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Show W& & 0 0' 0 O 0 0 00 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 j 0 0 0 I Judith of tee I 1 0 ' 0 0 TJ By..... 0 '8 Br I t ffi MAR-,E MANNING, I 1 'A JlVVl AM L P Author ol "Lord Allindh.nl. nanlrupl" X I 0 Copyright, 1903. bj llrper Drotheri 0 I 5 .1 O $ ' t A Sx : At :! iff. t'f. iff. :f tfl t'i t' i'i t'i & i'i i' i . Ci 5t & & tji i Tiit T& & . ' " T 'V- Hturjfiily K'tliiliiK uliiit ccmi to bo., n iilntpnti, hIio licoled and waited tho r. . V , L .Vo icnninti cjrerpt -tlldn Jtmlncu '"' ever taken thai tmtl hejnrv. comliiH of tills iiosilblu friend or foe. The tliuddltiR of lioofi tliroiiK'li (lie Inferno In-ferno of ilarkiK"5 Htoppod as the rider liulon considered Hie latest move of the horseman above. They were so near that Judith could hear the labored breathing of the nweiitltiB horse. Tho blackness of the night h'td become a tangible thing The towering mountains moun-tains were one piece with the gaping preclplee, the trail, the xcrub pines, the gauntlet on her hand. The horso below resumed Its -.tumbling gait. Judith Ju-dith crowded Dolly close to the rocky wall. If the chance comrade of the wilderness should pass her by In the darkness God speed him! "What the deuce are you blocking the trull for?" Ming out a voice from the darkness. At sound of It Judith's heart stopped heating The voice was l'eter Hamilton's. CIIAI'TIUl X Tl Nil Judith, taken unawares by the unexpected turn of J things, comforted as a lost A child that Is found, told all her feeling for him In the way she called his name The easy tenderness of 1 he man awoke. Ills stnsei swayed t) the mag'c of her voice, the mystery of the night, the bhadow world In which they two, 'twist earth and sky, were Mono. They lode ultliMit speaking, l'eter's hand sought bets, and all her woman's, terror of the desolation, her fear of the ague tenors of the dreadful dread-ful night, hpuku In her answering pressure. pres-sure. It was as If the desort had given them to each other its they groped through the silent daikness. In the great company of earth, sky. silence si-lence and this great hearted woman l'eter grew conscious of 11 real thrill. There were depths to life vast, still depths. This woman's unselllsh love for htm made 111 n 1 icallze them. He felt his Haul sweeping out on the great file of things. Further and farther It swept. Ills pation saint, caution, beel-. onlng frantically from the receding shore, was miles bVlilnd. ".Judith!" h-said, h-said, and he scarce rcc ignlzed lihi own voice. "Judith!" lie struggled as a swimmer In a drowning clutch. Then his pitron Mtlnt threw him a life line, nud he sincd the situation. "Judith!" he said, a third time, and now he knew his voice. 'Look'" she whispered The ky had lost Its foiblddlng blackness. The fcharp notches of the mountains, faintly faint-ly outlined In white, undulated through nn eternity of space. Venus hung In tho west, burning softly as a shaded lamp. The trail they climbed seemed to end In her pale yellow light. l'eter had saved the situation, but the wild beauty of the night stirred In I 'in that gift of silvery speech that was ever his tribute to the sex rather than tho woman. lie bent toward Judith Ju-dith A loosened strand of her hair blew across bis cheek. The breakneck ride to Kitty was already the madness of a dead and gone Incarnation. Ho pointed to the pale star and told her It was the omen of their destiny, the formless blackness through which they had gioped was the way of life, but for such as were not condemned to eternal darkness Venus held high her lamp, and they sealed the heights And Judith, listening, found her heart a battlefield of love and hate "Weie women dogs, that men should play with them In Idle moods, caress them and lllng them out for other tojs?" she demanded of herself, oven while the tones of his voice melted her Innermost being to thankfulness for till hour that ho was wholly hers. (iayly, with ready turns of speech and snatches or bong trolled in his m luteal baritone, l'eter rodo through the night even as he rode through life, a Sir Knight of the Joyous Heart, tin-brushed tin-brushed by the whig of sorrow, loving his palo griefs for the values they gave the picture. And Judith understood by reason, of tliatjixqulslto perception that was Tiers Infntr fiiafters pcrfahilug to him and, knowing, only loved the more. l'eter put a restraining hnnd on Dolly's Dol-ly's bridle and called Judith's name, nud all the mountains made, music of It. Tho echo sang, the old Hebrew name as tf It had been n psnhn. Peter's voice gtne It to the mountains joyously, joyous-ly, hut the mountains gave It hack In the minor. And Judith was reminded of the soft, singing syllables that her mother In the Indian wny had made of her daughter's Indian name. The re menihraiicc tugged nt her heart. In her Joy at seeing l'eter sho had forgotten for-gotten that the errand that had brought her was an errand of life and death -life and death for her brother! Itut l'eter's ready enthusiasms pressed press-ed him hard. Surely love making w.n the business of such a night. "Ah, Judith, Ju-dith, goddess of the heights, If I could sing your name like the mountains, would you love me a little?" For his pains bo had a Hash of white teeth In a smile that recalled his first aciiualutance with Kitty, tho sort of smile one would give to a "nice boy" when his maneuvers were a trifle obvious. ob-vious. "Not If you sang my name as the chorus of all the Himalayas and the Uocklcs and Andes nud with tho lire of all theh volcanoes and th lieau-ty lieau-ty of their snows and tho strength of all their hills, for It's not my way to love a little!" He bent toward her to brush her cheek lightly, but Judith, who said little lit-tle because she felt much, was In no mood to brook such dalliance, nnd, urging urg-ing the mare sharply, she cantered down the divide nt peril of life and limb. l'eter, cursing the heavy footed beast he rode, came stumbling after. Judith rode wildly through the night, leaving l'eter laps behind to beseech, to prophesy dire happening If she should slip, and to scramble after as best he might on tho heavy footed beast he repudiated with all his ancestors ances-tors as oxen to the fourth generation. But the woman kept her jiace. She had stern questions to put to herself, nnd they were likely to have truer answers an-swers If l'eter were elsewhere than riding beside her. Whither was he go Ing? They had met casually on n trail known to few honest men. It led over a spur of the Wind river to a sort of no man's laud, the hiding place of horse nnd cattle thieves. She had gone to warn her brother. Could ho be going go-ing there She could not bring herself to finish. Her heart was divided against Itself. Within It weie fought again the red and the white man's bnttles bitterly and to the llnlsh. And now the whit" man, with his open warfare, won, nnd all lior love rose up and scourged her llttl.' faith. She would wait on the trail for l'eter, penitent nnd ashamed. And while she waited suspicions bred of her Indian blood stirred distrustfully, distrustful-ly, and she told herself that her mother's moth-er's daughter made a worthy chntnplnn of the ways of white men. Did Hamilton Hamil-ton hunt her brother gollowsward, making mak-ing merry with her the meantime? He had not even been courteously concerned con-cerned as to where she was gohfg when they met on the divide, and slip had not thought to wonder at his possible destination. She was by this time well dowif the divide. The temperature had risen perceptibly per-ceptibly on the down grade. The heat of the plaJnu had already mingled with the cool hill air. The heights wheie Venus Ve-nus kept her love vigil were already past. Judith gave Dolly a breathing spell, herself lounging easily meanwhile. mean-while. She knew how to take her ease In thf saddle as well as any cow-puncher cow-puncher on tlie range. l'eter, coming up with a ninth blown horse, found her chanting an Indian song. "Sing a verse for me, Judith. Heaven knows I need something to straighten out my Infernal luck." She had begun to cant, then stopped Middenly. "I must not. You know I am a Catholic." Suspicion that had been scotched, not killed, raised Its r y head ' What (if. hTs present venture?" ven-ture?" Her eye had not 1 hanged In ex presslon, nor n tone of h r voice, but In her heart was 11 rlckcn'ng distrust tor all things. Her mind was busy with it multitude of schemes. Fool though sho had been, sho would not bo the Instrument Instru-ment of her brother's undoing. "I've come too far!" sho cried In sudden sud-den dismay. "I should have stopped at the foot of the divide. I've never been over the trail before." "You foolish child! Why should you stop In the middle of the wilderness?" She wheeled the ninre about nnd faced him, 11 llgurc of graven resolution. resolu-tion. "I promised to, meet Tom I.orlmer Ihcre. Now you know." With which she cracked Dolly sharply sharp-ly with her heel and began to retrace her way over the trail. l'eter turned his horse and followed, with the feeling feel-ing of utter helplessness that a man has when confronted with tho granite olntlnacy of women. Judith had meanwhile expected that the announcement announce-ment of her mythical appointment with Tom Lorlmer would lie received differently. dif-ferently. Tom I.orlmer's reputntlon was of the worst. An eastern man formerly, for-merly, an absconder from Justice, rumor ru-mor was busy with tnles of ungodly merrymaking that went on at his ranch, where no woman went except painted wisps from the dance halls. Hut l'eter was too loyal n friend, despite de-spite his shortcomings as a lover, to see In Judith's statement anything mare than a sisterly devotion so deeply unselfish that It failed to take Into account the danger to which she subjected sub-jected her.elf. However. It wns plainly his duty to prevent an unprotected rendezvous with l.orhncr, to reason, to plead, nnd, If he nhuuld fall to bring her to a reasonable frame of mind, to go with her, come what would of the result. There were reasous innumerable why he, a cattlcmnii, should avoid the appearance ap-pearance of dealing with the sheep faction, fac-tion, ho leflected grimly. Lorlmer owned sheep, ninny thousand hend. Ills herds had been allowed to graze unmolested, un-molested, whllo smaller owners, like Jim Hodney, had been crowded out because be-cause his Inlluence, politically, was a thing to he reckoned with, so Peter followed Judith, pleading Judith's cause. She did not understand, he told her, what she was doing, and, while perhaps there was not another man In the country who would not honor her unselfishness hi coming to him, I.orlmer's chivalry was not n thing to be reckoned with, drunken beast that he was, and Judith, worn with the struggle, tried beyond measure, made reckless by tho dally Infusion of 111 fortune, pulled up the marc and laughed unpleasantly. "You think I'm going to see Lorlmer about Jim? I'm going with him to a merrymaking We're old pals, I.orlmer and I." "Judith, dear, has It come to this that j on not ouly distrait an old friend, but that you try to degrade yourself to hide from hlru the fact that you are going to your brother's? You've never spoken to I.orlmer. I heard hi in say, ndt a week ago, that ho had never succeeded suc-ceeded In making you recognize him. You deceived mo at first when you spoke of meeting him I thought you had n messago from Jim but this talk of merrymaking Is beneath you." lie shrugged Ids shoulders In disgust. He felt the torrent of grief that rent her. No sob escaped her lips. Thero was no convulsive movement of shoulder. She rode beside him, still ns the desert before be-fore the sand storm hrenks, her soul ncared with white hot Iron thnt knows no saving grace of sob or tear. Peter drew out his watch. "It's n quarter to 11. We'll have a hard bit of riding to reach Blind creek before midnight." Then he knew ns well as she, perhaps per-haps better, the route to .Tl'n's hiding Cont 11 (I o 1 (lib nage Judith of the Plains 1 ConllniH'd fjoui 2ml pniff. ' place. She hnd uor6r boon there as yet. And, If Pctor knew, doubtlcfw ov- I cry tnttlcman In tho country know. What a fool sho had been with her talk of mectlni; Tom Lorlmerl A ftenso of I utter defeat seemed to pnritlyze her cni-rKlM. I'hyslcnl woarlness was telling tell-ing on her. She had been In the middle mid-dle since n little past noon, mid It was now not far from midnight. And Htlll there was the unanswered question of Peter's errand. It was long ulnco el- I ther had broken tho nlloncc. A delicious ' coolness had crept Into tho air with tbe npproncb of midnight. Judith, breath-ItiK breath-ItiK deep drafts of It, reminded herself of the Htolclsm that was hers by birth-rlgbt. birth-rlgbt. "Peter" her voice lost souiu of IM old rliiu, but It had a deeper note "Peter, we make strnnge comrades, you mid I, In a stranger world. Wo meet mi Horse Thief trail, mid there Is reason to Mippoio Uiat our errands are Inimical, You've pierced all my little 'pretenses. You know that I am going to my brother, who Is nn outlaw -my brother, tho rope for whose hanging hang-ing Is already cut. And yet we have been friends these many years, mid we meet In this world of desolation and weigh eacli other's words, mid there Is no trust In our hearts. Our little lit-tle faith Is moro pitiful than the'cmel errands I hat brln us, I take it you, too, arc going to my brother's?" "I'm going there to see that you arrive ar-rive safe and sound, but I had no Intention In-tention of going when I left enmp. You've brought me n good twenty miles out of my way, not to mention accusing accus-ing me of ulterior motives. Now, aren't you penitent?" Ho smiled at her, boyish boy-ish and lneslstlble. To Judith It was more reassuring than an oath. "If like dogs fighting oTcr a picked bone; the meat's all gone. Tho range Is overworked; over-worked; It needs n good long reet." He turned toward Judith, speaking slowly. "What yon have said la true. We're friends before we're partisans of cither faction. I'm on my way to n roundup. There's been an unexpected order to fill a beef contract n thousand steers. We're going to furnish 500, the XXX . 2.-.0 and the Circle Star 250. Men have ' been scouring the enemy's country for ' days rounding up stragglers. It will ' go hard with the rustlers after this roundup. Judith." , She felt a great wave of penitence ! and hliauie Hweep over her. She had i not trusted htm; In her heart she had nourished hideous suspicions of him, aud lie was telling her, quite simply. of the plans of his own faction, trust- i lug her, n. Indeed, he might, but as I she never expected to be trusted. ' "Peter, do you know that sometimes I think Jim has gone quite mad with ' these range troubles? He's acted) strangely ever since his sheep were ' driven over the cll(T. He's not been home to Allda and the children since lie has been out of Jail, and you know bow devoted to them be has always been! He spends all Ills time tracking Simpson. Allda wrote me that she ex- ( pects him tnulght. and I'm going there on the chance." "It's the devil's own hole for desola- , tlon that he's eome to," Peter looked abmit the cup slmped valley that was but n cul-de-sac lu the mountains. A ' lone group of dead cottonwoods grew like sentinels close to the rocky walls Their twisted branches, gaunt and i bare, writhed upward as lu dumb sup plication. There was about them a something that made Judith come closer to Peter as they passed them. 'Those frightful trees, how can Allda stand them?" She looked back. "Oh, I wish the were cut down!" Hefore them was the cabin, Its mined condition pitifully apparent even by night. It bail been deserted ten years ' before Jim brought bis family to It. Humor said It was haunted. (Jrlm ', Rtorles were told of the death of u woman who had eimie there with a man mid had not lived to go away with lit in. The roof of the adjoining stable had fallen In; the liars of the corral were missing. The house was dark but for a feeble light that glimmered lu one window, the beacon that had been lighted, night after night, against Jim's coming. "Peter" Judith bud slid from her horse and wiih clinging to Ills arm "when It baiipens, Peter, you will have no part In It?" "It won't happen, Judith, If I can help It." She kissed his hand as It held the loose reins. "Lord. I ntn not worthy!" was the thought lu his heart, lie sat gnmu lu Ibe saddle. Sir Knight of the Joyous Joy-ous Heart though he was, the un oitight Mhs of trust gifted him with n self reverence Hint would not soon forsake for-sake htm. Judith was rapping on the door and calling to Allda not t be frightened And presently It was opened. Peter wanted to leave Judith, now that she was s.ifely at tho end of her Journey, but she would not hear of It till he had eaten. "You would have had your comfortable comfort-able supper the hours ago had you not been playing cavalier to me all over tho wilderness." Aud Peter yielded. Judith busied herseir about the kltcti en. Her mood of racking npprchcu slon had disappeared. Indian stoicism had again tin guiding hand. She waved Peter from the lire that she was kindling rn If ho were a blundering blunder-ing Incompetent Hut she let him slice the bacon and gr'nd the coffee as one lets n child help Allda came In. white faced and ilaImih over tho long t.Ii-sence t.Ii-sence of her husband, but consclen llously hospitable nevertheless. Peter noticed that Judith made n gallant pretense of eating, crumbling her bread and talking Urn meanwhile Tho palo V ItPj. who bad little to say at the best of times, was put to tho tost to say anything nt nil. But wllhnl their Intent In-tent was so genuinely hospitable that Potcr himself could not speak with the pity of It. Accustomed as be was to the roughness of these frontier enhhu, never had he neen n human habitation RJ desolate as this. The mud plaster had fallen nwny from between be-tween the logs, showing cross sections of the melancholy prospect. An atmosphere of tragedy brooded over the place. Whether from Its long period of emptiness or from tho vaguely vague-ly hinted murder of the woman who bnd died there or whether It took Its character from the prevailing desolation desola-tion the cabin In tho valley was an unlovely un-lovely thing. Nor did" the cleanliness, the conscientious making the best of tilings soften tho woeful aspect of tho place. Ilather was the apucal tho more poignant to the seeing eye ns tha brave makeshift of the self respecting poor strikes deeper than the beggar'rt whine. The house was bare liut for the few things that Allda could tako In the wagon In which they made their flight. And nil through the pinch of poverty and grinning emptiness there was visible the woman touch, the bravo making the best of nothing, the pitiful preparation for tho coming of the man. The curtain was drawn aside that the lamp might shed its beam further on the way of tho trnvcler who came not. There was but one other light In the place, n bit of candle. Allda apologized for tho poor light by which they must eat, but she did not offer to take the lamp from tho window. Peter was no longer Sir Knight of the Joyous Heart as he wntched the little white faced woman, who went so often to the door to look toward the road that entered tho valley that sho was no longer aware of what she did. He saw her wide eyes full of fear, tho bow of the mouth strained taut with anxiety, her unconscious fear of him ns one of the alien faction and withal her concern for his comfort. Judith's control was far greater: but, though she hid It skillfully, he knew the sorrow sor-row that consumed her. There was a cry from the room beyond, be-yond, and Judith, snatching up the candle, can-dle, went In to the children. All three of them were sleeping crossways lu one bed, their small, round arms and legs striking out through the land of dreams as swimmers breasting the waves. Sho gavo a little cry of delight and appreciation nnd called Peter to look. Little Jim. who had cried In some passing fear, sat up sleepily. He stretched out his small arms to Peter, whom he had never seen before. Peter took him, mid again bo settled to sleep. The warm, small body, giving Itself with perfect confidence, strongly affected af-fected Peter's heightened susceptlbll- A In Mil irms lay Jim lUdnti't ton. j Hies. In the very nature of tho situation situ-ation he could be no friend to Jim llodney, yet here lu his arms lay Jim Itoduey's sou, loving, trusting him Instinctively. In-stinctively. Judith noticed that his face paled beneath Its many coats of tan. lie was afraid of the little sleeping sleep-ing boy, nfraid that ids unaccustomed touch might hurt him, mid yet loath to part with the small burden. Judith took the boy from Peter mid placed him bu tween the two little girls on the bed. Through the window they could see Allda's dress glimmering like u plinii-I plinii-I torn lu tho darkness as she strained her I eyes toward tho path. Peter tutted to leave tho women and children In this desolate place. The night was far 1 spent. To reach the. roundup In season he could at best snatch a couple of j hours' sleep nnd bo again In the saddle I while Hit1 stars still shone. His saddle I and saddle blanket were enough for talis. The broad canopy of hc.ivcu. the bosom of mother cnrih, had ghe-i him sound, dreamless sleep these many years. He bmle the women good night mid made his lied where the canyon gao entrance to the valley. Hut sleep was slow to come. Now, In that vague, uncertain world where wo fall through oceans of space, and the waking is the dream, the dream the waking, Peter caught pale Hashes of Kitty's gold head as she ran and ran, ever lu the pursuit of something, she kn-w not what. And ns she ran hither and thither thith-er she would turn her head and beckon to Peter, and as he followed he felt the burden of years come upon him And then he saw Judith's eyes, still and grave, lie turned and wakened. No; It was not Judith's eyes, 'mt the stars abate the mountain tops. To be continued |