The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1886-01-27

then you just about own your land-at
least you've only got to make periodi-
cal visits to it after that. And you can
| find enough to do in the meantime.
And you can wear your old clothes and
dresses as well as the best of them.
And in few years you'll be rich
woman, Carrie, for this land will sell at
a good price, it is so admirably located
and fertile"
Carrie had no sooner finished the let
ter than her decision was formed to go.
She hated Shutdown and everybody in
it, and the further she could get away
the better. She wrote her uncle that
she would arrive within the next three
weeks, and she was with him in less
than two.
81 have the lumber all ready for
your little house," he said, as he drove
her from the station to his "bachelor ="
hall.
Somehow she was lghter-hearted
and happier since she knew she was in
Dakota than she had been for months.
She knew why-she did not cheat her.
self. 1t was because she was in the
same country with Alex. Hall. 1t gave
her sense of companionship-t
very knowledge.
a" In the morning I will take you out
and show you your claim" continued
her uncle. "And I've chosen this site
for your cabin. It'll be about mile
from mine-just nice walk for you
when you get lonesome"
The next morning was bright and
sunny, but of course windy.
What a windl Does it blow often
like this?" asked Carrie, as they rolled
along over the smooth prairie.
"Wind? Why, this is a calm day"
said Uncle Tom. "Just wait until you
have seen a Dakota blizzard, my dear,
before you talk of wind.
By-and-by they came to Carries
"quarter-section," as Uncle Tom
called it.
Carrie could not see where it " be-
gan " or cleft off," she told Uncle
Tom. 1t was like all the rest of the
country-just land and nothing more /;
prairie melting into prairie as far as the
eye could reach.
"Well, but l know where the invisi-
BILE lines lie," responded Uncle Tom
"Now over yonder on the knoll your
cabin will be built, after we have at
tended to the legal formalities, and that
is the extreme southern limit of your
claim. A little south of it there is a
slight ravine, and then another knoll.
The ravine is the dividing line between
the two manifestations.
"Who owns the other one?" asked
Carrie, anxious to know who might be
her neighbor.
{" don't believe it is taken, though l
heard something about it the other day.
Some fellow was looking it up, l be-
lieve. There are dozens of them around
almost daily. That was the reason 1
was in hurry for you to come"
A few days later, after the legal for
malities had been attended to, Uncle
Tom drove Carrie out again to look at
the cabin that was in process of cree
ton on the opposite knoll.
Why, that claim has been taken,
too! wonder who will be my neigh
bor?" queried Carrie.
81 can find out at the land office"
Uncle Tom replied.
He did so, and gave Carrie the de-
sired information the next day.
It's some fellow named Hall--A.
Hall" he said. He's just sold out his
interest in some claim about fifty miles
north of here, and now he's taking up
this, which he intends to keep as
homestead. They often sell out at a
nice figure after staying few months
on claim. Some fellow pays them a
good sum for their chance, and they 90
elsewhere.
A. Hail."
Carrie felt a sudden leaping of her
heart and curious excitement But
it was not likely that it was Alex. 1t
would be too wonderful to be be true.
Yet it was Alex. She saw him at the
post-office the next day, and passed him
without so much as a glance. Alex.
looked as if he had seen an apparition.
He took step forward and then stood
still, chilled by her cold glance, in which
there was no recognition.
After all it was his own fault. He
knew he had conducted himself like a
brute and an idiot when he left Smith
town. He had realized it dozen times
since-realized it constantly, in fact
with dull heartache, whenever he was
alone with himself. But he had never
been quite brave enough to write and
ask her pardon, believing that ere this
Mr.. Parker had the first place in her
heart And now she was here in Da-
kota! How strange! A greater surprise
awaited him in the knowledge that
Carries claim and cabin were Just OPP
posite his own.
The two cabins were completed and
furnished, and the occupants moved in.
Alex was the more pretentious of the
two in the exterior, and Carries the
more sumptuous within. For she had
brought her books, and she had few
plants, and with those indescribable
feminine knick-knacks, which some
women seem to create by turn of their
hand, her rooms were very cosy.
Yet she was not very much at home.
She passed a great deal of her time at
Uncle Toms, setting his bachelor
hall " to rights and mending and darn
ing for him. But she went to her des-
olate little house to sleep. She was not
timid-she knew that no harm could
come to her there. She knew that the
law of kindness prevailed in this new
country, which was better than any
law " to keep the peace " to bind the
people together.
She occasionally saw Alex. but thew