Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1884-07-04

Tie pioneer drew long breath, re-
lapsed into silence, lit his pipe, carried
q rawhile-bottome chair from the
kitchen to the shady end of the porch,
and there resigned himself tc unex-
pressed meditations on the varieties of
human life and character
1t was curious story he had told
The mountain world about us was forty
miles from railroad, and primitive
enough in many of its ways; but fifteen
miles deeper i'll the wilderness were the
true mountaineers, relapsing into news
paperless barbarism. l looked down on
the broad, dark river, flowing past red
cllils that crumblcd fast under the at
tacks of hydraulic miners, rushing in
cleaning foam over the bar where adj
venturons Major Redding and his In
dians had washed out gold in 1852. and
hewing for itself, year by wear. wide
gateway to the sea, through the limestone
barriers of the mountains toward the
west.
Two or three days were passed in
this breezy summerland; but one morn
ing | was riding along IL narrow NOUN
tain trail five miles or so north of the
mountain village. The ascent was
steep and long, and l took an illus
trated magazine from my saddle bags,
and glanced over its contents, letting
the reins lie on my horses neck Com
ing upon a wayside spring under a
clump of jumpers, dismounted, laid
the magazine down on flat rock, flung
the bridle-rein over o bough, and
knelt IN boyish haste for drink. The
tiny pool was luxuriance of reflected
leaves and bloom, giving one a joyous
feeling merely to look into its depths,
and the clear cold water seemed to
taste of spicy roots and fragrant herbs
\ few minutes later I arose, and the
scene had changed. A little gust of
wind was lifting the leaves of the mag
azine, giving rapid glimpses of faces
and landscapes. Only a few feet dis
tant, leaning forward and peering
through the evergreen boughs, sat n
yonng girl, looking intently on the fiut-
tering picture. She must have been
sitting there in obscurity as / rode up
Only the upper portion of her body
could be seen, as her weight massed
viz IN dCIOSS.
fa"e was round, full and fair, not notice
ably freckled; the light-colored hair
was drawn back and fastened with a
ribbon. She seemed about Is or 16
years old, but large and strong for her
age, and the dress she wore was of some
coarse red material, plainly made, with
little attempt Mt ornament
She was, as / have said, looking at
the magazine with an expressio of in
tense curiosity, and slowly reached out
a hand as if to take it, crouching for
ward and pressing back the boughs
with her other hand. The gesture and
movement were the perfection of I'M
conscious grace and strength The
thought came to me that perhaps this
mountain girl was one of the Guppy
family" and also the fear that she
might seize the coveted treasure and
escape without word.
"Would you like to have it for your
own?' l asked, as quietly as possible.
She started and looked at me with
doubt and surprise, and settled back n
little further behind the branches.
gloomily knitting her brows, and evi-
IDENTITY making up her mind on the sub
ject.
Mister, yes, l would. Tbem's purity
pictures
Rising, she stepped partly out from
her cOncealment, setting one bare and
soiled foot on the trail, and taking the
magazine into shapely hand distigured
by long and totally neglected finger
nails.
Il don't see sech things" she re-
marked, with an explanatory air. Pap
says it's all truck. | told him once ter
fotch me book with pictures in. But
he never did"
Your father is Mr.. Guppy?"
"They don't call him that. It's 'Or
Gupp,' most like, an Hog Driver
Gupp.' They don't put handles on
names round here"
"How far is it to where your parents
live?"
It's a good ten mile, stranger, an a
mighty rough trail"
81 should think your mother would
feel uneasy about you sometimes if you
go so far from camp"
She laughed, shrugged her shapely
shoulders, set her arms akimbo, and
stepped fairly out into the path.
1.-The Of woman? She wouldn't
mind ef she didn't see me for a week at
time eff she had terbacca to smoke,
an coffee ter drink, and Bob to keep
wood for her fire. Nam says l can
whip my weight in wildcats, an needn't
be afraid of anything in the noun
tains"
AS she turned in addressing me, l
now noticed that she carried a we'll
worn army revolver hanging in q buck
skin thong Mt her waist. A large i'll
favored deerhound came sliding and
creeping out of the underbrush that
thickly clothed the hillside, and dis
played some symptoms of early hostili-
ties
'You, Jakew cried the girl, and
catching up fragment of rock speed
ily reduced him to abject submission,
and he crouched at her feet. Evidently
this young woman could take care of
herself.
Faint but clear, floating down from
far up the brush covered mountain,
came wild call, sweet, deep and
strange beyond the power of language
to describe. The girl started, listened,
and replied in the same rich, wierd,
and far reaching strain, her chest heav-
ing, her throat swelling, her eyes
flashing, her figure poised and trem-
bling with picturesque awakening.
"That's my sister. She wants me.
I'm goin'."
I hunted in my saddle-bags and found
another illustrated magazine for her.
She nodded with "Thank ye, mister"
and slipped into the chaparral and un-
dergrowth that lined the roadside. The
hound followed, and heard the rattle
of the slaty pebbles under their feet as
they climbed, but the bushes grew too
closely to allow even glimpse Of her
red dress. Occasionally tremulous
quiver in the boughs, as she caught hold
of them to assist her ascent, showed her
sinuous course as she threaded her way
onward. Halfway up the mountain
there must have been more open spaces,
for, looking back as rode on, caught