The Lampasas Daily Leader (Lampasas, Tex.), Vol. 32, No. 181, Ed. 1 Friday, October 4, 1935 Page: 3 of 4
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THE LAMPASAS LEADER
HOScriLE||UALLEl|
illi
Copyright by Ben Ames Williams.
X*q Ben Ames Um Liams
WNtJ Service.
SYNOPSIS
At a gathering of cronies in the vil-
lage of liberty, Maine, Jim Sahuline
listens to the history of the neighbor-
ing Hostile Valley—its past tragedies,
its superb fishing streams, and, above
ail, tbe mysterious, enticing "Huldy,"
wife of Will Ferrin. Interested, he
drives to the Valley for a day's fishing,
though admitting to himself his chief
desire is to see the glamorous Huldy
Ferrin. “Old Marin" Pierce and her
nineteen-year-old granddaughter Jenny
live In the Valley. Since childhood
J'enny has deeply loved young Will
Ferrin, older than she, and who re-
gards her as still a child. Will leaves
to take employment in nearby Augusta.
His father’s death brings Will back
to the Valley, but he returns to Au-
gusta, still unconscious of Jenny's
Womanhood, and love. Neighbors of
the Pierces are Bart and Amy Carey,
brother and sister. Bart, unmarried and
something of a ne’er-do-well, is at-
tracted by Jenny. The girl repulses
him definitely. Learning that. Will
Is coming home, Jenny, exulting, sets
his long-empty house "to rights," and
has dinner ready for him. lie comes—
-..ringing his wife, Huldy. The girl's
■world collapses. Huldy becomes tbe
subject of unfavorable gossip in the
Valley. Entering his home unlooked
for. Will finds seemingly damning
evidence of his wife’s unfaithfulness
as a man he knows is Seth Humph-
reys breaks from the house.
CHAPTER IV—Continued
—7—
But Will had spent no energy in
tain direct pursuit. He hud cut
straight for the steam mill down the
Valley, to wait for Seth there; and
Humphreys after a while guessed this.
He sahl to Bart, himself reluctantly
preparing to depart:
•'Bart, you got a gun in the house?
There’s a wild bull in the woods down
where we’re working, been bothering
the men. I’m a mind to shoot him."
Bart said: "I’ve got. an old revolver
that throws a heavy slug, if you can
hold it straight. You get near enough
and you could kill an elephant with
it.”
"Let me have that,” Seth proposed.
“This hull, be comes right up around
the mill. I can get near enough to
him without no trouble at ail.”
So Bart produced the revolver, an
ancient model, in a heavy holster
stained by-years of use. “(Jot quite a
history, that gun has.” he said proud-
ly. "Fellow «ut in Denver found a
dea.d man in a gulch in the mountains
one day, with this gun on him and a
bullet through his head. He sent the
gun to me. Trigger’s mighty light. Sin-
gle action. You have to cock it.”
Seth hefted the weapon, sighted it.
made sure it was loaded. “Much
obliged,” he said. “I'll fetch it hack to
you.”
And he got Into the truck, and laid
the pistol on the seat beside him. and
went on his way.
The man was afraid! He was as big
as Will Ferrin; not quite so tail, hut
heavier. Nevertheless, just as a dog
lights best in its own yard, so does a
man in the wrong fight poorly. Seth
wanted no fight with Will Ferrin; and
his very fears gave him a false cour-
age, a pseudo-ferocity. He gritted his
teeth and shook his head and vowed
that Will had better not try to Jay a
band on him.
He drove down the Valley road and
turned into the rough wood track that
led to the clearing where the steam
mill was set beside a spring brook that,
furnished water for the boilers. The
mill was working, the mill crew gatb
ered in the shed.
But Seth did not see Will anywhere
about, and knew a deep relief. There
was at oBe side a shed of rough hoards,
roofed with tar paper, with a dirt
floor. In which the truck was custom-
arily stored against the weather. Its
doors were swung wide, and Seth
turned the truck into this shed.
But as he did so, Will Ferrin came
suddenly out from behind one wide-
flung door, and leaped on the truck’s
running board, p>y Seth's very elbow.
His countenance was affrighting. Seth’s
foot missed the brake, pressed the
throttle instead; then he found the
brake and jammed It down. The truck-
leaped ahead, tried to stop, skidded
sidewise; the right rear wheel broke
pai'tly through one wall, the front mud-
guard burst into the opposite wall.
And Will, in silent, deadly purpose,
caught Seth's throat with both hands
to drag him to the ground.
Seth’s hand found the ready pistol;
he thumbed the hammer back. As the
weapon came into his sight, Will re-
leased Seth’s throat with his left hand
and grabbed at Seth’s wrist that held
the gun. The two men were falling to-
gether as the pistol exploded. Will
felt the heavy ball plow into his leg
below the knee, crashing through the
bone with a shocking Impact
But be did not. loose the grip he
had.
The mill was sixty or seventy yards
away, and the saw, at the moment of
the shot, was whining through a log;
hut Luke Hills was beyond the mill,
by the brook, and his ears were dear
of the saw's close proximity. He
heard the shot, and came lumbering
up the bank, shouting the alarm to
the others. The men came to the shed
door, and saw Will and Seth down in
a locked grip, and Will’s leg was hide-
ous. But the muzzle of a heavy pis-
tol pointed toward them from the
ground, wavering in the tight grip of
two opposing bauds, and this was
enough to deter the boldest for a mo-
ment. They dodged aside, peering cau-
tiously; and by the time they found
courage to draw near, Seth was dead.
But Will, despite his wound, was
alive; and Luke knotted a bit of rope
around Will’s leg. and twisted it with
a stick. There was a babble of com-
mands and advice and argument. For
Seth, clearly, there was nothing to be
done.
‘‘But we got to get help for Will,
hei-e, mighty quick,” Luke pointed
out.
One of the other men remembered
Marin Fierce. Two boards secured to-
gether by crosspieces served as a rude
litter. They set out to carry Will
through the woods to the old woman’s
house.
It. was thus that Jenny saw Will
again, lrorne on a rough litter impro-
vised of fresh sawed boards still red-
olent of sap and resin, his face drained
white, his eyes closed, his leg below
the knotted rope a shattered thing.
She saw the men approaching with
their burden, and she and Mann
Bierce came out on the kitchen porch,
and the old woman cried urgently:
“Somebody’s hurt bad! Jenny, get
the cloth off the dining room table.
But a couple leaves in, and a blanket
on it, so’s they can lay him there.”
Jenny would have run desperately
to meet them, but the old woman held
her from that futility. So when Luke
and the others arrived, the table was
prepared, and Marin Bierce met them
at the door.
"Fetch him in,” she commanded.
"Who Is it? Will Ferrin?”
"His leg’s shot off,” said Luke Hills
hoarsely. “Seth shot him; would have
But He Did Not Loose the Grip
He Had.
killed him. like as not. But Will held
on till he choked the life out of Seth.”
"Don't stand there talking!” the old
woman scolded. "Lay him on the table
here, easy. One of you go over to Bart
Carey’s and telephone for a doctor.”
"We ’lowed you could . .
"Get a doctor. I told you! Jabber-
ing like a pack of crows! Lay him
down. Now get out of here, the lot
of you. Jenny and me, we'll tend him.
One of you go telephone, and the rest
of you stay handy, case 1 need you.”
A man departed at a clumsy run. and
Marm Bierce, standing by Will, slitting
away his overalls, tugging at his heavy
shoe, asked over her shoulder:
"Where’s Seth?”
"He’s dead. No help for him,” Luke
Hills told her.
"Well, go stay with him. one of you."
she directed. "Get along.” And to
Jenny; "Shut the door!”
So Jenny and Marm Pierce were
left to tend the hurt man, and Marm
Bierce as she bared the wound made
little rueful whistling sounds between
her teeth, and Jenny was eoid as
stone, all emotions in abeyance, stand-
ing like ice.
"Get water boiling. Jenny,” Mann
Bierce directed. "The doctor’ll want
that, certain. And fetch some water
here till 1 clean bis leg all I can.”
Jenny turned to the kitchen, chunked
the fire, pumped water, put the ket-
tle on the stove; then she came back
to the dining room. Site had not
spoken.
Will's eyelids wavered, opened, then
closed again. He said weakly: "My
team’s tied, up on—ridge road. Some-
body fetch ’em home.”
“You hush up, Will," Marm Bierce
told him. "You’ll need all .the strength
you’ve got.”
"Nut come off the axle,” Will in-
sisted. "There’s a spare nut in th’
shed, somewheres.”
“Hush, T tell you!” the old woman
cried. She loosed the tourniquet a lit-
tle, till blood flowed again, then tight-
ened It once more. She saw Jenny’s
fearful doubts of this procedure, fand‘
sa i d:
“1 dunno, Jenny, Seems like I’ve
heard tell you’ve got to let some blood
get through, or the leg’ll die. 1 guess
it’s going to have to be eut off, though.
No bone left, only splinters, for four-
ftve inches down the shin.”
Jenny nodded dumbly.
“All we oan do Is keep him quiet
till the doctor comes,” Marm Bierce
confessed. “I can cure some hurts, this
here is too much for me.”
And later she said: “You put a pil-
low under his head, and a blanket over
him, to keep him warm.”
But when these things were done
they could only keep vigil, till after a
long hour the doctor did arrive.
When that which had now to be
done was done, Jenny was left drained
and empty, her muscles limp, her. heart
sick. Throughout, she and Marm Pierce
had helped the doctor; the old woman
administering chloroform drop by drop
under strict direction, Jenny holding
this and that as she was bidden.
With the first stroke of knife, she
was stunned as though by a head
blow; had thereafter no sense or strict
consciousness of what went forward
here at all. This still form on the table
ceased to be the man she loved; she
helped like an automaton, her cheek
white as stone, her hands precise and
strong, while flesh and blood and bone
of good Will Ferrin were reduced to
carrion. The overpowering physical ex-
perience would leave its traces on her
thereafter in lasting ways; yet she
was for the moment spared emotion.
This was no tempest of the soul which
buffeted her. Bather she suffered
physical blows and wrenchings, and
emerged exhausted, bruised, weary to
the heart.
When at last she was no longer
needed, she went weakly Into the
kitchen to wash her hands and clean
her garments; she returned to her
own room to change into her other
gear. Time had flown; dusk was pur-
ple in the Valley. When she returned
to the dining room. Will had somehow
been moved so that he lay, breathing
in long gasping inhalations, on the
couch; and Jenny found the doctor
gone, and only Marm Bierce and Luke
Hills remaining here.
The old woman looked at Jenny in
the lamp’s pale light, and saw the
girl’s exhaustion; and she came to say
to her softly:
"Jenny, there’s nought to do here for
a while. It will be long enough till he
knows us, or knows anything. You get
out of doors, get some air, breathe life
back into you, child. You’re pale as a
gune thing yourself, this minute. I’ll
tend all here.”
And Jenny, moving with a curious
passivity, obeyed the old woman as
she was used to obey. The night would
be cold; and she put on a coat over
her dress, and a shawl about her head
and shoulders, and went out into the
thickening darkness.
This was a still, cold night, with
threat of another frost before dawn.
The stars prickling overhead, stooping
low, peered brightly down like the
eyes of curious children.. The girl
looked up at them, and she heard
an owl’s hooting cry far down the
Valley; and she heard the nimble of
a distant automobile, somewhere
toward the steam mill, and saw a
sweeping ray of light above the trees
as though a car were turning there,
its headlights like a searchlight’s
beam.
They would be taking Seth Hum-
phreys’ body away, she thought; and
she thought Will had killed him, and
thought of the law and what the law
would have to say to this; and she
thought loyally that none could blame
Will. Blame Huldy, It might lie; but
not Will.
And slow anger began to wake in
her. to supplant the terrible stricken
grief because a part of Will was gone,
and the sweet flesh she loved was now
reduced to a noisome thing that must
be disposed of secretly and swiftly.
Anger woke In her; at Seth Hum-
phreys for bis active part, and at
Huldy for her secret, passive role.
Seth was dead, beybnd reach of
Jenny’s wrath; hut Huldy lived!
And Jenny found herself going at
long strides, Hke a swift avenger,
toward the brook, along tbe wood
path, toward Will’s farm — where
Huldy now would be.
Jenny went in wrath; but her deep,
abiding anger was bound in fetters not
easily to be broken, for Huldy was
Will’s wife, and the girl had wit
enough, deep sense enough, sound wis-
dom enough to understand that this
was no seemly hour for a woman’s
brawl. To shame Huldy would be to
shame Mill; and with sudden clear
perception Jenny knew that this she
would not do. So by the time she had
crossed the brook and climbed the
steep trail and come up through the
orchard to the house, she was steady
again, bent and hound first and above
all else to protect Will from ugly
tongues.
She came through the burn into the
farmyard; and through the unshaded
window of the kitchen she saw Huldy
within. And sight of Huldy checked
the girl; for Will’s wife was dressed
in an unaccustomed fashion, in a skirt
and coat of some dark stuff. Also
Jenny saw that Bart Carey stood be-
side her. bending down to her. speak-
ing Intently; and she saw Huld.v’s
slow, mocking smile as she looked at
the man. her head tilted backward, the
smooth line of her throat sweeping
deep into her bosom.
This much Jenny saw, not particu-
larly Intent on Bart, but startled by
the fashion of Hnldy’s dress; and she
went quickly to knock upon tbe kitchen
door.
Huldy called: "Come in!” So jenny
entered.
The two faced her from beyond the
table; the lamplight was strong upon
them. Iluldy sat with her head a lit-
tle on one side, her dark eyes shad-
owed, her lips curled in that (kwp
smile; Bart, beside her, stood half-
erect, one hand still upon the arm of
her chair, as though he had been bend-
ing over her in some stern or ardent
urgency.
And Jenny said slowly;
“Mis’ Ferrin, I guess you don’t know
it, or you’d been there; but Will’s
hurt over to Granny’s house. The doc-
tor—cut his leg off. You’ll have to
come on over!”
Bart straightened up, his face hot
"That’s what I’ve been telling her,”
he said, yet not convincingly; and
Uuldy’s eyes turned toward him, with
a sardonic upward twist of her brow.
“He’ll be coming , to,< soon,” Jenny
urged. “When the chloroform wears
off. And he’ll want you there.”
Bart insisted: “Yes, Huldy! He’ll
want you! You’d ought to go along
with Jenny!”
Huldy sat at ease, one knee crossed
over tin* other, one foot moving slight-
ly in a tight little rhythm. Jenny saw
that the other woman’s hat lay od the
table by the lamp.
"You were getting ready to come?”
she hazarded. “I guess Bart told you
about it. I thought you mightn’t
know.” Huldy did not speak at all;
and Jenny asked Bart: “How did you
know?” » *
“They telephoned from my house,”
he reminded her. "I was fishing, down
brook, with a man that’s been staying
at my place. Amy told me, when I got
home, a while ago. I come right up
here ...”
“Quick as a tomcat,” said Huldy,
with a mocking glance at him; and
he said hotly, virtuously;
“It looked to me you’d need some
one. You’d have the chores to do . .
Jenny remembered something for-
gotten. She cried: “Oh, Bart! Will
says his team’s up on the ridge road.
He lost a nut off the wagon. You’d
better go fetch them back to the barn.”
Bart hesitated; but Huldy said,
watching him cruelly: “Go along,
Bart. You can make up to a horse,
maybe!”
Jenny perceived, without under-
standing, a baffled anger In Bart; she
thought he was provoked by Huldy’s
henrtlessness, and she touched his
arm. “Go on, Bart,” she urged. “Go
fetch the team back and unhitch them
and give them some feed. . . . I’ll
take Huldy over home.”
There was sweat on Bart’s brow;
he looked from Jenny to Huldy and
his dark eye fixed on Will’s wife. “You
stay here till I come back,” he mut-
tered. “I want to talk to you.”
"Bve heard all you’ve got to say,”
Huldy told him. “Ifet away from me,
and stay away!’’ There was no heat
in her tones; no trace of anger; rather
a slow, maddening scorn.
Bart snatched at his hat. ‘Til coni9
back,” he insisted, almost threatening-
ly, and then was gone. So these two
women were left alone, and Huldy
looked at the girl with narrowed eyes,
and she said tonelessly:
“I guess you feel bad about Will."
"Yes,” Jenny -assented. “Yes, I do!"
Huldy shifted her position, spoke in
casual inquiry. “Is he hurt real bad?"
Jenny watched her, remembering
that this woman was the source from
which catastrophe had sprung; and
Huldy waved a careless hand. "Will,
he’s always one to look for trouble,"
she reflected. “He come tramping info
the house, and flew off the handle at
nothing, and went out again a-running.
That’s nil 1 know,” Her lips twitched
with amusement. "You go on and tell
me," she urged.
Jenny explained: “Will and Seth,
they fit, dowu’t tbe mill. Seth had a
gun . .
“That was Bart’s gun,” Huldy inter-
rupted. "Seth borrowed it, claimed he
wanted to shoot a wild bull.” She
laughed softly. "As if Will was wild,
or a bull either, matter of that! But
Seth always would lie.”
“Seth shot Will,” Jenny persisted,
her tones shaken. “The bullet hit Will’s
leg and broke the bones all to pieces.
It went smashing down into his foot;
and they fetched him to the house,
and the doctor—cut. his leg off.”
(TO BE CONTINUED)
Only Independent Republic
The only independent republic that
has existed within the present boun-
daries of the United States was Texas.
Until iSAG it was part of Mexico, and
in that year declared its independence
as a republic, which existed until De-
cember 2D. 184o, when it was formally
annexed to the United States. An at-
tempt by Gen. John C. Fremont and
others to establish an independent Re-
publican government in California la
1845 was not successful, and in 184€
it .was officially made a territory of
the Unted States.
Scents Attract Timber WoItm
The timber wolf, trappers agree, tt
the wiliest of all animals. Only expe-
rienced trappers take wolves consist
entiy in traps. They are taken raostlj
with the aid of secret aDd jealously
guarded scents which have * tttMi aI
traction for the vr&lxtm.
Accent Is on Costume Suit for Fall
By CHERIE NICHOLAS
ions Is present in the double collar and
pointed vestee front. The collar Is of
black lynx as is the banding,at the
bottom of tbe coat.
For the tall stately woman or the
slim older woman who aspires to add-
ed slimness, an answer to her long-
ings is given In the smart restaurant
costume as pictured In the center of
the group. It reflects influence of the
Italian renaissance especially in the
grandiose royal purple velvet which
fashions it. The rich and. beautiful
reds, purples and greens of early Ital-
ian painters are the featured kind this
season. Fitted basque with snugllttle^Yn
waistline, trimly fitting hips and fiar-
ing-below-the-knees skirt are all flat-
tering. The glaringly new details,
however, are -a ..youthful;peplem v flare
of the jacket'togetfer Avitb-full sleeves
that are Titled Tn at the-wrisf to be
very Mattering to'dhe -hands. The.-pil-
low muff which she carries 3s also
significant, for it lias been quite some
time since this type of muff was in
fashion. The fur is a shaded tedin-
iner and its manner of bordering the
edges emphasizes a high-style trimming
note.
From Russia comes the suggestion
for the fitted town suit shown to the
right. It -registers as' very . “joohgiV* -
for its flared tunic line a la Xiosse
makes it youthful. It is flattering to
either the tall or short slim figure, de-
pending upon the length of the coat.
Mahogany nis^ a new rich tone not too
reddish, is the color of the cloth. Tail-
ored bandings cf beige krimmer make
this costume suit look all the more
Russian. The frock underneath, how-
ever, is quite American with its sim-
ple tailored lines and amusing pocket*
and novel wooden buttons. j
© Western Newspaper Union. f -
O O MANY women do not
^ think they can wear
suits, because, unless one
be slim and svelte, a blouse
and skirt are apt to prove
a problem at the waistline.
To such “cheerio” is the
message for designers of
vision and inventive genius have taken
the matter to heart and have come to
the rescue of despairing ones. They
have surmounted the difficulty via that
which they are pleased to title in fash-
ion’s vocabulary as the “costume suit”
Needless to say the new costume suits
carry the promise of a foremost vogue,
autumn and winter through, seeing
that they are proving as effective as a
strict reducing diet in slenderizing the
figure.
The idea is to top a slim frock of
some one or other of the incomparably
handsome wools or wools-and-silk,
such as are glorifying the current fab-
ric showings, with a varied length
coat to match. The fact that intrigu-
ing fur trimmings are playing such
an important role in present-day styl-
ing adds to the glamor and prestige of
these voguish costumes.
In tuning the theme of these slender-
izing suit effects to the individuality
of the wearer, much depends upon the
coat to “turn the trick.” The accom-
panying Illustration of a trio of molds
recently sliown by style creators of
the Chicago wholesale market district
demonstrate the point better than
words can tell.
If your ambition is to arrive at
slimness and height, the costume to
the left In the picture will help you
make dreams come true. The slightly
full-below-tlie-elbow sleeves, with just
the right length to the coat, combined
with fitted bodice lines and slender
hipline trend to accentuate a slender-
ized silhouette. The simple gored lines
of the skirt also trends to the straight
slim look.
The bright metal touch which Is so
dramatically enhancing the new fasb-
WITH A HOOD
By CHERIE NICHOLAS
PLEATS DOMINATE
STYLES FOR FALL
They’ve taken .a pleat in fashion this
fall, and the results are bol-b.-»omei\
ous and startling. >
Bleats turn up at the-most 'Unexpect-
ed places in the new fall frocks, crop-
ping out anywhere from skirt to neck-
line. .J
Pleated sleeves are among the newest
wrinkles of the mode, these being large
and loose in the new manner, drawn in-
to a cuff at tbe wrist. They’re effec-
tive in black chiffon, combined with a
black crepe dipper .gmyiv
Pleated blouses, In soft, sheer fab-
rics, are drawing ecstatic “ah’s” and
“oh’s” from shoppers, who are buying
them for wear wit) the new velvet
cocktail soils.
Some of the newest evening gown#
are all pleats, from neck to hem, done
in soft, slinky fabrics that manage to
outline the figure in a most seductive
manner, keeping their classic, flues as
well.
Here’s a youthful and ultra chic
evening wrap. Hoods and head cov-
erings are still going strong in the
mode. This one is a red-riding hood
type, one that Gladys Swarthout, of
opera fame, has selected as part of her
wardrobe of evening wraps. It is of
brown velveteen and is worn over a
powder blue silk sheer gown which has
skirt fullness and the new tailored top.
It would be handsome in black velvet
—why not £ox your patty wrap this
winter?
Intriguing StyJes in New
Handbags for Fall .Season
Bags are "ShovKn this season in new
and infrRpViftg leathers and combina-
tions, such as froghack- owieiope (a
pebbled soede), fluffed and quitted calf',
saddle leather, alligator, pigskin and
ostrich, all often combined with patent
leather.
Top handles are new and important.
Bags are roomy and soft, with fewer
rigid frames; square. anf olH^n^^l)»^os^ a'
are the most' popular, and there are
many new tricks In fasteners aDd mon-
ograms.
The Schiaparelli handbag, fastened
with gilt padlock and key, is, the tops
for the miser girl, guaranteed pick-
pocket proof. Metal rimmed keyholes
also are used, as are metal button-
holes.
•The “jnad^money” bag; of "suede, ha#
an .qqtjBl,d$ cfiflbge pjors%
a small gold' coin on a gilt ciuO* \<
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The Lampasas Daily Leader (Lampasas, Tex.), Vol. 32, No. 181, Ed. 1 Friday, October 4, 1935, newspaper, October 4, 1935; Lampasas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth897729/m1/3/: accessed July 9, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Lampasas Public Library.