henry s. whitehead - the cunning of the serpent

7/27/2019 Henry S. Whitehead - The Cunning of the Serpent

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Author f The Intarsia BI1 .< --;.

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HE mail cameintoCarnationneededforhissimplerequirements.but.it~. twice a wtek, on Tuesdays and made it possible for him to perform a goodFridays. It W a s brought over many kindly acts with,his right hand offrom Red Hills, the nearest rail- which his left hand knew nothing. Theroad station twelve miles across the desert, recipients could be counted on to say Iby Joe Sowers, a superannuated cowman. nothing. , . Sowers made the trip to Jim Peterson the But the case 01 Rosie, Rosie of the Gopher:. postmaster, keeper of Carnation's chief em- Hole's Bevv of Blossoms, had leaked out Iporium of general trade. Therefore, even some time after Rosie's, unexpected d~: Iwhen he was at home in his rare intervals of parture for the East. It had leaked outrest from the constant visitations through- through the ugly mouth of Clark Shadwout his enormous district, the Bishop of the Ina moment of very bad judgment, com- INiobraras had two heavy days of inside plicated by a certain amount of the Gopher twork, since his mail receipts were larger Hole's very bad roo. liquor, poor Rosie had Ithan those of any other citizen of Carnation. succumbed to the allurements Shadwell bad IThe bishop's mail bad another distinction. been holding out to her, and had abandoned IItcontained the only regular pay-checkfhat the frying-pan of the Gopher Hole's pre- Icame into the little frontier town which was carious housing for the fire of Clark Shad- jthe geographical center of bls work. This well's tumbledown shack on the edge .of was because, being a missionary bishop, he town.received his salary from the missionary Rosie bad never ceased to regret thisheadquarters in New York once a month. step. But regrets did her no good. LikeAs S un Peterson was also the banker, the everybody else in or near Carnation shebishop bad fallen into the habit of taking soon came to know Shadwell for what hehis check to the storekeeper as soon as he was, a truculent, transplanted hill-billy fromgot it,and having it cashed. , the tennessee mountains, a gun-fighter,This ,pnusual method of receiving one's who, weaned on com-licker and fed on rat-

r income had excited much .local comment? tail tobacco since before he bad teeth; hadand it was well known that Bishop Kent. found the scope of his native land too narrowalways carried his check to Peterson's and -. f or his expansive nature.. He had come outcame out with a roll of two hundred and into the Bad Lands where he would have'fifty dollars, once every month. - room to swing a gat, and bad' picked on~~~~~~~~~~adeit


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~~.~?j.3t~.~72;;::.=f~.:;: .:;r-;;:~--- . > :; :7~~iY~ ..~ - ~.~illafn~'J:etieitbCfrr/to ga;~y;~. the buckboard ~ted off~,tOt.he GOpher- Hole he would get her. r at a great rate: - :[ \-' .. . -.' .,~thieats Imdt:hdd,: her through fNery , Gravely saluting the' men about th e store-,~~i1t tmlt.Inel\1; the pi.zenest citj.::'i doonray, the bishop turned on his heel, and:'~'ofCa.matioIi'couldt:hizW-vp;,-: -_ ..' , . with- a measured tread. which he neveri ~ - SOne 14onda~ night. the' ~ had ar-. . varied, about twent:y-'above Who' was' th~ roan's he knows what ye've ben up to. It's

t~~ ~ knew' . what.: the. tW o ~w.-;;~~ a wonder h e haint a-rearin' roun' right now.;tfea~~ bur abOut an: hoor.latei, they~, Why~eIy's not 'he'll be ridin' after 'em6~oUt Of'theobishop's.Jittle--hOuse and' arrkill the gal an' old Joe to boot. Hain't'::';~:~ along Carnation'& main, ye got no sensa : - ..'-: ;:5tireer:of' sbacb,to; P~1it ~ Oldf' The biShQp turned on Hammond a cool,;;roe;SOw'ers ,w as. outside beside his diJap i- : : level-eye, , , . .:datM,bUCkboarttwith its pair of rangy cow' Its very good of you., Mr. Hammond, to/poili~: : and.' the b i sh op ' paused to speak. warn me like this. Iappreciate it highly,,:t&h:D::trj~7~';;;?'~,:'';~ :,,'''; ,sir. But there is no imsaediate likelihood of-f f.k~ei ' y ( n i r leaving for, a fe~ his doing anything: I am.Jnfonned. by, thismmu~: Mr....OWers; . , ' 'There will be a pas= . unfortunate young woman that he IS at the'i ; S e t t g e r go ng with-yOu to-Red Hillg.'~: present time, drunk, sirvdead drunk in fact.&~,Otd'Joc;'nodded' his dusty, old head and, She will be aboard- the noon train long: ; ~ ~ L r i : f I e C t : i Y d y . m - - : - the- thick;'dust of the- before he awakens, I have no doubts about:~Sayintnothiligi;'~ :~, ,,;.,~-:'~-:';':jo~;. \~ . toyou~ ' :,', ,.; .' .'~uJi;~resporided- :big:fritind whoIoaaed: him 'his ~hall j~jaws'to the~otherl'''*:;:-f':'>~';'~~,< .:::: . . < and bar to conduct-services in whenever he' I:,' ~ gid looked' tmutterable'i:hings at the'. spent a Sunday in Carnation.: . He smiledlittk l rl shO pc w ho , removing hU hat, bowed like a child ...


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As I said before, it is extremely kind ofyou to take this interest, Mr. Hammond.Imay tell you that Iam not unmindful ofmy own personal safety, Perhaps you didnot know that before Ientered the ministryIstudied law.Hammond interrupted. He spoke as a, person speaks to a lovable but very inez-~ perienced child. '. 'Lord love ye, Bishop This yere aint noquestion: of law. Don't you see? You'redealirr-ia. with a . . : : sharp art a bad egg_.What's this yere Shadwell care 'bout lawGood land ','. ;. .;_'-' -- . \

Ed'.~ond threw up his hands in ahopeless gesture. The bishop' was incapableof understanding the situation.The bishop merely continued to smile likea child.You misapprehend me, I am afraid, Mr_Hammond. What I meant to convey wasorily this: That-in my study of the law I was-frequently confronted with the. maxim,'Never cross a bridge until you come.to itl'You see, w4i,le I a m v~ ~,.to'ypu foryour thought-of .. ; Y*,-aftet aD~'we areanticipating; are we not? I fear you arecrossing a bridge before arriving at it, Mr.Hammond. Just now Shadwell is in no con-.dition to' do anything. He may even fermain unaware of what ha s become of thisunfortunate young woman. He is not verypopular, is he?' There is no occasion foranybody to tell him of my small part in thematter, is thewHammond took his departure abruptlyat this point in the conversation. He couldnot trust himself to speak again withoutprofanity, so strong were his feelings at thismoment. ,He did not wish to use profanityin the bishop's presence ..The bishop continued placidly, twenty-one inches to the step, toward his littlehouse, his mind on his unfinished letters.Hammond- proceeded straight back toPeterson's store, gathered the loafers to-gether, and discharged his mind.An' if any. of yo' shoats, he ended,

opens yo' traps about it, the old man'scooked, I'm a-tellin' ye; an' if that hep-.pens, by tl}e goshamighty, they'll be two.more folks full, of lead in. this yere mee-tropolis, the' same' bein' tha]; there skunkShadwell an' the saphead that spills a word.to- himl jPeterson' promised to see to it that oldJoe kept his mouth tight shut.

CL


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AdventureThen, with a suppressed oath, he startedfor the bishop's house.

The bishop, urbane as always, listenedto his fervid second warning. .'Clark Shadwell knew By Rose H'ol-lister's foolishness, and the bishop's inno-cence, there was no further concealmentpossible. and, as Ed graphically imparted it,-. - was about to bust loose.Was the bishop heeled?

1,. Goshamightyt Here Take this Packit constant, too Goshamightyl Hammond left. too full of wrath and con-cern for the bishop's safety to trust himselffor further utterance, and the bishop picked.up gingerly, and examined curiously, thesmall, compact, double-barreled 'derringerhe had left on the table.That evening Doc Ellis had a hurry callto the bishop's house, and the next daythe Carnation Tocsin and Range BtUidincarried a circumstantial account of how thechief ecclesiastic of the territory had slippedand fallen on the floor of his famous bath-room, tht _bathr()Omhis predecc:s.so had in-stalled. with' ... ~~'J'tm Wbicb p u m p e dwater from the creek, and a straining ap-paratus which removed part of the alkalimud from the water, and broken his rightarm. The paper referred to this injury asa compound fracture, this descriptive itembeing furnished by Carnation's leadingscientist, Doc Ellis.

The next day the bishop with his rightarm in elaborate splints and a sling con-cocted of many rolls of bandage, went un- .complainingly about his affairs, and to allinquiries responded with the cheerful state-ment that his injury was nothing-

Just nothing at all, thank you.How he managed for the subsequent daysto dress would have puzzled Carnation ifCarnation had been critical of such matters.But Carnation wasn't critical and, as EdHammond pointed out scornfully to onecurious customer of his at the Red Horse-+That there old bishop don't have to tieno necktie like other Easterners, 'cause he'wears one of them purple dickies.To Hammond's importunities to watchhis step, ,t\le bishop always returned as-surances o f his complete immunity fromdanger, and cited the fact that Shadwell hadmade no hostile move whatever igainst him. ,All Shadwell knew from having read Rosie'senvelope was that Rosie had got away to'VA_ v,,~t,. ..~~ 'h,,~ = tt ,., itnhim. 'There

was no necessary connection between thosefacts and his complicity in her escape.On Friday of that same week, the bishopreceived hismail as usual and carried it

home with him. Later in the evening hereturned' to Peterson's store to C 3 . 3 h hischeck. Shadwell and several others-were 'atthe store. Peterson handed the bishop hisbills, and the bishop placed them wi thhis free left hand in the left-hand pocketof his neatly pressed black trousers, andtook his departure after greeting pleasantlyeverybody in the store,

Shadwell left within a minute afterward.and as there #wasrio one present who couldguess that anything was in the wind exceptPeterson himself, his exit excited no com-ment whatever. Peterson, greatly worried,and unable to leave because. he was alonein ' the store, sent a boy for Hammond. .

Hammond arrived in a minute or two, Iand Peterson whispered to him that Shad- .well had trailed the bishop out.Hammond sprang out of the door andlturrie4downJ,h~ str~t Wward the bishop's~., Past the lighted se&ion of the mainstreet he hastened and broke into a run assoon as he had left this behind him. A1; heran. he slid his holster around on his belt,and loosened itsllap.

The bishop was out of sight, and there wasno trace of Shadwell, but Ed had noticedhis cayuse still tied to the rail in front of ,Peterson's when he rushed out, and knewthat Shadwell must be afoot, and not faraway;

He found the bishop's house in darkness,as-he slowed his pace on arriving before it;and looked, with a worried expression, atthe unlighted windows. He came nearer,walking stealthily now, his hand on the buttof his forty-five. He started to walk aroundthe house. and as he neared the first corner,he heard Shadwell's voice suddenly andstopped. drawing his gun, just within theconcealing shelter of the house's edge.It occurred to him that at his usual gaitthe bishop had had just about time to reachhis house, and had gone around to the doorat the farther side which he commonly used,Shadwell had probably taken the other sideof the road, and had managed to pass thebishop on the way, unobserved in the dark,He had been waiting for the bishop aroundthe corner of the house, and had confrontedruin there. That was it He, Hammond,had managed to arrive just in time


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_, ... The Cunning of) the SerpentHammond edged himself along againstthe rough wall of the little house, ready

to intervene at an instant's notice.HE heard clearly Shadwell's ugly

.snarl, low-pitched as it was, aroundthe corner of the house.I said shove up yo' han's, --yo' Shove 'em up, now, right sudden-'way up+-or I'll blow yo' to --BuJ, my dear sir -it was the bishop'sclear voice- can't you see that it is out ofthe question? r can not move my righthand because it is bandaged tight,Then shove up yo' good ~ontonow-yo' mis'ble li'l pup yo'IEd Hammond stepped softly around thecorner. He had guessed, correctly, that thebishop would be facing him, Shadwell stand-ing so as to present his back, facing thebishop. He saw Shadwell's back and slouch-ing shoulders, and the little bishop beyondhim, his free left hand and arm perpendicu-lar, the huge white bandage' which confinedthe other conspicuous in the dimness ofearly evening. ~ was edging up to-ward the bishop, his gun held upon him.What could he be up to, exactly? ThenHammond saw through it, He was intend-ing, first, to secure the roll of bills. Whenhe had once got that safely away from thebishop, he could easily overcome the slightlybuilt, elderly and now disabled little man.

He would not risk the sound of a gunshot,Hammond raised his forty-five.But he was very unexpectedly inter-rupted. There came from close at handa roar which made him jump, and ruinedhis steady aim.Shadwell had shot down the little manafter alLEdplunged forward. A gun was too goodfor Shadwell. He wanted to get his, bigpowerful hands on him and choke the miser-able life out of his worthless carcass.He stopped, confused in the dim light.The figure which he had dimly perceived asit tottered and feU to the ground in a limpheap lay almost under his feet. It writhedand roiled about, and from it there came asteady stream of profanity.At a little distance there stood the bishop,busily engaged with his left hand in un-wrinding the huge bandage from his righthand and arm.What the- gasped Hammond.

.\h. it ic; '1,'0'1 i it not. 1I.1r,Hammond?

137said the bishop. You quite startled me,I assure you.

He threw the loosened bandage to theground and, transferring from his right handto his left the double-barreled derringerfrom which a thin wisp 'of acrid smoke yetrose, he handed the deadly little weaponback to its rightful owner.Doctor Ellis was very obliging; re-marked the bishop, rubbing his crampedright hand which had 'just discharged thederringer through the bandage. He tookgreat pains with this arrangement. . Yousee, Mr. Hammond, Ihave been for yearsunused to firearms, and so Icould take nochances, That is why Iwaited until Shad-well came so close that Icould hardly miss.I shot him+accurately, I think-throughthe right shoulder, so as to disable his gunarm. L hope I have- not injured him tooseverely. _Around the corner of the house came aconfused group of men, in the lead, TomHankins, a deputy sheriff, carrying a lantern ~,in one hand, a glistening blue-barreled forty-five in the other.What's all this rannikaboo? inquiredHankins in a voice of authority.By the light of the lantern the bystandersenvisaged thee scene. They looked at thebishop, the bandage on the ground; theysniffed the sharp smell of burned clothwhich rose from the crumpled bandages.Hankins, stooping over, hauled the stillcursing Shadwell roughly to his feet, Hisright arm hung helpless. One of the menpicked up his undischarged revolver andlooked at it curiously.You come along with me to the cala-boose,. Shadwell, said Hankins grimly.We've had our eyes on you for some timeand now Ireckon ~ve got you to rights.Hankins led away his captive, the othermen closing in around them as they wendedtheir way back toward the calaboose.The bishop looked at Ed Hammond whostood, his jaw hanging, and again the bishopsmiled like a happy child.

I can not help wishing that I had notbeen obliged to resort to such an expedient.Mr. Hammond; he remarked, as he pickedup the bandages and turned toward hishouse, but you may remember that we.areexhorted in the Scriptures to combine theharmlessness of doves with the cunniDg 0{the serpent Good evening, Mr. H a m m o n d ,and thank vou very much.-~-

henry s. whitehead - the cunning of the serpent

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