Show the old settler i continued from last issue 1 my dear san Jua ners I 1 after another look at the mud ly stream old henry took the girl I 1 i up in in his arms and waded across I 1 1 to the south side and now what no shelter in sight and the rain i I 1 coining down in a steady purr she I 1 looked like a frail wilted flower in the storm her clothing plastered to her flesh with the water and 1 her aher hair in bedraggled tangle over her face and shoulders and all this reminded d him how terrible he I 1 must look and how loathsome he must appear to her taking off his old leather c cat at he had her put it on and he steadied her from falling while she got he her arms into it and pulled it around her I 1 now little girl he said there is just one way fer us an we must take that way so you can be there here and meet yer man when he I 1 omes tonight hes jest wild about you cant sleep ner eat ner rest an you must be there when he comes back tonight I 1 cant carry yu very far in my arms but I 1 can carry yu on my back she looked at him in embarrassed despair shivering now an and half numbed in mind and body by the cold water pouring upon her there simply aint no other way he insisted and that man of yours 11 11 jest simply die if you aint there when he comes her distressed sensa sense of ampro briety hindered her at first from clinging to him in a way that he could coald move with any degree of ease and in the mud he slipped and staggered and thought with 1 despair of the ten miles between 1 him and his lowly hermitage at the foot of the ledge and no breakfast no dinner all the samel same as he had declared to her there was no other way and he must think strength instead of weakness he was sure he had never had any such glorious adventure before and he would be equal to it regardless gard less he found two thoughts which radiated strength to his body as he revolved them in his mind one was of how supreme he would feel in answering dennys hard twist challenge by bringing his wife to him safe from harm that alone giuld uld be worth the last panting breath he had to give to it the ether aher thought was that he had the wondrous fairy of the pines on his back saving her from wandering to death in the dread solitude he had felt that when his cabin sheltered her it was serving a more holy purpose than ever before and now he was exerting his strength t to a more manly purpose than ever at any time when he tramped over the mountain alone he knew of a bighorn trait trail up the mountain side and he toiled slowly along its winding course saying little but finding his mind geared to new emotions radiating from his living load nothing like julia jane had ever come bea before re into his peaceful reservation she and her kind were so much more to be desired than any joy he be had ver ever found there alone he was sure he could never again be content to live in solitude and he contemplated how much like a baboon he must appear in her eyed eyes she had shrieked with terror when he came in sight and she had regarded him with a look continued on page ten the old settler from nar ii I 1 which he knew was a look of loathing his rags his self his hia ignorance and coarseness as with refinement andun and understanding der standing the shame of it was painful he wished she could at least east see him shaven and shorn and dressed like a human being once when he stopped to rest where she could sit on a carpet of nine leaves he asked her why she left as she did in the morning im awful sorry she declared ine meekly ekly but 1 I 1 I 11 1 I know you was scared pum to death of me st well er yes I 1 know then ithen I 1 believe you could be the gentleman I 1 have found you vou to be and I 1 thought I 1 could find my way back al alne why I 1 would a died to pro t tc ct t yu 1 I believe it I 1 know it and some iauch time youre going to know how much I 1 appreciate it and how embarrassed barr assed to death I 1 am to tn havel have you carry me all this way through the mud ALBERT R LYMAN LYMAM to be continued |