Show II iALOMY JNES KISS BY BRET HARTE Copyright ISS by Bit Harte Concluded From Last Supday PART XL Nevertheless that night after her father had gone to bed Salomy Jane sat by the open window of the sitting I room In an apparent attitude of languid j j contemplation but alert and intent of aert i eye and ear 1 wa a fine moonlit 1 night Two pine near the door solitary soli-tary pickets of the serried ranks of distant I dis-tant forest cast long shadows like I paths t the cottage and sfghed their spiced breath in tile windows For I there was no frivolity of vine or flower round Salomy Janes bower The clearing I clear-ing was t09 recent the life too nracti ca for vanities like these But the moon added a vague elusiveness to I everything softened the rigid outlines of the sheds gave shadows to the lidless I gve less windows and touched with merciful merci-ful indirectness the hideous debris of burnt vegetation before the door Even I Salomy Jane wasaffected by it and exhaled j I ex-haled some hlng between a sigh and a yawn with the breath of the pines I Then she suddenly sat upright I Her quick ear had caught a faint i click elicit In the direction of the I wood her cuicker instinct and rustic i training enabled her to determine that nJ i iladison Appears to Salomy that it was the ring of a horses shoe on flinty ground her knowledge of the locality lo-cality told her It came from the spot where the trail passed over an outcrop of flkit scarcely a quarter of a mile from where she sat and within the clearing I was no errant stock for the shoe was shod with iron it was amounted a-mounted trespasser by night and boded no good to a man like Clay She rose threw her shawl over her head more for disguise than shelter and massed out of the door 4 sudden I impulse made her seize her fathers shotgun from the corner where it stoodnot that she feared any danger t > herself hut that i was an excuse She made directly for the wood keening keen-ing 1 the shadow of the plnes as long as she could at the fringe she halted wh ever was there musUpass her her fre rcachi th house rhn there seemed to be a suspense I nl i t eer d deadly of all nature Everything was stilleven the moonbeams appeared no Unger tremulous then there was a rustle as of some stealthy animal among the ferns and then a dismount c 1 man stepped into the moonlight I v as the horsethief the man she had kissed For a wild moment a strange fancy seized her usually sane intellect and stirred her temperate blood The revs they had told her was not true he had been hung and this was his ghost He looked as white all spiritlike in the moonlight diessed in the same clothes as when she saw him last He had evidently I evi-dently spcn her approaching and moved culckly l to m ir her But in his I haste he stumbled slightly she re floctPd suddenly that ghosts did not stumble and a feeling of relief cameo came-o or her And it was no assassin of her father that had been prowling I around only this unhappy fugitive A I mmentar color came into her cheek htr coolness and hardihood returned I it was with a tinge of sauciness in her I vfice that she said y I reckoned you were a ghost I I mout have been he said looking at her fixedly but I reckon Id have I com back here all the same Its a little riskier comin back ally she said with a levity that died f 1 her lips for a singular nervousness haif fpar apd half expectation was beginning be-ginning to take the place of her relief of a moment ago Then it was you who was prowlin round and makin tracks In the far pasture Yes I came straight here when I sot away She felt his eyes were burning her but did not dare to raise her own Why she began hesitated and ended vaguely How did you get vage hereYou helped me I I Yes That kiss you gave me put life Into megave me strength to get away I swore to myself Id come back and thank you alive or dead Every word he said she cOuld have anticipated so plain the situation seemed to her now And every word he said she knew was the truth Yet her cool common sense struggled against It Whats the use of your escaping ef youre comin back here to be ketched again she said pertly He drew a little nearer to her but seemed to her the more awkward as she resumed her selfpossession His YC Ice 1 too was broken a If by exhaustion exhaus-tion as he aid catching his breath at inter nls Jl1 tell you You did more for me than ou think You made another man o me I never had a man woman orchid or-chid to do to me what you did I never had a friend only u pal like Red Pete who picked me up on the shares I want to quit this yer what Im doin I want to begin by doin the square thing I in vmi he stopped breathed hard and then said brokenly My hoss Is over thar staked out I want to give him to vr u Judge Boompointer will give Ota Ot-a thousand dollars for him I aint ly inits Gods truth I saw it on the handbill again it tree Take him and Ill get away afoot Take him Its the I only thing I can do for you and I know it dont half pay for what you did Take it your father can get a reward I for oouIf you cant Such were the ethics of this strange I locality that neither the man who I olalt made the offer nor the girl to whom It I was made were struck by anything that seemed illogical or indelicate or at all inconsistent wjth justice or the I horse thiefs real conversion Salamy Jane nevertheless dissented from another an-other and weaker reason j I dont want your hoss though I j reckon dad mightbut youre just starvin Ill get suthin She turned toward the house Say youll take the hoss first he said grasping her hand At the touch she felt herself coloring and struggled expecting perhaps nnother kiss But he dripped her hand She turned again with a saucy gesture said Hoi on Ill come right back and slipped away the mere shadow of a coy and flying nymph in the mocnl htunt she reached the house Hereshe not only procured food and whisky but added a long dust coat and hat of her fathers to her burden They would serve as disguise for himand hide that heroic figure which she thought everybody must now know as she did Then she rejoined him breathlessly breath-lessly But he put the food and whisky i asideListen Listen he said Ive turned the hoss Into your corral Youll find him there in the morning and no one will know but that he gotrlost and Joined the other hosses Then she burst out But you you what will become of you Youll be catched Ill manage to get away he said in a low voice eff Ef what she said tremblingly Ef youll put the heart in me again as did he you gasped She tried to laugh to move away She could do neither Suddenly he caught her in his arms and with a long kiss which she returned again and again Then they stood embraced as they had embraced two days before but no longer the same For the cool lazy l Solomy Jane had been transformed Into another womana passionate clinging savage Perhaps something of her fathers blood had surged within her at that supreme moment The man stood erect and determined I Wots your name1 she whispered quickly It was a womans quickest j way of defining her feelings hDart I Yer first name Jack Let me go now Jack Lie low In the woods till tomorrow sunup Ill I come agin He released her Yet she lingered a moment Put on those things she said with n sudden happy flash of eyes I and teeth and lie close till I come And then she sped away home But midway up the distance she felt her feet going slower and something at her heartstrings seemed to be pulling ing her back She stopped turned and glanced to where he had been standing I stand-ing Had she seen him l then she might have returned But he had disappeared I I disappear-ed She gave her first sigh and then I ran quickly again I must be nearly morning 10 oclock I was not very long to She was within a feW steps of her own door when the sleeping woods and silent air appeared to suddenly awake with a sharp crack She stopped paralyzed Another crack followed that echoed over to the far corral She recalled herself instantly in-stantly woods again and dashed off wildly to the As she ran she thought of one thing only He had been dogged by one of his old pursuers and attacked But there were two shots and he was unarmed un-armed Suddenly she remembered that she had left her fathers gun standing against the tree where they were talking talk-ing Thank God she may again have saved him She ran to the tree the gun gn was gene She ran thither and thither dreading at every step to fall upon his I lifeless body A new thought struck her she ran to the corral The horse was not there He must have been able to regain it and escape after the shots had been fired She drew a long breath of relief but it was caught up In an apprehension of alarm Her father awakening from his sleep by the shots was hurriedly approaching her Whats UP now Salomy Jane he demanded excitedly Nothin said the girl with an effort NothiriV at least that I cal find She was usually truthful because fearless and alf stuck In her throatbut she was nol jnger fearless thinking of him I wasnt abed si I ran out a soon as I heard the shots fired she answered in r turnto < his curious > gaze r And YGe hid mygun somewhere where it cant be found he said reproachfully proachfully Ef it was that sneak Lar rabse and he fired them shots to lure me out he might have potted me without with-out a show a dozen times In the last five minutes She hadnt thought since of her I fathers enemy I might indeed have been he who had attacked Jack But she made a quick point of the suggestion sugges-tion Run in dad run in and find the i gun youve got no show out here without I with-out It She seized him byithe shoulders from behind shielding him from the woods and hurried him half expostulating expostu-lating half struggling to the house I But there no gun was to be found I was strange It must have been mislaid In some corner Was he sure he had not left It In the barn But no matter now The danger was overthe Lar rabee trick had failed he must go to bed now and In the morning they would make a search together At the same time she had inwardlY resolve to rise before him and make another search of the wood and perhaps fearful fear-ful ja as she recalled her promise find him alive and well awaiting her Salomy Jane slept little that night nor did her father But toward morn ins he fell into a tired mans slumber unt the sun was well up In the horizon hori-zon Far different was It with his daughter she lay with her face to the window her head half lifted to catch every sound from the creaking of the sunwarped shingles above her head to the far off moan of the rising wind in the pine trees Sometimes she fell i into a breathless half ecstatic trnce living over every moment of the stolen interview feeling the fugitives arm Still around her his kisses on her lips hearing his whispered voice in her cars the birth of her new life This was followed again by a period of agonizing dreadthat he might even then belying be-lying ebbing his life away in the woods With her name on his lips and she resting I rest-ing here Inactive until she half started from her bed to go to his succor And this went on until a pale opal glow came Into the sky followed by a still I paler pink on the summit of the white Sierras when she rose and hurriedly began to dress Still so sanguine washer I was-her hope of meeting him that she lingered yet a moment to select the brown holland skirt and yellow sunbonnet I sun-bonnet she had worn when she first saw him And she had only seen him twice Only twice I would be cruel too cruel not to see him again She crest softly down the stairs listening lis-tening to the long drawn breathing of her father in his bedroom and then by the light of a guttering candle = bcraw cia ci-a note to him begging him not to trust himself out of the house until she returned re-turned from her search and leaving the note open on the table swiftly ran out Into the growing day Three hours afterwards Mr Madison Clay awoke to the sound of loud knocking knock-ing At first this forced itself upon his consciousness as his daughters regular morning summons and was responded to bi a grunt of recognition and a nestling closer in the blankets Then he awoke with a start and a muttered oath remembering the events of last night and his intention to get up early and rolled out of bed Becoming aware by this time that the knocking was at the outer door and hearing the shout pf a familiar voice he hastily pulled on h boots his jean trousers and fastening a single suspender over his shoulder as he clatterel down stairs atood tn the lower room The door was open and waiting upon the threshold I was his old kinsmanan old ally In many a blood f cud Breckcnridge Clay You are a cool one Mad said the lalter In halfadmiring Indignation Whats up said the bewildered I Madison You ought to be and scootln out o this said Breckenridge grimly Its all very well to know rothin but heres Phil Larrabees friends hev just picked him up drilled through with slugs and deader nor a crow and now theyre Icttin loose Larrabees two half brothers on you And you must go like a dd fool and leave these yer things behind you in the bresh he went on querulously lifting Madison Clays dust cuat hat and shotgun from his horse which stood saddled at the door Luckily Luck-ily I picked them up In the woods com in here Ye aint got more than time to get over the state line and among your folks that afore theyll be down on you Hustle old man What are you gawkln an starln at Madison Clay had stared amazed and bewlderedhorrorstrlcken The Inc dents of the past night for the first time flashed upon him clearly hopelessly hope-lessly The shot his finding Saomy Jane alone in the woods her confusion and anxiety to rid herself of him the disappearance of the shotgun and now this new discovery of the taking of his hat and coat for a disguise She hd killed Paul Larrabee in that disguise after provoking his first harmless shot She his own child Salomy Jane had disgraced lurself by a mans crime had disgraced him by usurping his right and1taking a mean advantage by deceit de-ceit of a foe1 Gimme that gun he said hoarsely Breckenridge handed him the gun In wonder and slowly gathering suspicion Madison examined nipple and muzzle one barrel had been discharged It was true The gun dropped from his hand Look here old man said Brecken ridge with a darkening face theres ljn I no foul play here Thars been no hiring of men no deputy to do this job You did it fair and square Yes by God burst out Madison Clay in a hoarse voice Who says I didnt Reassured yet believing that Madison Mad-ison Clay haeT nerygj himself for the acfbr an overdraft of whisky which had affected his memory Breckenridge said curtly Then wake up and lite out ef you want me to stand by you youGo to the corral and pick me out a hoss1 said Madison slowly yet not without a certain dignity of manner Ive suthin to say to Salomy Jane afore I go He was holding her scrib I I I I I t t 1 > i MADISON CLAYS FLIGHT bled note which he had just discovered in his shaking hand Struck by his kinsmans manner and knowing the dependent relations of father and daughter Breckenridgp norlde and hurried away Left to himself him-self Madison Clay ran his fingers through his hair and straightened out the paper on which Salomy Jane had scrawled her note turned it over and wrote on the back You might have told me you did i and not leave your ole father to find out Tiow you disgraced yourself and him too by a lowdown underhanded womans trick Ive said I done It and took the blame myself and all the sneakiness of i that folks suspect I I get away alive and I dont much care which you neednt toIler The house and stock are yours but you aint shy longer the daughter of your disgraced fatherMADISON MADISON CLAY He had scarcely finished the note when with the clatter of hoofs and a led horse Breckcnrldgereappeared at the ddorelate and triumphant Youre trumplnt In niger luck Mad I found that stole hoss of Judge Boompolnters had got away and strayed among your stock j Iln the corral Take him and youre safe I he cant be outrun this side of the I state line I j I haint no hoes thief said Madison I Madi-son grimly Nobody sez ve are but youd be fwuss i fool efyoii didnt take him Im testimony that you found him I among your hosses Ill tell Judge Boompointer youve got him and ye I i j kin send him back when youre safe t The Judge will be mighty glad to get him back and call I quits Socf youve writ to Salomy Jane come Madison hesitated I Clay no longer heslted i Salomy Jane might return at anymo I mentit would be part of her fool woraanishness and he was in no mood to see her before a third party He laid the note on the table gave a hurried glance ardurd the house which he grimly believed he was leaving forever for-ever and striding to the door leaped on the stolen horse and swept away with hs kinsman But that note lay for a week undisturbed undis-turbed on the table In full view of tne open door The house was invaded by leaves nine cones birds and squirrels squir-rels during the hot silent empty days I and at night by shy stealthy creatures but hever again day or night by any of the Clar family I was known In rl the district that Clay had flown across I the state line his daughter was believed be-lieved to have joined him the next day and the house was supposed to be locked lock-ed uo I lai on the main road and few passed that way The starving cattle In the corral at last broke their catte bounds and spread corr over the woods And one night a stronger blast than usual swept through the house carried the note from the table to the floor where whirled into a crack in the floor It slowly rotted But though the sting of her fathers reproach a spared her Salomy Jane had no need of the letter to know what had happened For as she entered the woods In the dim light of that morn ing she saw the figure of Dart gliding from the shadow of a pine toward her The unaffected cry of Joy that rose from her lips died there as she caught sight of his face In the open licht You are hurt she said clutching his arm passionately No he said But I wouldnt mind that If t id Youre thinkln I was afeared to come back last night when I heard the shcotin but I did come she went on feverishly I ran back here when I heard the two shots but you were gone I went to the corral but your hoes wasnt there and I thought youd got away awar did get awayjr said Dart gloomily I killed the man thlnkin he was hunt in me and forgettln I was disguised He thought I was your father Yes said the girl Joyfully he was after day and you you killed him She again caught his hand admiringly But ho did not respond Possibly there were five points of honor which this horsethief felt vaguely with her father Listen he said grimly Others think it wasyour father killed him When I did Itfor he fired at me firsti ran to the corral again and took my hoss thinkln I might be follered I mae a clear circuit of the house and when I fired hs was the only one and no one was follerjn I come back here and look off rnv dlszuise Then I heard his friends find him in the ods and I r they suspected your father And then another man came through the woods while I ibis hidtn and found tas the clothes and took them away He Stopped and stared at her gloomily But all this wasunintelligible to the girl Dad would have got the better of him ef you hadnt t she said eagerly eager-ly go whats theDifference All the same he said gloomily I must take his place She did not understand but turned her head to hermaster Then youll go back with me and tell him a111 she said obediently Yes he said Sha put her hand in his and they crept out of the wood together She foresaw a thousand difficulties but chiefest of 1 that he did not love her as she did She wld pot havetaken Jfhese rlsks against j happiness But alas for ethics end heroism As they were Issuing from the wood they heard the sound of galloping hoofs and had barely time to hide themselves before be-fore Madison Clay on the stolen horse of Judge Boompointer swept past them with his kinsman t Solomy Jane turned to her lover And here I might as a m r romancer ro-mancer pause leaying the guilty pas jjionate girl eloped with her disreputable disreput-able lover destined to lifelong shame and misery misunderstood to the last by a criminal fastidious parent But I a confronted Jiy certain facts on which this romance Is based A month later a handbill was posted on one of the sentinel posts announcing thabthe property would be sold by auction to the highest bidder by Mrs John Dart daughter of Madison Clay Esq and It was sold accordingly Still laterby ten years the chronicler of these pages visited a certain stock or breeding farm in the Blue Grass country amour a-mour for the popular racers It had produced pro-duced He was told that the owner was the best judge of horseflesh the I country Small wonder added his informant in-formant for they say as a young man out In California he was a horsethief and only saved himself by eloping with some rich farmers daughter But hes a straight out and respectable man now whose word about horses cant j be bought and as for his wife shes a beauty To see her at the springs rigged out in the latent fashion youd I never think she had ever lived out of New York or wasnt the wife of one of its millionaires |