Show 3 I 1 Tel gram t Hostile H OS tel 1 e V Valley a II ey Ames b by Williams Ben BenI I I Fiction G TODAY already been trouble in iny re had most of it if had hadI and y Valley Valle I his Will wm Ferrin brought I when Huldy to live there bride Id I who ran the s stam nm 55 eh valI vaHey had b been n killed by bj U in the Je of his attentions to o oi 0 Will had been shot in i hUe while 01 dJ and wd wounded so 10 0 badly by sew Seth seto ia necessary to amputate it j t day Huldy left Hostile itt Ite another man mm and things I With smoothly that winter and Anim ong 1 ct Will and nd a 8 hired man Zeke jj on Wills Will's farm larm and Jenny jived j I pa had hd be been n in m love ove with who ho 0 Pt B rn since jaCC v she 8 w was WU a J. girl of 16 16 spent CI t time Huldy there returned to ge get some I Is July which she had left but d di de de- cl ts after alter seeing Zeke Dace stay t to i this Bart Carey yas as beaten by Zeke because of ny to Huld Huldy Lii sister Amy and ke Dace girts girt's before tn very cry friendly td iii W arrival but had become de de- 11 Hu r nt 1 lD and nd killed herself by drinke drink drink- e W spray pray After this hap hap- if jig Dg th things went vent on unchanged yet in the valley a sinister cx expectation tion began more and more to dwell NOW GO ON WITH T THE STORY ESTOnY CHAPTER XII Bart stopped at the hoU house one morning the wheels of ot his hu buggy mud clogged to the hubs to take commissions com corn missions for shopping at the village and after he was vas gone I it rained again so that th they thay y were kept all ds day in In- doors Dusk c came me early till the lamps In the kitchen n and dining room made all snug and warm Marm Peirce and Jenny began gan to survey the weather westher signs It might lilt lift tomorrow she said The winds wind's this way that way now but if it it shifts well we'll get a change Jenny made no ro comment and the theold theold theold old woman added With so o much rain things aint started to grow yet It'll b be a late spring and sudden First Fird touch louch of oC sun Un and everything will grow a wc week k in a day A spring like this I cant can't set get ct my simples when they're right Ill go tomorrow and see sec what I Ican Ican Ican can find lind Jenny offered You can get me rae a water lily Illy root anyway Marm Pierce reflected If the water aint too deep The girl said aid Theres a pool down toward the bog with an old log login login in m it and lilies grow in back of the log It Its It's not deep there I can reach down Marm Mum Pierce opened the he oven to see i if Li the biscuits were done and a blast of hot air struck her in the face Whew she exclaimed and closed the oven Im bound to air out or she said and opened the kitchen door Then she ejaculated Bart Bartl I never heard you come up on t the porch Wheres Where's your team Jenn Jenny turned and saw Bart there thereon on the porch just outside the door too deep to git in here and not founder he explained I walked over from my house howe Heres Here's yore things sr Marm Pierce spoke sharp sharply Well dont don't come tracking into m my kitchen he hc said slId an and took his hu burdens from him Much obliged Good night to you ou And she he pushed the door shut with her knee kne Jenny rell relieving vIng her of at some of oC the tM parcels said Eald in amusement You cut him off pretty short Might have I asked him in I Suspects Superb Bart of Eavesdropping Id lOrd a notion nollon hed he'd b ben en n standing I there listening the old woman declared de dared Be just like him to tol If It Id I'd h ho was there Id I'd have said something he wouldn't like to hear Jenny smiled at the old womans woman's You dont don't like Bart do you Ou 1 And Marm Pierce said flatly No I hate a n- n man that's always doing me favors vorE She smiled grimly at her ner own words Foolish of ot me like as not but that's the way I bo be Later ti the r nan m began again but they were were here here secure Rain was dancing on the roo roof and against the weatherboards when Jenny went to bed but she slept quickly deeply till the belated gray of a moist and sodden dawn And woke and ro rose e without ing There were in her no Yet Yd this was the day when death and Saladine came to Hostile Valley and the face ace of Jennys Jenny's world forever changed Saladine t the of ot this hid hid- d den n valley about which so man many dark tales clustered checked his car caron caron caron on the l ledge dge above Will Ferrins Ferrin's farm for Cor long enough to survey urvey the scene enc shrouded in a mist like rain but at last he loo loosed cd his brakes and began the st steep cp descent The road plunged downward then relaxed to a more gradual pitch and he saw pr presently a meadow on one hand and a rocky pasture where were cows and the well kept buildings of ofa a 1 i farm The house hOUle was white not fresh Cresh painted yet not dingy either elther the barn was staunch and the roof was yellow ellow with new shingles The buildings were set back a little from the road upon a knoll that was like a buttress buttres of the ridge and Saladine thought there must be from this farm farma a wide outlook across the valley l if the he da day was clear There was nothing extraordinary I In n the outward aspect of the place It was like countless s others other hereabouts hereabouts here here- except that perhaps the buildIngs buildIngs buildings build build- ings were a little larger There was ra rather ther something reassuring in the very ery fact that it was an ordinary thrift thrifty farm tarm yet et Saladine knew that it must be Will wm Ferrins Ferrin's and he remembered remembered re re- Huldy FerrIns FerrIn's dark repute repute re reo re- re and w wished curiously that he hemi mi might ht encounter her Yet he had no excuse for stopping The brook was I In the valley below so he passed by and crossed another ledge and the therOld road rOld dipped downward more steeply still But a hundred yards below belo the farmhouse he jammed on brakes and skidded to a stop Here the road was precipitous and the rain the night before had done damaging things to it IL Water racing down the ditches had gnawed into the margins margins mar mar- gins gw to such effect that there was not room for lor a car to pass On one side or the other the wheels must drop off oIl into the ditch and the ditch itself itsel was so deep that if it a car did suffer this mischance its wheels would be left spinning with no foot- foot inc under them Stops at Will FerrIns FerrIn's Farm Saladine checked his car with not notten notten ten len feet to spare and then began to back up this steep road and he was faintly pleased Ferrins Ferrin's farm larm would serve erve as a place to leave the car He might see Huldy there He backed past the drive that led into the farmyard and swung in in and he passed the front of ol the house house blank with shades drawn down and the door uncompromisingly closed closed- and came into the barnyard And then he saw through the open door of the shed a man This man had been fitting stove wood he came cameto cameto cameto to the shed door with his ax still in his hand to look at Sal Saladine dIne A Atall Atall tall lank man a young man an Illman ill m man These were Jims Jim's first impressions impressions impressions in their order But also this man wore absurdly one of ot tho those e high crowned broad brimmed felt fell hats which are reputed to be large enough to hold ten gallons of oC any liquid you OU cho chose e to pour into them This was an old hat the crown was dented and battered and th there rc were were holes in it the brim curled in eccentric eccentric fashion and there was a horsehair horse horse- hair band of at many colors around the crown Such a hat bat des ned to shed weather designed to protect the head and face of a man on horeb horseback from the stroke and md slash of scrub brush through which he must ride has no proper function on a farm in Maine and Jim switched off oU his engine and slid to the ground and approached this man of at half hall a mind to ask him the questions which his hat pro pro- pro pro- yoked But instead he only said Morning Morn ing And he only asked You Will Ferrin 7 Wills In the house the man answered answered an an- grudgingly in a voice curl curl- shaken and hollow Saladine had again that strong impression that the other was ill that he was wai a husk drained and emptied of at all strength and vehemence He added n now w Unnecessarily unnecessarily un Un- necessarily Im Zeke Dace His tone was as somber and 2nd there was reasonless rea rca sonless suspicion in his e eyes eys s. s I come to fish the brook down below below be be- low Saladine explained as 13 though some explanation were by the others other's glance required of him The roads road's washed out tw tween en here and Careys Carey's so I thought to leave my car here and walk down Zeke did not speak but his eye when Jim spoke the name name- name of ot Car Carey y held a spark strange to see ee Then Th n his glance turned to one side at something beyond Saladine's line of vulon there within the shed Saladin Saladine Saladine Sala Sala- dine din was a bold man but he felt a prickling at the back backof of ot his neck and instinctively recoiled d a little from th the door wary watchful for whatever whatever whatever what what- ever should appear Saladine Sees Huldy dy But it was only a woman who appeared ap ap- ap in the doorway and at first Saladine was relieved at sight of at h her r. r Then he was was' astonished astonish d at her beauty auty and remembering this this' womans woman's repute repute re re- re he stood on guard From the tales he had heard of cf Huldy Ferrin he had thought to see in her ler a vicious slattern the marks of ot other her ler depravity plain to any eye but this woman did not fit the picture he had formed She came slowly into sight and leaned her shoulder should r against the side of ot the door and looked at Saladine she looked at at him in a calm complete appraisal from head to io toe with smoldering faintly sparkling sparkling sparkling spar spar- kling eyes in which ev even n while Saladine Sala dine watched her a warm light began began be be- gan distantly to gleam Saladine for a moment felt his own eyes fall yet he was an observant man and he remarked h her r habit now She wore something sha shapeless and yet ct shapely too since it fitted Itself itself it It- self sell to her The color of ot th the heavy stuff stull was dull red and there was knotted mo tied about her waist a length of light rope like clothesline with the ends hanging down This rope at nt her waist girdling her body had an e ef- ef feet leet not to be put in simple words Her dress dres became with this a addition tJ not a drew diw but blIt a robe rob it acquired an exotic and disturbing grace The cord at her waist seemed seem to mold the loose olds folds gracefully ar around und her Saladine saW y inattentively that the knot in the cord was awkwardly tied It was WM not a square knot but a granny su such h as 0 women tie And lh then n he looked at ai her countenance countenance counte counte- nance again his pul pul- pulse c suddenly pounding She seemed reamed e d large y yet t he realized realised that she was in fact act small and arid smoothly formed It was only that her head hend was perhaps somewhat larger than due proportion would have required with that resulting emphasis upon the conformation of her lips lIpa and eyes which h is s l often an attribute of ot the great women o 0 othe o othe the stags stage And her lier hair wet was black at as Ink and her eyes rs y s too and th they shone and nd in th them rr a de deep p flam burned ne Her cheek heek was warm with sun and her armS arms arm bare to the elbow below sl sleeves rolled roBed high were likewise likewise likewise like like- wise sunned to the ver very sleeve with no thin white circle above the elbow el ci- bow to suggest that where h her r dr dress diers s covered her her body all was white Saladine had disturbingly an in in- slant stant picture of this woman all in inthe inthe inthe the suns sun's embrace no garment to hinder hinder hin hin- der the gilding brush stroke with which its rays laid their color on She was one of those women who no matter what they wear wear seem to a mans man's eye unclothed d To be continued tomorrow |