Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-12-16

knock of the woodpecker, or the drowsy
| croak of some early roosting bird; all
suggestion of the settlement, with all
traces of human contiguity were left far
behind. 1t was therefore with strange
and nervous sense of being softly hailed
by some woodland spirit that he seemed
| to hear his own name family waited
upon the air. He turned quickly; it was
| Cressy, painting behind him, Even
then, in her white, closely gathered
skirts, her barred head and graceful arch
ing neck bent forward, her flying braids
| freed from the straw hat which she had
swung from her arm so as not to impede
| her flight, there was SO much of the fol-
| lowing Maenid about her that he was for
an instant startled.
He stopped: she bounded to him, and
| throwing her arms around his neck with
q light laugh, let herself hang for mo-
ment breathless on his breast. Then re-
| covering her speech she said slowly:
81 l started on an Injin trot after you,
| just as you turned off the trail but you d
| got so far ahead while | was shaking my
self clear of Uncle Ben that had to jist
! lope the whole way through the woods TO
catch up She stopped, and looking
up into his troubled face caught his
cheeks between her hands, and bringing
his knit brows down to the level of her
humid blue eyes said, ''YOu haven t
kissed me yet. WHAT'S the matter?''
"'Doesn I it strike you that might ask
that question considering that it S three
days since I've seen you, and that you
left me in Il rather awkward position to
explain matters to your mother? he
said cOldly. He had formulated the SEN
tence in his mind some moments before,
but now that it was uttered, it appeared
singularly weak aud i'm potent.
''That's So, she said with frank
laugh, burying her face in his waStcoat.
"You see, dandy boy''-his pet name
81 reckoned for that reason d better
lie low for a day or two. Well, - she con-
tinued, untyng his crayat and relying it
again, how did you crawl out of it,
''Do you mean to say your mother did
not tell you?'' he asked Indignantly.
"Why should she?'' returned Greasy
lazily. ''She never talks to me of these
things, honey
"And you knew nothing about it?''
Greasy shook her head, and then wind
ing one of her loug braids around the
young man s neck, offered the end Of
it TO his mouth, and on his sternly declin
ing il, took it i'll her own.
Yet even her ignorance Of what had
really happened did not account to the
master for the. Indifference of her long
silence, and albeit conscious of some in
efficiency iii his present unheroic atti-
tude, he continued sarcastically:
MAY ask what you imagined would
happen when you left me?'
"Well, - said Greasy confidently, 81
reckoned, chile, you could lie as well as
the next man, and that being gifted
you Id sling Nav something new and
purity. Why, l ain t got no fancy,
but | fixed up something against
paw s questioning me. made that con-
ceited Masters promise to swear that he
was i'll the barn with me. Then l calcu-
late to tell paw that you came meauder-
ing along just before NAV popped in,
and that l skedaddled to Join Masters.
OF course, - she added quickly, tighten
her hold of the master as he made a sud-
den attempt at withdrawal 81 didn t
let on to Masters why l wanted him to
promise, or that you were there -
"Cressy - said Ford, irritated beyond
measure, care you mad, or do you think
l amp
The girl s face changed. She cast
half-frightened, MISUNDERSTANDING glance
at HIS anu TIE MIL
ing aisle. off we're going to quarrel,
Jack, she said hurriedly, ''don' t let
do it before folks,
Gin the name Of Heaven - he said,
following her eyes Indignantly, "what
do yOu mean?''
81 mean, - she said, with Il slight
shiver of resignation and scorn, eff you
oh dear! if it's all going to be like
them, let 5 keep it to ourselves. -
He gazed at her i'll hopeless bewilder-
ment. Did she really mean that she was
more frightened at the possible revelation
of their disagreement than OF their init
macy?
''Come - she continued tenderly, still
CHANGING however uneasiiy around her,
"come! Wen be more comfortable in
the hollow. It's only a STEP Still
holding him by her braid she half led,
half dragged him away. To the right
was one of those sudden depresslons
in the ground caused by the
subsistence of the earth from
hidden springs and the uproOting of one
or two of the larger trees. When she
had forced him down this declivity be
low the level of the needle-strewn forest
floor, she seated him upon a messy root,
and shaking out her skirts in a half child
like, half COquettlsh way, comfortably
seated herself in his lap, with her arm
experimenting the clinging braid around
his neck.
''Now bark to me, and don t boiler so
loud, - she said, turning his face to her
questioning eyes. "What's gore of you,
anyway, niger boy?'' 1t should be
promised that Cressy's terms of endear-
ment were mainly nearc dialectical,
"reminiscences of her brief babyhood, her
slave nurse, and the only playmates she
had ever known
Still implacable, the master coldly re-
peated the counts of his indictment
against the girl strange Indifference
and still stranger entanglements, wind
ing up b. setting forth the whole story of
his interview with her mother, his en-
forced defense of the barn. Seth's out
spoken accusation, and their silent and
furious struggle in the loft. But if
he had expected that this daughter
of a south western fighter wouti
betray any enthusiasm over her lovers
participation in one,of their characteristic
feuds-if he looked for any fond praise
for his own prowess.s' he was bitterly mis-
taken. She loosened her arm from his
neck of her own accord, unwound the
braid, and. putting her two little hands
clasped between her knees, crossed her