The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1881-07-20
makes you so red. Wal, l axed We bout

H'"N'Nii nhilO oLO lcultu over quite
composedly from the other side. 81
reckon am in love with Colonel Ding
ley's daughter, and I shouldn't wonder
if she'd guessed it; but that is all, upon
my word. 1t isn't strange that fellow
should let his heart go to the first pretty
girl that come into n rough settlement
like this; and shc-well, Ag, her hair is
so yellow, her eyes so blue her cheeks so
pink, her form so fragile, and alto.
gether-,"
80 different from The only other wo.
man in No Go" .t
II didn't say that, Ag."
"Woll, it's burned sight more de-
3criptiye than what We did say. Go on,
Billy"
1--WE been doing some work for Col.
onel Dmgley, you know, over at the
new mill, and she's in the Office n good
deal. That's where I've met her, and
that's all there is Of it. J."
He had no intention of telling Ag how
Nell Dmgley, during the two months
she had been at No Go, had completely
him; how she mad at times
seemed to invite him on, until he all but
ayowed his love- and again had repealed
him with a sudden reserve. lie did not
fancy the mistress Of the Spread Eagle
for couiidnnt; but she was not to be
put off,
"That's all there is Of it," she echoed,
"Be you man? Have We
aXcd her to marry you?'
"NO. "
"Then 60 straight as the Lord an
crooked path'll let We TO the Kunnel's
house, an put it to her far and sQuar.
Ie won't? Then yer a fool. Whar's
the gal as would say NO to Billy Wilk?
| seen her a.luokiu' ut We tothcr day,
when We warut awNres, an she loves
We, Bill y- jes' as sure as | do, an mebhe
es as much. on with ye, now--ofi
with ye,
There were faces OF the window. The
miners had grown impatient, and We're
their ambassador in his con
ycrsatim N.th Ag, though they could
not hear it, One of them yenturcd to
open the door.
Come in, Bantam" said Billy, "and
bring the boys, Az understands it now. "
"Whoo-oop, hooray" shouted Ban
tam.
The whole party crowded noisiIy into
the bar room.
"'Twqs a misunderstanding, and |
apolygizcs," said Ag heartily. "Whats
more, | sets 'cm up Ye can drink all yc
want in the Spread Eagle twiXt now and
midnight, but We can't pay cent"
4 yen and Il wild rush to the bar was
the unanimous response In the midst
Of the hilarious uproar Billy Wilk slip.
ped out, unobscrved by any one except
Ag, who was performing wonderful teats
with gIasses and bottles behind the bar
He went directly to Nell Dingley.
The carousal at the Spread Eagle sur
passed all its predecessors. Probably
the free bar was the cause of it. Not
that the assembled gentlemen Of No Go
drank fustcr because there was
nothing to pay; but the absence of fl
nance confined the operations to liquor
and facilitated them. In single half
hour the company was dead drunk, and
the rest were nearly so, with two exccp-
tons. Ag had drank an amount which
to her was in effect nothing at all. The
other sobcrpcrson i'll the room was tall,
lean, long-haircd and saIIow. He did
not show Il miners clothes or manners.
He might have been q gambler, or
preacher, according to how the unin-
formed observer construed his closely
shayen face, sclf-assucd manner, and
smooth garb. Why he was there he
could not himself have explained. He
had not drunk with sle registers, nor Ell.
tered in the least into the fellowship of
their spree. The lack of any other way
of spending the evening was probably
the only explanation Of his presence.
The others knew him a& Arnold Watts,
An associate in some capacity OF Col.
Dingley in the mill enterprise, and their
opinions differed rs to the rumor that
gave him the distinction of killing two
men and wounding third at scrim-
mage down at GuilliOn's Bar. Those
who believed this story spoke OF him with
becoming respect; those who did not
we're occasionally iusolentto his face. Ag
watched him futively, while seeming to
be wholly engaged in emptying bottles
into tumhIcrs. He sat in tipped-back
chair. with his half-cIosed eyes idly fol-
loving the antics of the men who were
vet OH their feet, and glass of whisky
untouched ON the table beside him.
When Billy WIKI returned, Ag saw
that Nell Dingley had rejected him. She
lid not need to ask him whether the girl
said yves or "no.' She paused in her
work involuntarily because she was
That any woman could
resist Billy's wooing was beyond her
She covertly beckoned
lim to the bar, and poured from the hid
len bottle, ont of sight, a brimmcr from
he private stock. He caught up the
glass and drank the whisky in gulps.
Leaning across the bar, and closing her
hands over one Of his fists, she said
"Shc must be foolin' We Billy. Gals
will amoose themselves. Durn her white
hide"
"She didn't fool me, Ag." And Billy
was low, rapid and earnest in his speech.
"She owned she loved me. There
wasn't a shadow of coquetry in all she
did. I've had her i'll my arms, Ag-
right atop my heart, here"
"Thar-don't mind that. What made
her jill We? Skip the rest, an get to
that.
because she must marry the man
who sits at the table-Arnold Watts.
Don't glare at him-he mustn't know
what she's told me. He's the real owner
Of the mill, because he owns Colonel
DINGHY, and he demands the Coloneis