The Twins of Suffering Creek

by Ridgwell Cullum

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CONTENTS

I	POTTER’S CLAY	[9]
II	THE HARVEST OF PASSION	[23]
III	THE AWAKENING OF SCIPIO	[37]
IV	SCIPIO BORROWS A HORSE	[54]
V	HUSBAND AND LOVER	[69]
VI	SUNNY OAK PROTESTS	[87]
VII	SUNNY OAK TRIES HIS HAND	[94]
VIII	WILD BILL THINKS HARD––AND HEARS NEWS	[108]
IX	THE FORERUNNER OF THE TRUST	[116]
X	THE TRUST	[124]
XI	STRANGERS IN SUFFERING CREEK	[136]
XII	THE WOMAN	[142]
XIII	BIRDIE AND THE BOYS	[154]
XIV	BIRDIE GIVES MORE ADVICE	[167]
XV	THE TRUST AT WORK	[177]
XVI	ZIP’S GRATITUDE	[188]
XVII	JESSIE’S LETTER	[196]
XVIII	ON THE ROAD	[205]
XIX	A FINANCIAL TRANSACTION	[216]
XX	HOW THE TRUST BOUGHT MEDICINE	[225]
XXI	SCIPIO MAKES PREPARATIONS	[236]
XXII	SUNDAY MORNING IN SUFFERING CREEK	[240]
XXIII	A BATH AND––	[247]
XXIV	––A BIBLE TALK	[259]
XXV	WILD BILL FIRES A BOMB	[267]
XXVI	WILD BILL INSPECTS HIS CLAIM	[274]
XXVII	SUSPENSE	[285]
XXVIII	JAMES	[296]
XXIX	THE GOLD-STAGE	[304]
XXX	ON THE SPAWN CITY TRAIL	[316]
XXXI	THE BATTLE	[325]
XXXII	A MAN’S LOVE	[335]
XXXIII	THE REASON WHY	[346]
XXXIV	THE LUCK OF SCIPIO	[353]
XXXV	HOME	[363]

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THE
TWINS OF SUFFERING CREEK

CHAPTER I

POTTER’S CLAY

Scipio moved about the room uncertainly. It was characteristic of him. Nature had given him an expression that suggested bewilderment, and, somehow, this expression had got into his movements.

He was swabbing the floor with a rag mop; a voluntary task, undertaken to relieve his wife, who was lounging over the glowing cookstove, reading a cheap story book. Once or twice he paused in his labors, and his mild, questioning blue eyes sought the woman’s intent face. His stubby, work-soiled fingers would rake their way through his straw-colored hair, which grew sparsely and defiantly, standing out at every possible unnatural angle, and the mop would again flap into the muddy water, and continue its process of smearing the rough boarded floor.