The San Saba news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1873-1966, 1890-01-03

as TO her past character, the speeche
of the lawyers, all thisreached her vaguely
as through the mists of n dream. Sh
seemed to herself to have been in dream
ever since that dark and dreadful night
when she had seized the rifle she and he
old grandmother kept for protection ant
had rushed blindly out and up toward tn
cave. She had had but one idea then
one crazy, unreasoned impulse; to say,
Rube, to help him. And evidently sht
had felt an imprisoning grip on he
shoulder. The rife she held was til,
only one there. Not one of the moon
sinners had been caught with firearms il
hand. And close at her feet lay the mar
who had been shot.
She did not utter word. She made
no resistance. She was benumbed. One
idea only had taken possession of her
every faculty by the time dawn had broker
and she was about to 5e led away out oil
the mountains with the others-one de.
termination.
Rube Patton had been at the still that
night. He was armed and he had es.
capped,
ats a curious case, said the revenue
officer, whom Lauriat knew and whom
the latter had accompanied in some Of
his journeys through the mountainou
wilds Il cannot seem to feel that the
girl = guilty"
"she did not plead to the contrary
''No; but have been convinced all
along that if those two men who got of
could have been caught new light might
be thrown on the matter One of them
Is supposed to have been that same Rube
Patton on whom had my eye. And he
is apparentlya pretty hot-headed char
aeter altogether
''Do you suppose asked Lauriat
slowly, "that the girl can be shielding
some one elsel Impossible! That would
be heroism, surely
Don't quote me as surprising anything
All say is that ] wish one of these men
or both-could be laid hold of. F"
Lauriat's glance, when next he entered
the court room, caught Drusilla's face
with an additional and quickened inter-
est. Was it only his imaginati0n-his
imagination was won't TO play him many
picturesque tricks-or were there lines of
remuneration, of high and exalted sacri-
fee in the little mountaineer's worn
countenance, giving it a new, pathetic
nobilityi He began 10 watch the pro-
gress of the trial with an almost feyerish
intentness. That chance idea, once i'm
planted, inspired, blossomed and grew.
Could it be that the girl would be con-
victed of a crime she had never commit
ted?
He started from his absorption. There
was a momentary confusion at the head
of the door of the hall-a craning of
necks, a turning of heads.
There came up the center passage,
between the rows of chairs, straight
toward the raised platform at the end OPP
posite the door, strange fgure-a stall
wart figure in jeans trowsers and high
boots, covered with clay, and with long,
unkempt, yellow hair and wild, haggard
eyes.
As the man stepped upon the platform
Drusilla turned her eyes toward him.
Then all her composure gave way, she
staggered to her feet, then fell back in
her chair, the blood rushing to her checks
and leaving them again.
HRuber' she cried, s'Rubeln
The young man was looking at the
Judge.
81 KEN hyer to make yer let go, yer
Honor, of this hyer gal. Their shot that
killed that hyer man were fred by Jed
Hepler. He run away when did that
night, and he has been a-hidin' and a
hunted down in the mounting ever since.
amt no man to tell on another man;
but when 1 hearn of what this gal done I
went plumb crazy. been trampin'
sence yestiddy, yer Honor"
He stopped, looking eagerly back from
the Judge to Drusilla Fatigue, anxiety,
want of food, the life of the past weeks
had almost unsettled him.
you 'un's had no call not ter let on,
Drusilly, he said.
The girl took her hand from her face.
A great light came into into it.
II lowed twas you 'un's, Rube.
'Twere done fer you
six weeks later Lauriat rode back into
the mountains, following the rough, un-
beaten paths he had first taken in the
of his friend the revenue Off
Ger.
It was late in the afternoon when he
reached the cabin. Drusilla was stand
ing again at the door, grave-eyed and
calm as before. The old grandmother
sat at the corner of the chimney within,
smoking pipe.
A strong impulse had brought Lauriat
thus far. He was going back again on
the following day, and this ride had car
RED him many miles out of his way. But
the girls face as she had confessed her
love for the young mountaineer, and
showed herself ready to take the penalty
she supposed that he had incurred upon
herself had haunted Lauriat's fancy ever
iince.
Now he scarcely knew what to say to
her. She looked up at him recognizingly |
with her soft, deep eyes and brought him
some fresh water to drink in gourd. She
had dropped back quietly, undramatical-
Y into her quiet life, as undramatic as
hat Of the wild flowers that enameled |
these mountains sides in the spring.
Rube Patton's sentence had been light,
tighter than that of any of the other cap
5ured moonshiners. Popular feeling
lad run very high in favor of the lovers.
In few month he would be set at liberty
md they would be married.
And meantime Drusilla waited g.avely,
happily in a chastened dream of graft
.ude, rapture, unconscious of any heroism
n what she had done, and the last
glimpse of her sweet pensive gaze, her
Eight figure in the doorway, with the
little blue sunbonnet, remained in Lauri-
IT'S memory for many a long day as the
iymbol of one Of the strongest impress
ions he had ever received.-Ne,o York
Mercury.
Old Countries Prefer old Men.
The older countries have better annre-