Show utile A on ll 11 en L E o 0 bm ben ames illiams IP i copyright by ben den ames wiliams will am ams lc lct PROLOGUE 1 will bissell s store in fraternity vil lage inge Is not only a store but also it Is 18 a social center and a clearing house for news of the countryside after supper a dozen or a score acore of men are likely to drop in there tor for the mail for a few dry groceries or for noth ing at all except the chance to listen and to speak in turn jim saladine Salad lne came down the hill from his farm on the ridge one spring evening and found chet mcausland cAusland SI there before him and gay hunt and luke hills and others too chet short and straight and vigor ous despite his seventy years was speaking when saladine came in speaking as he be was apt to in the spring of fish and fishing he greeted jim with a nod and finished what he had been saying ton you hear bear I 1 many a tale of big trout from out there I 1 he confessed grudgingly enough but id rather eat a small trout anyway and I 1 can catch a good mess in the meadow brooks along toward dark any time gay hunt retorted with a derisive chuckle just the same there theres s something funny about it that you never went out there liking to fish the way you do so saladine Salad lne asked curiously out where gay he ile was a famous hunt er of the deer and of partridge and he be liked trout as well as any man careys carels brook out in hostile val ley gay explained he pronounced the word to rhyme with smile with a it long vowel rowel in the second syllable bart carey was in here a while ago claimed that a man staying at his place caught three two one afternoon last week I 1 now a two pound trout Is tor for the streams about fraternity unusual and to catch three such monsters in a single day was without precedent saladine was interested yet not im med mediately lately credulous I 1 I 1 ire ve heard such tales he admit ted but I 1 dunno this carey he act like a man to tell the truth know him don dont t you gay protested lives olives right there at carey s bridge his pa used to take boarders folks that come for the fishing after the old man died bart and his brother had a row and his brother pulled out barts bart a sister killed herself here a year ago I 1 dont don t know as I 1 ever see him saladine confessed 11 1 I never got out to hostile valley he chuckled taint faint ly IY matter of fact I 1 always kind of dodged the place t like thenamae the name of it I 1 guess the others nodded understandingly this hostile valley had in tact fact an III repute hidden away in the hills somewhat north and west of frater alty it was a deep gorge between two ridges and the slopes were bold and black with spruce timber and they had a trick of catching low clouds and squeezing them of mol moisture sture so that rain fell often there and farms did not greatly prosper the very aspect of the place was somehow gloomy and forbidding chat mcausland said now 01 1 I went in there once it its s an awful hole roads are bad and there s a tan tangle gle of down timber along the brook enough to drive you crazy and the mosquitoes and black fl es are awful once was enough tor for me gay hunt assented me I 1 never liked the sound of it there was in fact a harsh asperity in the very name conjuring a picture of a countryside inhabited by dour and silent folk who looked askance at a stranger I 1 how come it to be called that in the be ginning I 1 chet knew the answer to this ques tion as be he was apt to know all the ancient lore of these bills hills it goes back to the sixties slit les he said they had a kind of a war of their own out there they fit the draft and there want wa n t ever a man from hostile valley drafted at all for the south was asked it wa want n t that so much chef chet de dared it was more that the folks out there you can cant t ever arh arhe e cm em old enoch ferrin wed riled them got their backs up and he continued I 1 enoch was the boss coon around there then I 1 ire ve heard ay my father tell it IL he had a farm on the ridge this side and he had four sons eons and one of era em bad had 9 gone one to south carolina and married down there when the war started enoch wrote him to come home and this eon son his name was will wouldn t do it so enoch made his other three sons eons list and told cm em to go hunt up this brother of theirs and kill 11 him for a rebel and enoch be he tried to or a company out there in the valley but he was kind of bulldoze ing about it so folks got their back up and wouldn t go for him nor any body so they had a rough time of it lor for a while saladine Salad lne asked gravely did they kill will chet shook his head the other three sons all got killed their own selves be he explained it was like it was a judgment ft on enoch after the war his head went queer from thinking about it and he bed d have died on the town out but this will he come home and took gentle care of the old man till he died he added wills grandson ie Is I 1 the one lives out there now name s will too hes he s an able man gay asked quickly ain aint t hie his wife the one chet nodded she ashes s the one he agreed in a heavy tone there was a moments hushed pause the same thought in all their minds ferrin ferrins s fame it was clear extended far the men here in the store exchanged sidelong glances and then luke 11 Us ils said in a bushed hushed tone ive I 1 ve see her herl 1 he was it appeared alone in this distinction and though no one spoke there were questions in their eyes luke was a large simple man not used to hold bold the center of the stage yet somewhat of a braggart too but he spoke now with a cautious restraint 11 1 I was working in seth humphreys steam mill out there he explained the time will ferrin killed seth for chasing around after her nobody blamed will I 1 guess seth started it anyhow be he shot will wills s leg off but will had a hold of his throat by that time and hung on I 1 helped lug will up to marm pierces pierce s after the truck seth was driving its still jammed in the shed where it skidded when he lie put the brakes on the mil mill never run a day after this mis ferrin some one prompt ed and luke said guardedly 11 W ell I 1 never see a woman like her just looking at her would make a man kind of lift his comb and strut like a fighting cock saladine Salad lne commented slowly heard tell that will ferrin Is a good man A nod here and there answered him assenting 1 I 1 never heard much about this bart carey though I 1 sala d ne added will bissell from behind the candy counter remarked bart he stops in here once in a while on his way to east harbor he lies s kind of tall and looks to be able and be he speaks right up to you I 1 d say he a all right I 1 this we used to go up to his place from the mill of an evening sometimes I 1 he said bart bed hed always have bard hard cider in the cellar and maybe some rum he ile don dont t farm much he takes folls folks to board that want to come and fish the brook likes a good time and be he added his sister this one that killed herself amy her name was she kep house for him she was a nice looking woman too I 1 how ilow come she killed herself sal adine asked gravely luke shook his head I 1 dunno that was after I 1 come back here but chet said strongly well if you ask me its it s enough to make any woman kill herself to live out there that s a miserable place its it a a wonder this mis ferrin would stay there jim suggested from what you hear about her what makes her stay luke luke put a guard upon his tongue I 1 dont don t go to talk about a thing that aln aint t none of my business I 1 be he pro tested 1 I see will when be he got hold of seth teach any man with a mite of sense to keep his mouth shut that would their talk turned presently into an other channel but when by and by will began to turn out the lights 11 h is as a suggestion that it was time to 9 go 0 home saladine Salad lne and chet went out t to 0 jims car together and in the car started up the hlll hill bets farm was on the shoulder of the ride where two roads forked and jim stopped to let the other man down you say you never neier fished careys carels brook only that once he asked then once was plenty I 1 chet replied do anything I 1 chet shook his head A few small ones it its a a chancy brook brooke he ex he ile added honestly its it s full of big trout though in the deep holes and down the bog it a man could get at them say we try it some day saladine Salad lne proposed sho chet protested the sense in going so tax far when you can get plenty nearer home the roads la Is awful jim chuckled this old car Is used to bad roads chet im I 1 in a mind to go I 1 id d like to have a look at that brook you ou come along 1 but chet would not and Sa Salad ladines lne s curiosity was stimulated by the other s attitude chet was not a fearful man nor given to imaginings yet it was obvious that he lie had bad a lively distaste for this hidden valley with the harsh name when the two men said good night and jim drove on up the hill his intent was by chet chets s very relue tance crystallized crystall zed and two or three days later when rain and the promise of more rain made farm work a tedious business of turning water soaked clods which weighed heavily upon the plow he took the opportunity thus afforded III be back by dark or a little after if ter he told mrs saladine Salad lne when he set out I 1 don t aim to do much only look over the brook and try a few holes but it would be long after dark before he came home and many things would happen in the intervening hours the past Is a book which any man may read but it Is impossible to look ahead with certainty through thirty seconds span it may be as well that this Is 1 so foreknowledge might so often daunt and dismay the stoutest man and futile dread of the In escapa ble paralyze the energies of human kind saladine Salad lne often afterward asked himself if it he had known what a sequence of events his entrance into the valley was to set in motion he would have gone there that day and he could find no certain answer but he set out with no misgivings it t bad had rained the day before and in the night a sharp torrential down pour the roa I 1 from b s farm to the village was rutted and washed away along the borders and mud splashed merrily under his wheels chains jim decided might be useful and he stopped at the garage in north via fra eternity to buy a pair lon pride the garage man had news to relate hear about the m ader out at liberty he asbed asked with unction jim had not heard and lon said old man mayhew lived on the road to mac macs s corner they found him dead this morning with his head beat in they ve sent for the sheriff jim knew sheriff but not old man mayhew nevertheless he was tempted to turn that way in the end be he put this temptation aside but he would be glad to know where the sheriff could be found before this day was done the chains adjusted he went on and there was a prickling excitement a deep sense of adventure in him as he drove on the surface he went to fish and nothing more yet this was not a good fishing day the brooks were bank deep with roily water the sky was overcast and surly clouds went scurrying as though OP or minister inister errands the roads he followed were narrow and rocky and rutted and deep woods after a while pressed close on either hand so that sometimes the dripping branches met above the car he had bad no clear and certain notion of the proper route knew only n a general fashion where th the e valley lay and steered as it were by compass now he ile meant to come to carey careys s bridge at the upper end of the val ley and fish downstream so at cross roads or at forks be he took what seemed the most promising turn and once or twice he passed abandoned farms with the glass broken in the windows so that the empty rooms looked out at him with hollow eye sockets by and by he arrived at a farm arm where a man had just felled a knotted old beech across the road blocking the way and he pulled up to ask dl d erections lons ions the farmer tool off his hat and scratched his head yore going all right he said if you want to come to carey s course this here Is the hardest way bart dont don t ever come out this way will ferrin he does though its handiest for him saladine Salad lne glanced toward the felled tree looks like I 1 might have trou brou ble getting etting fe past that there I 1 he bug sug the farmer grinned there theres a worse places than that he said there a I 1 N I 1 ah a I 1 so I 1 well if you ask me its enough to make any woman kill herself places gullied out something scandalous what do you want ant to go in there tor for anyway jim said ri fishing shing I 1 the other nodded with a mild mirth in his dry eye so they all say he commented in a sardonic tone I 1 but I 1 guess full as many stop at ferrin s as 83 go on to carey careys s saladine Salad lne understood the allusion be he had heard tales enough of this woman who was wife to will ferrin leg end painted her as a figure at once glamorous and sinister seductive and heartless beartle qs enticing and without scruple her repute had spread tor for miles across the countryside and he thought this mans present incredulity not ing he was conscious of some frank curiosity on his own account to see such a woman wondered whether their paths would cross today but just now he be listened to the oth er man mans s directions and drove on the road was miserable the car laboring in low gear ascended steadily till through a gap in the woods on the right saladine Salad lne saw low lands and knew that he was well up on the slope of the barrier ridge ride so he came at last to its crest and nd followed that high land for a space and la in a sort ot of saddle in the ridge he found an other road turning to the left in the direction in which he wished to go this was a road by all the signs not much used with ruts unmarked by the tread of any recent tire and last years grass dead between the ruts and bo bowl ders that had been heaved upward by the frost tet yet it was beyond doubt the proper road a and nd saladine Salad lne turned into it without hesitation after a few rods howe however ver he checked the car tor for the road emerged upon a naked ledge beyond which it dipped steeply do downward Anward from this ledge it was possible to see a sweep of the valley far below saladine Salad lne quietly appraised this out look but there was not much to see directly across from him two miles or so away another ridge rose like a wall to his right the valley seemed to narrow pinched between convere ing ranges of hills to the left it opened out in some degree yet there was wag nothing to see sall san the blanket of forest hardwood and evergreen above him the clouds scurried low and menacing and they were like a sodden blanket across the valley he could discover no least sign of babi anywhere nothing save this sweeping forest carpet the evergreens sodden from last nights night s rain the hardwoods ter still half naked thinly clad in a their just springing leaves TO BE CONTINUED |