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Show W H' I I Judith of the Hi A ItlS MAWE MANNING, H j . JL JLJ JL JL Jl9 Author of "Lord A!lirI.m.Bnknipl" IT H' i Copyrijbt, 1903. bjr Inrptf CI Broth & H gt 1 i , Ifltty looked ii), Klnrilt'il at the voice. M filio linil not heard tlio roiiuiI of tlio M moccuHlnril foul, llor wandering, fur B lorn tliotiRlilH crj'Htiilllzeil at hIkMI of B the woman before lier, a now llfjlit- BH nltig leaped Into lior eyct an she reeog- BH ntzotl Jiulltli. There wnst between lliem BBl n thrilling coiihcIoushchm Unit kiivo In BBa their nniliml perception u KoiuetliliiK BBa Miarp nnd fine, Hint grasped tlio ilranm BBl of tlio moment villi tin; prceUlou anil BBa fidelity of ii viiniora. BBl "Volt urn Mist Itodney, I bollovq?" BBl ' Kitty wan t-niisclniM of fioiiiotlilng BBl UtTllDRO III llOl VOICO DM nllO looked llltll BBa tlio dark o.vom, wlifo with imoitlonliu: BBl fenr. All, lint who linil amazing beauty BBb and n notiifllilut; tliat Boomed of tlio BBl very essence of (loop smiled woiuaull BBl "'' ncssl Tlio two women presented n liny BB lilt of antltlioHlfl-Ivltty, llowcrllko, BBl (imnll, delicately wrought, tlio llnlalied BBl product of tlio town, exotic as Homo BBb rnro traiiHiilantoil orchid growth. And BBl , In .1 nil I Hi tlicro van a gonillke ipiallty. BBl It was In tlio lilooin of lior nkln, tlio Irl- BBl descent radliiiico of her linliv tliat was BBl lilnlph, llko u plum' In Riinllglit; It wai BBb in the warm, rod llfo In lior lips In tlio BBl pulsing vllallty of tlio rIIiii, lirown BBl throat. In every lino wiih hoiisuoih BBl forco restrained liy Hplrltnal passion. BBl Kitty told of tlio nocldont In which BBb lior horso had thrown her and llsni- BBb pcared In tlio plno fringes, leaving her BBb , stnnneil for a moment or two, and how BBh v ' nho had Anally pulled herHclf together BBh and followed what appeared to ho a BBl trail In tho hope of finding some one. B Wu dwelt lout; on 11." tU'U i of the nc- BBb BBb "Vcm, hut Tetor? What has happened BBV IilinV" Judith chose her words Itnpa- BBb tlcntly. She wax nicked with anxiety BBV ut hl long delay, and now alio lmng BBb over Kitty waiting for lior answer, BBl without the xcinhlaiico of a clonk for BBB her BBl There was roproofTn Kitty's amend- BBl incut. "I don't know which way Mr. BBB Hamilton's hot-Re went. It started hack BBB over tho trail, I think." BBB Judith clasped her hands. "Ixt us BBb ro ami look for him. Why do we BBB wnsto time?" Hut Kitty lump; hack. BBb She was shaken from her fall and up- BBB net hy the events of the morning. l!o- BBV Hides, her faith In IVlorV ahlllty to BBB oiio with all the exigencies of this BBB i:ntry was supreme. And clllefest BBB ami of all for her not going was BBB . I'omethlng within her that winced BBB .'t tho tlioiiKht of this fellowship that BBB had for lis object the quest oM'oter. BBV "Oh, don't you hoc," pleaded Judith, BBS "thai If Homethlng had not h.ippeueit BBB to him ho would have been hero long BBBj Judith's anxiety invoice In Kitty a BBH' - , now couscIoiiHiioss. What wan she to BBH him that at tho poislhlllty of harm, a BBBJ fear not shared hy Kitty, she should BBBJ throw off a reserve that every line of BBBJ her face pronounced habitual? In her BBBJ very energy of attitude, an energy that BBBJ all unconsciously communicated Itself BBBJ to Kitty, there wiib tho power that be- BBBJ ..' longs to all elemental human emotion BBBJ tho power that compels, Kitty rose to BBBj follow Judith, then hesitated. BBBJ "I'm sure nothing hss happened him. BBBJ No, I'm really too unstrung hy my BBBJ full to walk." She sauk again to the BBBJ bowlder on which she had been silting. BBBJ To the woman of tho world Judith's BBBJ Ingenuous display of fooling had In Its BBBJ. very sincerity a somolhlng pitiable. BBB How could she strip from her snul BBB every fold of reserve and stand mi- BBB loved and unashamed, sanctified, as It BBB were, by the very hopelessness of Iht BBBJ passion? How could women make of BBBJ their whole existence a thing to be re- BBBJ ' Jected, collected Kitty, who, giving BBBJ nothing, could not understand? She BBBJ looked again at the bronzed face be- BBBJ Rldo her, so bold In outline, so cxpross- BBBJ Ive In detail. Yes, she was beautiful, BBB and yet what had her beauty availed BBB her? The thought that she herself was BBB tho preferred woman throbbed through BBB her for a moment with a sense of e.tal-BBB e.tal-BBB BBBJ' 'Hie next moment n haunting doubt BBBJ laid hold or her heart, held up ino.-k-BBBJ' t Ingly the little that she, mid 1'eler had BBBJ, lived through together, the lofty piano BBBJr of friendship along which she had tried BBBJ to lead his unwilling feet sedately, bin BBBJ protests, his frank amusement at her BBBJ serious pretensions to a career. How BBBJ much fuller might not have been tho BBBj , Intercourse between him and this wo- Iiunn. who In all probability hud been Ills comrade for years? And slio had been Idealizing hltn and his love for BB 'her and Ids loneliness! Kitty stood BBBJ , with eyes cast Down, while Images BBBJ crowded upon her, leaving her cold and BBBJ' BBBJ s "Hut think," pleaded Judith. "If you BBBJ j don't eoine It will take me longer to BBBJ search the trail .marks. You could BBBJ how me Just where the horses ran" BBBJ Kitty's eyes were still on tho ground. BBBJ, Bhe did not lift them, mid Judith, real- BBBJ' lr.lng that further appeal was but a BBBJ' ' waste of time, turned and ran swiftly BBBJ, ( down the trait, i Spoiled Her Beauty. Harriet Howard. Of 200 V. ;'lth St., New York.atonc time, liad linr beauty spoiled with skin trouble. Sho writes: BBVl "Iliad Salt Ithcum or Eczema for BBbsft i - years, but nothing would euro It, tin- BBJBBI ;r til I'usedHiieklln' Arnica Salve.-A BBBH L - 'lulok and suro healer for cuts, burns BHB!i , BBBBk luul BOr(s- '-'",c nt Kttcr Ilros. Drue Co. SBBBABHBBBBBBBHr- "ffe s her lover," said Kitty. And all the wilderness beforo her was no lonelier than lior heart. Swift, Intent, Judith traced Kitty's footprints. 'I hey followed tlio g.inio I 7 i A. " j.j I "Are iuii limit" trail, the one she herself had taken earlier In the ila.. She traced thoin back through the pine wood about a hundred rods, and then the trail marks grew confused. This was uurpiestlon-ably uurpiestlon-ably the place whore the horses had taken tak-en fright, circled, reared, then dashed In different directions. She traced the other horse, whoso tracks led under low hanging boughs. It would have been a difficult matter for n horse with a rider to clear. And now tho Impression Impres-sion of the horse's tdioes grow fainter, from the lighter footfalls of a horse at full gallop. "Ah I" A, cry broke from her as sho saw tho iijirks had become almost eliminated by something that had dragged, drag-ged, something heavy." Tlioe long drawn lines were linger prints, whe."' a baud had dragged In Its vain endeavor endeav-or to grasp at something. A' sickening Imago oaino persistently beforo her eyes rotor's upturned face, blood smeared mid dlstlgurod. "Sh-sh-shl" Sho put her hand to her breast to still tho beating of her heart. She could bear tho sound of hoofs falling, fall-ing, mulllcd, ou the soft grouud and a mini's voice speaking In a soothing slug mug, She listened, It was 1'eter's voice, reassuring the horse, asking him what kind of a bag of nerves he was for a cow pony to get f right cm il at a bear? Judith stood tall and straight among tho pines. Surely he could not blindly pass her by. He must feci the Joy In her heart that all was well wltli him. Tho hoofs came nearer; the man's volco sounded but luterinltteutly as he got his horse under bettor control. Sho felt as If ho must come to her, as if some overpowering consciousness of her "ipreseneo would speak from her heart to his, but his eyes scanned the distant trail for a glimpse of Kitty or Kitty's horse. 'Judith saw that his head was bound In something white and that It horo a ml slain, hut he held himself well In the saddle. Ho was not the man to hood a tumble. lie urged the horse forward, never looking toward tho tree trunks, his face white and strained with anxiety as ho scoured the trail for evidences of Kitty. The horse, with a keener sense than his master, shied slightly as ho passed tho group of pines where Judith stood, but Teter's glance was for tho open trail, mpl as sho lien id him canter by, so chio that she could have touched his stirrup with her hand, It seemed as it hit must hear the boating of her heart, "Oh, blind eyes, and cars that will not hear, and heart that has forgotten how to beat! Yes, go to that pale, cold girl I You speak one Inngunge, and llfo for you Is the way of little things!" Sho waited till the last sound of the horse's hoofs had died away nutl all was still In the tremulous green Of tho forest. Judith's mind was busy with the imago of their meeting, the man bringing the Joy of bis youth to tho calm divinity who could feel no thrill of fear hi his absence, Sho broke Into the running gait and hurried hur-ried through the forest to tho Dnxe'. CIIAI'TKIt XV. TUB beef herd that had been tho pivotal point of tho roundup and had made the mighty plain echo to Us stamplutrs and bel-lowlngs, bel-lowlngs, beating up simooms that choked It with thirst, blinded it with dust, coufoundlog Itself ou every sldo by tho very fury of Its blind forco. had trailed for u week, trtvlahle as toys In the hands of children. J.lttlo had happened hap-pened to vary the monotony for the cow punchers that handled Uio herd. They grazed, guarded, wntcm, night herded tiio cattle uTyWtcr'ilay; night after night. J'asturagojiad been sulll- olojit If not abundant. The creeks were tunning low and slimy with tho advance ad-vance of summer, but there had been sudlclcut water to let tho herd drink its lilt at least onco a day. Tho outfit nto its "sow belly," soda .biscuit nnd coffee three times a day and smoked its pipes, but was a llttlo shy on yarns round the rainpflrc. "This ycre outfit don't lather none," commented tho cook to the horse wrangler wran-gler over "10 smoke of mi early morn lug fire. "Don't lather no more than a chunk of wood," agreed the horse wrangler. "That's the trouble witli a picked up outfit llko this. Catch W-sipinio men kotowing to n XXX boss, even If ho is only noting foreman." Simpson, the origin of whose connection connec-tion with the XXX was rather n sensl-tho sensl-tho subject with that outfit, had begun to take his duties as a cattleman with grim Hcrlousiiess. He was untiring In his labors, ho ipent long hours In tho saddle, he took his turn at night herd-lug, herd-lug, though he w.-m old for thli; kind of work, Ho condemned the sheep iien with foul mouthed denunciations, scoffed scoff-ed at their raiijcu rights said tho sheep ip'etlon hlt'oti'd be dealt with In ftio I.' .uo:vl!ko 'rainier In which the Indian In-dian tp,iplliii leul boon settled. J.o was an adoi:atu of violent- -In iiliort, a fiwnggeiliig, bombastic windbag. wind-bag. Ho talked ninth of "his ont" and "his men," "What was gu.i.l enough for thonl was good enough for liltn," ho would announce at meal-, time, lu a sniveling tone, when tho food happened to be particularly bad. He split the temporary outfit, brought together for the purpose of handling the beef herd, Into factions. Ho put tho XXX In worse repute than It already al-ready enjoyed he was, In fact, the discordant spirit of the expedition. The pion attended to their work sullenly, niscord was rlfo. The oiio thought they shared In common was that of the wages that would come to tlM'iu at the end of the drive; of the feverish Joy of "blowing In," In a single night; per-chnnco per-chnnco of forgetting In one long riotous evening the monotony, the hardship, tho lack of coniradcry that made this particular drlvo one long to bo remembered remem-bered In tho mind of every man who had taken part In It. Meanwhile tho herd trailed Its half mile length to the slaughtering liens day after day, all unconscious of Its power. When the steers had trailed for about a fortnight the (piestlon of finding sulllelcnt water for llioin began be-gan to be a serious one. The preceding whiter had been unusually jiMld, the snowfnll on the mountains averaging less than lu the recollection of tho old-est old-est plainsman. Summer had begun early and waxed hot and dry. The earth began to wrinkle and cracked Into trenches, like gaping mouths, thirsty for the water that came not. Such streams as had not dried shrank nnd crawled among the willows llko slimy things, that tho herd, thirsty though It was from tho long drives, hud to bo coaxed to drink from. Discontent grow. The acting foreman, fore-man, who was a XXX man and a comparative stranger to that pait of the country, refused to consult with the W-siiuare men In the outfit, who knew every Inch of tho ground. The acting foreman thought the Wotmore men looked down on him. "put on dag," and. to flaunt his authority, ho ordered i 1. i-d driven due west Instead of Lining t the north by the longer route, where they would have had tho advantage of drinking at several crooks before crossing (ireon river. Moreover, More-over, the acting foreman was drinking hard and he Insisted upon his order In spite of the Wotmore men's protestations. protesta-tions. The character of the country began to change; the soil took ou tho color of blood; eveu tho omnipresent sagebrush began to fall the landscape; sun bleached bleach-ed bones glistened on tho red soil, white as ulcers; all the animal trails led back from the country Into which they were 'proceeding; the sky, a vivid, cloudless blue, paled as It dipped earthward; earth-ward; there was no sign of life In all the land; even tho grasshoppers had left It to the sun, the silence and tho desolation. Above the angry bellow of tho thirsty herd the men strained their ears again and again for this familiar sound of life, but there was nothing but the bellowing of tho cattle, tho trampling of their hoofs and sometimes the long, squenllng whinny of a horso ns he throw- back Ills head In seeming demand to know the Justice of tCls thing. Across tlnwred plain Hnallisl the herd like a many Jointed, pichlstoric reptile rep-tile wandering over tho limitless spaces of some primeval world. A cloud of red dust hung over them lu a dense haze, trailed after them n weary length, then all was featureless monotony. What were a thousand steers, a handful hand-ful of men and horses, In the land of the red slleneo? It bad seen tho comings com-ings nnd goings of many peoples, and once It had flowed with streams, but that was beforo tho curse of Ood camp upon It, and In Its harsh, dry barrenness barren-ness it grew to bo a inenaeo to living things. To be, continued |