A Study In Scarlet Part 6 (2/2)
A sob and a squeeze of his hand was her only answer
”No; of course not I shouldn't care to hear you say you did He's a likely lad, and he's a Christian, which isand preaching There's a party starting for Nevada to- hi man, he'll be back here with a speed that would whip electro-telegraphs”
Lucy laughed through her tears at her father's description
”When he comes, he will advise us for the best But it is for you that I ahtened, dear One hears -- one hears such dreadful stories about those who oppose the Prophet: so terrible always happens to them”
”But we haven't opposed him yet,” her father answered ”It will be time to look out for squalls e do We have a clear uess we had best shi+n out of Utah”
”Leave Utah!”
”That's about the size of it”
”But the farm?”
”We will raise as o To tell the truth, Lucy, it isn't the first ti under to any man, as these folk do to their darned prophet I'm a free-born American, and it's all new toabout this fare of buckshot travelling in the opposite direction”
”But they won't let us leave,” his daughter objected
”Wait till Jefferson coe that In the et your eyes swelled up, else he'll be walking intoto be afeared about, and there's no danger at all”
John Ferrier uttered these consoling remarks in a very confident tone, but she could not help observing that he paid unusual care to the fastening of the doors that night, and that he carefully cleaned and loaded the rusty old shotgun which hung upon the wall of his bedroom
CHAPTER IV
A FLIGHT FOR LIFE
ON thewhich followed his intervieith the Mormon Prophet, John Ferrier went in to Salt Lake City, and having found his acquaintance, as bound for the Nevada Mountains, he entrusted hi er which threatened the done thus he felt easier in his hter heart
As he approached his farm, he was surprised to see a horse hitched to each of the posts of the gate Stillpale face, was leaning back in the rocking-chair, with his feet cocked up upon the stove The other, a bull-necked youth with coarse bloated features, was standing in front of the ith his hands in his pocket, whistling a popular hymn Both of the-chair commenced the conversation
”Maybe you don't know us,” he said ”This here is the son of Elder Drebber, and I'erson, who travelled with you in the desert when the Lord stretched out His hand and gathered you into the true fold”
”As He will all the nations in His own good tirindeth slowly but exceeding suessed who his visitors were
”We have coerson, ”at the advice of our fathers to solicit the hand of your daughter for whichever of us ood to you and to her As I have but four wives and Brother Drebber here has seven, it appears to er one”
”Nay, nay, Brother Stangerson,” cried the other; ”the question is not how many wives we have, but how iven over his mills to me, and I am the richer man”
”But my prospects are better,” said the other, warmly ”When the Lord re yard and his leather factory Then I aher in the Church”
”It will be for theat his own reflection in the glass ”We will leave it all to her decision”
During this dialogue, John Ferrier had stood fu-whip from the backs of his two visitors
”Look here,” he said at last, striding up to thehter summons you, you can coain”
The two young Mormons stared at him in amazement In their eyes this cohest of honours both to her and her father
”There are tays out of the room,” cried Ferrier; ”there is the door, and there is theWhich do you care to use?”
His brown face looked so savage, and his gaunt hands so threatening, that his visitors sprang to their feet and beat a hurried retreat The old farmer followed them to the door
”Let me knohen you have settled which it is to be,” he said, sardonically
”You shall se ”You have defied the Prophet and the Council of Four You shall rue it to the end of your days”
”The hand of the Lord shall be heavy upon you,” cried young Drebber; ”He will arise and s,” exclaimed Ferrier furiously, and would have rushed upstairs for his gun had not Lucy seized him by the arm and restrained him Before he could escape from her, the clatter of horses' hoofs told hi rascals!” he exclai the perspiration froirl, than the wife of either of them”
”And so should I, father,” she answered, with spirit; ”but Jefferson will soon be here”
”Yes It will not be long before he comes The sooner the better, for we do not knohat their next h ti advice and help should cohter In the whole history of the settlement there had never been such a case of rank disobedience to the authority of the Elders If minor errors were punished so sternly, ould be the fate of this arch rebel Ferrier knew that his wealth and position would be of no avail to him Others as well known and as rich as hiiven over to the Church He was a braveover hier he could face with a fir He concealed his fears froht of the whole h she, with the keen eye of love, saw plainly that he was ill at ease
He expected that he would receive so as to his conduct, and he was not h it ca he found, to his surprise, a small square of paper pinned on to the coverlet of his bed just over his chest On it was printed, in bold straggling letters:-- ”Twenty-nine days are given you for amend than any threat could have been How this warning came into his room puzzled John Ferrier sorely, for his servants slept in an outhouse, and the doors and s had all been secured He cruhter, but the incident struck a chill into his heart The twenty-nine days were evidently the balance of the e could avail against an enemy armed with such ht have struck him to the heart, and he could never have knoho had slain hi They had sat down to their breakfast when Lucy with a cry of surprise pointed upwards In the centre of the ceiling was scrawled, with a burned stick apparently, the nuible, and he did not enlighten her That night he sat up with his gun and kept watch and ward He saw and he heard nothing, and yet in the reat 27 had been painted upon the outside of his door
Thus day followed day; and as sure ascaister, and had marked up in some conspicuous position how race Sometimes the fatal numbers appeared upon the walls, sometimes upon the floors, occasionally they were on ss With all his vigilance John Ferrier could not discover whence these daily warnings proceeded A horror which was alht of theard and restless, and his eyes had the troubled look of some hunted creature He had but one hope in life now, and that was for the arrival of the young hunter froed to fifteen and fifteen to ten, but there was no news of the absentee One by one the nun of him Whenever a horseman clattered down the road, or a driver shouted at his tea that help had arrived at last At last, when he saw five give way to four and that again to three, he lost heart, and abandoned all hope of escape Single-handed, and with his lie of the mountains which surrounded the settlement, he knew that he was powerless The uarded, and none could pass along them without an order from the Council Turn which way he would, there appeared to be no avoiding the blohich hung over him Yet the old man never wavered in his resolution to part with life itself before he consented to what he regarded as his daughter's dishonour
He was sitting alone one evening pondering deeply over his troubles, and searching vainly for soure 2 upon the wall of his house, and the next day would be the last of the allotted tiue and terrible fancies filled his ihter -- as to becoone? Was there no escape from the invisible nethich was drawn all round theht of his own ientle scratching sound -- low, but very distinct in the quiet of the night It came from the door of the house Ferrier crept into the hall and listened intently There was a pause for a few moments, and then the low insidious sound was repeated Soently upon one of the panels of the door Was it soht assassin who had come to carry out the ent as race had arrived John Ferrier felt that instant death would be better than the suspense which shook his nerves and chilled his heart Springing forward he drew the bolt and threw the door open
Outside all was cal brightly overhead The little front garden lay before the farate, but neither there nor on the road was any huh of relief, Ferrier looked to right and to left, until happening to glance straight down at his own feet he saw to his astonishround, with arht that he leaned up against the ith his hand to his throat to stifle his inclination to call out His first thought was that the prostrate figure was that of so round and into the hall with the rapidity and noiselessness of a serpent Once within the house theto his feet, closed the door, and revealed to the astonished farmer the fierce face and resolute expression of Jefferson Hope