“Oh, David, he wasn’t killed!” she cried, taking care to keep her voice low. “It’s in the paper—look! But he says the most terrible things about us, and the police are looking for us—”
“Hey, there, honey! Steady!” David commanded gently, as he groped for a handkerchief to wipe his streaming eyes. “Now, let’s see the paper. Thank God I didn’t commit murder—what the devil!” he interrupted himself, as his eyes traveled hurriedly down the front page. “By heaven, I almost wish I had killed him! The dirty, lying skunk!”
“FARMER ACCUSES HIRED MAN OF ASSAULT TO KILL” was the streamer head-line across the entire page. Below, two streamer lines of heavy italic type informed the reader: “CLEM CARSON SUFFERS BROKEN LEG FOR ATTEMPTING TO PROTECT ORPHANED GIRL FROM UNIVERSITY STUDENT WORKING ON FARM.”
The “story,” in small type, followed: “Clem Carson, prosperous farmer, living eighteen miles from the capital city, is suffering from a broken leg, a broken nose and numerous cuts and bruises, sustained late Saturday afternoon when, Carson alleges, he broke into the garret bedroom of Miss Sally Ford, sixteen-year-old girl from the state orphanage, who was working on the Carson farm for her board during the summer vacation. According to Carson’s story, told to reporters Sunday night after a warrant for the arrest of Sally Ford and David Nash had been issued by the sheriff’s office, the farmer had been suspicious for several days that one of his hired men, David Nash, A. & M. student during the school year, was paying too marked attention to the young girl, for whose safety Carson had pledged himself to the state.
“On Saturday afternoon early the members of Mr. Carson’s family, including his wife, brother, mother and daughter, had come to town for shopping, leaving Miss Ford alone in the house. The two other hired men had also gone to the city, leaving Carson and young Nash at work on the farm. Carson alleges that he saw Nash enter the house late Saturday afternoon and that when the young man did not return to his work in the barn within a reasonable time, Carson left his own work to investigate, fearing for the safety of the girl under his protection.
“After unsuccessfully searching the main floor of the house, Carson alleges, he went to the garret, heard voices coming from Miss Ford’s room, tried the door and found it locked. He knocked, was refused admittance, according to the story told the sheriff, then, determined to save the girl from the man, he climbed to the roof of the porch and made his way to the small window of the great room, from which he saw Miss Ford and the Nash boy in a compromising position. When he tried to enter the room through the window Carson alleges that he was brutally assaulted by young Nash, who, by the way, was boxing champion of the sophomore class at the A. & M. A smashing blow from young Nash’s fist sent the farmer crashing through the window, and down the sloping roof to the ground.
“In the fall, Carson’s left leg was broken above the knee. He was still unconscious when Dr. John E. Salter, a physician living ten miles from the Carson farm on the road to the capital, arrived at the deserted farm, summoned by a mysterious male voice by telephone. The sheriff’s theory, as well as the doctor’s, is that young Nash, fearful that he had seriously injured the farmer, summoned medical help before leaving with the girl.
“A warrant for the arrest of David Nash has been issued by the sheriff, charging the young student with assault with intent to kill and with contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The warrant for Miss Ford’s arrest charges moral delinquency. Since she is a ward of the state until her eighteenth birthday, she is also liable to arrest on the simple charge of running away from the farm on which the state orphanage authorities had placed her for the summer.”
Sally, trembling so that her teeth chattered, watched David as he read the entire story. His young face became more and more grim as he read. When he had finished the shameful, hideously untrue account of what had really been a piece of superb gallantry on his part, he crumpled the paper slowly between the fingers of his big hand as if that hand were crushing out the life of the man who had lied so monstrously. Then, lifting a lid of the big coal range, he thrust the crumpled mass of paper into the flames.
“But—what are we going to do, David?” Sally whispered, her eyes searching his grim face piteously. “They’ll send me to the reformatory if they catch me, and you—you—oh, David! They’ll send you to prison for years and years! I wish you’d never laid eyes on me! I’d rather die than have you come to harm through me.”