The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1891-07-03
A ROMANCE OF THE MOUNTAINS.

They had left the rest of the party
with the guides and burros, at the rud
little "half-way house" by the tiny lax
that lay like an oblong emerald in set
ting of bronze, and had wandered away
by themsclyes-he, the brown-beardeC
young western meUallmgist with sue
cessful career opening before him, anC
she, the white-faced, delicate-looking so
journer from Boston. with her creole
hair and eyes,
The benediction of a perfect Indian
summer afternoon lay upon the scene. A
cloudless sky so blue that it reminded hel
of the exquisite coloring of an Easter
egg at home; the air so still that even
the trembling of the aspen leaves at in
teryals; the haze about the mountain tor
like golden fog-it was an afternoon
that made one forget that there were
ever extremes of temperature or that the
sunbeams must soon sink into the west
Even the gaudy little chipmunks, from
safe eminences, placidly regarded the in.
truders with indolent and contemplative
eyes, and the birds seemed mesmerized
into drowsy state.
They had sauntered for some time
now and Madge was getting very tired,
for the way had been rough She did
not realize the time nor the distance they
had wandered-she only knew that to her
the whole thing was poem and a paint
ing so exquisite that if she had heard an
organ suddenly burst forth into one of
HandePs masterpieces it would have
seemed quite in keeping with the place,
and she would instinctively have fallen
upon her knees.
Bob's thoughts were quite different.
He, too, was a lover of nature and capa-
BILE of deep feeling, but perfect Color
ado afternoon was not new to him,
while his love for Madge was; and his
pleasure came from seeing her keen but
placid enjoyment. 1t was no accident
on his part that they were separated
from the rest, and he realized fully that
they had been gone over an hour and
were a long distance from the lake. His
happiness lay in being alone with her, in
watching the waves of surprise and
pleasure ripping over her face as new
shapes and landscapes opened upon her
view, in answering the child-like ques
tions that bubbled from the dark eyes
and pretty lips-and more than all in the
thrilling touch of the slender arms and
the soft warm hands as he assisted her
over the rough places. 1t was heaven
to him and could not last long enough.
But when at last she gave weary sigh
and sat down upon a convenient log as
they reached bit of level, saying,
"Oh! dear, I'm so tired!" he responded
quickly, 81 think perhaps we've gone far
enough. It's getting along in the after
noon and is time to start back"
'Are we very far from them?" she
asked suddenly, seeming to realize for
the first time that they might be.
"About mile, l should say, but l
really haven't kept much track of the
distance, and this part of the trail is
somewhat new to me-"
After this there was silence for some
time. He saw now that she was quite
exhausted, and it occurred to him that
the altitude was having some effect upon
her. He blamed himself inwardly for
his thoughtlessness and was about to ask
her if she had trouble in breathing, when
a sudden chill in the atmosphere, ac-
companied by movement of the air that
set the aspens to shivering violently, fol
lowed by a gradual dimming of the sun
shine, caused them TO glance simultan-
eously toward the sun. What appeared
to Madge like fog was hurrying across
it and rapidly growing denseT: and as
she looked up toward the highest point
visible in the west she could see the gray,
mist-like substance stealing in between
and around the rocks and pines and
sweeping silently down toward them.
He answered her look of interrogation
by saying. somewhat absent-mindedly:
"Cloudsi A change Of the whetherl
/ might have known that the heat this
afternoon meant something if l hadn't
been thinking Of"