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Show tngnMvw' IE The Ink of Destiny sands of promise, only to abandon and burry on with renewed hope, leaving a tortuous and pock marked trail a full thousand miles long, behind him. Hitter defeat lay behind him; before him lay the bitterest thing of them all the confession of failure to the woman WHEN MEN WORE SHAWLS. Only Article Appropriated by Them from the Woman's Wardrobe. On very rare occasions you now see some old lady wearing a shawl, but generally speaking (his onto univer ml garment has become obsolete. An Indian or a Persian shawl used to be considered one of tho finest feminine possessions In tho world, and they Will were handed down from jnolher to Hut daughter as prized heirlooms. now if you gave a young woman even a very ckgant shawl, costing posus of hundreds many did. sibly dollars, nose she would beautiful turn up her (Copyright, by Shortstory Pub. Co.) would at it, and if she it ut all Will we make.lt, Mojave girl?" the knew not this last, but the other two make a portiere out of it for her cozy corner. She would never think gaunt man croaked through cracked were inseparably woven Into the fabof wearing it, even if it were the only and blistered lips to bis ratty little ric of his life, a strangely intricate Lust for gold and love for mule. The man walked, resting his pattern. thing Elio had. woman had carried him far afield hand affectionately on the mules a The troublo is that shawls arc out to the violet mountains lying behind withers. of style, and it is easier to drive a camel through the eye of a ueedU Before, behind, and everywhere, the the fearsome desert, and love for a woman had him two than to gel a woman to wear anything desert stretched away In miles of urged through that is out of iasuion. When worn .antastic Imagery. Nothing but heat, score miles of heat, thirst and death aukind took to mannish tailor-madthirst and death. Oppressed with ut- to keep his knightly word to that and clesi-fillinter loneliness, the gaunt man lifted woman. clothes they casi shawls asiuo, and if they ever come his voice and cursed, but the vast As he lay there on the dry sands, into favor ugaJu it will only bo foi barrens made a jest of his Impotence his blistered feet laving in the reono season, as a temporary whim, and turned his oaths to bitter laugh- freshing waters of the singing stream, ter. lor they have an air about them that .the suns heat mercifully tempered by too old fashioned. is Every laboring step a growing ag- grateful breezes, with new strength Those children that are say 40 years ony, resolutely denied. His mouth was streaming into every fiber of his beold or more can probably remember as dry as the white bones back yon- ing and the gift of life flowing evenly when even men wore shawls instead der, the burnished disk In the heavens through his veins again under such of overcoats. For about tea years seared bis eyes, and his brain reeled, strange circumstances this man of were considered just tho thing. but the Iron spirit refused to submit iron did the most unexpected thing they God, dont flout me now!" This was the decade beginning with to the tyranny of environment. On in the world. to his feet, unmindful of about 1SC0. President Lincoln was and on, and on he pressed, his padded Fumbling with stiffened fingers at theLeaping a very partial to his big Scotch shawl, footfalls Inaudible in the awesome the neck of his flannel shirt he drew gold-pa- exquisite agony, he caught up from his camp utensils, which, according to the vogue, ho forth a worn packet of oiled silk, neatfull of sand and waded Into wore, uot folded it scooped rock-ribbed diagonally in femThe desert rose gently to a ly sewn with even stitches; long and the stream. the pan Dipping running inine but folded lengthwise. fashion, rim, and the added toil of the round and slender. He placed it in his in the water he rocked it with the This folded shawl was passed over ascent cruelly taxed the well-niglap and then searched out a tiny cellutiltmotion, peculiar cradling the shoulders and arouud the front, spent travelers. Mojave stopped once, loid calendar, a miniature record of miner$ flowed out where it was either held by the hands the s(?that stuff ing lighter twelvemonth. fuEach small square man rained and the the the heavier particles or pinned by a huge shawl pin. This tile blows upon her. After a allotted to a day had been pierced with the waste, time the brute moved on of her own through with a pin, one every 24 hours, puddling down to the bottom. As the case of the shawl is about the only water exhausted itself, he dipped up one where the men have appropriated accord. Thrice they stopped, the until there remained but one Intact breath of life sucking shallowly, rau- that of the last day of the year. This more, always cradling rhythmically, an article of wear from the women's until there remained the Dual sediment wardrobe though the instances where cously in and out of the channels of Aaron punctured, and the cycle was What? the reverse has happened are legion. respiration. At the third halt the man complete. bottom of Aaron the scanned the Even then, the shawl was originally looked about him dully, the volcanic In a fit of sullen wrath he tore the rim which hedged in the desert fall- calendar to bits and tossed the ghost- pan with straining eyes, each muscle not a womans garment exclusively, It ly record of a vanished year to the set, each nerve tense as a piano wire, for the Scotch Highlander has his taring dimly on his filmy-- vision. .dancecf and capered against a lake of winds, each pinhole the mute testi- his breathing almost at a standstill, tan plaid, and the men of northern the blood booming in his ears. Ah! Italy still wear a cloak which is very deep turquoise sky. mony of herculean labor; each day A tremor ran over him as the gleam- little more than a shawl. The He turned stiffly and gazed back an eternity of crushed hope and sterile went of ing yellow gold grains rolling Pathfinder. across the desert, a quivering hell of endeavor. and sliding and spilling about in the sand and painted rocks, done in brick-re- d Turning eagerly to the packet he thin film of water. He began to count, Why He Called. and umber, and orange, brown, ripped off the coverings, disclosing a him. but You fancy outstripped that you had found advertised black and yellow, to the distant moun- fountain pen, a r reservoir "A 200 and colors I hundred a he asked the believe? fifty pocketbook, tains loomink large in a violet haze, of ink, a stamped envelope and several one in little he who man come to had door in ancried, the ' pan!" utterly from whence he had won thus far. sheets of note paper strange things this he had miracle been to swer his ring, according to Judges Slowly his eye circled back with to interest a man set down a hundred unstrung by a for weary year. Library. quickening perception to the'ffinty bar- miles from any known habitation. On courting daily I did. a In delirium of ho ran excitement rier. And then he knew. The desert one closely written sheet were these anYou say It contained a sum of far the washed and bar up sandy was passed! words; was other the same. money? pan; the yield y With an inarticulate cry rattling In Dear Aaron: you are keeping Yes. a wild Like he with the raced wonI one thing made the compact year ago. his throat he plunged forward, to have doA very large sum of money, in stream to a point far below, where you are and what youare his legs limply refuse him. He lurched der where ing how it fares with you, and, so, with again the heavy yellow metal puddled fact? drunkenly against Mojave, .clutching me. God grant that all is well with you. Yes. her gear to keep from falling. Hope and that the words you are about to pen thickly in the pan. El Dorado lay as a And the feet of Aaron Whipthat the owner could have died instantly and his travailing soul will bring joy to my heart, faint with the carpet under the dread and same by naming the sum found and longing, and the waiting, ple. gave birth to poignant despair. uncertainty. It was brave of you to chal-lno-- o I have won! the pocketbook? he a with describing cried, pasfnf0 nlor.e in the will mountain On the instant an erring wisp of Yes. on. Go of Midas! fastnesses, but rash oh, so rash! to sionate gesture. The sands breeze strayed over the desert rim, limit I wished to ask. is all That to one short year. I have All mine! all mine! and Janet's, he yourself blowing cool on his cheek, groyring faith in you, Aaron; I believe in your added But you will have to give a desoftly. stronger and fresher. Mojave threw scientific knowledge. But even science A piece of paper fluttered along the scription of the purse you lost before pass by the gold you covet. Dont her head up into the wind likn a may see to blind sands to his feet. It was her letter. you can put in a claim. it .leaves too much startled antelope. She snuffed the cur- you I lost no purse. chance? that you have no right to put Reverently he picked it up. One turn rent for an instant and with a scream- me in the balance against Luck? You didnt? of fickle fortunes wheel, and how ing bray breasted the remaining slope, You dont know how I tremble as I No, sir, and make ready my little packet. differently those words called to him! the. exhausted man mechanically re- write Then why have you called? I call this writing fluid the ink of destiny, taining his hold on her trappings. A and I pray that, for the sake of your willAh, yes, Janet, he whispered., I to see what a man looks "Merely write and write and write, and the glimpse over the brink made him a pride and for the sake of that thing men sum of like who will find a very man again. There lay a rugged, call honor, the message you write will message will be in script of gleaming money and then advertiselarge fact in the be in script of gleaming gold. But whatgold. sCamy valley, splashed with, vivid ever comes, the papers instead of hiding it down whatever fortune brings you, green grass and sentinel cottonwoods dear, do not deny me because of that cellar. Good day, sir. patrolling the banks of a running foolish compact which binds no one other Everything Going Up. than yourself. I will wait. Come to me, stream, winding down in silvery and we will win out together. These Acquiring Philosophy. almonds look, nice, said reaches and feather-tippe-d rapids. A housekeeper who had rather & Lovingly, faithfully, Mrs. Schoppen,. but isnt- the price Water! JANET SEWARD. Well, replied Skinner, the small stock of patience went into her high? Down they plunged, gasping, sliding His fingers closed convulsively on grocer, the paper trust has, advanced kitchen one day to direct the preparaleaping, stumbling. Insane with thirst, the letter, his head bowed hopelessly prices awfully. What has that to tion for dinner. She found George, dead to the cruel stab of rock and and the darkest hour Aaron Whipple do. with the case? Why, madam, her Japanese cook, poring over a book. root plunged headlong into the cool, ever knew descended' upon him. What are you reading? she asked. are genuine paper shell these shallow stream. The man fondled the Science and trained acuteness had Schopenhauer, George replied. Do water as a miser caresses his gold; he availed him nothing; the everlasting you think you can understand such wallowed in it, kissed it, lapped it up hills had mocked every effort and the the mistress inquired. philosophy? Celebrated Golden Wedding. greedily .like , a, dog.. In the mighty glistening sands had laughed and hld t Yes,- honorable madam, I understand revulsion of feeling the dried-uwells close their secret, hoards of golden Twelve couples have just cele- It; I apply it. When you come to tell of his eyes filled again, and , he wept grains. Time and time again he had brated their golden Reddings at Abrest, me how to cook, it is good to rememThree things bring a man to such a assaulted the flanks of granite paoun-talh- a small, town near Vichy, , France. ber what the white man says about pass. Lust for gold, love for a womdelving with pick aql shovel' and Three hundred descendants were pres- women. I read here, then I not mind Aaron an, and revenge. Whipple rude windlass; had burrowed deep in ent at church. what you say. Bellman. he loved. Hut it was to do this very thing that he had walked through tho valley of death, and he faced his present, not daring to venture even a little way into tho future. Awkwardly filling the pen he tested the broad stub on his thumb nail the clerkly habit of years smoothed out tho crisp sheets and composed himself to write, tho Ink of destiny flowing smoothly in firm, heavy characters. One page was filled, and Aaron Instinctively glanced about for a blotter to take up the surplusage of Ink. "Janet forgot that," he laughed tremulously. Impatient at the slight delay he took up a handful of floe, powdery sand and sifted It over the letter, as his ancestors had done from time Immemorial. The wind whipped away some os it fell, the rest lingering thirstily. Aaron raised the sheet to blow away those fine particles remaining, when suddenly his eye was caught and held by several glistening yellow flecks adhering to line and dot and character. Gold! Gold!" he screamed, his eyes with the prospectors lust. Gold! Janets prayer In script of gleaming gold. It cant be true. Dear Kenyon By u.-c-d e g y. n h fear-frenzie- d - hard-rubbe- To-da- . . - p . . . s, -- |
