Newspapers / The Warren Record (Warrenton, … / Oct. 11, 1929, edition 1 / Page 10
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I I THE DESEF CHAPTER IV w The Cabin a The girls had been on the Desert " Moon a little better than six weeks when, one evening, Sam came out into my kitchen where I was setting bread. "Mary," he began, real T solemn for him, "the ancients used ai to have cities that they called cities e< ^ 1~~ < ~ I C of refuge, xno maiiei- wna \> <X XUiVVT | had done, if he could get inside into ^ one of those cities, he was safe. h Your kitchen always kinda seems like that to me?a city of refuge." w "Lands, Sam," I said, "what have G you been up to that you are head- tc ing this safety first movement?" k: "I haven't been up to anything," pi Sam answered, "and I don't aim to di be. But, Mary, some time ago you came to me with some suspicions, h I laughed them off. I am not w laughing now. I'm worried. Queer things are going on around here. What I want to know, now is what Trnii lrnnu'0" "Nothing. What do you know?" "Nothing." "What do you suspect, then, ki Sam?" se "Nothing. What do you?" "Nothing." fl That, I see now, wouldn't have been a bad place for us both to laugh. Neither of us did. J< "Have you any idea," Sam ques- a tioned, "why the girls go prowling w all over the place, afoot and horseback, daytimes, and nighttimes, too, ta when they should be in their beds?" si.' "Well, all I know is just what th I've known all along. They are p( hunting for something." sa "Sure they are hunting for some- co thing. But what?" "I don't know. But whatever it ar is, they are going to use it to get ev revenge, to injure maliciously some- di body." be "Revenge, h?1!" Sam said. yc "Have it your own way. Only I happened one night to hear Gaby of say to Danny that they had come sp to this ranch for the purpose of th revenge." gi; "Revenge, h?1!' Sam repeated yc himself. "Unless they are sore at by ' ? _1 me about canneziano. wnai eise ir did they say, when you happened to overhear this revenge remark?" m If he was ready, at last, to listen, I was more than ready to tell what pi little I knew. I told; even to confessing about hiding in the clothes th closet. "Well, well," he drawled, when I It had finished my story, "we are m probably making a mountain out m of a molehill. I wouldn't go pussy- Li footing around after them, any to more, if I were you, Mary. There's a'r a screw loose somewhere, that's sure; but it is not in the Desert Moon's machinery. We've got n' nothing on our consciences. We tr: don't need to worry." Don't need to worry! Sam and I, G: sitting in that peaceful kitchen, m talli-incr en smart, and frivolous, and f.h deciding that we did not need to worry is a memory I could well be D: shed of. We didn't need to worry ev a bit more than if I'd used arsenic in my covered pan of bread; not a th bit more than if there had been a "n den of rattlesnakes in the cup- nc board under the sink, or gasoline instead of water in the tank on th the back of the stove. That is how da safe and peaceful we really were, at that minute, if we had had sense mi enough to know it. When I real- th ize that four weeks from that very evening, three people? rii But I guess it would be better tc mi tell things straight along, as they kr happened. It seems to me a good book cannot be hurried, any more ha than a good cake can. "Mix and sift the dry ingredients," is the way Tt all recipes for cakes begin. m< For three days, beginning with I the Fourth of July, there was to th be a big celebration and rodeo at ali Telko. foi Sam suggested at noon on the second of July, while we were at dinner, that maybe all of us would les like to go; all, that is, except Mar- yo tha and himself. Celeb, ations th were never good for Martha. sts I spoke right up and said to mi count me out. I know the deserts we in July. But the boys were en- th thusiastic about it, and Danny was th interested. Gaby, coming in late, or greeted the idea with the same en- tei uiusiasm wiwi wiucn a woman in, greets moths in the clothes closet, if "Whence the crave for a Fourth of July celebration?" she asked. th "We have never seen a rodeo," su Danny answered. at "Go, by all means," Gaby said. "Buy pink lemonade. March in the parade. Ride in the Liberty car. as Mrs. Magin would be stunning as lis the goddess of Liberty, with?" "Don't let my stunningness stop anything," I said. "I am not go- m ing." st. "We'll think it over," Danny said, ar "It would be a long, hot ride, m Probably we should have a pleas- yc anter time, right here at home." But there was something in the w I Warrenton, North Caro wsmmmmmmmmwmmm IT MOON f mmmmmmmmmmmmsm ay she had said it, too quickly in a nswer to a look from Gaby, that il lade me think there was more to er backing out of the plan than Y ad appeared on the surface. k Gaby had just begun her dinner. n he rest of us had finished; so, a ccording to our custom, we excusi ourselves and went our ways. c< had tried to stay with Gaby, but [artha fussed and insisted that e come with her. I had a sure feeling that Danny ic' ould return, and that she and c< abv would have something to say A > each other. I went into the M itchen, stepped back into the pass- Vl intry, and opened the pass-win- ** dw a crack. li Just as I opened the window I S( eard John say, "I thought Danny d as in here." w "No," Gaby said. "But won't you j, >me in and talK to me?" S "What about?" P "About?this." ir I dared not peek, so I did not . aow what she meant until she lid, "Why won't you kiss me?" c "Shall I say, I don't want to pick ^ owers in Hubert Hand's yard?" "I hate you!" ? "Don't be sore at me, Gaby," ' )hn said. "But I'm tell you, that's af lot nearer the truth than?than hat you usually say." John was one of the poorest ^ .lkers ever heard. One of those ^ lent men supposed to abound in le West, and who are likewise sup- ^ )sed to make every word that they ,y count. If John's did, they Hinted backwards. r' "My dear, haven't I proven over . id over again that I love you? In j ery way. I have made myself riculous here, because I haven't p< sr ien able to conceal my feelings for . ri iu. "I think," John said, "that most that stuff you pull is just to e> ite Danny. It doesn't spite her, m SM ;OUgh. She knows she's the only rl in the world for me. I wish p iu'd cut it out?all of that, Gab- ' Won't you, and just be good 0 iends?" ^ "You'd not want me for an ene- r y, would you?" "Getting at anything, going any . ace, Gaby?" ^ "Perhaps. If Danny should hear iat you have made love to me?" "I have never made love to you. , nr would be your word against ' ine. I think Danny would take ine, if it came to a showdown, sten here, child; don't you try 1 make trouble between Danny pe id me." ly "Meaning?" Wl "Nnthintr Excent that it would- n< ec t be healthy for anyone who led it." pr "Boo-oo! Dangerous Dan Mc- ? rew stuff? Out where men are ^ en? Killer loose tonight?all ~ at, eh, Johnnie?" A door opened. "John," came in mny's voice, "uncle is looking erywhere for you." "What," Danny questioned, when e door had closed behind John, lade you both look so angry, just >w?" "Never mind. Are you going to at fools' celebration, with only a ,y or two left, now?" "I suppose not, if you don't want e to. I'd love going. I know ere is no use in staying here." "In other words, you would sacice my future for a rodeo? I jre than half believe that you iow?" , 'What possible object could I ,ve?" 'Many, my dear. Very many, lough I think that getting rid of ; would outweigh the others. Lisn to me, Danielle Canneziano, if thought that you were keeping is from me, in order to bury me ive in this Godforsaken hole, and rce me to watch you and John?" 'Gaby!" "I've been a fool! Why can't I irn to take into consideration ur d?n moralities? Understand is, Dan. Don't fancy for one inint that failure is going to keep 8 here. Ddid you think, with a 1 ;apon like that in my harids, at I'd stand for anything less an a fifty-fifty proposition? Our iginal plan would have been betr?easier, simpler. But I'll have ? ~ 4-V?ip. r? y\ tttttq xt Cn y Miare uut ui uao, anjv/aj. ww, you do know?" "Gaby, I don't know. I'll swear at I don't. How could I? But rely you wouldn't?you wouldn't tempts" "That is for you to say, darling." Darling, as she said it then, was 1 wicked a word as I had ever itened to. "For me to say?" "Give John to me. I've changed y mind. If you'll do that, I'll ay right here, and settle down, ' id do an imitation of a moral, odel wife that would satisfy even >u." "Gaby, you speak as if John ere a child's toy, to be passed % Eg1 > wy -* 4 . , '-. -. -- " THE ^ (IYSTERYI . ji: mm/mmmmmmmsmm i bout. I couldn't give him to you, 1 : I were willing to." 1 "You could and you know it. ] ou won't. So, that's that. But eep your righteous fingers out of 1 ly life; stop your d?n preaching, ( nd meddling. I am going out to ' le cabin now. ..You would better 1 ame with me." "We've searched that cabin a j lousand times. ] "All the same, it is the one logi- ' al place; far removed, and under 1 aver." 1 The cabin is the one Sam built ( > live in when he first came to the 1 alley. It is up Boulder creek, 1 bout half a mile from the ranch- 1 ouse. Sam had kept it in repair, 1 iside and out; owing, I think, to 1 mtimental memories, though he eclares it is because he dislikes ' reckage on the place. When J ohn and Martha were little things, 1 am used to hide their Christmas ' resents up there, under the shelf 1 the kitchen. 1 The shelf, about three feet wide, s i built across one end of the kit- 1 aen. It served Sam for a table, < antry, and sink. Being a man, * e built it right handily, like a 1 aese, so that the entire top of it ad to be raised to get to the stor- < ?e place underneath. There was 0 secret about it. All that any- 1 Ddy had to do, was to remove ev- 1 ything off the top of it, and lift i le lid. But I had read how the ardest problems for detectives al- < ays turned out to be something * lat had been too simple to notice; 1 1 my plan was to go up there and i lise the lid. On my way, I met the girls com- J ig home. I imagined that they j c oked at me with suspicion. I j 1 issed a remark about the sweet- j ( neinng ciover nay, ana nurriea 11 ght along. i Half an hour later, when I was ;pecting instant death at any c inute, I thought about that ? reet clover smell, anu how unap- j r eciative I have been of it, and of^ le blue sky and the fresh air, and i the green things lighted yellow 1 ith sunshine, and I .took a vow j iat, if I ever did get a chance to ' ljoy them again, I would spend i le remainder of my life in so do-1 g, and in being grateful to the ; reator of them. 1 In the cabin, I went at once to le kitchen; and, removing fish- 1 iskets, fly-books, and reels from 1 le shelf, lifted it back. \ I am sure that I had expected to ( nd it empty. What I had not exited to find, and what I certain- t had never hoped to find, was hat was there; any number of 1 ;atly wrapped packages, address- c I to Mr. Sam Stanley, sent by ex- r ess, and labeled, variously, "Dan- a ir," "Explosives." "Handle with r -re." t I """ 1 A S XT 1 J 1 i ou Know tne too, that every d for trouble, but v it comes. Every Met Then, there is i "ounce of preve] near so much ab i We, of course, icine chest, and together than rig I Boyc r IVARREN RECORD It did not take any common sense to know, straight off, that, sent to him or not, Sam was not nixed up in any business that had to do with explosives, bombs, and Bolshevism. It was easy enough to remember, then, that Sam had not been to Rattail for the past ten days; that Hubert Hand had been naking the trips down for the nail, expressage, and supplies. Just as he came into my mind, I beard his voice. It was a startling coincidence; but I need a better excuse than that, for surely no nortal ever did a moore foolish thing than I did then. I climbed nto that chest, along with those packages, and lowered the lid down ever me. If I had any idea, I suppose it must have been a desire not ;o let him know that I had discovered his secret?his and Gaby's together, undoubtedly?but I can't remember having any thought at ill until, just as the lid closed, I emembered the sad poem about she bride and the mistletoe chest. Then I heard, through the thin loards, Hubert Hand, talking to some one, come into the kitchen. [ chose death by suffocation or combustion. "My dear woman," were the first vords I heard from him, "you may set your mind at rest. I am not roing to marry the girl. I am not > lnamrinot man. as VOU knOWJ * * J . md, if I were, she wouldn't have ne." "You leave her alone, then. UnJerstand me. Leave her alone." If I believed my ears, that was Mrs. Ricker's voice; that was Mrs. Ricker, not only talking, but talkng like that to Hubert Hand. "You flatter me," he said. "Jeal)us, still, after all these years? I told you that I wouldn't marry ler, and that she wouldn't have ne, if I were willing to." "Wouldn't she, though? Wouldn't she? She is mad about you. She :an't look at you without love in ler eyes, nor speak to you with>ut love in her voice. She tries to lide it; but she can't hide it from ne. I know. She loves you." I am not sure whether I read it, )r whether I figured it out for myself; but I do know it is a fact that 10 woman ever accuses another voman of being in love with a man mioss she nould imagine being in ove with him herself. "As to that," Hubert Hand said, 'what possible difference would it nake to you, Ollie?" "Only that I would kill her, and ^ou, too, before I would let her lave you." "Eqsy on, there, my girl. Your ast attempt at murder?at least I lope that was your last attempt, vas not, you may recall, very suc:essful." "I would be successful another ;ime." I kept quiet; very quiet. Surounded, in there by explosives, and >ut there by people who talked of nurder as calmly and as comfortibly as if they were discussing noss-roses, very quiet did not seem lalf quiet enough. TITCH TIME rest of it?"Saves Nil -rr VMi/vTrnn *i4t1 c\y jjiuvco ito i/j- uiu. ve like to be prepared home should have an iicine CI at hand relief in tim ntive" and you won't out the "pound of cur are fully prepared to there is no better tim< ;ht now. e Driii Warrenton, North Cf They went into the other room of the cabin and I stayed there for a few minutes. I could not hear ,what they were saying, but I did not budge an inch. After I heard them passing the window, and I was sure they had left the cabin, I remained, very quiet, in the chest for about five minutes longer before climbing out of it. I was progressing toward home, shivering in every bone, limping, i since both of my legs naa gone to sleep, when Sam, riding his badtempered bronco, named Wishbone, came up behind me and dismounted. "Corns bad, Mary?" he questioned. "Want to climb up on Wishbone and have me lead him?" "When I go to meet death," I told him, "1 sha'n't go on the back of a nasty-tempered bronco. Considering that everyone on the DesI orf Mnnn is. at this minute, in mor tal danger of their lives, all your lighthearted jesting seems pretty much out of place." I told him, then, about the packages of explosives hidden under the shelf. I had not told him about my climbing in with them; so I was in no way prepared for :his actions. He stopped. He dropped Wishj bone's bridle. He put both his hands on his stomach and leaned over and burst into uproarious laughter. "Ho-ho-ho," it rolled out, seeming to fill the entire valley. "Fireworks," he gasped. -I got them for Martha. Going to surprise her on the Fourth. Sent for them months ago. Hid them up there. Ho-ho-ho! I told you to stop pussy-footing around, Mary. |Ho-ho-ho! 'Do not look for wrong and evil, you will find them if you do?'" With as much dignity as a heavy woman, with both of her legs asleep, could muster, I turned and left him. His words and his actions had certainly given me one decision. From this time on, I would tell Sam Stanley nothing. When I got back to the house, John was driving up the road in the sedan. He had been to Rattail for supplies and for the mail. He tossed the mail bag out to me and (drove to the kitchen door to unToad. There was a letter for Gaby, postmarked France. About a month before this, Gaby [had received another letter that was a duplicate of this one; the same gray paper, the same sprawling handwriting. Instead of taking it indifferently as she did other letters, and reading it wherever she happened to be, she had snatched it out of my hand and had run off to her room. All that evening she had seemed to be preoccupied, and worried. Sending only two letters in close to two months, it seemed to me that whoAVt fV?am rl i A Mnf CVCI Xiau WUl/tCll VIAK, AiUU write unless he or she had something of importance to say. I was still puzzling over it, when Gaby came into the room. Sure enough, she snatched it out of my hands, just as she had done * ? $ 'IN le". You know, We never look to meet it when old time . lest ie. Develop the have to worry i stock that med e for us to get I Go. FRIDAY, OCTOBER U J ran \ seem to feel trouhir^ZM 1 .tVl the other ie \t lall the time? 1 tw,J \ straight upstairSnd Danny came in.ldid. I do. Gosh \ -When J?hn a. t_r I went up"\ 1 ^n?w." 1 saw- 1 \ feW minutes later. t Gaby's\think Sam does, though S ,iS ??? ear toWtta admit it. ? \S,L for a sounds don'tUame, John, there isnt * A \ the keyhole. our thick W put our fingm on, kX \ L nlainly thrown .. 1 ..x suppose M ? \c0 _ x heard the po her! though, when 1 see iwB \tSS ^at ** br?^ ranch chch, as she looked vhen J? W she came to the \ stairs just now, 1 feel? \WSn8 av/ay- . ,.red so, ai-\be a good thing if songjB \ fvTas tuckered and ti g tions\put their fingers around? ^Phoning some ? q{ throat." * Ho the kitchen, I took P lded in\ "John," I spoke shar^M U tidy myseit ^P; 1 corns, andldoht say things Uy bath, and1 cut mV ^ ^PW mean rt. it u ? rTwhefonmy ^ sure t.the J1 \?u '. t stopped i?r .te_ was lit. I was sure that "TSSJw 4? 01 * ~ *>l I Gabys Titere was n ,ong \spoken, and that ^7? r U ode out of it, s0 1 did be-1 thought had died with -.M \be ma<* lortunate that I \ L.ords. But, horn that da? 11 before X had reached the J\ ^ ^ ^ ? Tf^the stairway, Gab^4ed to me,\to a living soul. Because \? \ ? oDen and she cal that\the way that Gate ^ Jul \ flung open in her vorce i ^ lQ death, ^ \with som ^ my shoeHer\bruises \ett on her thread * \made me feed at he^ l j0 be confer ^ X turned ana ion that was\ I face wom^an e^P ^ nut iiuiiiaix, axi cApicj?iUii tiiat would have made any decent worn- A. a. Cloning^p^ I an do as I did, and turn her eyes ty has developed a h ^ji quickly away. bred Jersey cows fa "Tell Danny to come up here," bred heifer purchased ^ 111 she said. I hurried off downstairs, and de- ^ livered the message to Danny who was with John in the living room. "What's the matter, Mary?" . John questioned, when Danny had 1*1$) 1 F J gone upstairs. "You look as if you CltJ had seen a ghost." "I think," I answered, "that I 5 have?the ghost of Sin." Fof bj "Doggone that girl," he said. "I M. R. BUKR0CG8SI wish she were in Jericho." Warrenton, N. c, I "Gaby, you mean?" "You're darn rieht. She's caus- 1 ~ ing all the trouble around here." DR. THOS. A, SHF? "What trouble?" I asked, just1 OPTOMERthisiI for q. foclcr. "I don't know?exactly. She Office over Bank of M keeps Danny miserable. But that Warrenton, N. c. 1 isn't it, or not all of it. Don't you ? A Save Money I By Paying Taxes I Early I nr* i rv t k\V !k11 i nc Lav* Machinery Act, 1929 I Sec. 805. Discounts and Penalties in P?M ment of Taxes H 1,1 All taxes assessed and or levied byufl county in this State, in accordance the provisions of this act, shall be due aiifl payable on the first Monday of OctoM of the year in which so assessed and levies and if actually paid in cash? H (1) On or before the first day of N? (TAtVtUnM ?- -T i A^AV Q ff ft T1 3 V ci b 1 C1 iveiiiuei ucau aitci uuv. r_? ^_ shall be deducted a discount of one pfl (2) After the first day of Nove?'jJ and on or before the first day of Decs* ber next after due and payable, t < shall be deducted a discount of one- w of one per cent. (3) After the first day and on or H fore the first day of February ne. due and payable, the tax shall be Pai V par or face value. / pnhril&fM 1(4) After the first day or rcu.jgrtM and on or before the first day of . next after due and payable, there s * JM added to the tax a penalty of one (5) After the first day of Marc|?* on or before the first day of ^Prl after due and payable there shall e to the tax a penalty of two Per cen (6) After the first day of ! JM - " -l J? May next ^ (or betore tne nrsi ua,y w ? amm due and payable, there shall he a penalty of three per cent. (7) After the first day of JIay fJM or before the first day of June ne* due and payable, there sh.all be 3 penalty of four cents. I Board of Commissioners of ^ar County 1
The Warren Record (Warrenton, N.C.)
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Oct. 11, 1929, edition 1
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