The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1884-09-19

listened but not with interest.
'HThat,s pretty good, he said indiffer-
emily. 81 s'pose you couldn't play
Listen to the Mocking Bird could We?
| know q lady down my way ct KIN jis'
knock that tune off like smoke"
She laughed good-naturedly, and at
once began the variations upon "Auld
Lang Syne," which so inexplicably in
PRODUCES the other ouce popular mel
ody. s
She played with a fluent ease and
brillancy that showed industrious prac-
tice, bringing out her melody well
through all the labyrinth of runs, arpeg-
gios and tremolos devised for it by the
ingenious author.
The colonel sat e~ntranced, the aper-
ture between moustache and whisker
widened to o degree that gave his coun-
tenance quite a c%ayernous aspect.
Bully" he cried when she had fn-
ished. "That jis' bangs the Wilder
Bates all to thunder. You amt mar
ried?"
Eyes I am" she said, nodding her
head and glancing at him mischievously.
No! by thunder, that's too bad!
You fill the bill almos' to a har, you do.
l did say she shu'd have this yer fine
yeller hair cts goin' about now, but that
amt no great matter much eff she's got
style an kin play the pianner, an that
you XIII jis' everlastin'ly do. I sorter
tuck q likin' to you the mint I see you.
L swear it's too confounded bad"
Didn't you see from my card that I
was Mrs. Hemm1ng?" she asked, as he
paused ruefully.
"Why, yes; but I sorter took it for
granted you was a wilder, you bein'
alone so. Mrs. Bates was o wilder.
Her an me had it all made up to be
married mex spring. Her husband was
shot bout q year ago an her range bein'
mex to mine it seemed to come in
material like eff we shud jine lan's an
hans. She's a middlin' fine wom-
an, too, an kin play the pianner,
though nothin' like you kin. She puts
on a heap of style though an calls her.
SET the cattle queen of Neuces. So
when she throwed me, 1 swore I'd bring
a cattle queen to the country 'ud make
her take a back seat. I did think Of
gettin' n of them white-faced yaller
hard girls, SIGH as I've seed at the thea
tire; but when I seed you 1 says to my
set. She do mighty we'll es far es looks
an style goes and when I heard you
play L was JUS carried clean off my feet.
An now you're married"
YES" she said, and her face dark
ened, I'm married. It's funny though,
I'm going to Neuces county. I am go
ing by the next steamer. =,
"Are you?" what forl He amt run
away from ye, is hep"
"Yes, he's run away from me-" she
returned, IN IN even tone that seemed
to cover some repressed feeling.
well, dog on his mean hidel I'll
shoot him on sight ef We say so. You
didn't hear he was in Neuces county,
did you?"
eyes, I heard he was there"
II ought to know him, then. know
putty nigh every man in the country.
What is his name?"
She did not answer at once, appear
ing to reflect whether it We're prudent
to place so much confidence in a stran-
ger, but finally she said slowly, and as
if more to herself than to him:
"He calls himself Holden"
"Jack Holden?" cried the colonel, ex-
citedly.
$50 heard" she said, looking keen
ly at him.
"The Wilder Bates's husband, by"
III colonel forgot the restraint he had
hitherto laid upon himself and uttered
a genuine oath.
cts true that he's married then ?"
she asked quickly, and with flashing
eyes.
Handsome, light-complected, curly
headed feller?"
"Yes."
plays the fiddler"
Eyes"
aThat's him! (explective) that's the
Wldder Bates husband! On him!
Shootin's too good for him. I'll raise
a crowda an hang him"
mo you won't" she said, and she
drew her breath iercely between her
set teeth. Il can settle my own affairs"
Handsome Jack Hemming, alias Hol-
den, sauntered slowly down the main
street Of Corpus, his wide sombrero in
his hand, his curly head barred to the
mild evening breeze that breathed
softly in from the gulf. He wore the
costume of the cattlemen, but some
how it fitted and became HIM as it be-
came no other. On him the blue blouse
belted at the waist, the leather breeches
and the high boots seemed the proper
dress of gentleman.
Jack spent much of his time in Cor
pus now, since his marriage had put
him IN funds again, and there were men
in the town who. had they chosen,
could have given the cattle queen of
Neuces some information that would
have disturbed the complacent salts
faction with which she regarded her
handsome prince consort.
Jack, however, concerned himself
not at all about such possibilities. His
scheme of life included little beyond
enjoyment of the present, and he was
already beginning to tire of the re-
sources Corpus offered in that direc-
ton.
As he sauntered down the street with
the sun in his eyes, he was revolving a
plan for getting possession of certain
thousands belonging to the Cattle
Queen, and as he phrased it to himself,
"Lighting out for Frisco" Frisco
seemed Just the place for him; he was
half sorry he had not struck out for
that city in the first instance.
A woman's figure issued from a door
way a few yards in advance and moved
toward him. The being in his eyes,
he did not see her very we'll, not even
when she paused in front Of him with
a glittering something in her out
stretched hand directed at his breast.
Something about her must have
struck him as familiar, however, for he
made a step forward with an inarticu-