Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1891-08-27
THE SOUBRETTE ROLE.

IL oIe IluSb Dc Beuueel Iduper UnlS
sort of thing is the best of its kind. A
ranch is picturesque; it has touch of the
'baronial,' and there is no boss. 1t may
sound strange, but | am actually lord of
all the prickly pear and mesquite in view"
Fairfax Compton delivered himself of
this speech with manner half serious, half
cynical
His friend was lazily swinging in the
bright colored Mexican hammock beside
him. He took his pipe out of his mouth
long enough to quote;
From the center all round to the sea
am lord of the fowl and the brute.
Fairfax laughed again. Don't mention
the sea-" he said. you couldn't find a
brook with magnifying glass. There will
be some respectable fowl which we can go
out and shoot after supper, quail, etc. As
to the brutes, you will judge for yourself
/ mean the indigenous breed, not the cattle
or sheep. Shake up a coyote and Jack
rabbit in bag and which would come
out ahead / wonder2"
Jack Holden was contrast to his host
He had round, good natured face and a
proboscis which pointed skyward.
Your nose and faith both look up, not
down." Fairfax had said to him years be-
fore, apropos of a hymn which was sung
by the boys at boarding school.
This remark had caused battle royal at
the time, for like most men with unruf1ied
dispositions Holden would fight on occasion
like tiger. 1t was the knowledge of this
reserve force in him which enabled Fairfax
to forgive him his habitual serenity and to
use discretion in teasing him.
1t was Helden's first visit to the Texas
ranch which Compton had purchased three
years before; he had been anxious to in
vestigate that young mans wild expert
ences earlier, but he had waited for an in
vitation.
At last Compton sent him one of his
short, characteristic letters, always nearly
related to kilograms. 1t was Helden's fad
to imagine himself an artist, and indeed
'he builded better than he knew" for his
painting was lifelike and beautiful.
Suppose you try your hand on the seem
cry around here" wrote Compton, "be-
come the prophet and interpreter of the
prickly pear, At any rate bring yourself
and your brushes to Texas and spend two
or three months with me-"
Compton had met him with an ambu-
lance and a pair of mules at the last Amer
lean station on the Rio Grande.
The ranch was situated thirty miles
away, and it was on the afternoon OF
the second day that the foregoing CONVEX
sation took place. The two young men
were seated on the yeranda. or rather what
might have been veranda.
II had the elements of one for il was
covered over with n matched roof sum
ported by pillars made of pealed tree
trunks and there were several comforta ble
chairs scattered about. az well as the ham
mocks swinging to the pillars.
IL had no floor. however, except that here
and there some large fiat stones had become
ir,badded in the earth The bouse was
built of sun dried brick called by the Mexi-
cans adobe. In color it was pale lumber,
with 6ecks of yellow.
The month of Nav was warm enough to
suggest their proximity to Mexico. Holden,
TO whom a ranch was still such a recent
acnuaintance as TO represent the variety
which Is the spice of life, stretched himself
and endeayored to yawn as if oppressed by
tba heat
Dominion smiled at him. One of the least
rleosapt evnressions of his striking conn
tanancs ,vas lie smiIe There was always
a inrting demon of understanding so much
more than It was necessary to mention.
HDon,t vaIvn lack y he said. "you really
rse5nit have been swearing at the
weather oil the afternoon in dead earnest.
W, ara stilI deenerotalv interested in the
h.ostIv hole
Tbns abinred Mr. Uelden sat I'M in his
bamnock and LET his ouick ewes wander
again over tbe scenery of west Texas.
The recent rains had made the lands into
an srnaraId svmnbonv. for grass. foliage
ond cactua were all of one shade. The
sLv waa bIne without cloud. but neither
mountains nor water varied the monotony.
There was the tinkle of an occasional bell
hung upon an unseen animal. Save for
tbia and their own voices there was no
sonnd az ALI in the Quiet afternoon.
Helden had a dozen questions hanging
on the end of his tongue, but for some rea-
son thew remained pendant. Compton was
not a promising person to interrogate, as
be sat there with his square law turned to
his friend. He was heavily built young
fellow. with a tawny mustache, short hair
(which all his own vigorous cutting could
not keep from curling) and somber but
observant eyes. His ordinary manner was
quietly courteous, but it always gave the
imnression that it could be something
widely different and vastly more disagree
able.
To do him Justice, this impression was
generally verified. His friends knew that
he had left Philadelphia two years before
because he had chosen to fall desperately
I'm love with a young and beautiful widow.
She was possessed Of golden charms as
well. but her pride in other ways was so
great that she forgot to concentrate it In