Show The Red Lock Locko c 1 Tale o of f the theBy By DAVID Author of or The ANDERSON Blue Moon R F Flatwoods l d v 5 Copyright by bJ The f Co Ca MISTOOK on SYNOPSIS On the banks hank of the Wabash stand Texts Teals CoRnand Colin CoRn and Jack young and very VelY much In love by Trite Text Is II the tbs I only daughter of ot old Pap Simon rIch man and moneylender money Jack Is Ithe the orphan bound boy bor of ot Pap i Simon BIllion who had bad foreclosed a mortgage on the eat estate te At first drat Texts and Jack talk sadly of ot Kea KeD Colin the girls girl's missing brother Then Jack says larl that In tea days daya his servitude will be over liver that he will ride out Into Inlo the big bl world to seek his hi fortune Both know what that will mean to them and Jack talk of ot otti ti the red lock of ot Red Ked Colin In Inherited Inherited In In- by bJ Ken And Jack says laya b hes he's s 's coming comins back a as soon loon as a. he finds and gold In California Then arrives the new preacher Rev Caleb Hopkins Pap Simon Introduces Intro duce duces the villagers vl to the new preacher who was wal a college mate of lit Ken At supper at the Colin home the th preacher tell tells a how bow the boy killed kl a gambler and Ills nl father attributes Ken Kens fall from grace to lock of hair Then Pap Simon has ha a tort sort of stroke brought on onby onby onby by read reading In a letter from Ken somewhere In New York who curses curl his hll father on his hI death deathbed bed A postscript by another hand band says 1 he Is II dead At the village vii vil lage lace store and post ost office Loge Belden Delden a newcomer says he saw the new parson with his hll arm around Texie Jack licks lick him shoots hoots a pistol from his hll hand and makes make him say lay he was 1181 mistaken en CHAPTER IV IV Continued 8 Yes Yel them's thema mighty fine One senti sentiment ment meats cut the thin edged voice of the postmaster across the silence silence and and the dream dissolved In the fisherman fisherman's eye eye an an I 1 mostly agrees with em an anay says lay amen to em an an the new parson ma may be all ea es cracked up to be but still I 1 aint back Zekea Zekes thin voice ceased lost somewhere somewhere some some- where In the cavernous labyrinth of ot his sharp Inquisitive nose Uncle Nick prodded down the contents con conS tents of his pipe with his bis finger and smoked a while in silence Taking the tem stem from between his lips after a time he blew the smoke away slowly If the full fuU of it It and a as a. to get iet taste It I waved the pipe across cross toward the postmaster postmaster-a a well understood preliminary preliminary na nary to a renewal of the argument At the moment Loge Belden Delden took a gulp pip fr from m his bottle of ot squirrel put the cork In slapped d It tight and slouched up along the counter Say Id I'd Just like t put one one onet t f that This ev evenin as I 1 come up the road past this homestead home home- stead an SIme Colln's house I stopped a little bit on the budge bridge Eagle run an happened t look over In the orchId 01 ol Sims's an the par par- nonage Yu know ther's titers a spring along the crick under the edge elge o othe othe othe the hill an ther's a bench t set on under the maple tree by the springWell spring Well We I as I come past a-past set this new parson an on that Texie gal galon galon galon on that lJ bench an as near neur as I could make out bela well along dark he had Is arm around er er r. r You fellers rellers r V a lot o 0 breath on that gal I 1 low the parson par pr son son son- The room suddenly was deadly still with every eye turned toward the do door r. r Belden felt the stillness hesitated turned turned- In rn the open door framed In sharp against the dark background of the nightfall stood tood the tall formet form of et f lack Jack Belden grinned oddly muttered a word or two leaned against the counter counter coun coun- ter tel and looked down at the floor i With the reach and spring that thaI on only the woods and hills can give walked Into the room mistook I low yu yo must a V been about that that arm arm Not a d n d-n n bit Like lightning came the sharp smack of ot an open hand that tanned fanned I head back He Re leaped awa away and truck truck truck-a a good tom from om the counter gnashing swing clean from the hip bit b b it it didn't land It was apparent that Belden Delden Belden had a high opinion of his ability as a rough I tad and tumble fighter for he stepped I right In and mixed It fast and furious furl furi ous the ous-the the whirlwind give gin and take of I Ithe the mountains The The he faced ducked or sidestepped r r t cashed fished aside everything Belden had and came back backwith backwith backwith with an occasional tonal jab that was wal mad dening Belden lost his temper temper this th mistake of ot many maDY a better man man and and lunged viciously He lie ran Into an uppercut to the chin that doubled him back over a barrel of salt lie He whirled up and his right hand clawed the b butt tt of a pistol out of ot his pocket The pistol came out but that was alL A heavy six-gun six leaped from the woodsman's side a bullet crashed Into the pistol butt gashed Belden's Beldens hand slightly and tore on Into the salt barrel The woodsman stuck the six gun back Into the holster bolster at his hip hidden hidden hidden hid hid- den by his bis hunting blouse snatched Belden Belde by br the collar and an and Jerked hm rut jut Into the middle of ot the door Joor I 1 low yu u must a b ban n mistook bout about l that arm arm Beldea's Belde small beady eyes eyel burned like Ike hot copper ns us be he wrung his hand lie Ile le cursed the pain aln swallowed bard hard i finall finally muttered The light none too deco dern I good I 1 low I must musts a The woodsman dropped the rite the others other's roller collar talked a moment or so eo with Uncle Nick and Counterman about the seining trip next day the day the matter that had lad brought him Into the store store and and passed t out at the door The crowd gathered around Belden Delden Uncle Nick picked up the broken pistol and stuck It back muttering asbe as asbe asle be le examined the gashed hand YOu Tn ort oil a had more sense than t pull on him lie He aint no ways wars sp spry on talk but but he can pick hickry nuts with a six gun CHAPTER V Arrows Arrow of th the River Gods God The Rev Hev Caleb Hopkins was Wall at the boat jont landing In good time next morn mom Ing The others othere were already there sitting sitting sit sit- ting In the long skiff Uncle Nick In Inthe Inthe inthe the stern stem Jack and Al Counterman Counterman Coun terman at the oars the latter still lUll holding the boat to the wharf In his nervous nervous and mincing way the preacher scrambled In Counterman shoved off the oars dropped Into the water and with the seine coned coiled up upon upon upon I on the stern locker under the experienced expert expert- care of ot Uncle Nick the live box towing behind the skiff slipped away awal up the river toward Alpine Island Alpine island divides the Wabash Into two nearly equal channels channell The skiff was guided Into the north channel channel chan chan- nel net and had glanced along nearly to the head of the Island when Counterman Counterman Counter Counter- man man rested his hll oars with the remark that just there would be a good place to make the first haul The skiff was Wal ac accordingly turned Into in into into to the Island and the prow drawn up upon upon upon on the sandy margin Each man Uncle Nick excepted hurriedly undressed undressed un un- dressed stacked his hll clothes in the boat and drew on his hll rough fishing garments In strict justice to the truth It must mut be stated that only Counterman and the woodsman hurriedly undressed The preacher was far slower and quite noticeably embarrassed over the unusual experience The ragged boots too large the shabby trousers rousers too tight the faded straw hat bat ridiculously unbecoming It was the queerest ad wad Ing lag rig ever seen along the Wabash The others eyed It askance and winked around at at one another Even t lq erf f w. w I S Even the Preacher Mutt Must Have Hav Caught Something of th the h. h Humor of the Odd Makeup Make the preacher himself must have caught something of ot the humor of the odd up make-up for his studiously circumspect dr- dr face relaxed Into a suggestion suggestion suggestion tion of a grin After a mild bit of ot urging a prodigious deal of coaching he was wal left near shore to hold the bran brail stick while Jack and Counterman rowed rowed out around as great an expanse of ot water as the length of the seine permitted On nearing the shore at the completion completion completion comple comple- tion of ot the circuit the two rowers leaped Into the water the moment It was as shallow enough leaving the boat to Uncle Nick and raced for the bank at top speed holding the bran brail stick lUck to the bottom as they ran With the frantic river tribes thus thul forced to shore the water began to be wildly agitated Long ripples shot ahot from side to side of tie the rapidly diminIshing diminishing diminishing dimin dimin- space by the net as some soine stricken panic swimmer plowed wed his reckless way Vay near the surface Even Eln the preachers preacher's tired and studious ous eyes wakEd naked with the excitement and he tugged eagerly at the broil brail Ithe as I the bass bOBS and pickerel began to leap glittering in the morning sn stin like silver sit sil ver arrows shot up b by the river gods i boys boya haul er easy directed I Counterman We Re got em They git an awa away ay now Man Mail I ther a wad uv em I I 1 knowd this WUI a good boJ bole e. e The good fish were dropped Into the theIre lire lIe box the others thrown back Into the h river precisely river precisely as war claims the thee best e t men and leaves the defective defective- and the fisherman seined on Several hauls had hall been made none of them quite so profitable as 81 the first and and the sun lun was fast tut mounting toward I sky mid when as a wind wind-up they prepared prepared pre pre- pared to drag the famous Alpine hole that la lay along the south edge of ot the tho narrow sandbar jutting far downstream down downS downstream stream from the lower tower end of the is island Is- Is land This a hard hole t fish observed ob oh- ser served d Counterman handing the near bran brail to the preacher and taking his hll place at the oars ars with Jack but they're thaI If we can git em Banks Danks steep called callet Uncle Nick from his hi place In the stern Better Detter Bet Det ter not tf try t wade Vade out none none The preacher preach PI nodded and the other stooped to his task at the thi seine But Dut when the usual circuit was completed completed com com- and they began to haul in on the seine It was noticed that It did not bow out In the wide curve a spread acme should Instead as BI the men pulled the sides drew In toward each other until the floating corks stretched out Into the river in nearly parallel lines Hung Yung up tip by thunder growled Counterman scraping the sweat from his hie grimy grim forehead with a grimier fore fore- finger Snag r about forty yards out than right right whar the bottoms bottom's bottoms bottom's bot bot- toms tom's out out too as the feller teller says J Jack ck walked up the bank a short distance to where the boat was beached Stripped to the skin a figure that might have been a model for those master sculptors who conferred Immortality Immortality Immortality Im Im- mortality upon the gods goda of classic Greece he was was just slipping Into the water when Uncle Nick mme came up the bar find the lead line fast on a a snag moren likely he be directed Diet hIst It off orr Taunt Taint no DO trick trick but but weve we've lost our fist fish glanced back over his bis shoulder and nodded The next nm moment mo mo- meat ment he be was vas plowing through the stream with strokes so 10 powerful It seemed his great shoulders fairly scorned the water and spurned It U out of f the th way But Dut the task ahead proved harder than the light remark of his old friend had Indicated It was only after alter he had three times dived to the bottom of Alpine hole that he be was able to locate the snag and release the seine When he swam ashore following the seine os lIS s Uncle Nick and Counterman hauled It In In the preacher who had come come up the bar bor was seated on the forward gunwale of the boat feeling fellIng over oter leis his clothes stacked In the bow as asIt asif If It eager pager to assure himself that they had not come to harm The woodsman w Was fiS s putting his wading wad wad- Ing clothes on again when n a a slight Blight thud as of some heavy henvy object striking the bottom of the boat bont caught taught his quick ear Without turning his hla head head head- he happened to he be Just then squeezing the water out of ot his hair before putting putting put put- ting ling his hIli shirt on on-he on he was able to catch a glimpse of the ivory hory butt of ot a Ii six six- gun protruding from a pocket of ot the black frock coat as it was being tucked back In the pile with the tall hat anc and shin shiny boots Nor was that all with all with a deftness that would hardly have beau belU expected In one of his profession the slim fingers fin n. n gers were feeling over the other two tacks blacks of clothes as RB If making sure that the six-gun six he had just tucked away was the only ore one In the crowd Still probably such luch an Intention wee was farthest from his thought Six gun gun and andall andall andall all It was likely merel merely another of the many eccentricities of a man who had the double drawback of being a no sor as well as DS a tenderfoot In tenderfoot In the eyes eyl'S of the woodsman a combination about as 81 bad as could be made Unie Nick and Counterman Countermen had just finished hauling In the seine when Jack followed by the preacher preach er came down the bar and rejoined them But Dut the old mans man's prediction about losing the fish proved correct The haul produced not a thing except a very surprised highly Indignant snapping mapping turtle Counterman kicked the turtle back Into the water and stared ruefully at the empty empt seine serne Them fish has hu t be made up up he he glanced up 01 the river an river an jilt one shore place t V t do It It- It Mud fud haul Uncle Nick finished lilts lilt's alch a nasty place t t fi fish h that It aint hardly ever fi fished hed but they're than The preacher had turned a quick look up the river fan an expression of ot polite po lite displeasure clouded his hll face face fae an expression which the others busy with the seine tolled foiled to notice As a matter of ot fact his part In the mornIngs mornIng's mornings morning's morn morn- Ings Ing's sport had been next to negligible After the mild mUd and momentary excitement excitement excite excite- ment over oyer the first haul his Interest ha ha- obviously waned waDEd The Tho houseboat and the footprint footprint foot foot- print on Its Ita dusty deck TO BE BIC CONTINUED |