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Show I I Judith of the H S rlAlfl MAKIE MANNING, f H 12 M. JICvJAJI9 Aa)kof.f,"LnJAIi;oh.ni.Bnkn.pr H I Crjrlht. U03. fcy H,fpr BrtKr H "The liook of lllrnm," Raid M'm. Yd- H i lott, nnfcHuR for time, "la a book It do M I surprise in' thnt It cucnpes .Tour notice H back enst. You ever lieiint loll of tlio M ITook of Mormon?" H Mary assented, H "Weill I be Hook of Tllrain Is like Hie H Hook of .Mormon, only u henp more H undented. Tho youngest child can M rend It wltlmtlt'iisklng n single embar. H rnflfilnn (iiiMtlon of IIk rider, mid (lie H "It's vilahlil limnncnlciU thnt I rltnuUI M l ( have mliUiid that book." !m oldest sluuor ciin rend It without hav ing nny fleshly incdltntlous Intrudln' on hl8 piety." ' Tho Yellelt family lind by this time dispersed Itself for the afternoon, mid H f tlio matrlnrch and the two Ktrli Mart ed in to elenr uwiiy the meal nnd wash H tlio dUlies. H t "That's tlio kind of book for me," couttuued Mm, Yellett, vigorously ' bwIhIiIuk ubotit In the soupy water. H "Btory books don't cottut nouu with me these dnys. lt'n my opinion that thlnp " nro sntwled tip n whole lot too much H In ronl life without pestering over tlio H nngulsh of print folks, Flesh nnd H I blood sutTcrlng goes without a groan ol H sympathy from the onlookers, while H I novel chnriiclers wade to the neck H lit B i ' "Has the Hook of lllnun unythhiK to B my n'iilnst the habit of novel muling, BHHJ Mrs. Yellett V" luUlred Judith demure- She .piiiwctl for u uiomeut, "lis BHHJ mighty Inconvenient that 1 should have HHHJ mislaid that hook, but rounding up my BHHf 1 recollect Ions of It 1 recall something Illko this: 'Itoniiiiici! is the loco weed of t ' liuinanlly.' " With the reeling that there win an HHHJ excellent though unspoken understand- HHHJ ' I I nc between tliem, the two girls walk- H i el together to the top of the path that HHHJ wandered away from ramp toward :i HHHJ F bluff overlooking wave after wave of HHHJ fj foothills, lying blue and still like n HHHJ HHHJ ) r "I'm still dying to know who wrote HHHf' that letter," bogged Mary, HHHJ i "It was written by u lady who Is HHHJ J i very anxious to return to Washington, H and hhe took that means of getting HHHJ ' one more vote. Her husband Is going HHHJ to run for the senate next term. W'u HHHJ I hear u good deal of that side of poll- HHHJ I HHHJ "It was certainly convincing" re- HHHJ marked the victim of the letter "My HHHJ aunts dcttvtcd many virtues In the J ' handwriting.-' "Hut now that juu are really here, HHj s Isn't It splendid? Mountains are such HHHJ good neighbors. They give you their HHHJ i . groat company and yet leave you your HHHJ I own little reservations," ( ( "Hut I fear I can never feel nt homo HHHJ' out of doors," Mary announced with HHHJ such a rueful expression that they HHHI: HHHl i "I'eihaps, then, It depends on Jho H i frame of mind. I've had loiiRCVhati J f you to HHHB I f t Maty looked toward the mountains H I serene In their Ntreugth. "Awesome HHHV 1 l, as they are," she laughed, "they don't HHHB frighten mu nearly as much as lieu HHHh i nnd Ned. They are really very dltll- H die, my pupils, and 1 feel hi rltltctt- HHB lous sitting up back of that tub, teach- HHHJ lug them letters and the spelling ' HHHJ foolish words, when they know things HHHJ I've never dreamed of. The other day, HHHJ out of a few scratches In the dust that HHHJ I should never have given a second HHHJ glance, one of them made out that HHHJI ! soiuo one's horses had broken the cor- H J rnl and one wns trailing a rope, here- HHHH upon my pupil got on a horse, went H' In search of tho strays and returned HHHH ' i them to men going to n roundup. After H I tbat the spelling of cat didn't seem HHHH qallo so much of an achievement as It HHHH J ; ' had before." B ' "But they need tbo spelling ot cat HHHH 1 so much more than you need .to un- HHHHFhl ) dorstand trail tnarks. Why don't you JHy, try n lltt'iu strategy with them-per- HHHH,i1 j haps a bribe oven? It seems to mo I HHHHrll) I remember something In history about HHHBL ' - the part played In colonization by tho bright colored bead." "You are mo splendid!" unld Mary Impulsively, Im-pulsively, remembering Judith's own sorrows and smiling fortitude with which she kept them hidden. "You mako me feel llko it horrid little girl that has beeu whining." Judith looked toward the mountains n long time without speaking. "When you know tliem well they whisper great things th.it little folk can't take awny," Who turned back toward camp, walking walk-ing lightly, with head thrown back. Mary watched her. Yes, the mountains might have admitted her In their company, com-pany, Cn.U'TKH XIV. JI'DITH nwnkeneH with nil the starry Infinitude of sky for n canopy. In the distance loomed tho foothills, watchful sentinels of her slumbers, and sloping gently nwny from them rolled tho plain, like some smooth, (lark sea Mowing deep and silently. Judith, a solitary llgttre adrift In that still ocean of space, sat up nnd watched the stars fade and saw the young day peer timorously nt the world that lay before It. Her mind, refreshed re-freshed by loug hours of dreamless sleep, turned to tho problem of Impending Impend-ing things serenely contemplative. The way of thu Indian was ever her way when circumstance raised no barriers; tho four wnlls of a house wero u prison to her after the days lengthened nnd tho summer night's grew warm. To tho Inllnlte disapproval of that custodian cus-todian of propriety, Mrs. Dax. she would make her bed be;ienth the stars night after night and Imtho In the cold, clear waters of the stream that purled from the while capped crest of the mountains. Judith, going to her favorite pool to bathe, buw that It had shrunk' till It seemed but a fairy well bid among the willows. A quarter of n mile abve was another pool, hidden like n Jewol lu Its case of green, broldcred with scarlet roscberrles and white clematis, and toward this she bent her steps, ns time was n-pleuty that morning. It lay half hid beneath a shelving rock, n fount for the tiny white fnll that crooned and snug as It fell. And here she bathed as the east flnmed where the mountains blackened against It. She had kept postotllce the day before, be-fore, nnd It would not be till day after tomorrow that the squires of the lariat would come again to offer their hearts, their worldly goods, their complete reformation, If she would only change, her mind. It was all such an old story that she had grown to regard them with a tenderness almost maternal. Hut today was all her own, nnd the HPlrlt of adventure swelled high lu her bosom as she thought of what she had planned. It was warm nnd close and 'still lu the Dax house us Judith made her way softly to her own room and lieg.ni her preparations for the long Journey she was to take afoot, To walk lu the abominations devised by the white man for the purpose 'of cramping his feet would have been n aerlous handicap to Judith. The twenty twen-ty miles that she would walk before nightfall was no very great undertaking undertak-ing to her, but It was part of her primitive prim-itive directness to accomplish It with us little expenditure of fatigue and comfort its possible, Alio might have luspltcd Kitty Colu-brooke Colu-brooke to n sonnet ns she stepped out Into the glad morning light, lu short hklrt aud Jacket, green clad as tho pines that girdled the mountains, with u knapsack with rations .of breatl nnd meat ind the wherewithal to build a ' lire should she wander belated. She ' softly closed the door, not to nwaken I.eander and his slumbering lady; nnd broke Into the tunning gait that tbo Indians use on their all day Journeys, the elk hide moccasins falling soft as suowllakes on tho trail. Dolly she missed chiefly for her companionship, for Judith had not the white man's utter helplessness without a horsg In this country of high altitudes. When yhtTwalked she breathed, carried her-self, her-self, covered ground Jlke her mother's people, nnd lined tho Inspiration of It. Tlio eerie shadows of the desert drew back nnd hid themselves In the mountains. Tho day began with splendid splen-did promise tho day of tlio wolf hunt, of whli'h no word had been spoken to her by 1'eter. She, too, was going hunting, but silently and unbidden she would steal (hrough the forest nnd see this mysterious woman who played fast and loose with Peter, who loved her apparently all the better for the game she played. What manner of woman could do lhe.?o things? What manner ot woman could be Indifferent to Peter? Judith was consumlngly curious cu-rious to sec. And, npnrt from this naked and un-nsliamed un-nsliamed curiosity, thero wns the possibility pos-sibility that at sight of Miss Cote-brooko Cote-brooko thero might como n relaxation of Peter's tjranuous hold upon her thoughts, her life, her very heart's blood. Would her loyalty bear'tho test of seeing Peter modo'u fool of by a woman she could dismiss with a shrug softly speaking shrew perhaps, who played n waiting game with her Auger on the pulse- of Peter's prospects? Por thero was talk of n portuershlp with the Wctmores. Or n fool, perhaps, for all her sonneting, for there are men who relish a weak hendplece as the chlefcst ornament -of women, especially especial-ly when Its Indeterminate vagaries boast nn escape vnlve remotely connected con-nected with the fine nrts; or n devil woman, perhaps nn upright wanton who could think no wrong from very poverty of temperament, yet kept him dangling. The possibility of Kitty' honesty Judith lu her Jealousy would not ndmlt. Had she gone to the devil for him, stood and faced the drift of opinion for his sake Umt Judith could have understood. Hut what was the spinning of verses to n woman's portion por-tion of loving and being loved? Withal Judith wag forced to admit that there was something simple nnd true about a man who would let u woman make a fool nt him, whoever the womnli wns. Perhaps with this hunting would end the long reign of Peter ns a divinity, Judith was tired, not lu her vigorous young body, because that was strong aud healthful ns tho hill wind, but tired In heart and mind aud life. Her destiny had not beeu beautiful or happy hap-py before he Invaded It, but It hud been calm, and, now serenity seemed the worthiest gift of the gods. It was not that she loved him less, but that she had so long retlected upon htm that, her Imagination wus numb, llei' thoughts, nrld, unfruitful ns the desert, turned from him to the problems that beet her, nnd .from them back to him ngiiln lu dull, subconscious yearning. She could no longer project an un" gulshed consciousness to those scenes wherein he walked uud talked with Kitty. Her Indian fatalism had Intervened. In-tervened. "Life wns life." to be lived or left, nnd yet she felt herself u poor creature, one who had lived long on Illusion, win had. bent her neck to the yoke of nrld unrealities. The pale haired woman who kept him with her miserliness of self, who Intruded no somber tragedy of lovlug, was well worth n trip 'across the foothills to' see, unci yet, Judith retlected, It wus the portion ot her mother's daughter to make tf lovlug the whole business ot life, even If she rebelled and fought agnlnst It ns nn accursed destiny. Her light feet scarcely touched the ground as she sped swiftly through all the network of the hills, and more than once her woman's heart asked the question, ques-tion, "And, prithee, Judith, If from henceforth you lire only to hold fellowship fellow-ship with the stars and have nipart lu the ways of men, why do you walk a day's Journey to catch a glimpse of n pnle haired woman?" She knew the probable course of the wolf hunt. She had'been on scores of them, galloped with Peter after the tleclng gray tiling that swept along the ground like the nucleus of u whirling whirl-ing dust devil. At least she was sure at the place of the nooning a limpid stream that ran close to mauy young, phio trees). Here was a pause lu the rugged ascent, a level space of open green, thick with buffalo grass. Many times had she beeu here with Peter, sometimes with ninny other people on tile clmse, sometimes uud these occasions occa-sions were enshrined In her memory, eadi with Its own particular halo with Peter alone, and they had llshed for trout and cooked their supper mi the grassy levels. It was lu Judith's planning plan-ning to arrive before the hunting party, to hide among the thickets of scrub pine that grew along the steep clllls and overlooked the grassy level, to lake her till of looking at the pule haired girl nnd tiic hunters at their merrymaking, merry-making, and, when he had seen, to steal back across the trail to the Paxes'. They would not penetrate the thickets thick-ets where she meant to hide, and' should they she was prepared for that contingency toa. She lind brought with her u bright colored shawl that she would throw over her head, and with ' the start of them she could outrun them all, even Peter, Had she not out-danced out-danced him easily many times In fun? Through the tuiiglo ot tree trunks that grew not far from thu thicket they would think she was but u poor Shoshone Sho-shone squaw lying lu wait for the broken bro-ken meat of the revelers. By crossing and recrosalug the tiny i creeks that trickled slow and obstruct-I obstruct-I cd through tlio gaunt levels of plain I mill foothill she had come by a direct route to tho fringes of 'the pluo country- And' here she fouud u world dim, green mid mysterious. It wns well nigh Inconceivable thnt the laud ot sagebrush aud silence could within walking distance of desolation show such wealth ot young timber, such shade and beauty. Her noiseless foot-I foot-I frdls .scarce startled a sago hen that, realizing tbo lato her presence, froze to tho dead stump h nulled gray ex-1 ex-1 ciescence with glittering Head eyes that ' stared nt her furtively, tho-onii live , tiling lu the tense body. To ba continued |