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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 11, 1927)
HEPPNER GAZETTE TIMES, HEPPNER, OREGON, THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 1927. PAGE THREE nWlCEBAR SWAMP Michael J. Phillips Illustration! by Henry Jay Lee Copyright rWichul V. Phillips Released thru TVbliahars AuucuUr Service The Leading Characters. SCOOTS LIB BEY, a worthless char acter, who hag smashed his machine into another car, killing its lone occu pant, a woman. Forbes' companion and Libbey quit the scene hurriedly, leaving the former alone to face a constable who reasons that Eddie, with the Bcent of whiskey about him, must be connected in some way with the accident. Accordingly Forbes is arrested. EDISON FORBES, a young resident of Scottdale with an inherent crav ing for liquor, is held for the death of a woman who has been killed by a bootlegging truck. Circumstantial evidence points to Forbes and rather than tell the truth of the episode, which would clear him but cast an other friend in a bad light, he stands trial and is sentenced to a long term in prison. The governor of the state, an old friend of Eddie's father, be lieves him innocent and pardons him shortly after his arrival at the jail. Back in Scottdale he and PATSY JANE, Eddie's pretty wife, agree that public sentiment runs too high against him. Accordingly they migrate up north to some land that has been in the family for years. Set tled in their log cabin ISAIAH SEALMAN, a neighbor, pays the Forbes a visit and intimates that there are some back taxes for the young couple to pay. Sealman offers to give Eddie a job after he goes down to Long Portage, a nearby town, and learns about the taxes. The next day while walking about their property they discover a mys terious mound that contains out crops similar to salt. At the tax of fice Forbes learns that the back taxes amount to over eight hundred dollars and that the certificates are held by a Chicago capitalist who is eager to obtain the property. Eddie has five months to pay. A few days later he helps a booze truck out of the mud knd is presented with a bottle of whiskey which he hides before walk ing over to interview Sealman. CHAPTER IX. An Offer Sealman was not at home, a woman of middle age who answered his knock told Eddie. He was down-town. She looked at him with the curiosity of people who see few strangers. He could feel her eyes boring into his back from the small-paned windows after he had turned away and was retracing his steps. Now what to do? he tought dissat isfiedly. There was plenty of wood cut. He didn't want to coop up and read. There was nothing else, except an exploratory tramp. That was it: He would follow the road north, to find out where the booze truck came from. up here. But as they get down where there are more towns, they must lay up days." He took out the bottle again. Hi potations had reduced the contents considerably. The stuff was begin ning to take effect. "Well, another littte drink won't do us any harm," he said aloud with a reckless laugh. "And I guess it's time to hit homeward then. It's a long, long ways to lit tle old Tipperary down there by the creek. "It's a long, long way to Tipper ury," he sang, unsteadiness creeping into his footsteps. Darkness had fallen when he slump ed against the door of the cabin. The raincoat had impeded him. Some where back along the trail he had thrown it away. So that it was a drenched figure that toppled to the floor when Patsy Jane lifted the latch. She got him undressed and to bed, bomehow, lips compressed, eyes glow ing with resentful inner fires. He was inert as a log. He slept the night through, without moving. Real ly it was more of a stupor than of sleep, for the liquor had the effect on his senses of a shrewdly-swung mal let. He was sick next day, sick with a sense of failure and remorse and worthlessness, but physically ill as well. The exposure in the cold rain itself was a venomous drug. The adulterants which had been added to give bite and volume by the various handlers bordered on deadly poisons and they clawed and tore at stomach and intestinal linings. It was not until the second morning, after he had eaten breakfast in a dressing gown, that Patsy steeled her self against the pity which kept well ing up at sight of his pale face. She had tended him uncomplainingly, ig noring his fretful repinings and Belf scourgings. "Now, Eddie," she said gravely, across the breakfast-table, "we'll have a little talk. I'm not going to say much. Nagging won't do any good. But we must have an understanding." She hesitated before going on: "I don't need to tell you what liquor does for you. You know where it brought you where you'd be if it weren't for the governor. Eddie, I won't stand any more. I can't stand uny more. This is the last time. If you get drunk again I'll leave you." He searched the sad, piquant little face. The gray eyes were steady, the tender mouth firm. The finality of her words struck a chill in his heart. "But, Patsy! What would I do if you left me?" he burst forth, invol untarily, and then flushed at the childish selfishness of the remark. "I don't know, Eddie. It might cure you. I can't seem to cure you by staying." There was not bitterness ir. her words; only sadness. He leaned forward to take her hands. "You won't have to go, Pat," he assured her, his voice trembling with eagerness. "I'm through with " don't believe I care to sell," h e said, and Patsy Jane's eyes tele graphed approval. He stopped at the house to tell Pat and then turned into the sinuous dou ble track, aong which the broad tires had left their impress. When he was opposite the point where the liquor was hidden, he turned to the jutting rock and thrust his arm into the hole. He withdrew the flask and thrust it into his pocket without looking at it. He swung northward for a mile without pausing. Then he stopped abruptly, snatching out the bottle, re moved the cork with feverish haste and took a long drink. The liquor was potent. He coughed and shuddered, but the effect of the stimulant was immediate. A genial glow coursed through his veins. He became optimistic. Ho whistled light heartedly as he fell Into a distance eating stride that took him due north. Mile after mile was reeled off, for he was determined to find the end of the road. The soil was so poor that there were no settlers, no humnn hab itationnothing but the track, dip ping Ino the hollow and surmounting the long sandy knolls with sparce jackpine covering. He stopped occasionally to drink nirnin. Thn exercise kont the effects of the whiskey down. At last, long past mid-afternoon. Lake Huron, com and gray, under the assault of the f.nin hrnlrn nn his vision. The lake filled the entire horizon ahead. The road ended at a dock which thrust lt olf Into thn ahnllnws. Fretful wnvo- la Kenlra nnnn thn whit.P Hfind. PineS of good size fringed the shores of the cove. "They lighter it from out there a wnv" Eddie's thought. "In steamers shoot right across the lake from the Georgian Bay country. They run tho booze-trucks day and night booze! Oh, I know I've said it be fore, but this time I mean it. You'll see. Never another drop as long as I live." He meant it. He was sure of himself. The chains were broken. The conviction that he was his own man shown in his eyes. She thrilled with faith and conviction. She squeezed his hands joyfully. There was a knock at the door, t'-c-almnn, the sleek, stood in a back pruund of brilliant sunshine when Pntsy Jane opened it. "What's the matter, Mr. Forbes sick?" he asked hit keen blue eyes roving as he took a chair. "A little under the weather," re turned Eddie, shortly. "I was ovej to sec you the other day, but you were out." "Yes. You have looked up the taxes I suppose. What did you find?" "Well, I have better than eight hundred dollars to raise in five months. That job you talked about begins to look pretty good, Mr. heal man." Sealman considered his hands fold ed over his rounded stomach, his lips nursed beneath his glossy beard. "Rather a lot of money," he said, meditatively. "Have you ever con sidercd selling?" "0. ves, we've talked it some," re plied Eddio. "But I don't suppose it would bring much more than the taxes the whole thing." "It isn't worth ony more," agreed Sealman. "That it, it isn't worth any more to anyone except possibly my self. I wouldn't mind owning this quarter-section. It would round out my property nicely. 1 coutu run stock on it after it was lonceu. rou con sider an offer?" Eddie looked at his wife. Her face did not reveal her thoughts, but he knew that beneath the surface, she disapproved. The idea of selling was repugnant. "I'll listen," he said, non- committally. "Well, the actual value is perhaps a thousand dollars. It might bring that if you had time to search for a buyer and interest the right party. Not a cent more. And it might take a year to find your man. Suppose I advance the money to satisfy the taxes, and give you a thousand dollars besides?" A thousand dollars! The offer was surprisingly generous. It meant that Sealman considered the place worth practically twice what the average person would pay. Well, if it was '.. orth more than eighteen hundred dollars to Sealman, it must be worth tn;.l to them. "I don't believe I care to sell," he .aid, and Patsy Jane's eyes telegraph ed approval. CHAPTER X Another Truck Sealman showed his disappointment. "That's a go'od price, Mr. Forbes, a big price. You won't get another such offer." "Maybe not." "You've admitted that there's a chance you can't raise the taxes. You may lose everything." "That's a chance I mean to take." returned Eddie, smiling. He felt bet ter that the refusal was behind him. "Hum." Sealman digested this for a time. "I'm not justified Mr. Forbes, not justified at all. In fact, I'm prob ably foolish for doing it. But I might raise it to twelve hundred." "No, thank you." Sealman rose. Displeasure was struggling to show through the sleek ness of his manner. "Fifteen hun died! That's positively the last word, Forbes." "No, Mr. Sealman. I think I can make it worth that by keeping it." The roving blue eyes encountered Edcit's for an instant. "Anyone else been making you an offer?" "No, I haven't talked with another soul about it. By the way, how about that job? Does it look as though ycu could take me on as a farm hand?" Sealman paused at the door and turned, his hands on the latch. "I've changed my plans somewhat, Forbes, I don't see how I can use you. Gi:od day." "Why, th? old hoptoad!" ejaculated Eudie. "Whin's gotten into him? Is lie sore because we wouldn't sell, or what?" "I don't know, but I'm glad we didn't," returned Patsy Jane stoutly. "I don't like him any better than you Co, Eddie. I'm glad you're not to work for him What did he mean when he asked if anyone, cise tried to buy the place?" "He mean: that he's mighty anx ious to get it. We haven't he rd the last of him, Fat. Well, 've'll have to jump in and pull out of the fire. If he wants it and Brower wants it, there must be more to it than we've realized. I can get a job, easy, I know." His optimism was not justified. Most of the settlers in the vicinity had little good land, and that was illy-cultivated. They preferred hunt ing and fishing and getting outposts to farming, for which they had nei ther capital or equipment. When he crossed the creek, how ever, there was a ray of hope. The Davenant ranch, plaything of a weal thy Detroiter, had a resident fore man. He told Eddie that tie owner had ambitious plans for the year 4n the way of heavy planting and much clearing. He might need se :ral men. When Mr. Davenant came up m a week or so, and made final decision, he had better be on hand. Eddie felt that he could not afford to wait even a week. He went to town. But Long Portage was over flowing with labor. The married men who had been in the woods all win ter were trooping back. Their sum mer jobs were kept for them. There was no chance for an outsider against their long-established claims. The week passed dully. He dug and chopped out pine stumps, for their roots and pitchy knots made excellent firewood. The hard labor of sawing and chopping smothered his homesickness and drowned in fatigue the craving for liquor which was ever near the surface. Ho filled the woodshed to the eaves and even piled a tier around the in side of the garage, a slab shed with sloping roof. He mode three trips to the Duvcnant ranch. But the own er had not yet arrived. AnotheV rainy day found him chinking the logs of the cabin with mud from the banks of the creek. It did not really need it. But rest lessness was devouring him, and the demnnd for liquor wns rising like a prairie fire. The intensity of the passion frightened him. Back home, in normal surroundings and with a regular occupation, he had been able to keep it somewhat within bounds. Especially as the little town and its uncompromising opinions imposed re straints upon him. But here, the frontier still, where life was much more open and simple, the restraints were fewer. The wil derness, grim and unfriendly in storm, gay and sparkling in sunshine, invited one to live his own life, un caring. There were few to see and to comment. It was, he fancied, like he early days in the west. Some of the settlers here were failures who had come to the jackpine country to torget tho past. They did not ask too-personal questions. Because they would resent such questions from others. Just after noon, while he was at the creek for sodden earth, there was a hail from the north road. He recog nized the guard of the liquor-truck whom he had assisted when it was mired. "Got a big wrench?" asked the man. "The nut's worked loose cn this axle and one of our hind wheels was about ready to drop off when we noticed. Don't know what he's thinking of, but Jake hasn't a wrench in his toolkit." "Just a minute," replied Eddie. He brought the wrench from the cabin and, with a tumultuous admixture of feeling, accompanied the man up the road to the truck. It was but the work of a few moments to twist the nut home on the jacked-up wheel. When it was done the guard, with a knowing smile, reached for the box under the Beat, but Eddie stopped "Not for mine," he said. "The last bottle nearly put me away. I think it had arsenic in it!" "But this is good stuff," assured Jake, eagerly. "This is a little pri vate stock we keep for ourselves and our friends. We were all out last week." "All right, kid, it's up to you," said the guard, when Eddie refused again. "She's clearin' off. Come on and take a tittle ride." Eddie responded to the invitation. He did want to do something besides fight his own thoughts. He would I ride a few miles toward town, drop off, and walk back through the bar rens, which were beginning to ex ( rcise a powerful fascination for him. Of course he wouldn't drink any of their beastly liquor. While the truck went on, to wait .or him below the ridge west of the house, he ran in to tell Patsy Jane. "Go ahead; it'll do you good," she urged. And then she added: "Who are your friends?" "Oh, a couple of fellows I met while ago," he said evasively, as he kissed her. The booze-runners proved to be en tertaining companions. They took it for granted that he was a kindred spirit, and they talked freely and with humor, of their calling its dan gers, its adventures, its sordid tangle of plot and crossplot. The first time they produced a bot tle and drank from it, ha refused their invitation to join! and the sec ond; hut the third time he succumb ed to their urging to "take just a sip." "Which was only th start. (Continued next week.) WILL HOLD RAM SALE. (The Oregon Woolgrower) The Oregon Woolgrowers' Associa tion will conduct a ram sale at Pen dleton August 18th, 1927. Consign ments already received number s-.me-thing over seven hundred head of rrms. Approximately four njndred of those will be Hampshires from the best flocks in Oregon, Idaho and Washington. There will be about two hundred head of Ramboaillet ams; about one hundred Romr.eys; fifty head of Delaines and twenty- five head of Lincolns. The consigners vf Hampshires are Carl Whitmore of Joseph, Oregon, J. D. Dobbin, La Grande, Robert S. French, Cove, Frank Brown and Sons, Carlton, Ore., H. H. Huron, Imbler, Link Wilson, McMinn- ville, Dave Waddell, Amity, Cam bridge Land and Livestock Co., Cam bridge, Idaho, Thousand Springs Ranch, Wendell, Idaho, University of Idaho, Moscow, H. G. Keyt, Perrydale, Oregon, H. Stanley Coffin, Yakima, Wash., C. H. Hubbard, Sunnyside, Wash. Rambouillets: Cunningham Sheep Co., Pendleton, E. C. Burlingame, Walla Walla, University of Idaho, Moscow, Dave Waddell, Amity, Ore. Delaines: J. E. Smith Livestock Co., Pendleton, Ore. Romneys: H. Stanley Coffin, Yaki ma, Wash. Lincolns: University of Idaho, Mos cow, Dave Waddell, Amity, Ore. These rams will be specially select ed for this sale and are among the best rams produced in the NorthweBt. Even should you be fully stocked up with rams for this year, it will pay all range growers to come to this sale and look the rams over. One of the best authorities in Idaho, discussing the Idaho lambs the other day made the assertion that Idaho has put on each lamb from ten to fifteen pounds weight, by the use of better rams. While many good rams are in use in the Oregon flocks there is still consid erable room for improvement and it would be well if growers attended this sale to size up the class of stuff m the pens and then compare it with the rams at home. 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