Judith of the Godless Valley | Page 5

to free his hands.
"Now go on back to Mountain City, Mr. Preacher," he cried, "and don't come back till you've learned not to scold like an old woman."
Fowler pulled on his overcoat which somebody tossed him, and mounted his horse. Then he stood in his stirrups and pointed a trembling finger at Douglas.
"Ye shall find no place for repentance, though ye seek for it with tears."
"Why should I repent?" demanded Douglas.
"Aw, run him! Run the bastard!" shouted Scott Parsons.
But Doug rode between the preacher and the threatening young rider. "Let him go, Scott. He's had enough!"
Fowler disappeared down the trail. Scott turned scowling toward Douglas, but before he could do more Judith cried, "Come on, everybody! Let's go down to the post-office and get Peter to open the hall for a dance!"
"I will if somebody brings whiskey," agreed Scott, turning his horse toward Swift.
"I'll go over to Inez Rodman's and get some if Maud will go with me," volunteered Judith.
"Let's all go to Rodman's," cried Maud.
The older people were riding slowly down the trail to the valley. The youngsters waited until the way was clear before leaving the school-yard, agreeing in the meantime that Judith and Maud should go after the whiskey while the others went to interview Peter; and the two girls departed forthwith.
"Some one besides me will have to work on Peter," said Scott. "He's sore at me. I tried to kick Sister."
"What did you do that for?" asked Jimmy Day. "Are you sick of living?"
"She bit Ginger on the shoulder. I hate that dog."
"Jude can handle Peter," said Douglas. "Come on, let's get going."
The little cavalcade moved noisily down the trail, crossed the deep snows of Black Gorge and broke into a wild race when the road opened a mile below the post-office. The horses lunged and kicked through the drifts, the dogs barked, the girls squealed, the boys shouted. The post-office lay in the middle of the valley with neither tree nor house in its vicinity. It was a square log structure, two stories high, originally an inner fort built as a final retreat from the Indians. The upper room was now used as a dance-hall. The lower floor contained the post-office, a general store, and Peter Knight's living quarters.
Peter Knight was the only outsider in Lost Chief. He had lived there a scant twenty years. No one knew whence he came, nor why. He was a man of education and an ardent lover of animals, a somewhat sardonic, very lonely man, yet somehow having more influence in the valley than any one save Grandma Brown. He showed no actual fondness for any particular person save Judith and his big mongrel wolf-hound, Sister, Sister being every inch a person! Douglas had sometimes thought that Peter showed a real interest in him, but this interest was shown almost entirely by scathing vituperations, so the boy made no attempt to form the interest into friendship.
The crowd of riders drew up at the post-office, sparks and snow flying, just as Maud and Judith lashed their horses in from the west trail. Judith waved a bottle of whiskey.
"Some providers!" cried Scott, putting out his hand for the flask. He took a pull, then passed it on. Boys and girls alike took a drink, then Scott pocketed the bottle. During this procedure, the door of the post-office opened and Peter Knight appeared.
He was about forty-five years old, very tall, very, very thin, and as straight as he was thin. Thick, closely clipped gray hair stood up straight from his forehead. His eyes were deep sunk in his head and a piercing, light blue. He possessed a belligerent chin below an obstinate lower lip and a close-cropped gray mustache. He wore a gray flannel shirt and blue denim pants turned high over riding-boots.
He watched the passing of the whiskey bottle without comment.
"Hello, Peter!" called Judith. "Will you open the hall and let us have a dance?"
"What have you been doing to your horse, Jude?" demanded Peter, eying the panting and dejected Swift.
"Nothing!"
"Nothing! I tell you what, the way you little devils treat your horses would draw tears out of a coyote. Starving 'em, beating 'em, running 'em! You ought to be thrashed, every one of you worthless young slicks."
Curiously enough, none of the group which had shown so much temerity in man-handling the preacher now attempted to reply to Peter. A great shaggy gray dog, exactly like a coyote except that she was much larger, now appeared in the door beside the postmaster. A chorus of growls and whines immediately arose from the dogs congregated among the horses.
"What happened at the schoolhouse?" asked Peter abruptly.
"You're always preaching, yourself; I suppose that's why you didn't attend," grinned Scott Parsons.
"My Yankee horse is sick," said Peter, "and I couldn't leave him. How did it