Show SYNOPSIS anid maitland Malt land a frank free frea and un polled young philadelphia la girl Is taken 0 the colorado mountains by ar her uncle robert maitland Malt land james armstrong mauland a falls tn in love w th her CHAPTER ll 11 continued 14 and by what right did you jake take that one onea haughtily demanded the outraged young woman looking at 1 him beneath level brows bros while the color slowly receded from her face she had never been by a man othi than a blood relation in her life ife r remember suspicious reader that she was from philadelphia and she resented this sudden and thol zed caress with every atom and inq instinct of her still somewhat conven lional being but aren t you halt half way engaged to mea he pleaded in justification see ing the un unwonted seriousness with which she had received his impudent advance didn dian t you agree to give mea me a cl ancee I 1 did say that I 1 liked you very much he admitted no man better and that I 1 thought that OU might e ell then he began but she would not be interrupted I 1 did not mean that you should en joy all the privileges of a conquest be toie loie you had won ron me I 1 will thank ou not to do that again sir bir it seems to have hane had a very dif effect upon you than it does upon me mp replied the man coolly I 1 ionel jou before but now since I 1 hae hale kissed aou ou I 1 worship you it haen t affected me mel that way re torte tortel the girl promptly her face still fro frowning Aning and indignant not at all and forgive me enid pleaded the ether other I 1 just couldn coulden t help it lou mere ere so beautiful I 1 had to I 1 took the el N chance you are not accustomed to our rays ays Is this your habit in your love al af fairsa asked the girl swiftly and not without a spice of feminine malice I 1 never had any love affair before he replied with a ready jascu line mendacity at least none worth mentioning but you see this Is the ast st we me haye have gained what we have by demanding every inch that nature W others and then claiming the all tt at a the way we play the game out here and that a the way we win but I 1 have not yet learned to play the game as you call it by any suca rules returned the young woman de and it Is not the way to win me it I 1 am the stake what Is the way asked the man anxiously show me and ill take it no matter what its difficulty e ah ali tor for me to point out the way would be to play traitor to myself she answered relenting and relaxing a little before his devoted wooing you must find it without assistance I 1 can only tell you one thing and what Is that xou ou do not advance toward the goal by such actions as those ot of a moment since look here said the other sudden ly I 1 am not ashamed ot of what 1 I did and I 1 im to not going to pretend that I 1 am either you ought to be severely well maybe so but I 1 im in not I 1 couldn coulden t help it U any more than I 1 could help loving you the minute I 1 saw you put yourself in my place but I 1 am not in your place and I 1 cant can t put myself there I 1 do not wish to it if it be true as you say that you have grown to care so much for me and so quickly it tt it be true came the sharp in ter as the man bent toward her fairly devouring her with his bold ardent gaze well NA ell since it Is true ehe she admit ed under the compulsion ot of his protest that fact Is the only possible excuse tor for your action you find justification tor for me then no only a possibility but whether it bo be true or not I 1 do not feel that u ay yet there ras a saving grace in that last word which gave him a little heart he would mould have spoken but ehe she suffered no interruption saying I 1 have been wooed before but true unless the human race has become suddenly blind he said softly under his breath but never in such ungentle ways 1 I suppose you have never run up against a real red blooded man like me before II 11 red blooded be evidenced mainly by lacking of self control perhaps I 1 have not yet there are men that I 1 have met that would not need to apol spot ogile for their qualities even to you mr james armstrong dont say that evidently I 1 make but poor progress in my wooing never have I 1 met with a woman quite like you and in that indeed lay some ol 01 her charm and she might have replied in exactly the same lan ian guage and with exactly the same meaning to him I 1 am no longer a boy 1 I must be fifteen years older than 3 ou 0 u are tor for I 1 am thirty five live the difference between their years was not quite so great as he declared but womanlike oman like the girl let the state ment pass unchallenged and I 1 wouldn t insult your intel by saying you are the only woman that I 1 have ever made love to but there Is a vast difference between making loie love to a woman roman and loving one I 1 have just found that out for the first time I 1 marvel at the past and I 1 am ashamed of it but I 1 thank god that I 1 have been saved for this op port unity I 1 want to win you and I 1 am going to do it too in many things I 1 don dont t match up with the peo pie with whom you train I 1 was born out here and I 1 ve made myself there are things that have happened in the making that I 1 am not especially proud of and I 1 am not at all satisfied with the results especially since I 1 have met od the better I 1 know you the less pleased I 1 am with jim arm strong but there are possibilities in me I 1 lather believe and with you for inspiration god the man flung out his hand with a fine gesture of determination d e they say that the east and west rest dont naturally mingle but it s a lie you and I 1 can beat the world the woman thrilled to his gallant wooing any woman would have done so some of them would mould have lost their heads but enid maitland Malt land was an exceedingly cool young person for she was not quite swept off her feet and did not quite lose her balance alibe I 1 like to hear you say things it like ke thit she answered nobody quite like you has ever made love to me and certainly not in your way and that s the reason I 1 have given you a half war way promise to think about it I 1 was sorry that you could not be with us on this adien adventure ture but BOW now I 1 am rather glad especially it the even temper of my ni ay Is to be interrupted by anything like the outburst of a few minutes since I 1 am glad too admitted the man for I 1 declare I 1 couldn coulden t help it it I 1 have to be with you either you have got tf be mine or ele elbe you would have to decide that it could never be and then I 1 d go off and fight it out leave me to myself said the girl earnestly for a little while its it s best so I 1 would not take the finest noblest man on earth and I 1 am not that unless I 1 loved him there Is something very attract attractive lie about your per sodality sona lity I 1 don t know in my heart whether it Is that or good said the man as she hesi best bated enough he lie gathered up the reins and whirled his horse suddenly in the road I 1 am going back wait for your return to denver and then best answered the girl she stretched out her hand to him leaning backward it if he had been a different kind of a man he would have kissed it as it was he took it in his own hand and almost crushed it with a fierce grip well we 11 shake on that little girl he said and then without a backward glance he put spurs to his horse and galloped furiously down the road no he decided then and there she did no not I 1 love him not yet whether she ever would she could not tell and yet she was half bound to him the recollection of his kiss was not al at together a pleasant he had not done himself any good by that bold assault upon her modesty that reckless attempt to rifle the treasure of he lips no man had ever really touched her heart although many had engaged her interest her experience therefore was not definitive or con elusive it if be he had truly loved james armstrong in spite of all that she might have said she would have thrilled to the remembrance of that wild mild caress the chances therefore were somewhat heavily against him that morning as be he rode down the trail alone his ills experiences jn love affairs were much greater than hers she was by no means the first woman he had kissed remember suspicious reader that he was not from philadelphia hers were not the first ears into which he had poured passionate protestations he was neither bet ter nor worse than most mos taen men perhaps he fairly enough represented the aver age but surely fate had something better in store tor for such a superb worn wom an A girl of such attainments and such infinite possibilities she must mate higher than with the man perhaps there was a of his in her mind as she silently waited to be overtaken by the rest of the party there were curious glances and strange speculations in that little company as they saw her sitting her horse alone A lew few moments before james armstrong had passed them at a gallop he had waved his hand as he dashed by and had smiled at them hope giving him a certain assurance although his confidence was scarcely warranted by the facts his demeanor deanor was not in consonance with enid s somewhat grave and some n e story C wo who drank abi N ard A T a C e T abo off T r tov I 1 ith f cour PS artter 11 sa kill il N 11 4 I 1 of r J t she actually fried the bacon herself what troubled present aspect she threw off her preoccupation instantly and easily however and joined read lly ily enough in the merry conversation of the way mr robert maitland Malt land as armstrong has said had known him from a boy there were things in his career ot of which maitland Malt land did not and could not approve but they were of 0 the past he reflected and armstrong was after all a pretty good sort mr maitland Malt Matt land lands s standards were not at all those of his philadelphia brother but they were very high his experiences of men had been different he tho thought tight that armstrong having certainly by this time reached years of discretion could be safely entrusted with the precious treasure ot of the young girl who had been committed to his care and for whom his affection grew as bis his knowl edge of and acquaintanceship with her increased As tor for mrs maitland Malt land and the two girls and the youngster the were armstrong a devoted friends they knew nothing about his past indeed there were things in it ot of which malt land himself was ignorant and which had they been known to him film might have caused him to withhold even his tentative acquiescence in the bill ties most of these things were known to old kirkby who with masterly skill amusing nonchalance and abaz ing profanity albeit most of it under his breath lest he shock the ladles ladies tooled along the four nervous excited bronchus bron chos that drew the big auppl wagon kirkby was maitland Malt land s oldest and most valued friend he lie had been the latter s deputy sheriff he had been a cowboy and a lumberman a mighty hunter and a successful miner and now although he had acquired a reasonable competence and had a nice little wife and a pleasant home in the mountain village at the entrance to the eanon he drove stage tor for pleas ure rather than for profit he had given over his dally daily twenty five mlle jaunt from morrison Morr lson to troutdale trousdale Trout dale to other hands for a short space that he might spend a little time with his old fi lend fend and the daml 7 who mere ere all g eally attached to him on this outing enid maitland Malt land a girl of a hind kind that kirkby had never seen before had won the old man mans s heart during the weeks spent on the maitland Malt land ranch he ile had grown fond of her and he did not think that mr james armstrong rne merited that which he evidently so overwhelmingly over angly desired kirkby was well along in years but he was quite capable ol 01 playing a man a game for all that and he intended to play it in this bintai ce nobody scanned enid maitland Malt land a face more closely than he sitting humped up on the front sent seat of the he wagon one foot on the high break bis his I 1 head eunk sunk almost to the level of tits fits I 1 t 1 t ve e knee his long whip in his hand hia his keen and so somewhat fierce brown eyes taking in every detail ot of what was go ing on about him indeed there was but little that came before him that old kirkby did not see CHAPTER III the story and the letters imagine if ou please the forest primeval yes the murmuring pines and the hemlocks of ohp the poem as well by the side of a rapidly rushing moun tain torrent fed by the eternal snows of the lofty peaks ot of the great range A level stretch of grassy land where a mountain brook joined the creek was dotted with clumps of pines and great boulders rolled down from the everlasting eler eier lasting hills half an acre of open clearing on the opposite side of the brook the canon wall rose almost sheer for perhaps five hundred feet ending in jagged needle edged pin anacles of rock sharp picturesque and beautiful A thousand feet above ran the timber line and tour four thousand feet above that the crest of the great est peak in the main range the white tents of the little encamp ment v hoeh had gleamed so brightly in the clear air and radiant sunshine of colorado now stood dim and ghost ill e in the red reflection of a huge campfire it was as the evening of the first day in the wilderness for two days since leaving the the maitland Malt land party with its long train of burros heavily packed its horsemen and the steady plodders on foot had advanced into unexplored and almost inaccessible retreats of the mountains into the primitive in deed in this delightful spot they had pitched their tents and the perma nent camp had been made wood was abundant the water at hand was as cold as ice tee as clear as crystal and as sott soft as milk there was pas burage for or the horses and burros on the other side of the mountain brook the m whole hole place was a little ampel theater which humanity occupied per haps the first time since creation unpacking the burros setting up the tents making the camp building the fire had used up the late remain der of the day which was theirs when they had arrived opportunity would come tomorrow to explore the conn coun try to climb the range to try the tream that tumbled down a slon of waterfalls to the right of the camp and roared and rushed merrily around its teet feet until swelled smelled by the volume of the brook it lost itself in tree clad depths tar far beneath tonight rest after labor tomorrow play after rest the evening meal was over lai ball 1 could not help think with what corn and contempt her father would mould have regarded the raene how his gorge would have rann heis too for that ri 1 K f all matter had it been placed before him on the old colonial mahogany of the dinin dining groom room in philadelphia but up there in the wilds she had eaten the coarse homely fare with the zest and relish of the most seasoned ranger of the hills anxious to be of service she had burned her hands and smoked her hair and scorched her face by usurping the functions ot of the young ranchman who had been brought along as cook and had actually fried the bacon herself imagine a goddess with a frying pan the black thick coffee and the condensed milk drunk from the granite ware cup had a more delicious aroma and a more delight ful taste than the finest mocha and java in the daintiest porcelain of france optimum condl condi the girl was frankly ravenously hungry the air the altitude attitude the exertion the excitement made her able to eat any thing and enjoy it she was gloriously beautiful too even her brief experience in the west rest had brought back the bising roses to her cheek and had banished the bistre circles from beneath her eyes robert maitland Malt land lazily reclining propped up against a boulder his feet to the fire smoking an old pipe that would have given his |