The Hanging Tree by Dorothy M. Johnson

Author:Dorothy M. Johnson [Johnson, Dorothy M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

The Hanging Tree

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1

Just before the road dipped down to the gold camp on Skull Creek, it crossed the brow of a barren hill and went under the out-thrust bough of a great cottonwood tree.

A short length of rope, newly cut, hung from the bough, swinging in the breeze, when Joe Frail walked that road for the first time, leading his laden horse. The camp was only a few months old, but someone had been strung up already, and no doubt for good cause. Gold miners were normally more interested in gold than in hangings. As Joe Frail glanced up at the rope, his muscles went tense, for he remembered that there was a curse on him.

Almost a year later, the boy who called himself Rune came into Skull Creek, driving a freight wagon. The dangling length of rope was weathered and raveled then. Rune stared at it and reflected, If they don’t catch you, they can’t hang you.

Two weeks after him, the lost lady passed under the tree, riding in a wagon filled with hay. She did not see the bough or the raveled rope, because there was a bandage over her eyes.

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