St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1878-11-15

lliS oCi flCCS, 81 ldI dS uc COulu III
anything for her, she should, as lady
command, but if she thought that b,
was going to do the agreeable afte
what had happened couple of hour
ago, she was nightly mistaken.
There was a silence, and then sh,
said, hesitatingly, "What are we goins
to do ?n
He glanced at her. Her attitude ant
the troubled expression of her face Il
well as her voice indicated that TIL,
logic of the situation was overthrOwin.
the jaunty self-possession which she hat
at first affected. The desert was star
ing her out of countenance. How hi
heart yearned toward her If she hat
only given him right to take care o
her, how he would comfort her Wha
prOdigies would he be capable of t,
succor her? But this rising impulse o
tenderness was turned to choking bit
terness by the memory of that scornfu
"NO sir" So he replied coldly, "Pn
not in the habit of being left behind il
deserts, and l don't know what it ii
customary to do in such cases. l Sc,
nothing except to wait for the mex
train, which will come along sometim,
within twenty-four hours"
There was another long silence, aftel
which she said in timid voice, "Hadn'
we better walk to the next station 2"
At the suggestion of walking ht
glanced at her close-ftting dress, and ;
s;trdOnic grin slightly twitched the cor
ners of his mouth as he dryly answered
at is thirty miles one way and twenty
the other to the first statiOn.n
Several minutes passed before shC
spoke again, and then she said, with al
accent almost like that of child il
trouble and about to cry, ''Fm cold"
The strong unceasing wind, blowing
from snowy mountain caverns across
plain on which there was not the slight,
est barrier of hill or tree to check its
violence, was indeed bitterly cold, anC
Lombard himself felt chilled to the
marrow of his bones He took off his
Overcoat and offered it to her.
''NO, said she ''yOu are as cold as am.
"You will please take it," he replied
In peremptOry manner, and she took it
''At this rate we shall freeze to death
before midnight" he added as if in solil-
oquy, 81 must see if | can't contrive tC
make some sort of a shelter with this
sagebrush."
He began by tearing up large num-
Der of bushes by the roots. Seeing
what he was doing, Miss Dwyer was
glad to warm her stiffened muscles by
taking hold and helping which she did
with IL vigOr which shortly reduced hel
glOl es to shreds and filled her fingers
with scratches from the rough twigs
Lombard next chose an unusually high
nd ial- al Of oil
small space three feet across in the CEN
ter of it, scattering twigs on the un-
covered earth to keep off its chill.
''Now, Miss Dwyer, if you will step
inside this spot, l think l can build up
the bushes around us so as to make a
sort of booth which may save us from
freezing"
She silently did as he directed, and
he proceeded to pile the brush which
they had tom up on the tops of the
bushes left standing around the spot
where they were, thus making a circu-
lar wall about three feet high Over
the top he managed to draw together
two or three bushes, and the improvised
wigwam was complete.
The moonlight penetrated the loose
roof sufficiently to reveal to each other
the faces and figures of the two occu-
pants as they sat in opposite corners as
far apart as possible, she cold and mis-
erable, he cold and sulky, and both
silent. And, as if to mock him, the
idea kept recurring to his mind how ro-
mantle and delightful, in spite of the
cold and discomfort, the situation
would be if she had only said yes, in
stead of no, that afternoon. People
have odd notions sometimes, and it ac-
ally seemed to him that his vexation
with her for destroying the pleasure of
the present occasion was something
quite apart and in addition to his main
grievance against her. 1t might have
been so jolly, and now she had spoiled
it. He could have boxed her pretty
little ears.
She wondered why he didn't try to
light fire, but she wouldn't ask him
another thing if she died. In point of
fact he knew the sage brush would not
burn. Suddenly the wind blew tiercer,
there came a rushing sound, and the
the top and walls of the wigwam were
whisked off like flash, and as they
staggered to their feet, buffeted by the
whirling brush, cloud of fine alkali
dust envolved them, blinding their eyes,
penetrating their ears and noses, and
setting them gasping, sneezing and
coughing spasmOdically. Then like a
puff of smoke, the suffocating smoke
was dissipated, and when they opened
their eyes there was nothing but the
silent, glorious desolation of the mighty
desert around them, with the snow
peaks in the distance, glittering beneath
the moon. A sand spout had struck
them, that was all-one of the whirling
dust columns which they had admired
all day through the car window.
Wretched enough both for physical
and sentimental reasons, this last ex-
perience quite demoralized Miss Dwyer,
and she sat down and cried. Now, few
tears, regarded from a practical, mid
die aged point of view, would not ap-
pear to have greatly complicated the
situation, but they threw Lomb bard into
IA panic. If she was going to cry some
thing must be done. Whether anything
could be done or not, something must
be done.
"Don't leave me-" she cried hysteric-
ally as he rushed off to reconnoitre the
vicinity.
"Ill return presently" he called back.
But five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen
minutes passed, and he did not come
back. Terror dried her tears and her
heart almost stopped beating. She had
quite given him up for lost, and herself
too, when with inexpressible relief she
heard him call to her. She replied, and
IN moment more he was at her side,
breathless with rnnninD
81 lost my bearings" he said. "If
You had not have answered me l could
not have found YOU"