“The Doc reckons someone has.”
Jim’s coldness matched the other’s. Lightning raised one clenched fist. And the movement was an expression of irrevocable purpose.
“It’s him!” he cried. “I know it! Sure I know it! I knew it right after that party night. An’ I’ve seen it in her pore face ever sence. Man, that skunk’s goin’ to get it!”
CHAPTER XXXII
Lightning Borrows a Horse
OUTWARDLY the life in the Valley of Hope had undergone no change. The atmosphere of peace and well-being remained. There was not even a ripple to be detected on the surface of things. Yet a change had developed—a definite, significant change, which left a feeling of unease, a question in the minds of those responsible for the enterprise.
Daylight had found Jim Pryse and Larry Manford abroad. And their work lay in the pacification of the fears which assailed those for whose safety they held themselves responsible. A shudder of real apprehension had found its way through the heart of the valley. How it had done so no one seemed able to tell. Yet it had dated from the moment of the arrival of Dan Quinlan’s “express.” It had to be dealt with promptly, and Jim Pryse had set about it in thorough fashion. It was this that preoccupied him at daylight on the morning following Molly’s arrival at the valley.
Meanwhile the tragedy of Molly’s life was being enacted under the roof of the home on the hillside. And those who were witness to it were the skilful, diminutive Doc Lennox, and the woman whose heart was racked with grief for the wantonness of the girl’s calamity.
The day broke calm and still. The valley was alive with the goodliness of the season. There was the morning song coming up from the river, and the sounds of stirring, eager life echoing through the corrals and pastures. Great banks of summer mist enveloped the slopes of the upper hills. Sunrise was at work upon them, and the flood of brilliant light was fast rolling them upwards towards the cloud-line.
Jim and Larry paced over the dew-laden, sun-scorched grass on their way to the house where they would eat the breakfast waiting for them.
Jim’s eyes were on the verandah ahead of them, for his concern for that which had been passing within the walls of his home was infinitely deeper than for any of his more personal anxieties.