| Show the he brandina Brand inq iron 44 ron katharine newlin burt 1 Copy copyright richt by H N burt SYNOPSIS join joan lendl eight eighteen sen bostro old wife of morro li Is the th daugh tr tor of john carvor who mur der adril 4 hir her mothr mother f for 0 r adultery ir for lonely life with her father in a wyoming cabin unbearable jean lav bavos him to work in a it hoefl in ft a nearby t town 0 wn joan most ati klerr 1 and the two mutu illy ally are ar married cary or r tolls pierre 1 tory story of joen joan s i other pierre forges a catti cattle brind frink frank young min liter r book books to join joan florre forbid her to read them gadd in d b br plouy jealousy pierre ties joan joe n and 0 nd burn burns th the two dar brind brand i into na t her shoulder CHAPTER VI continued athen thie this pain left her when the she dav wa free fre of her bonds no force nor fear would bold hold her to alerre she would leave him ai as site he had left her father she would so go way away aber was no place for her to go to but what did that matter so long ai as ehe she might escape from rom this thi horrible place and thil this infernal tormentor she did not look about to tee see the actuality of elerree ree silence she thought that he had dropped the brand and was wn bitting sitting near the table with his hi face hidden t now how long the stillness of pain I 1 and fury and horror lasted there wag wa I 1 to one to reckon it was most itar star 4 f broken by a voice who screamed reamed Bc for help it gald said and at the same instant a draft of icy air smote 6 joan the door had opened with sud ud t denness and violence with difficulty she mastered her pain and turned her head pierre had bad staggered to hie his feet opposite him framed against the open door filled with the wan whiteness tenes s of the snow stood a spare tall figure the th man wore bis his fur collar tut turned ned up about his brow a sharp aquiline L nose stood out above frozen mustaches L keen and brilliant eyes t searched the room he ile carried bis his gun tun across his arm in readiness and buffed the air like a suspicious auspicious hound bound then he be advanced a step toward pierre what devils work have yon you been I 1 at said he be his voice cutting the ear in its sharpness of astonished rage and his hand band slid down along the d handle of his gun tun t pierre watching him like a lynx I 1 sidestepped side stepped crouched whipped out his gun and fired fred at almost the same a second the others other a gun went off 11 pierre dropped this time joans nerves gave way ay and the room with its smell of scorched flesh of powder and of frost went out from her horrified senses sense for a moment the strangers stern face and brilliant eyes made the approaching pro aching center of a great cloud of darkness then it too went out r t I 1 CHAPTER VII L 0 the judgment of god 1 t the man who had bad entered with such sudden violence upon go 0 o violent a scene stood waiting till the emote smoke of pierres ree discharge had cleared away then till still holding his gun in readiness he stepped across the room and bent over the fallen man r tye killed him I 1 be he said aid just above his breath and added presently that it was the judgment of god lie ile looked ir about taking in every detail of the to scene scenes the branding iron that had bad 14 burnt if its mark deep into the boards where pierre bad thrown it down the 4 flowing are heaped beeped high and blazing if dangerously in the aall small room the woman bound and burnt burat the white bight light outside the wi window adow afterward he went over to the to woman who drooped in her bond bonds df with head bead hanging backward over the ali wounded houlder shoulder he ile afis ak scarf and the rope and carried I 1 ber her stil unconscious into ahe he b bed ed ki koia room where he be laid her on the bed ld ind nd bathed her face in water joans crown of hair heir had fallen about her r beck teck and temple temples her iler bared throat it and nd shoulder had the firm smoothness 34 of f marble her lifeless face if its pure 19 it foil tall lips fallen apart its long lids oy closed black fringed and black is owing little of its beauty to ad tolor or expression was at no lose 1688 in in this deathlike composure and white ad best be th the man dealt gently with her ole d as though she had been a child he ile 0 found clean rag rags which he be soaked in 0 oell and placed over her burn then he be on drew mcw the coarse clot clothing hInt about her to hid nd res bis his bathing of her fore le at bud it she gave a moaning sigh her face fact lk contracted woefully and ehe she opened er her eyes the man looked into then them as a curious child might look into an opened door did md you see what happened be it asked ked her when she had bad come fully va to herself ad it ye joan whispered her lips shak as hg ing ur killed the brute her fac face became a classic mask of tedy the drawn brow brown hor horrified rifled ayes yes and widened mouth pierre her fler hard 4 11 more than a whisper whir filled the om with ita it agony stony are ou sorry deni demanded ando her tier res re cuer sternly alias a he in the habit of tying you dp or WM wen this thi brand ing ft special joan turned her tier face away writhed from head to foot put up her two 1 between r pon film and her agonizing memories memo rip the man nian rose and left her tier going softly into the next room there he stood in a tene tense attitude of thought ant sat down don presently with his long nar row jaw in his hi handi and bared stared fix edly at pierre he ile visa a evidently try ing inc to fight down don the hock shock of the spectacle grimly telling himself to become used to the fact that here lay the body of a man that he had killed in a short time he seemed to be suc up cess ful his hi face grew calm he ile looked away from pierre and turned his mind to the woman she cant can t lay stay here he aid said pro pres antly in the tone of a man to himself he ile looked about in a hesitant liesl tant doubt ful fashion G dl dr he ald said abruptly and napped snapped hit fingers and thumb lie ile looked angry again he boot bent over pierre examined him with thoroughness and science lence ec hie his face becoming more and more calm at the end he rose and with an air of authority he went la in bola to J joan oan she lay with her face to the wall it Is I 1 impossible for you to tay stay here aid said lie in a voice of command you are not fit at to take care of yourself elf and I 1 cant tay stay and take care of you tou YOU must come with me I 1 think you can manage that tour your huband husband lf if he ll 11 your ausband 49 1 dead it may or may not be a matter for sorrow to you but I 1 should say ay that it ought not to be anything but a IL merciful lut release rele aee women are queer creature creatures though Ilo however wever whether you are in grief or in rejoicing you cant tay stay here by tomorrow or next day you 11 need more nursing than you do now I 1 dont want timid dont waste time there will be B snow tod to take you to a neighbor eve even a if there wag was one near enough but lit 1 take you with me will you get ready nowr now ills his ture sure even cona commanding manding voice evidently had a hypnotizing effect upon the dazed girl slowly wincing mincing he the stood up and with hie his help gathered together some of her belonging belongings which he put in the pack he carried on his big shoulders she wrapped herself in her warmest outdoor Vlot clothing hing be then put his hand band upon her arm and drew her beK toward thedoor of that outer room she be followed mm blindly with no will of her own but ae as he stopped to strap on his snowshoes mows hoea her face lightened with pain and she be made as if to run to pierres res body ue ile stood before her dont touch him aid slid he be and turning himself himi elf he be glanced back at in that glance he caw one of the lean less brown handi bands stir 1112 1 face became suddenly lud denly suffused even his hi eye eyes grew rew hot abot with blood stand ing carefully to as to obstruct her view he be caught at the corner comer of an elk hide and threw it over pierre then he be went to joan who bared stared at him bim white and shaking he put his hi ann arm around her and drew her out shutting the door of her home and leaning against it it you can cant go back aid said he gently and reasonably the 1116 man tried to kill you you cant go back surely you mean to go to away aid said joan loan yes I 1 did mean to go away butout ita its pierre he bent and began to strap on her snowshoes there was a fighting brilliance race 1 in his hi eye and a of hurry burry about him that had its effect en an joan joal if its pierre no longer he be ili ahat hat can you do for him hint what can he be do for you youl be sensible child come comil dont waste time there be b sow snow today joan bent over her head bead and fo followed him across the th CHAPTER vill VI it in 1 not the th people that have led till still and live lives who are tire best tor for they are not trained to face crises to make prompt and lait just decisions joan had ande hut but two such in her ike life the first 1 when nhe she had followed I 1 cerre the second nhen ah he had kept books in de defiance flance of her husband hun band a jealousy the leaving her father had been the result of lone lonc and painful thought now in a few houra houm event events had crashed about her tier so 0 o tint that her whole hole life outer and in ncr ner had been shattered beyond the pain and fever of her wound there wa was an utter confusion of her faculties before the she fainted the he had indeed made a distinct resolve to leave alerre it was this purpose ee working stoutly on lier tier will ai as much ne as the urgent pressure of the stranger nger that took her pant past pierres Pi crrea body out into the dawn daun ind and sent her on that rash journey of pf liera hers in the footsteps bf an art unknown man till this being seemed to her then hardly human outly he had leppal in out of the night mysteriously he had condemned pierre and in belt self defense for joan had een seen alerre draw his gun and fire he had killed her husband now juet just as a mysteriously ae as inevitably it seemed to her he be took command of her tier life she wie wits a passive pa selve shipwrecked thing a derelict As the allent silent day slowly brightened through ita its glare lare of clouds she he plodded on betting setting her snowshoes nowa hoea in the tracks her leader made the no pain in her shoulder ahon lder steadily etea dlly increased more and more absorbed abe orbed her consciousness she did cot not know that they were traveling north and wet west toward the wildcat st and most desolate country that every time she set et down her foot she the act set it down farther from humanity she began soon to be a little light headed and thought that ahe she was wa ta M lowing pierre at noon soon they entered the woods aad her guide came behind her and led her through fallen timber and past post pitfalls pit falla of soft enow snow suddenly 1 I can cant t go to no more mor she abe sobbed and stopped swaying at that he took her in hie his anna arms and carried her a few hundred feet till they entered a cabin under the shelter of jim its the ranger station said he the ranger told me that r could make use of it on my way back we can pass the night here joan knew that he had bad carried her across a strange room and put her on a strange bed ile took off her snowshoes shoes and she lay watching him light a fire lire in the cold clean stove and cook a meal from supplies left by bi the I 1 owner of the house she wae was trying now to remember who he was what had happened and why the she wa as in such misery and pain sometimes she knew that he wag was her father and that ehe she was at home in that wretched shack up lone river and an ineffable satisfaction would relax her cramped mind sometimes just bet is is clearly ehe she knew that be was pierre who bad had taken her away to dome some strange range place and in this thi certainty she wae was even more content but always the bor flame game on her shoulder eh burnt her spin to the confusion of half balf con he ile faint grit john carver he pierre who in god a name was as be bet and why wa was the he here wl with th him she could not frame a question lon she he bad had ft a fear that it if she began to peak speak the tbt would cream and rave would tell impossible secret things so be she held herself to silence lence el to a savage watchfulness to ft a battle with delirium the man brought her a cup of strong coffee and held up her head to that ehe she could drink it it but it nau DAU rested her and she he thrust it weakly away asking for cold water after he she had drunk thi this her mind cleared for ILD instant she he tiled tried to tand stand up 1 I must to back to pierre now f ehe the said looking about with wild but resolute eyes lie still till ald said the stranger ranger rt gently youre pot fib ato to ur stir trot trust me its it all right youre quite eafe safe get retted rested and well then you may so go wherever you like I 1 want only to help yoe yon the reassuring tone the prot promising Alsing word words coerced her and she he dropped back presently in spite of pain she he slept she woke and slept in fever for many hour hours vaguely aware at time times that she he waa was traveling she felt the th motion of ft led sled under her and knew wt seq he Ws wai lying on a warm hide bids of ome some brex frethy killed bast and that ft a blanket and ft a canvas covering protected ber tier from a it swirl of mow grow then the be thought ehe she beard ft a voice babbling queerly and saw a race quite terribly different from other human face faces tbt covering wa was tokeo rom her snowflakes touched her cheek it lantern shone in her eye eyes and ebe she was wa lifted and carried into a warm pleasant smelling place from which were mag wig icalla and completely banished banle hed all sound and bitterness of aronn she tried to see where se so was wa but her eyes looked on incredible colon colors and confusions so 9 she abut shut them find and passively pa allowed bersell to be handled by deft nande handl TO BK big CONTO fOTO |
