Ee J
0 0 A
The Red
Lock
A Tale of the Flatwoods
3
By DAVID ANDERSON
Author of
* The Blue Moon™
llustrations by IRWIN MYERS
a
Copyright by The Bobbs-Merrill Co.
CHAPTER XX
Bh
Search of the Languid Eyes,
All through the long and terrible
day following that tragic night, the an-
gels of life and death waged their grim
struggle in the parlor bedroom, where
the hapless sufferer writhed in the de-
lirium that followed the shock of her
wound.
Toward evening Aunt Eliza, beliey-
ing with the others that the end was
near, beckoned the woodsman to the
bedside.
It fairly staggered him
frightful change the
wrought. Under impulse
see the
had
to
hours
an of
her name. She instantly
quiet and turned her face toward his
voice,
grew
and at his direction Jack dropped on
his knees by the bedside and began
talking to her, softly stroking her
hands and wrists and face the while;
and as he talked she grew calmer.
Hour after hour the man knelt and
crooned the story of their
art and the women lavished their care,
Late that night she seemed to quiet
away into a light sleep.
gled out upon the doctor's grim feat-
ures and he went out into the vard for
tT moment of relaxation The woods.
man laid the girl's hands down upon
the covers, rose to his stumbled
aout to the kitchen and dropped down
on a chair by the cook stove,
Barely a minute after, Aunt
sleepless and faithful, tapped him
the shoulder.
“She's frettin’ ag'in.”
He sprang up and
sick-room. But before
bedside her tossing had ceased and she
lay back against the pillow still and
white. He caught
were so cold it startled him.
At that moment
back | instant
room the unusual in-
of his have
warned him that something was amiss,
for he hurried to the bedside and bent
a keen look upon the patient
“Her
man fait
feet,
Liza,
hurried to
he reached the
up her!
the doctor
entered
stillness—or the
came
n. The he the
stinet profession—must
han’s are like ice.” the woods.
ered.
“She's sinking fast,”
made
wag the doctor's
ready a
“Rub her hands and wrists
answer, as he
stimulant,
and temples—rub
and try to her back some
more of that Black rock and Whisper-
ing spring talk. And be quick
those hot cloths, you women, If
can only keep breath in her for
next hour—"
toward the
heart-—
call with
with
we
the
The woodsman, toiling with gray and
graven face, was the first to notice the
clamminess leaving her hands and a
faint tinge of color beginning to drive
the chill out of her fingers. The doe-
tor bent low over her, noted the respi-
ration, took her pulse again
“She's got a chance,” he muttered.
“Keep on with that talk, Warhope,
and rub her wrists and temples—and
come on with more hot cloths, the rest
of you.”
Nearly an hour had gone when the
girl's lids fluttered apart and the bril
liant eyes strayed open—weak, hag-
gard, but no longer wild and vaeant
with delirium,
Slowly the eyes traveled over the
room, a languid questioning in them:
at last
man.
“Jack"—it was only a whisper, flut-
tering out upon the labored breath,
but it was the sweetest sound his ears
had ever heard—"he didn't kill y'u-—"
He dropped on one knee by the bed-
side, but dared not trust his voice with
a word.
“Jack—what—what—7"
“You've be'n sick—bad-—and we're
all tryin’ t’' coax y'u back well. When
y'u git strong, we'll have a long talk—
you and me—but now, won't y'u jist
try t' go t' sleep? Won't y'u?"
“Yes,” she whispered, like a trust-
ing child—"I'm so-—tired-—"
One hand stole across the covers
and hunted his; the long lashes
drooped over the languid eyes and she
slipped away to sleep. The others tip-
toed from the room.
“What she needs above everything.”
muttered the doctor, softly closing the
toor—"sleep~it will do her more good
right now than all the medicine in the
world.”
And there Jack crouched-—himself
bruised and worn--afrald to move
with her hands in his, lest she stast
awake and so lose one moment of the
rest just then precious beyond calcula.
tion. Only a man of his superb phy
sical powers could have held the
cramped, uncomfortable pose so long.
Several times one of the women,
and Ape the doctor, softly opened the
door find peeped in, but they as often
cioged It again and left the man to his
sllent vigil
upon the face of the woods
By the next day she was so much
better that the doctor declared her
out of danger—time alone being all
that was necessary to bring her well,
In the serene evening the sun peeped
under the porch roof for one last look
before reluctantly passing on to less
interesting scenes beyond the gates of
the west; fell in at the open parlor
window; crossed the floor and just
missed the big old-fashioned sofa, soft
and cozy with blankets, where the
woodsman had carried the girl In his
arms, the wonderful landscape
of lawn and bottoms and winding
river spreading before her,
The woodsman himself sat on a low
footstool at her side. The had
settled still,
From the kitchen the low
drone of voices where Mrs, Curry and
Aunt Liza sat by the cook stove, A
tull old clock In a corner of the parlor
~taller than the woodsman
with a peasant man and maid on the
face raking hay—punctuated the si-
lence Into a sort of drowsy rhythm.
The girl was so still that he thought
she slept,
was amazed to see her eves full of
tears,
“W'y—what's the matter—17
“Nothing— I"
Her lips quivered:
face away and cried
room
came
she turned her
silently,
forting word. The sprawled dead fig-
~the brother in whom she still
lieved ; whose death she still mourned ;
of whose degradation and deep dis
knowing-—and the attempt failed.
She turned back to him after a time,
brushed away the tears and a brave
“Ain't it jist terrible f'r me t'
when y'u're all 8
cry
10
good
"
He hitehed
sofa.
the footstool
breast
when
in his
tightness In his throat
to speak.
“Do y'u think y'u're strong enough
and a
he tried
some?”
“Wy, I could git
A sudden
the smile
“Do y'u
give me from
urd'y ?
The
sop
ty-one
a'most.’
up
thoughtfulness displaced
letter ¥'u
lag’ Sat
remember that
Pap Simons
girl raised her eyes
be opened the day
I've
was in
He looked
you're
wondered and
is"
down
twen-
wondered
at the floor; lool
“This
“No th
“I'm
is the day."
twenty-one free,
days
sence
“Six days,” was his slow comment
It Was the Biggest Word He Had Ever
Said in Mis Life.
“Don’t
much could
»
seem like 8°
He fumbled in his blouse; took out
the letter in its formidable envelope;
held It toward her,
She took it and, glancing over
handed it back. He tore it open and
drew out its contents,
Wide-eyed, they read it through
a title deed in fee simple to the War.
hope homestead, together with all
stock and betterments and growing
crops thereon, duly conveyed and exe-
cuted to Jack Warhope: and, folded
inside the deed, a bank draft
favor for ten thousand dollars,
The man stared at the girl; the girl
stared at the man,
“I'm b'lievin' Pap Simon meant t'
do this all along,” he mused at last,
“I can see it now, as 1 look
That's why he was 8’ good to me. Meb-
be"—he hesitated, “that's why he had
me-—botind--"
“Pore father!"—the girl's eyes
strayed away to where the silver con-
tour of the river rimmed the bottoms
“it wns his—way.V
Ie let loose the deed, leaving it In
her hand. She turned back from the
gilver-rimmed bottoms and gianced It
over again,
“W'y, it was made out only last Fri
day—he never knowed it, but that was
lady-slipper day--and so he made it a
~big day--after all—"
Very slowly, with the tightness still
at his throat, the woodsman tock out
his pocketbook and laid a flattened yel-
low orchid in the girl's palm.
“1 found It there at the edge of Mud
haul, where you got on the houseboat.”
The girl fumbled the tiattened blos-
THE CENTRE REPORTER,
som In her hand: the color of return.
ing heaith tingled Into her cheeks.
“The one you found that-—day,"” she
gtammered. She lifted a tiny glance
up to him from under her long lashes;
let her eyes stray far out across the
bottoms toward Alpine Island. “Pore—
Ken! Hopking met me up the road
and told me he was slick on the hout, |
[ did't know Hopkins—then.”
“1 did—and I knowed Brickbat al- |
ley. That's why I rode after y'u the |
minute I got y'ur note, Hopkins was a |
bad man, but we've already talked
about him, and what b'come of him, |
All that money he stol'd I--tuck away
from ‘Im at the parsonage the evening |
of the—funeral, and drove ’'im out o
Flatwoods, That's why he went, and |
all that stuff he told y'u ahout—Ken |
| was jist lies. I've got all that money
hid, and we'll put it back In the safe
as goon as you're able t' open it.”
The eves came back from the distant |
{ point where Alpine island split the gil-
ver rim of the hottoms, |
“I know now that what he sald was |
| all lies, but I didn’t then. As soon as |
I got on the boat I saw-—Ken wasn't |
| there, but Hopkins locked the door and |
wouldn't let me off. And such a cabin
| ns that house-hoat had—tight as a jail,
{ He made all the apologies a man could |
| f'r raisin’ false hopes about—Ken, and |
told me he'd done it all fr
good. Then he told me there was two |
{ men plannin' to rob the safe that night |
and he'd brung me on
danger.”
paused; looked
went on.
“He sald
he'p Im
and
come
my own
the boat t' git |
I me out o |
She at the man; |
you t
the
was over |
He |
Stim |
{
was goin' t
hoth
i oi
ne git
and you'd watch
House, after the danger
i you'd home,
the robbers would be
and bring me
sald one o
| Finger Doolin, the: most dangerous pis
tol fighter in the world, |
found It all
{ then that "Imself
but he said
i me all about it next day.
asked "Im
knowin’ |
inger
rather tell |
From that |
minute | was afear'd of him, though he |
out not
he was Slim
Doolin he'd
She felt
upon her
went on
the the
He
of
looked
woodsman
and
eyes
away she
mistrusted he |
though I never |
ns was gone |
could t' git out. I
shie looked down
“From that mi
was one o' the robbers,
nnd
all 1
afear'd”
ket :
nute 1
on, a8 soon he
was
at the blan
of it hard in
might chance
m, and 1 knowed If y'u did you'd
half
crumpled a corner
her fingers—"you
was wild f'r fear
'u. Oh, If I'd only knowed
that the boat!
Jack why didn't y'u let me out—!"
man at
his
moved
stared
great
y
knuckles turned w
and
the
the floor
hands till
ite
“if 1 only
» an fost
had!
there, It
ike [ ever made it
lettin
gh the open. wi
crows flying hot
“It was
went on at i
{ “D'fore 1 fin'ly got out by be
in the roof with
atin’ a hole
stove leg, swum
}
as fast as I could
ichore
and run home
i I'd jist got in t}
¢ yard when 1 saw you
Then
Slim Fin
Doolin ha cille *s I don’t
{| know what h
“After that,” the
voice and
tryin’ coax
wonderful girl in
life”
“Life!”
word
| a-standin’ there hy
‘inder
ne that shot and thought
| gor
appened after-that
man
hroken,
echoed, his
“we've all be'n
bravest and mon
the back
low
to the
world
she murmured, the
new and her
after being so fearfully close to death,
“Oh, I want so much t' have it all back
ag'in—"
“And y'u shall have st back!”
man cried, catching the appeal In
| volee, “You've now. Every
{ breath brings the woods and hills, the
| sunshine and flowers, jist that
| nearer--w'y, you're as good as
as if
came sirange
fo
the
her
got it
much
well
The her
over
smile In
stole
came alive |
face and
eves
out her
Jy some intangible bridge all unseen
of human eyes, the smile found its |
like the glint of |
“1 ‘low y'u ain't f'rgot the day we— |
I—found jt"
He felt the twitch of her fingers,
“I tried t' ask y'u t'—promise me— |
9
It was the biggest word he had ever |
Much like a man who |
committed a crime and awaited
his sentence, he raised his head: ven-
tured a glance at the girl,
Something very wonderful had come
to her face-like the birth of morning:
and her eyes like star trails—a mar
velous transfiguration that only one
thing in the world can bring.
He slipped from the footstool and
knelt down by her side: her arm came
up off the blanket and hunted its way
neross his masgive shoulders,
The peasant man and maid on *he
face of the old clock in the corner
smiled, raking hay.
[THE END.}]
Should Elect Tailors,
More tallors should be elected to con
gress, They know a lot about mens
ures and men,
A man would never discover that his
wife had a te.aper If she dida't lose it,
CENTRE HALL, PA.
PENNSYLVANIA
STATE ITEMS
Albert KE.
Pittsburgh,
Bish, of
nrresi-
Greensburg
Crafton, near Wis
ed and lodged In the county
In connection with the of
in a chain company. He
charged with false pretense and held
In bond of $25,000,
York.—Aside
vestments in
York
industry, at
1923 had a
170.30 Of this
jail here,
anle stock
S101 wis
from
lands,
permanent in
bulldings and
agricultural
of
of
rquipmaent, County 8
the close the year
valuation £19417,
amount, 810.210.008.583
from of fruit
£3. 122.380.85 from the
was derived the sale
and field crops;
gale of live stock and 20.-
75,111.08 in
products,
the value [ he live
stock the farms at sginning
of the year
Wirren.
old of Mr
Ludlow,
HITNS received
tub
Kk home,
On
2-vear
(inl.
Stephen Galsek,
and Mrs, 8
tHed
SON
of
nied
'
small of
{round was
another
21.0061,000
pres ede
Pennsylvani;
Quarry Construct
crashed
+» of John Markeskey, taking wit!
through the roof
BE
. »
ga 3
om the second story
the Kitchen a few
from the
damaged
Coatesville. —~To
and
body
Wis
tongue hroke
sent
{ next
an
the
Occupying
hy Jerome E
Ida
eity, was
mont:
the macl
and
Hobart street
Reading passenge
ladelphia
on the crossing
Her death
Brader escaped with a slig
was Instantaneous
Attacked by
Lloyd Copelar
old gon of Mr. and Mrs, Arthur C
Copeland, is suffering from a painful
and dangerous wound on the le
of his back. The wound inflicted,
it ix said by Millard Clayman, 5 years
old, son of Mr. and Mrs. George A
Clayman, as a result
was
of the alleged
attack, which it is claimed came with.
warning. The victim is confined
bed at his parents’ home, his con.
being considered dangerous
is near the lung and
nut
to
dition
The wound his
of murder in
the
Allentown. A verdict
the second degree wag found In
trinl of Joseph (. Carroll,
Cork, former regular army
with Harvey J. Fahringer, of
city, who gerved in the
with his codefendant, was
of killing Albert E. Wenrich,
overseas veteran of this city,
holdap last December,
was convicted last week and, follow.
fng the conviction of Carroll, bith
wee sentenced to from ten to twenty
vears in the eastern penitentiary.
Each blamed the other for the shoot-
Ing.
1azleton Grace Farley,
verre, died at the State Hospital from
burns sustained while playing with
matches,
Freeland. John Fisher, a local boy,
while walking through the woods
pear Mount Yeager, was struck In the
head with a stray bullet, the source
of which has not been determined.
Marietta Leonard Tillman, fan-
cler of Rhode Island Led chickens,
gocured thirteen chicks from twelve
rgEs.
Stroudsburg Walter Stables, aged
60, was found dead from poison I
sor,
this
falen army
former
in a
~ Adam
received aw
Hiuzleton Smith and his son,
Hurold, ards of £5 each
from the Pennsylvania Boclety for the
Prevention of Cruelty
‘Wiiadelphia, for thelr
of three dogs from a
ty-five feet
this city,
Animals at
daring
10
rescne
mine cave thir.
the skirts of
Harold Smith
cavity by a
automobile and
before he was
deep on out
February 5
was lowered into the
fastened to an
up the dogs
the surface,
Fifteen firemen were
hurt battling a blaze that de-
the Blank & Gottshall flour
The joss is £350,000 Fire
Hopple spontaneous
combustion fire,
Harrisburg. bids
celved by of
for
rope
he sent
to
Sunbury.
stroyed
mills
helleves
the
Eight
board
caused
were re-
and
£500, -
College
fifty
oversub-
made
board
The
hax
the revenue
finance
O00 of
the purchase of the
Pennsylvania State
ript, which
ago The
but no awards
consideration of
per
the
loan s« was issued
YOeArs issue
scribed,
pending
Was
were
the
The bids average 41%
state, trustee
cent.
as bonds,
the Institution 5
which will
wien
of
pay
interest,
obliged t,
been
per
cent be re
2 per cent
made
Harrisburg. —The appointment
Dr. Willlam T. Root.
p
r of the board of
the award
of
Pittsburgh,
trustees
Penitentiary
Pinchot
announced
Pott
Wns
(sOvernor
Other
uded
Kharas,
AEF IT y s
Wwilkes-barre, wl iHims to ¢
tionally
sL0rn]
Und the ba the county
where . 4 hirano “
Wier 1 i Drougn Of
i
bench warrant him with
promoting banking
New ‘astle . Powers, aged
i hman of Wam-
here, dreamed that he was
He is dead
Ward, aged 40, a boarder in
violent
Andrew
the Powers home i a long-time
» ha 1
Powers he head,
arricaded his 1 then
101 11 ice at the door.
switeh-
Powers
American
Memos
the new
Teet wood
omas (.
8 chair
hundred
are Hl be plant in the fall aionNng
ie same road
Harrisburg. -~late znows, wet soll
of
have enabled
the
fires to a minimum this
Warden
stale
spring, Chief
{ "Orest Fire
Wirth said
New Castle. —Justyn Jamiel was
mur
Ura
an
on
had
county
il
Joal-
ascribed by
of the kill
irged wi
g th
the
Adolph
before
fellow boarder,
list, foll hearing
ing occurred
Jamiel,
from
on account
owing a
bh
alderman he shoo
13. and
transferred
to a hospital
was returned ‘o the jail
over a woman Is
as the
who
the
of
valise
Franklin,
caused the
High water and frost
bridge over Sandy creek at
Wilson Mills to
The stone and
in the abutmeat on the Rock.
side was loosened and washed
sink to the
collapse,
cement
Innd
stream.
Scranton.—Joseph De Yorio, of Pat.
to death in a
Ernest Sesso is
being held on suspicion, while police
also apprehended four women
the tenderloin district in the
Po.
was a drug ped
rfom
Yorio
an automatic revolver,
Altoona.~James J. O'Brien, om
and William J, Zorichak,
of Renovo, were ordained to the
priesthood at St. John's Procathedral
here Ly Bishop John J. MeCort,
Greensburg ~John Subera, of Seott.
dale, committed suicide by hanging
in bis cell In the jail here,
Altoona.~8truck by a pair of heavy
tongs while at. work in the Pennsyl
vania railroad shops here, Frank 8.
Kleiner suffered n skull fracture.
Altoona. Falling Into a bucket of
boiling water, Mary DPolochorik, aged
2. of Blandburg, died at the Altoona
Hospital,
St.Joseph’s
LIVER REGULATOR
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Physicians strongly discour-
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Zonite is non-poisonous,
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0
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metal, can't spill or
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FOR OVER
200 YEARS
haarlem oil has been a world-
wide remedy for kidney, liver and
bladder disorders, rheumatism,
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Money back without cusstion
IHHUNT'S SALVE falls in the
treatment of ITCH, BECREMA,
RINGWORMTETTER or other
itching skin diseases. Price
75c at droggists, or direct from
AB Wicherts Medicioe Co. Sherman Ten
EYEWATER
EYE WASH
138 River, Troy. KX. ¥. Booklet
Ire. Isaac
Sliding Down the Icing
“Will you join our party
preserves?’ asked the first
“No,” the second fly,
our has baked a
We're
"Louisville
in the
fiy.
“the lk
cake
for
Jam
sald ay
with
going in win.
Conrier-Jour
of
icing
house
on it
sports
Constipation generally Indicates Alsordered
liver and bowels Wright's Indian
Vegetable Plils restore regularity without
372 Pearl t, N. ¥Y Adv
Bright Idea
“Hubby, you must wash the car and
the dog.” “Suppose 1 wash the car
with the dog?”
What a Bigamist Is
The latest description of a bigamist
Ig 8a man who makes the same mistake
twice,
Say “‘Bayer’’ - Insist!
For Pain Headache
Neuralgia Rheumatism
Lumbago Colds
afer Accept only 2
Bayer packages
which contains proven directions
Handy “Bayer” boxes of 12 tablets
Also bottles of 24 and 100—Druggista
Aspirin fs the trade mark of Barer Mane
factnre of Monewmovtioacidester «2 Salley lioasd