The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1881-02-18
A TEACHER,

with sage brush and yellow with long,
rain-washed burrows. Year after wear
the t~ireless ocean wears nearer, and af-
ter a while the black and splintered
timbers will slip out of sight, hiding
their memories and their grief. Al.
though the immediate vicinity is so des-
olate, yetthe shorelines, extending norh
and south, sweep in placid, mellow
curves, growing fairer and more ethe-
real, until they poise on the very edge
OF disappearance-great clusters OF
mingling color melting sweetly into the
sea and rising gently into the sky. As
for the ocean, no fairer waters ever
CLEANED across the Vesuvius bay; no
more perfect sunsets ever shone for
Turner.
This weather-beaten hut was, twenty
years ago, the home of old Gilbert
Mayne, and if you will examine the
southern slope Of the adjacent ravine
you will doubtless discover traces of
the former garden, where cabbages and
tomatoes, long ago run wild, are strug-
Cling to hold their wi with fernbrake
and blackberry vines. Gilbert fished
occasionally, in q c~uriously dingy boat,
and his ~brown-fisted lad WILDER PRED
abalones off the rocks at low-tide, or
stood on the outer points Of rock to fish
in the surf, throwing his heavily
weighted line far beyond the white
crest of the advancing wave, and some
times catching fish as fast as he could
draw them in. 1t was a free, hearty
boyhood, which influenced his whole
after life. He knew the rocks and the
waves, the forms of the clouds, the
signs of the.weather, the plants which
cling to barren places, the flowers Of
the deep and moist r~avines, the bright
hued shells, and the strange sea crea-
lures. AL this was, in its way, educa-
ton, and a fit preparing for the worlds
work. Then, too, he studied at night,
under his fathers direction for this
brown and grizzled old man was no
common, coarse fisherman, but one
whose proud life had been full Of ro-
nance, mystery and adventure, and
who, sad for the loss of the one woman
he had loved, had hidden himself in
this lonely place. and covered his warm
heart with an affected cynicism. People
often 60 that; but they are seldom brave
enough TO go apart and fight it out
Living py ones ser is not 10 be recon-
mended, but 1t is an eminently respect
able business.
Wilbur Maync grew up a simple,
kindly, thoughtful, imaginative youth,
loving his father with a wordless
devotion. and looking forward with
hope and desire to the gifts and battles
of tho world. Sooner than any n
guessed, his boyhood's life came to a
sudden end. There wcro no more long
rambles with his father over the brown
and golden hills and up the gray, dis
tant peaks in search Of specimens, or
collecting plants for the hcrbarium; no
more sailing on the purple sea, and out
through the soft twilight, and home
again under the twinkling stars; no
more long, wise talks If life and the
complex world-for old Gilbert Mayne
was dead, and his boy had the battle to
fight alone.
Well, never mind exactly how it was
lone. In California, and particularly
in the Salinas Valley, at that time, q
dozen OF more years ago, there were
ways enough. When Wilbur was TWEEN
ty-five he could herd sheep and mix
drugs, ride a bronco and draw up a le-
gal document. carpenter q little, teach
school to some extent, handle machine
ry, edit a paper-in fine put his availa-
Bile self in many directions. But since
Mt that time he stood on his w acres,
some of these methods of earning a liv-
ing had become s~uperiluous. He had
gathered q library and built a labora-
tory, for part of his success came from
one or two timely inventions. And SO
Wilbur Mayne had won his place in the
world.
One summer afternoon he took his
pet Morgan, ''Black Prince" and drove
s-t~ C.1.r., Tvxoro IoI Lon~ N -+onro
robbery on the Nacimiento, and the
passengers had just arrived. 1t was
whispered around that one young lady,
tie all, and hardly knew what course to
take.
The bustling landlord called Wilbur
into the office. f
Hadn't we better draw up a paper
IN start it up the street, SOS ter raise
what she lostp She's an orphan-wears
black-only lady aboard-low-down
business to rob a lady, anyway-wish
I'D been there. What dye sayp"
Wilbur waited q moment. He had
ioticed the quiet, reliant figure.
I'VE must find out what she can do"
lie said incisively. s.She don't want
charity. / am sure of that"
L III SAslSC IA - thS
ofice-boy hurried in, saying: "De lady
what done got stage rob want ter see de
landlord, immediate, sar!r'
The result of this interview was the
statement that sho wanted to teach
school, or to take n music class, which
latter plan was considered the most de-
sirable. So Wilbur helped the brisk
landlord to drum up a remarkably good
class for her, and then he went back to
his having without any particular i'm
preston concerning the stranger except
that she had thanked him earnestly, and
he hoped she would get along nicely in
her new work. +.
II like that girls look" said Wilbur
to himself. s.AIiss Helen Leigh is a very
lady-likc young woman"
Then his thoughts turned toward
farm work and tho plans for the next
day., and the events of the afternoon
were put aside. He was not a senti-
mental young man; he had even been
called cold-blooded at times, and he
knew q hundred times as many mon as
women. His memory of his own moth.
er was very faint, FOR she died when
he was the merest child; he remember
ed o low voice singing in the twilight.
soft lace about tho throat, deep, loving
eye an atmosphere Of gentle woman
hood. He knew, afterward, that his
father always spoke of her with perfect
respect and affection; and still there
was a mystery about her death. Gil
bert Mayne, and after him his son Will
bur. ALWAYS wore, attached to the chain
Of his old-fashioned English watch. a
Grecian coin CT golden one side Of
which there was engraved, with mar
vclous skill, a broken link and an IN
shcathod dagger. in the two halves OF q
letter u. Old Gilbert had always prom
ised to tell 0 tho history. OF the
coin, but he SO suddenly that he