The San Saba news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1873-1966, 1890-01-03
AN OBSCURE HEROINE.
BY EVELYN THoRp.

Lsurlat's eye the road appeared almost t.
ksve ceased. They were now ascending
the rocky margin of one of the mountain
streams, their horses prldently caution:
of their footing. All about the intens,
virgin stiffness was unbroken. Will,
Lauriat gave himself up asthetically,
dreamily, as was his wont, to the i'm
, pressiOns of the moment his companior
An Older man with keen face under &
soft wide-awake-looked about him un-
Internationally with swift Chances which
nothing escaped.
Suddenly he pulled rein.
Something in his expression caused
Lauriat quickly to say s'Wellin
The other gave short, significant nod.
The horses quiekened their pace. A
cabin showed through the thicket OF
trees.
Lauriat's pulse beat a little more "a
pidly, with a sense of some expectancy.
He remembered that his companion had
mentioned a stream as one Of the inevi-
table signs of the Illicit distilleries. Was
this one of the moonshiners who had an
l-~tAANA Ut A4I l4DlA
1t was woman girl-Lauriat per
ceived, as they drew nearer. She watched
their approach with calm ewes under
pensive, straight brows. Her yellow hair
was twisted behind in heavy braids. She
wore homespun gown and large blue
sun-bonnet hung by its string to her
arm.
''Rube Patton2 Nav, Rube don't
live hyar, she answered to the question
addressed her by the keen-eyed man in
the wide-awake
She spoke in a low drawl that softened
the asperities of her speech.
s'Do you know where he does live?n
Again she answered negatively. Mean
time Lauriat was looking at the picture
she made, there in the low doorway. with
covert iutentness. When they had
turned their horses heads and passed out
Of sight of her:
THAT, with all its roughness. is a
euriously fine type" he said. .<That
girl anywhere else might be handsome. "
''What I am thinking, - said the other
vexedly, ''is that she knows of Rube
Patton's whereabouts as well as the fellow
himself. But they're mighty sharp and
they're all in league. You can't ask
fve-year-old along the road an indirect
question but he takes you for a revenue
officer at once
An hour later a shadow darkened the
cabin door. The girl looked up, then
down. II was stalwart mountaiueer.
young, with jeans trousers, ending in
high boots. He, too, had the fair hair
and light skin, darkened by exposure,
Characteristic OF this race.
'You'uns he'd oughter be keerful, "
Drusilla said slowly. 81 seen the Dep'ty
Marshal or one of his posse"
The young man gave a smothered
"He asked for you'uns," she CON
tinued.
And what did you'uns say, Drusillyln
She lifted her dark eyes again and he
read all the loyalty, the devoted faith in
them. It had never been expressly re-
cognized that they should "keep com
pany,n but each OWNED the others
heart and mind more or less closely.
And if ever this time of anxiety, this
Government raiding was safely over,
Rube Patton knew that it would not be
long before they should understand each
other in words as we'll No, Drusilla
was safe; she would not betrav him.
He stayed an hour longer lounging in
the doorway, watching her bake pone in
the ashes Of the chimney. They said
very little. But Drlsilla was happy.
When the sun began to forsake the
valleys far below he turned away and be-
took his steps to a trail leading vaguely
up through the thick wood back Of the
cabin. He did not 90 very far. The
cave up there in the mountain side had
been very near had those men In the
afternoon but known it.
Drusilla was happy. Nevertheless she
did not sleep much that night. Rube had
taken the news that the revenue men
men were on his track quietly enough
upon the whole, but Drusilla felt danger
close upon her in the very air that swept
Silly laden with the balsanic odors Of
these attitudes about the silent cabin.
And suddenly there was silence no
longer. Drusilla, who had fallen at last
into fitful sleep, sat up with convic-
ton Of the worst. The report of rifles
rang sharply through the night. 1t was
dark, save for faint starlight She crept
to the cabin door, but could see moth
ing.
Up there at the still there was fight
ing. The raid had been made. Some of
the moOnshiners had been seized, and the
next morning would be on their way to
the county jail. But one or two had
gotten off under cover of the darkness,
and one of the posse lay stark dead
few feet from the mouth Of the cave.
Who had fred the shot that killed the /
mani
''That, said the Deputy Marshal next
day, sis what remains for US to find
out"
81
The sun glowed holly down on the
dusty square in front of the courthouse.
People had come in from every part Of /
the township and beyond to witness this
Trial, the most interesting on the docket I
Of the criminal court. That the Illicit (
disillers were frequently violent in their (
efforts to defend themselves, and women /
should belong to their number were no
new things. But that a girl barely twenty
should he~s shot and killed man as one
of band of moonshiners, this was a
case without precedent There was a
curiosity to see this girl; the more that
Tumor had spread that she was pretty.
Alas, poor Drusilla. Hsggard eyed and
white, such beauty as she had had was
quite obscured now.
The crowd OF loungers in the body Of
the hall stared, listened to the proceed
ings, and expectorated placidly in Turn
The lawyers objected and Trangled
among Themselves. People came in. and
others, growing tired, went out. Lauriat
looked al TIE girls set faes under the