Hallett Herald. (Hallett, Okla.), Vol. 8, No. 49, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 20, 1916 Page: 3 of 8
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THE HALLETT HERALD.
\
THE HEART
NIGHT Wl
A STORY Of THE GREAT N<
0y VINGIE £. ROC
ILLUSTRATIONS 6y
oofiY/r/c/rr oy ooDo. mead and company
CHAPTER XXIX—Continued.
—15—
"You would have followed me across
the world upon your knees, and you
served me like & slave. And I—I re-
paid you with a white man's coin!
I left you to break your heart among
the dusky people who were kinder
than I! ... But the Winds of
God blew upon my conscience and my
heart and I returned. Your face and
your faithful eyes, waiting, waiting,
brought me back from the far cities
only to see you die In the lodge of
Kolawmle with my babe on ycur
breast! Or—you say I but dreamed,
Kahwanna?"
With falling sight the speaker tried
to pierce the mystery, gazing at Slletz.
"Did I dream of death and retribu-
tion—and of Kolawmie, who—bent
above the babe to put that sign upon
her face? I struck his hand away
when it had set but a fraction of the
fatal bar—the sign that said you were
wild, that forbade you to the shallow
cities, that made you a white man's
toy! You—you—Kahwanna—ah, I
What is It I would re-
have forgot.
member?"
The eagerness left the Preacher's
eyes, they became suddenly calm and
mild.
With a cry that cut high above the
■teady sounds of the wind and the
tires Slletz sprang up, a hand flung to
her lips, where the sign of the Slletz
stood out—broken In Its Inception!
"My father!" she cried pitifully, "oh,
my father!"
Sandry was breathing heavily, a
mist in his eyes and a sadness upon
his heart. His victory over Hampden
had lost its savor.
But the past with its pitiful shad-
ows had drifted away from the Preach-
er forever and the look of gentle ten-
derness had returned.
"My daughter," he said softly, "why
do you weep? Ah—the night closes
down and It Is dark. I have lost my
way. What Is the path?"
His fingers groped blindly for the
flute.
"What Is the way out of the laby-
rinth of youth—and sin—and prim-
roses? Ah. I have forgot!"
With a sudden Inspiration Sandry
•topped and picked up the instrument.
He had played a bit at college. Softly,
gtlverly, the Joyous notes began, "Je-
sus, Lover of My Soul," to go on to
that ancient plea of trusting faith.
"Other refuge have I none, Hangs my
helpless soul on thee," a strange voice
of glory amid the death and danger,
the sin and stress of the moment.
A holy peace spread on the white
features.
"Why, certainly!" whispered the
travelor of the hills, "how could 1 for-
get! That Is the Way out."
And then, "Hush! The murmur of
many wings. Ah, it Is God's hand!
I go-de profundls! Gloria In ex-
celsis!"
With that last whispered word the
wandering player of hymns, the
preacher to the irresponsibles and the
lover of humanity fumbled stiffly at
bis habit's skirt Sandry knelt, found
a deep pocket, felt therein and brought
out a small Bible of a long-past day.
Its edges were thin and frayed and
greatly worn. Its stiff back, with the
age-black, raised lettering, had long
since Most lta corners. He know it
instantly for the counterpart of that
one on Slletz' stand in the little south
room It aad many openings of Its
own, and It fell apart, first at the
psalms and then at a passage whose
beginning caught his eye as he placed
It In the loving hands that made to
grasp Its familiar bulk—and failed.
The stately words whose solemn fore-
cast had struck him once when he
sought for some clue to the Preacher's
identity now seemed to ring In his
ears, a stupendous requiem for the
nameless, hlgh-souled, drlfter-from the-
ways-of-men who had tpent his blame-
less life In fanciful atonement for a
shadowy wrong.
Who shall ascend Into the hill of the
Lord? He that hath dean hnnda and a
pun- heart. Who hath not lifted up his
aoul unto vanity, nor aworn deceitfully.
The Preacher was of that past
which he had so long forgotten and
which Destiny had decreed should
flash back to him for one revealing
moment.
CHAPTER XXX,
"The Night Wind Is Not Afsld to Die."
Sandry laid the Bible under the life-
less hand, looked about desperately
for something to cover the glorified
face between
Ing nothing but the tall ferns gathered
an armful which he spread over the
body.
Then he faced Hampden in deadly
quiet.
"1 had meant prison," he said, "now
I mean the electric chair."
The other laughed.
"Mean an' be damned!" he said In-
solently, "you'll never send me there"
His burning eyes were covering the
clump of ferns that held his gun, but
8andry went over and picked It up.
He stood a moment considering.
A hot wind was whipping up the
dips on every side and Black Bolt was
stepping uneasily, pointing anxious
ears this way and that. Coosnah had
crawled to where Slletz knelt, weep-
ing, with her hands over her face.
He crouched low to the ground and
laid his heavy muzzle against her boot,
whining dolorously.
Suddenly, in the momentary silence.
Poppy Ordway spoke. Her face was
flushed like an April dawn. Chance
and the courage of the last throw lent
It the last touch of ravishing charm.
"Kismet!" she said, "I am the only
one who wins In this game! Hamp-
den, you're right I've bought you
with your own coin. And let me tell
you Hampden, that you were disgust-
ingly easy."
The tlmberman winced at the bru-
tal words.
His florid face darkened with rage.
"Ah, yes! So you won his love with
your pretty detective work! YouH
marry him an' settle down."
Thus was the crucial moment pre-
sented to Poppy Ordway all suddenly,
and she recognized it Instantly. It
sent a chill to her daring heart, then
fired It with that love of chance, that
ability to cast great stakes on a
single throw, which In a better nature
would have made her great
She felt with a flash of her genius
the drama of the situation, the tense
readiness of the moment for wild
fantastic things, and accepted it at
once.
"Yes!" she cried, "yes! I offer
Sandry you—and myself!"
With a beautiful gesture she
stepped toward Sandry and held out
both hands, her golden head up, her
slumbrous blue eyes sensuous and
black with excitement her whole ex-
"She llos!"
Slletz bad sprung to her feet, both
hands feeling wildly In her empty
blouse.
Miss Ordway swung heavily toward
her.
"Hush!" she said wamlngly.
She slipped a hand inside her own
gown and showed a corner of the
soiled packet of proofs that Slletz bad
guarded for s« many days, the packet
that she knew Instinctively meant
harm to Sandry, that muBt never go
east!
It was then that Sandry was to be-
hold the Iron In this creature of soft-
ness, of faithfulness and of service.
With a cry that chilled bis blood in
its savage wlldness, the girl leaped
across the silent form in the shabby
habit, tore Sandry's gun from bis band
and fired twice before he could seize
her and wrest the weapon from her.
Both shots went wild.
"What would you do?" he cried
aghast.
Slletz fought for the gun like
wild thing. Then, as he held it high
above her reach, she fell on her knees,
clasping his limbs, ber face upturned
and transfigured with the lust for
blood.
"Kill them!" she panted deeper
ately, "kill them both! Blood for
Preacher and she would ruin you!
Shoot them, Sandry, shoot them—or
give me the gun!"
Shuddering, Sandry covered her
savage eyes with his band. Their
reversion sickened him. But she
shook him loose, crying for death.
"Kill them both, for they will ruin
you If they go free! She's got the
packet Kill her and get the packet 1"
"What's this?" he cried hoarsely.
"Things she has written about you—
a—letter to a man by the name of
Musseldorn!"
Slowly Sandry's face went white
beneath its grime as he raised his
eyes and looked at Poppy Ordway.
She returned his gaze.
Then— "True," she said, "that's
why 1 went east 1 cannot lose you,
Walter. There was danger from that
wild creature there, though you did
not know it, and I was determined to
make sure. Fair means or foul—1
must win. And there's no law for a
genius. I know and you know that
you are—"
"Guilty!" he said, throwing up his
head.
Then Sandry dropped his eyes to
Siletz and spoke as if he obeyed
some compelling p&ver, some urge to
Justify himself before her.
"1 answer to the Right Law. I
obeyed the ancient Right Law, little
S'letz, and 1 have no regrets."
"I know!" cried Slletz, "I know!"
the Bmoke wan so dense that the
actors In this drama could scarcely
see each other's faces, but they took
no note of it The climbing roar bad
shut them apart In a sound-made si-
lence and they did not know It. Only
Hampden, edging sldewlse, was alive
to the possibilities of the moment.
He saw the gun hanging in Sandry's
hand, forgotten. He saw Slletz de-
vouring his face with her blazing
eyes of passion. He Baw his moment
> \ and took it
As for Hampden, he stood, waver
Ing drunkenly, chuckling In his throat,
a thing of horror In his malevolence.
Well," he rasped dryly. "1 guess It's
Just as well. I'll leave you to yer
pleasant dreams. I sail fer Panama-
Hawaii—the Yukon. I'm done."
He turned on bis heel, to stride
away Into the pall of smoke toward
the north. In one moment he came
rushing back to run down to the west
For the first time the three people
left together remembered the fires,
saw the thickened smoke, heard the
roar that had made them scream their
tragic words, unconsciously, for the
last half hour.
It was all around them, that pouring
mass of smoke, and It was black, as If
the fires were near. Hampden's huge
figure tore past them toward the nar-
row point of the ridge, then came
lurching back, a long red streamer
staining his bedraggled shirt.
"My God!" he shouted hoarsely
"We're hemmed In! It's on every
side! We'll burn like rats!"
He flung a tragic arm to the dusky
heaveni. Poppy Ordway found her
voice. She darted forward and
PS
"Who Wins Now?" He Said.
—Brains!"
"Brains
Spread Ferns Over the Body.
qulslte body a lure with the mighty
abandon of her passion and her reck-
less gift.
"Walter," she Bald tremulously, "I
have said there Is no law for a genius
I say It again. I can save your fu-
ture-and I give you myself along
with It, because 1 love you! Oh, you
can never know how I love you!"
Her golden voice rose with the
force of the emotion that shook her,
broke and failed, and Bhe stood pant-
ing.
"Will you not take my hands, Wal-
ter?" she almost walled, "1 have done
It all for love of you!"
Sandry, his eyes upon her face, as If
In fascination, did not move. It was
as If be could not, though every fiber
In his Jaded body answered to her call
-For love!" breathed Poppy Ord
way, "for great love!"
Across bor words there cut a shrill
B iw "• •
Its white curls, and find I cry.
With one great bound he flung him-
self high in the air, leaped the space
between and came down with his
| great weight upon the shoulders of
: the other man, clutching for back and
throat, drawing the one to him In a
grip of Iron, pushing the other away.
Sandry went down like a reed, and
as his knees buckled under him there
was an ominous snap. The bone of
his right leg, newly healed and fragile,
gave way under the strain.
As the two men fell, both guns, the
one in Sandry's hand and the one In
his trousers band, tumbled loosely
apart. Siletz, clinging still to San-
dry's knees, was borne down with
them. Ab they rolled over she tore
herself from under them and with
two sweeps of her outspread arms
gathered the guns. Then she sprang
up, drawing back pace, her eyes like
tire, and deliberately sought for a
chance to kill Hampden.
"Sandry," she cried, "lie flat! Lie |
flat!"
From under Hampden's arm that
was choking the breath from his
lungs the owner saw that slim fig-
ure of doom and strove to cry out. At
last he got his voice for a moment
"Slletz!" he rasped, "don't shoot 1
command you, don't kill—" But the
bark of the gun drowned his words.
She was firing around them.
With the first shot Hampden, re-
membering the guns that he had
failed to get, felt his flesh rise on bis
body and be loosened bis bold, shook
off Sandry and got to bis feet, panting,
fighting mad, his eyes red and awful.
With the courago of the raging bull
he made straight for Slletz, who flred
point blank at him He took the ball
In his shoulder and Bpun half round.
The girl pulled the trigger again, got
an empty snap, threw the weapon
away and raised the other.
"Slletz!" shrieked Sandry from the
ground, "for my sake stop!"
It was a command, i cry of owner
ship, and It went straight to that part
of her nature which had obeyed for
I generations. She hesitated, holding
I the man across the barreJ
pounced upor him, again with that
subtle suggestion of the feline race,
gripping his arm with lingers of steel
"What do you mean?" she cried
"I mean that we've ben playln' our
own little game out to Its conclusion
like fools, while a bigger one has ben
playln' Itself out. We're In a cup
waltln'."
There was something sinister about
that last word.
"When this damned wind sucks up
a little harder It'll draw th' flres to-
gether an* we'll roast alive."
He ceased, panting, moistening his
lips. Then presently a hideous grin
distorted his features.
"Who wins now?" he said. "Brains
—brains! An' ex'cutlve ability—an1
cunnln'! 1 guesB I win at last!"
From somewhere up behind the low-
ering canopy r rumbling thunder
drowned his words, as If all the rocks
of the torturod hills were split asun-
der In the heat When It had died
away he turned to Sandry where he
sat, pale under his grime, a prey to
a thousand feelings.
"I've hated you like poison ever
sence 1 first clapped eyes on your
Johnny Eastern face. You thought
you had me beat—and so did she," he
Jerked his head at Poppy, "but I'm too
great a force for both of you. She's
the greatest woman In all th' world
an' I'm glad I seen her like—that I
loved her."
There was Infinite pathos In bis
heavy voice for the moment.
"But th' play's over. Th' curtain!!
drop In thirty minutes—forty or fifty
at most—an' I'm the winner at last!
You'll never marry her! But how 1
had you on th' hip—eastern lawyers
an' all!"
"An' old Fraaer—clumsy fool!
Found your East Belt deed unrecord-
ed, didn't you? L.Jd It to him. Why
didn't you lay It to Hampden, who
had th* brains an' the power of the
whole country? It was recorded all
right, but I owned th' recorder same
as 1 owned th' commissioner. Fools,
fools, all of you! An* I win at last!"
It was again the Kast and the West
that Sandry saw with aching eyes In
the two women who took Hampden's
news of their fate. Miss Ordway
raised palsied hands and let them
drop while she stared with eyes of
frightful horror. SUetx moved never
a muscle.
"1 told you to go back!" she cried,
"that big things were about to happen,
and you would not. Now I shall pay
you for all things—for what you
would do to Sandry Also I ray him—
for that." She pointed to the still
form under the ferns.
"There Is a way out—the secret
trail which only I know and which we
take."
She sprang and caught Black Bolt's
bridle, dragging him with one motion
to Sandry's side. She bent to him
with arms of loving service, exerting
all ber strength.
Climb!" she commanded, "climb
quick! We can make It yet!"
But Sandry looked Into her blazing
dark face that was like the peaks In
storm, so wild was it, so thrilling, so
beyond comprehension, and shook his
head.
"What would yo do?" he asked.
"Do? Go down the trail across the
Hog Back. There Is room for a horse,
If he is sure-footed, and Black Bolt
will go where 1 put him. Come! He'a
Jaded a bit but he'll carry us both."
"And—they?"
She flamed from brow to throat with
unholy Joy.
"Leave them!" she cried savagely,
"leave them to burn with their proofs
and their schemes and their wicked-
ness! It Is the right law!"
"No," he said, "It cannot be. If there
Is a way you must go—you are a wom-
an—and—you must take her with
you."
"What?" cried Slletz In anguish.
"That Is the way of the outside
world, Little S'letz—the way of honor.''
He saw the flres leap and flicker In
her eyes, felt the tension of her hands
upon his arms. Here was a force as
wild and erratic as the great flres in
the forest, and he knew not bow to
handle It. Then came the words of
the Preacher like a way out of bis dif-
ficulty.
"The three bars—of Boncage, of
Faithfulness and of Service."
"You are my woman," said the young
man sternly, "Is It not so?"
"Yes," answered the girl simply, "I
am your woman."
Then 1 command you to go—and
take her with you."
The girl dropped his shoulders and
arose.
"I will obey," she said.
A change was working in her. The
singing in her ears was growing faint-
er. 8he was coming Into the open
country where Sandry lived bis life,
even as he had gone for a moment
Into the fastnesses where hers was
laid.
Come," she said to the staring
woman, "there Is a way out You
need not die."
As the words forced themselves Into
the swaying brain of the other they
stripped her of every rag of civiliza-
tion. With a shriek she threw her-
self forward, caught at the saddle,
clawed at Its trappings like one de-
mented.
But Slletz flung her back.
"A gift for a gift," she cried, "I give
you your wicked life. Give me the
packet."
The woman tore the papers from
her breast, thrusting them la frenzy
at the girl and again tried uselessly
to mount Black Bolt. Hampden came
forward, lifted her gently In his strong
arms and set her upon the horse.
She leaned down and snatched at the
reins, but Slletz held them away.
"Quick!" screamed Poppy Ordway,
"do you want me to burn, you squaw?"
In silence the girl snapped ber An-
gers to Coosnah and the mammoth
mongrel crept to her feet. She tied
the end of the long reins securely to
his collar. Then she turned to Hamp-
den.
"Go," she said, "get up. He will
carry you both and you must hurry.
Coosnah knows the secret tralL Urge
the horse and he will take it. Pon't
look down; and hold her, or she will
surely go over. Go now."
Sandry, raised on his one kaee, be-
held this thing aghast.
M811etz'" he cried, "you disobey?"
She shook her black head.
"I send her out. I stay. It la my
great privilege."
She laid slim fingers against the
broken sign beneath her lips.
A woman serves and Is faithful—
If she loves," she said softly, "and I
am your woman."
For a precious moment Hampden
stood in indecision. But the lure ef the
woman, the glimmer of distant shores,
mayhapwlth her—who knew? was teo
strong. He turned from the two aad
leaped up behind the saddle, strlklag
a heel Into the flank of the mettled
black who bounded forward, dragging
the dog
But Coosnah hung back upon the
rein, turning anguished, adoring eyes
to his one idol. The girl stooped and
caught his long ears, lifting his wrin-
kled face.
"Go home!" she cried, commanding,
"C|psnah! Go homel
"As you love me, go!" she finished
In Jargon, and the huge, shambling,
faithful creature turned from her Inte
the smoke to disappear toward that
secret trail which only they knew and
which led afar over the rearing spine
of the Hog Hack. He strained at his
tether to obey and Black Bolt broke
Into a stumbling, hurrying gait, over-
burdened, half-blind with smoke.
And the girl turned to the despair
Ing man upon the ground.
"The Night Wind Is not afraid to
die," she said gently, "and she Is
Sandry's woman "
"Oh. my God!" groaned .he man,
"wfc%t have you done!"
(TO BB CONTINUED.)
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Hallett Herald. (Hallett, Okla.), Vol. 8, No. 49, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 20, 1916, newspaper, April 20, 1916; Hallett, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc180740/m1/3/: accessed March 29, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.