectacles and drawn,
peering eyes. Every act of the eccen-
tric preacher-schoolmaster, since the
day the Milford stage dropped him
in front of the post office, passed be-
fore his mind-—every act, as far as
known, had been scrupulously circum-
spect.
Dreaming there by the dead embers
of the fire, the woodsman found him-
self analyzing the preacher, in his
careful way, from shiny boots to high
hat. The {ill-health excuse he had
never believed, or rather, had set it
down to an imaginary allment—the
man looked absolutely fit to enter a
cross-country relay. He eliminated the
elaborate frock coat, stiff neck stock,
high hat and spectacles—divested of
all oddities and accessories, there re
mained a tall and very capable man.
Then, there was the ivory-handled
six-gun that happened to thud against
the bottom of the skiff, and a pair of
very deft hands feeling over the stacks
of clothes—a circumstance that had to-
tally escaped the other members of
the seining party. there was
the perfect agreement the heel
prints on the dusty deck of the con
realed houseboat—another circum.
stance that he alone knew.
If he was a college professor and a
minister what was he doing in the
Flatwoods? If he was not, still, what
was he doing in the Flatwoods?
As he pondered, suddenly the dark
face that had flared up from the floor
of the woods and glowered at him
over the log, slid into his mind. Seo
close it came upon the heels of his at-
tempted analysis of the preacher that
the two thoughts fused into one. The
connection was startling. It brought
him up out of his chair and left him
staring through the open cabin door
into the night.
Was there a connection?
be possible that Ken, crime-stained
and low-fallen, had sneaked back to
the Flatwoods, and the preacher, be
ing a college friend, was trying to be
friend him—possibly save him? But
R80; there was the letter—it was ahso-
lutely genuine.
The woodsman straightened
stretched to rouse himself from the
wild spell of the thought, to drag him-
self back from the drift of it: felt the
revolver at his hip; crossed the floor
and stepped out into the yard.
The night was unruffled: the woods
breathed softly In the pale starlight.
Back in the hills a red fox was bark-
ing; over In the bottoms a plover
whistled his melancholy cally the
lonesome wall of a timber wolf drift
ed down out of Eagle hollow.
But for the true woodsman the night
has messages that other ears do not
hear. As he stood in the yard sifting
the sounds that rode the alr, he sud-
denly bent forward and stood keenly
listening. The frogs In Eagle run, just
below the bridge In front of Uncle
Nick's, had abruptly stopped croaking,
only to begin again after a moment,
while the frogs farther down fell sl-
lent—somebody was walking along the
bank of the little stream. Somebody
~frogs do mot stop croaking at the
tread of cattle or other like animals,
It was near midnight. Why should
anybody be prowling In so secluded a
spot at such an hour? The alert and
experienced woodsman could even
gauge the speed of the prowler by the
successive silences that fell as he
moved down the stream. He was go-
Ing slowly-—possibly creeping.
From the bridge at Uncle Nick's a
foot-path led down the east bank of
Eagle run and divided a short dis
tance below, one fork leading around
the base of Black rock to the War-
hope homestead, the other on down
the stream, through a small pasture
lot and into the park-like orchard and
grounds of Simon Colin, It was along
this fork of the path that the night
prowler was apparently stealing.
The woodsman hurriedly closed the
cabin door, ran across the corner of
the fallow yard, and the next moment
was creeping cautiously along the fork
of the path that led around under the
dense shadows at the base of Black
rock.
The caution of Jack Warhope was
seldom at fault. There was always
the chance that the wooderaft of the
wan he followed was as fine as his
own. He paid him the compliment of
keeping back from the stream, out of
earshot of the frogs, and silently took
up the trall,
Where the path crossed the fence
Into the little park the prowler
stopped and stood for some time lis
tening intently,
It is a law of the woods—fundamen-
Besides,
of
Might It
and
steps away, 8 stood quiet a as the breath
of the night and walted.
With a final searching look in every
direction, the man by the fence
climbed cautiously over and stole
down the creek bank Into the little
park. Jack crept up te the fence,
crawled over and followed.
At Whispering spring the night
prowler crouched down by the rustic
seat, put his hands to his mouth and
very cleverly imitated the quavering
call of the screech owl. Jack selzed
the favorable moment, crept up as
near as he deemed prudent and hid in
the dense shadow of a clump of shrub-
bery.
The night was so placid that dur
ing the Intervals between the imita-
tive calls the low murmur of Whisper-
ing spring fell distinct and clear upon
the silence. A few steps away the
red-roofed cottage bulked large in
the gloom,
The man had already twice given
his call and was about to give it a
third time, when the parlor door at
the front of the house rather noisily
opened, and a man came down off the
porch and across the yard. As he
walked over the brink of the slight
decline where the yard dipped to the
creek, he passed in outline for a brief
moment against the southern sky.
It was the preacher,
His glasses were off, the stoop gone
from his shoulders and his step
showed not a sign of mincing. He was
partly dressed, partly in his night
clothes—precisely as one who had
wakened naturally from sleep and
gone into the yard for some trifling
purpose or other. There was a light
spot at his hip which the watcher
under the clump of shrubbery sur-
mised to be the ivory handle of the
six-gun that had thudded against the
bottom of the skiff.
He went straight to the spring, took
down the dipper and dipped himself
a drink, making a deal of noise in the
act—even an unnecessary amount of
it, as it seemed to the critical ears
unider the shrubbery.
The drink over, he hung up the dip-
per, with another clatter; sauntered
past the man crouched by the rustle
seat; snatched something that was
reached out to him; hid it in the
bosom of his shirt; whispered a very
hurried word or two; strolled back up
the yard; crossed the porch;
tered the parlor door and locked it be
hind him.
The man crouching by the seat half-
rose and slipped back the way he had
come, the frogs,
lent as he came even with them and
had passed. Jack tried hard to make
him out as he stole by, less than a
dozen steps away, but he
the effort was in vain.
And so they hdd come—and gone.
the night. A clean breeze came down
out of the cool dells of the serene
woods as If to sweep away the taint
of thelr presence
The woodsman lay a long time lis-
tening, and reviewing the astonishing
pantomime. Not a sound did he hear.
He glanced up at the red-roofed cot-
tage. From porch step to gable it lay
as peaceful as Its background of placid
sky. It was hard to think that at that
danger-center of some Intangible web
well as he knew his own small eabin
“—along the south and fronting the
road the seldom used parlor, with
on the east; back of these the
ting-room, and the old banker's bed-
room adjoining it, with the small
room containing
it on the west
distance beyond
of these rooms
back of it the kitchen,
Front entrance to both parlor and
sitting-room was from the wide porch,
which filled up almost the entire Jog
between the parlor and the small
room that served as office.
Mrs. Curry and Texie both slept up-
stairs, the latter over the old banker's
bedroom, the former over the office.
There were no rooms above the par.
lor and spare bedroom, these, with the
porch, being a later addition to the
original building,
With every possible caution Jack
slowly crawled up the yard, around
back of the house, and under the part.
ly open window of the parior bed-
room ; lay listening for a guarded mo-
ment; them rose, noiseless as the
night, and peeped within,
On a chair just under the window
hung the somber frock coat; on the
bed a man breathed even and deep,
apparently sleeping as tranquilly as a
tired athlete,
and extending some
the main wall; back
CHAPTER XI
Knives of the Night.
A man strolling carelessly through
the woods would be surprised to know
how many eyes are on him, how many
creatures scrooch In the covers and
wait for him to pass. He might even
Imagine from the silence that he is
alone. The true woodsman knows that
he is never alone, that his slightest
move is watched by a thousand eyes.
The stillness does not deceive him.
But let something happen—a stick
snap, or some creature break cover in
sudden panic—and instantly all is
commotion. The still woods wake to
the call of voices, the beat of wings,
the clatter of scampering feet.
In such quiet lay the forest next
morning when Jack W
that “happened to be
hiding under the brush instantly
flushed. It seemed as If the flurry of
his wings fanned the whole woods
allve. A fox squirrel bounced up out
of the leaves and skurried away; a
chipmunk dived into his den; a palr
of blue jays set up their strident
screech; a crow left the dead limb of
an oak and went floundering along
over the treetops squawking the
news that the most dangerous ani
A phedsant
in the woods.
With the heavy shotgun he carried
~~ present from the banker—Jack
covered the pheasant as It glanced
away until it blended with the dull
gray of the trees and faded from
sight. He dropped the butt of the
gun to the leaves and stood listening
to the beat of the swift wings, grow:
ing fainter, finally ending abruptly,
and he knew
again to the brush.
“Well, ol" drummer,” he chuckled,
speaking half aloud-—a habit the
woods teach men-—and throwing the
shotgun lightly across his arm, “yu
didn’t need t' rush off without s'
much as sayin’ good morning.
‘a’ stopped y'u If I'd be'n a-mind to.
trigger finger.”
Theugh Jack Warhope was consid
ered a man of clumsy tongue, he
could talk well enough to himself, or
to the creatures of the woods. He
ble philosophy—a sort
Idealism——that
times,
The woods—the true, the constant
the steadfast woods—the first
stinct of unspolled men with a heart
ache—the vastness, the all
clency, the Immense Shekinah of the
solitudes. With the gun lying across
his arm he stepped cautiously tc
where the pheasant had flushed and
peered about under the brush
bushes,
of
outcropped
romantic
#t such
Metallic Brocade
for Evening Wear
Winsome Fabric Reveals
Sumptuousness When
Worn at Night.
The metallic brocades ure extremely
smart this season, and they reveal
thelr beauty and sumptususness when
worn at night, On the other hand, ob-
serves a fashion writer in the Cleve
land Plain Dealer, if one buys a frock
with the Idea of making use of it
throughout the spring, one of filmy
tulle or chiffon will give excellent serv-
lee. Satin Is making its appearance
as an evening fabric, white being es-
pecially good.
And speaking of colors, don’t be
afraid to buy an evening frock in some
vivid shade such as rose, flume, jade
green, gold, Japanese tangerine, am-
ber, turquoise blue or silver.
in brocades as well as in plain ma-
terials.
As regards necklines, the bateau
line across the front, the back |
may be cut in a deep V. The round |
neck Is used for dinner gowns, and the |
For the more extreme
single shoulder strap is often used, the
bare or having
ornament or floral
diagonal effect.
these lovely embroidered silken shawls,
the one-strap effect being used for the
bodice with a diagonal draping line
across the figure,
Gone Is the huge squash-like colf-
fure with which a few seasons ago we
used to hide our ears. The fluffy out~
standing bob Is also passe, its place
being taken by a close boyish cut
which may be waved or worn plain.
Even the matron who xtill clings to
her uncut locks combs them close about
her head In as boyish a manner as
possible, Simple little bundeaux may
be worn, or the hair is left unadorned,
Extremely long earrings sre in vogue,
while bracelets and beads may be util.
ized In earrying out the color scheme
of one's costume,
Match your feather fan with a van-
ity bag 18 one of the very newest fads,
These clever bags come In the guise of
harem-clad ladles thelr silken gar-
ments being trimmed with black silk
net and black ostrich. Thelr net-edged
sleeves serve as drawstrings while a
one's fan, The colors are jade, or-
chid, coral, blue and flame,
For street wear the dress-and-wrap
costume is a distinet favorite with the
most frequently worked out
with a cape, long or short, and often
with straight rectangular scarfs that
| have slits for the hands,
Very Smart Cape Dress
hinese shawl which Is
as well as
the Spanish or C
80 pronounced In New York
should not make itself felt everywhere.
It plays such a prominent part abroad
fn matters sartorial that returning
extreme minuteness
glimpse of weed or
blade,
every
bark
leaf,
or
or
lay along the side of a
log, began to take shape,
his position for a better
gray-brown spot was gone.
He located It again, and as he
crumbling
view-
fectly harmonizing with the leaves
and brush among which she hovered
that only the very keenest eye eould
have spled her out at all.
“Let ‘er alone™
at a safe distance. “Let
find ‘er. She'll
the fox can't,
greatest dread right now.”
‘er think 1}
think
enough yet to conceal a man walking
back the sun from peeping dower
through the thick tangle of twigs and
coaxing forth flower and grass blade
The silver
sheath of the hickory buds had al
the deileate
in
to the purple sheen
the rent scales.
forth
thelr new foliage,
the tender tips of
investing the wak
infant
still
there »
light, In readiness to shield the
fragile flowers of white wax that were
soon to hover beneath their shelter
ing folds; and, draped over all, »
shimmering silver haze, the gracious
bevediction of the skies.
The man stopped before a erab
apple tree, the buds of which were
opened just enough to make one curl
ous to see more of the beautiful
mystery folded teasingly away within
the protecting scales, Already some
bees, ploneers of thelr tribe, fussed
about the aromatic clusters of peep
ing color, gathering statistics on the
season's honey crop.
A breeze stirred the trees, as If
the woods were taking a deeper
breath. Jack lifted his shodldérs and
filled his lungs with the nectar-laden |
air. Warmed by the exuberance of
life that rustied and quiversd and
thrilled around him there gushed up
i
primal closeness to nature. He
dropped the butt of the gun to the
leaves, leaned lightly upon It and
stood listening to the dull droning ef
the bees,
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
Prayer of the Tree. .
Upon a tree In Portugal a traveler |
read this appeal:
Ye who pass by and would raise
your hand against me, harken ere you |
harm me.
I am the heat of your hearth on
the cold winter nights,
from the summer sun.
And my fruits are refreshing drafts,
1 am the beam that holds your
house. the board of your table. the
bed you lie on, the timber that bullds
de-
the
sh Influence both In modes and
signs for the coming spring. In
East entire frocks are fashioned
Features of This Dress
ha A OE a
For the dance, this charming jade
evening dress, trimmed charmingly
with silver lace, should be the pride
of any young woman,
Showing a winsome cape dress, In
which “pompom™
fabric, is done in a most interesting
The Three-Piece Suit
The question of how to appear to
advantage upon all daytime occasions
is answered by the three-plece sult
Extremely simple and smart In line
a decidedly elaborate aspect when the
Underneath is either
a really beautiful one-plece frock or a
These blouses, by the way,
have never been more exquisite, There
instance, a ravishingly lovely
affair of pale silver cloth, sleeveless
and with a rounded neckline.
Hands and Nails May
Be Kept in Condition
If a Httle sympathetic care and at-
tention are given to the hands and
nalls at the end of a few months their
condition will show a grest improve
ment.
Cracked and split nalls are often a
sign of Ill health. A nightly applica-
tion of cold cream, however, often
helps to overcome this condition.
The hands should be immersed In
warm, soapy water for a few moments,
Then with a soft plece of old linen or
silk press back the cuticle of each nall,
separately.
For 16 minutes soak tips of the
fingers In soapy water. After taking
care of the cuticle apply the polish,
paste or powder. Powder should be
moistened with cologne before apply-
| Ing. Next, take a plece of coarse linen
cloth and before the polish has a
chance to dry rub the nalls well, Then
finish by about a ten minutes’ rubbing
| with a chamols buffer. This will give
a brillant polish, ¥
Lemon julece will give the nails the
| much desired transparency besides be-
' ing an good preventive for growing cuti-
cle, Lemon juice also ix a splendid
skin smooth. It i= as cleansing as
gonp and water. When household or
sther duties make the hunds rough and
iry lemon julce should be used Instead
J soap and water,
Late Fashion Notes of
loomed brocades, filmed with rainbow
gauze,
Sardinian filet, hitherto used princi.
pally In fine luncheon sets, Is seen
upon afternoon frocks. This use for
it Is part of the wide vogue for laces
of every kind.
Wooden jewelry is seen now and
or Russian designs. This wood Is
smooth as satin, highly polished and
carved into remarkable designs.
Choker necklaces of huge pearls are
a renalssance of the choker neck or
naments so fashionable last season.
folls for the black velvet frock.
Egyptian allover embroidery is now
seen on swanky little short-conted
suits designed for winter resort wear.
In some cases quaint little Egyptian
faces peer out In the midst of lotus
buds and anclent religious symbols,
Uncut emgralds In dull gold setting
of an old-fashioned and heavy design
were the jewels worn by one marvel
ously gowned woman at the opera.
Her dress was of self-velvet In a shade
that matched the misted green of her
Jewels,
There is a fad for rather small taf.
feta wrist bags to be earried to the
opera. These perighably dainty things
in faint rose, lavender and pearly
white are just large enough to hold
fan, opera glasses, handkerchief and
powder box. They are long and nar
Skin Troubles]
we Soothed =
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