The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1891-01-22
BESSIE'S LOVER.

BESSIE'S LOVER.
''You want to hear how l came by
all these scars on my face and hands?"
said the man, rolling up his sleeve and
showing the bare, sinewy arms,
marked and scared as with a red-hot
iron. Twenty years ago l first met
Bessie Morton. She was going across
the clover field yondcr, taking her
the works of the great Bergen Coal
Company, and Bessie was all the kin
be had.
Eat that time l was young and
handsome, and had just been installed
foreman of the blast furnace of the
Bergen Iron Company.
Il stepped aside to let Bessie pass,
and lifted my hat as l did so. She
smiied-the f~aintest shadow of a smile,
but it made me happy all day. You
know how ii is, if you have ever been
in love.
Then I did not even know her
name, but l lost my heart to her and
never got it back again. Afterward L
learned who she was, with the disa-
greeable fact that Mark Gaillaird adj
mired her. Gaillaird was one of the
members of the coal company mill
lionaire--middle-agcd, handsome and
u%nprincipled.
ut made my blood boil to hear him
speak of Bessie in that cool. supercil-
ious way Of his, in which he spoke of
every woman.
"And the scoundrel lit his choice
Havana and stroiled off to what he
called his work, which was sitting in 4
luxurious Office signing checks and
reading French novels.
II had been some two months ac-
quainted with Bessie, when one day I
told her that l loved her, and won her
sweet consent to become mine. And,
truth to tell, l did not feel quite sure
of my Bessie until | had IL ! egal right
to her. Not that l doubted her, but in
q sort of indefinite way l feared Gail
laird.
$50 you can understand that 1 was
anxious to make her my wife and have
her under my own protection as soon
as possible.
"Oue morning, eight or ten days be-
IOlC LlS illlO SCl lVl Jul uiull 1lSCs
Gaillaird came to the works. and, I'M
der pretense of looking at the working
of the furnaces, he got speech with
me, for generally avoided him.
Look here, Gilbert he said, is
this bosh that l hear about you marry
ing Bessie Morton true?
II answered him coolly:
'"Yes, sir; | am to marry her.
He put his face close to mine, so
close that l felt his hot breath like the
blast Of an owe on my cheek.
81 love her myself he said hoarsely.
AT first l thought only to ainuse my
self, as ! had done with IL score of silly
girls before her, but since l have come
to know her royal nature, to know
what a very queen she is among
women, | have decided to make her
my wife. Now listen to my PROPOSE
ton. Resign Bessie Morton and you
shall have Hamburg's place at S.. 900
a year-the best Office in the gift of
the company, and with that you can
take your pick from the youth and
beauty of Bergen. Refuse these terms
and l swear to be your utter ruin. l
have warned you. | give you three
days to dccide.'
Il told Bessie something of this
making very light Of it as I saw how
pale and frightened she was. but she
chung to me and wept, and begged me
not to trust myself alone with Gail
laird.
Il promised to keep clear of him, to
satisfy her, though truth to tell I did
not feel any fear of him, for l Judged
him to be a coward, and hardly be-
lieved he had courage enough to lay
violent hands Oh any one.
Three days after my interview
with Gaillaird | was going my rounds
as usual to see after the furnaces. 1t
was after dark, but I carried no Ian
tern-the light of the molten metal
made objects sufficiently visible for my
purpose, Have You ever examined
one of these blast f%urnaccsp They
were vast piles of masonry-hollow
like q barrcl-with a capacity of seven
tons of ore. Some of these we're TWEEN
ty or thirty feet deep and four or five
feet in diameter.
THE furnace was full of ore to
within five or six feet of the top, and
the intense heat from below was stead
lily rising, until before my eyes l saw
the grayish yellow mass grow lurid
red and knew it was fusing.
"As l stood I heard a step at my
side. Some subtle presence told me
that I should see Gaillaird when 1
looked up. He was standing close be-
side me. The sullen red light of the
metal played over his face. and showed
me the cruel eyes and white teeth
cleaning savagely under the dark
mustache. He took a step forward
and looked into the seething crater at
my feet, then lifted his eyes to my face.
"Well,' said he. do you accept my
offer and give up BessieP
Never said 1. / would rather
see her dead, we'll as I love her, before
I would yield her to a tiend in human
guise.'
".Then feel my v%engeance!' he cried,
fiercely, and hurled at me a blow,
which, off my guard as I was, sent me
down, down into the mouth of the hor-
rible pit I had been regarding with
such feelings of strange fascination!
AIN tho brief seconds of time before
I touched the red-hot iron I realized
my position fully. I knew that as the
ore melted it would sink down, down,
down-and I along with it, until at
last! Oh. heaven! I closed my eyes
at the terrible picture aud was hope
less! Only a second-the e%xcruciating
pains which filled me at the touch Of
that fiery heat nerved me to super
human strength. Bounding upward l
seized upon a staple set in the side of
the furnace to fasten a lid to. and ex-
srting all my power I swung myself
upward to the platform, the flesh drop
ping from my feet as / did SO.
.Gaillaird fell upon me like a de-
mon, and /, burned and bleeding and
half dead as ! was, closed with him
and fought for my life!
1T was a sharp and frenzied strug-
gle. He had the strength of q mad
maj in those delicate arms of his. and
for me it seemed as if I had the power
of ten men. One last desperate
wrench, / freed myself from him aud
flung him backward. All! even now ]