Newspaper Page Text
GUNLOCK RANCH
-
CHAPTER Vll—Continued
—l2
“Oh, Bill!” said .lane. “Don’t think
of me—do just as if I were not here."
She threw her own arms around his
neck, and their lips met again in pas
sionate appeal.
“Then come, Jane. We must dash
through this pine before that tire you
hear roaring catches up to us.”
"Is that awful roar from a tire,
Bill?”
“It is. It’s our worst danger. Let's
go, Jane.”
To cross the wide belt of pine their
course lay obliquely downhill. If any
thing were needed to spur them on,
the thunder of the tire sweeping down
the forest behind served as a dread
warning that they had only minutes
•left to escape disaster.
Halfway down the ridge, Denison
paused to rest Jane in his arms. She
was panting like an antelope.
"Brave girl!’’ he murmured. “Not a
sob—not a tear —”
“But we must hurry, Bill,” she
panted.
“(let a little breath for the next
run.”
“Can we make it, Bill, dear?”
“We’ve got to make it.” he muttered
“I’ll save you. Jane, if it’s the last
thing I do in life.” -
“Don’t save me unless you save
yourself—remember that I”
“Come! We must make the spring
—the spring!”
The timber was thinning, the ground
growing rougher. The frontiersman
and cowman who had gone through
every adventure that befalls a man in
a life of danger and escape made little
of finding safe footing from rock to
rock. But his charge had a harder
time trying to keep her feet and to
keep the pace. Denison offered to car
ry her. She would not hear of it.
He himself saw, before Jane realized
It, that the end of her strength was
a*- nand. Striving vainly to keep up,
she stumbled and with a little moan
fell forward on the ground. Denison
picked her up in his arms. She could
not speak: only panted. Her heart,
pressed against his breast, pounded
like a hammer.
“Put me down, Bill! Put me down!" ,
she sobbed when she could breathe and
form the words. “You must save
yourself! Is the spring far, now?”
“Not far. Clasp your arms tight
around my neck,” was all he said,
leaping along.
“You can’t save us both; save your
self. You are dearer to me than my
life. Bill.”
“So are you to me. Hang on,” he
panted. “I’ll never put you down!”
After another run he paused. “Bill,
I can run a little now. Let me try it.
Please, dear ! Let me try !”
He shook his head and struggled on.
The fire was only minutes behind him,
its roar deafening.
A cry roused Jane in his arms.
“The spring!”
She cried to him in happy answer.
There was not an instant to spare.
He slid down the steep side of the hol
low that enclosed the spring. Jane,
still in his arms, he rolled into the
pool and lay panting beside her. The
shock of the icy water revived her.
He soused her head into the water.
The pool was wide enough to submerge
Jane, but not himself. He rolled in
the shallower edge, wet himself all
over and, holding her head just clear
of the surface as she spluttered and
coughed, gave her orders: “Keep your
face down. Don’t, don’t open your
eyes. You’re safe If you do exactly
as I say.”
Savage flames burst above their
heads. The burning air showered sear
ing fragments of bark and branch on
them as they lay huddled, comforting
each other with words. “Breathe care
fully, Jane,” he cried in her ear. “This
air will sear your lungs. Fill your
nose and mouth with water, spit and
splutter it out. My God. it is upon
us!”
The heart of the fire was on them.
They could no longer hear or think.
Flame bellied and danced. Tongues of
fire licked at their hiding heads. Deni
son mechanically dipped water into
Jane’s hair. Consciousness was nearly
gone. Only the effort to live and the
fierce instinct to protect the one he
loved animated him.
With their trial of endurance almost
at an end, a sudden explosion burst in
the air above them. Denison, forget
ting his caution, opened his eyes in the
fear that a tree was falling. His eye
balls were scorched in a fraction of a
second. He dashed his face back into
►tie water; but mischief had been done.
At last the terrific outburst abated.
With the hope of life reanimated, the
two rose in the pool in their steaming
clothing. Darkness fell from the sky
«bo.ve, but the forest was lighted with
smoking and burning tree torches, the
afterglow of its destruction.
The two who had passed through
and escaped a hideous catastrophe
stood dasned in each other’s arms
thanking God and delirous in a new
found, intimate happiness.
“Water 1” exclaimed Denison. “I’m
perishing, in spite of my cold bath.
Aren't you thirsty?”
“Yes, but not suffering. I didn’t
have to carry you, you know.”
Moving a few feet up to the basin of
the spring itself, they pushed aside
debris from the water’s surface, drank
from their cupped hands, and dashed
water over their faces.
“Jane,” said Denison when he rose
again, “it was almost worth it for the
way it’s brought you and me together."
by Frank H. Spearman
Copyright Frank H. Spearman
WNU Service
"It was,” she whispered. “I’ve given
von my ty>st.”
“For all time, Jane?”
“For all time, Bill. Nothing shall
ever part us, now.”
CHAPTER VIII
Picking their way haltingly and cau
tiously down through smoking pines,
dodging burning limbs that snapped
and crackled menacingly overhead or
crashed to the ground about them, the
refugees emerged from the forest and
could see that Denison’s ranch build
ings had escaped the Hamas.
The instant they reached the ranch
house, Denison ran to the well, filled
the water bucket, and carried it to
Jane. Sitting on the ground, bare
headed, they slaked their thirst out of
the dipper together.
Denison turned to the corral. Jane,
who had gone into the house, had got
the fire going and was slicing bacon
when she heard the clatter of hoofs
outside, and angry voices.
“Where's my daughter, you damned
scoundrel?” were the first words she
made out. The sound of the voice that
uttered them sent her running, the
knife still in her hand, to the door.
Amazed to dumbness, she saw her fa
ther and McCrossen in the saddle, fac
ing Denison, who stood at the gate of
his corral.
“Van Tambel,” Denison spoke care
fully, “you’re too old a man for me to
quarrel with. Just remember you’re on
my property and keep a civil tongue
in your head. I’ve taken more of your
abuse in years gone by than I ought
to take. Now put your question civ
illy.”
“I don’t want no truck with you,
Denison,” shouted Van Tambel, rag
ing. “Where’s my girl?”
McCrossen had reined about and
was starting for the house. “Swing
back here, McCrossen,” Denison sang
S "to '
“A Lot of Good Timber Gone in
That Blaze, Van,” Muttered Mc-
Crossen.
out sharply. “Stop right where you
are. My cabin’s not open to public in
spection !”
“I don’t give a damn for your cabin.
There’s Jane,” the foreman shouted,
“standing in the doorway.”
Jane ran across the yard to the
angry men. “Father!" she cried. “What
in the world are you doing here? What
brought you from the hospital?”
Her father’s deep-set, piggy eyes
flashed his fury on her. “You brought
me here,” he snapped savagely. “You
wench ! Living with this man, are”you?”
“Father!” Outraged womanhood
never spoke the word more stingingly.
“Is it possible you insult me so vilely be
fore you have heard a single word?” she
said. “What have I to do with your
grudges and quarrels?”
Rigid and erect, storming within and
striking with white-hot words at her
parent’s base Intimation, Jane si
lenced the men about her by her out
raged dignity.
“What shameful words have you
heard—and from whom” —she barely
indicated her father’s companion by a
lightning flash of her eye—“that put
such vile thoughts into your head?” She
waited for no answer. “I rode to the
peak of Gunlock Knob to see how the
tire was heading—it has threatened
Gunlock Ranch for two days. When
I tried to ride down this afternoon, the
fire cut me off. I should have been
burned to death where I stood on
the peak, if Bill Denison hadn’t ridden
up through another fire to save me.
And now after fighting our way for
hours through smoke and flame, he
brings me down by the only possible
way, to hear me foully insulted by my
own father. This is too much!”
Van Tambel had not dreamed that a
mere insult —his usual weapon toward
everybody—would arouse anyone, much
less his daughter, to such a pitch. Her
buttoned blouse, torn rudely open at
the neck by a forest branch, and her
tie awry, revealed the girlish ivory of
her throat and neck, while her hot
words silenced the domineering brute
before whose insolence few men could
stand at ease.
“Look here, Jane!” bellowed her fa
ther in retreat. “You come out here
for your health, didn’t you?" ,
THE SUMMERVILLE NEWS: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1936
"I didn’t come out here to be grossly
insulted,” she retorted.
“Where’s your pony?”
“Heavens knows where it is, or
where Bill Denison's is. I hope they’re
not burned up.”
“Well, come along home. McCrossen
will lend you his horse.”
“He needn’t. I will walk home Just
as soon as I have cooked some bacon
for Bill Denison.”
“Come along now.”
“Did you hear me? I’ll come home”
each word was defiantly emphasized
"when I have made coffee and cooked
bacon for Bill Denison. When you get
home, be kind enough to ask Bull Page
to saddle a horse for me and bring it
over.” With this, Jane walked swiftly
back to the cabin. Van Tambel, in a
muttering rage, followed by McCrossen,
started iiome.
A slender supper was at length got
together. Then Jane made Denison lie
back in a chair and submit to cold
compresses on his eyes.
Waiting for Bull Page proved no
hardship, but when the hands of Deni
son’s little alarm clock pointed to mid
night it dawned on Jane that her re
quest had been ignored and that her
father or McCrossen had meant she
should walk home or compromise her
self by staying all night at Denison’s.
She boiled a bit inside when she real
ized the situation, but prepared to
walk. To this Denison would not lis
ten. He got up two ponies—he had
but one extra saddle —and, despite her
objections and protests, insisted on rid
ing home with her.
It needed no announcer in the morn
ing to tell Jane that her father had
come home. She lay, exhausted and
with every bone in her body aching,
beyond her usual rising time. But
there was an unusual scurrying about
outside her room. Quong, old and
winkled, was the only man of the
household not in the least perturbed
by the surprise return of Van Tambel.
Jane came to the table as her father
was leaving it. “I want to see you
after breakfast,” was the gruff greeting
he vouchsafed Jane.
She found Van Tambel seated at his
desk in his bedroom, looking over bills.
Jane went up to him.
“I could hardly believe my eyes when
I saw you yesterday, father,” she said
coldly. “Did the doctor give you per
mission to come home?”
After a shuffling of papers came the,
first shot at Jane: “What did you fire
McCrossen for?”
“Because he refused to obey orders,”
she retorted instantly.
“Whose orders?”
“My orders.”
“Who owns this ranch?”
“You do. And,” she added, keen
eyed, “you made me manager.”
“I’ll take that job off your shoulders.
McCrossen is foreman here now. And
I am boss. Now what about this skunk,
Denison ?”
“What about Mr. Denison, father?”
“He’s a crook. And as long as you
live, keep away from him.”
“What has he ever done to you the's
wrong, father?”
“He and his brother’s been trvb g for
five years to beat me out or <’ ,alock
Spring and all that ranch ln j back
of it.
“That’s part of whaf !■■■< done to
me. He’s stole my cat .• I ,-sides. Mc-
Crossen is the only > ■ o. that stayed
by me through thi<’« and thin. Mc-
Crossen’s the right c u for you. You
can get married ■ *row if you want
to.
"1 haven’t »!>• lightest idea of get
ting married '"'uorrow, father. And if
Mr. McCrossen were the only man left,
I certainly should never marry. There’s
not a straight hair in his head. Kt’S
been robbing you for years.”
“Sounds like that skunk Denison’s
been filling your ears for you.”
“Bill Denison’s barely ever men
tioned McCrossen’s name to me.”
“Well, keep away from Denison for
good, don’t forget that.”
Jane flinched inwardly but spoke low
and clearly • “I can’t promise that,
father.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t think it's right.”
“Ain’t I your father?”
“Yes.”
“Ain’t a parent a-goin’ to be
obeyed?”
“If he is reasonable. I’m not a child,
father.”
He grew furious. “I don’t give a
damn what you are, you're not a-goin’
to take up with any enemy of mine,
n’ you might just as well know it now
—and I’ll see that you don’t.”
Van Tambel, quitting the house, rode
with McCrassen, over the hills burned
the day before, to determine what fur
ther measures should be taken to in
sure safety for the ranch buildings.
The two men baited at the foot of Gun
lock Knob.
“A lot of good timber gone in that
, blaze. Van,” muttered McCrossen.
Van Tambel was silent for a mo
ment. “The ranch ain’t worth as much
as it was yesterday, that’s sure,” he
said at last. Then after another pause:
“I wouldn’t mind the timber if the
damned fire had held on till it cleaned
out Denison.”
Both were looking down on the
neighbor’s ranch.
“I wish I was rid of that fellow.’’
Van Tambel's words fairly grated out
of his harsh throat. Why couldn’t that
blamed fire have cleaned out his build
ings yesterday?”
“It was a close scratch. If the wind
had shifted—”
(TO BE CONTINUED)
—< IMPROVED
UNIFORM INTERNATIONAL
SUNDAY I
chool Lesson
Bv REV. HAROLD L. LUNDQUIST.
Dean of the Moody Bible Inelitute
of Chicago.
© Western Newspaper Union.
Lesson for October 11
BECOMING A CHRISTIAN
LESSON TEXT —Acta 16:22-34, Philip
plans 3:7-16.
GOLDEN TEXT—Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and thou shall be saved.—
Acts 16:31.
PRIMARY TOPIC —Two Happy Pri
soners.
JUNIOR TOPlC—Heroes in Prison.
INTERMEDIATE AND SENIOR TOP
IC —How May 1 Become a Christian.
YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULT TOPIC
How to Become a Christian.
The conversion of Lydia and her
gracious growth into usefulness as
a Christian is in striking contrast
with the experience that Paul had
with the demon-possessed damsel
(Acts 16:16-18). A satanic power
of divination had made her profit
able to unscrupulous men. Such
men have not perished from the
earth, and there are still those who
make merchandise of silly and sin-r
ful women.
Paul commands the demon to
come out of her and at once the
issue is drawn.
I. Christianity versus Crooked
Business (Acts 16:22-24).
As long as the missionaries were
at the place of prayer and in the
home of Lydia they were not dis
turbed. But as soon as they
touched the illegitimate gain of these
“business” men who were making
money from the misfortune of the
poor damsel, bitter opposition arose.
Cunningly combining the plea of
false patriotism and anti-Semitism
with the ever-potent argument that
business was being hindered, they
raised a hue and cry which re
sulted in the beating and imprison
ment of Paul and Silas (Acts 16:14-,
21).
We live in another century, but
men are the same. Let the church
and its members only go through
the motions of formal service and
present a powerless religious phi
losophy, and the world will applaud
and possibly support its activities.
But let the pungent power of the
gospel go out through its life and
ministry, and deliver devil - pos
sessed men and women, let its
God-given grace expose the hypoc
risy and wickedness of men and.
there will soon be opposition.
11. Down, but not defeated
(vv. 25, 26).
The preachers landed in jail,
beaten, bloody, and chained to the
stocks. What a disgrace it would
have been if they had come there
because of their misdeeds. How
ashamed we are when professed
Christian leaders sin and fall into
the hands of the law.
But “Blessed are they which are
persecuted for righteousness sake”
(Matt. 5:10). Little wonder that
they forgot their bruises and their
chains and began to sing and pray,
even at midnight.
Note that “the prisoners were
listening to them.” The words we
speak, the songs we sing, our every
action, speak either for God or
against Him. “Whether therefore
ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye
do, do all to the glory of God.”
As they pray God speaks, chains
fall away, prison doors open. Men
can lock doors; God shakes them
open.
The jailer, cruel and bold when
he put them into prison, but now
in fear, is about to kill himself.
But God has better thoughts con
cerning him. Paul cries out, “Do
thyself no harm” and he experi
ences
111. Salvation Instead of Suicide
(w. 27-34).
Thank God for the earthquakes
in our lives which bring us to him.
The jailer, being rightly exer
cised by God’s dealings with him,
asks the greatest and most im
portant question that can ever
come out of the heart of unregene
rate man—“ What must I do to be
saved?” Reader, have you asked
this question? Then you, too, are
ready for the answer, “Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou
shalt be saved.”
The closing verses of our lesson
present the personal testimony of
Paul that he had surrendered
IV. All for Christ (Phil. 3:7-14).
’ All was but loss to him compared
with what he gained in Christ. We
speak of surrendering all for
Christ, but as a matter of fact
we lose only what is of no real
value and make infinite gain.
Paul, as are all great followers
of Jesus Christ, was. a “one thing”
man. All that he had or was or
hoped to be, every ounce of energy
and love, went into his pressing
“toward the goal unto the prize
of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus.”
Independence of Opinions
It is easy in the world to live after
the world’s opinion; it is easy in
solitude to live after out own; but
the great man is he who in the
midst of the crowd keeps with per
fect sweetness the independence of
solitude. —Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Overcoming Desires
I count him braver who over
comes his desires than him who
conquers his enemies; for the hard
est victory is the victory over self.
—Aristotle
Comfort, Style in Pajamas
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The trousers are amply cut and
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Household ®
e Questions
Sour milk beaten into mayon
naise dressing gives it a delicious
flavor.
♦ ♦ •
When buying fish see that the
eyes are not sunken in and ull.
A fresh fish has clear eyes and
the flesh is firm to the touch.
• • ♦
Drain all juices from fresh or
canned fruits, store in ice box
and use for fruit cocktails or sher
bets.
• • •
Before putting away garden
tools for the winter, clean them
off, rub with kerosene or grease
and store in a dry place.
• * •
Do not let hardwood floors get
badly worn before having them
polished. A little polish on the
worn places each week keeps
floors always looking well.
• * *
If the neck of a bottle is broken
when opening, tie a pad of ab
sorbent cotton over the top of
another bottle and pour contents
of broken bottle through it. Cot
ton will catch pieces of glass as
liquid is poured through.
♦ ♦ ♦
In the fall pack plenty of oak
leaves around the roots of acid
soil plants, such as daphnes, aza
leas and rhododendrons. These
leaves rot and make an excellent
fertilizer. They may be mixed
with the soil in the spring.
© Bell Syndicate.—WNU Service.
La
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The Mind lo * tL
Meter • henderson
© Bell Syndicate.—WNU Service.
The Completion Test
In this test there are four words
given in each problem. Three of
the four in’ each case bear a de
finite relationship to one another;
for example, they may be the
names of animals or the names
of state capitals, or perhaps
synonyms. Cross out the one word
that does not belong in each prob
lem.
1. Gay, merry, dejected, frivo
lous.
2. Edison, Whistler, Fulton,
Morse.
3. Build, erect, raze construct.
4. Phoenix, Salem, Raleigh,
Macon.
5. Arrow, bullet, cartridge, shell.
6. Inaugurate, start, introduce,
continue.
7. Donate, pilfer, steal, embezzle.
8. Puma, leopard, tiger, rail.
9. Candor, duplicity, openness,
sincerity.
10. Bat, mallet, racquet, gun.
Answers
1. Dejected. 6. Continue.
2. Whistler. 7. Donate.
3. Raze. 8. Rail.
4. Macon. 9. Duplicity.
5. Arrow. 10. Gun.
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